Walmart is making significant changes for customers in certain states by eliminating self-checkout machines that many shoppers rely on.
Reports indicate that two stores, one located in St. Louis, Missouri, and the other in Cleveland, Ohio, have made the decision to eliminate self-checkout machines and instead opt for the more conventional checkout service. This follows a similar move by the retail giant in New Mexico last year. Additionally, certain Walmarts are now reserving self-service kiosks exclusively for Spark delivery drivers or Walmart+ subscribers, as reported by Business Insider.
According to a statement from Walmart shared with Business Insider, the change is expected to enhance the in-store shopping experience and enable associates to offer more personalized and efficient service.
On Friday, Walmart was approached by Newsweek for comment through their online form.
The decision to close or modify the self-checkout process may also stem from the fact that, despite being convenient and fast, these automated systems have become an attractive option for shoplifters. Reports of thefts at various stores, including Walmart, have surfaced due to the lack of employee supervision during the scanning process.
Dollar General, FiveBelow, and Target have all indicated their potential to decrease the utilization of self-checkouts as a means to curb theft.
Last month, Target made the decision to implement a limit of 10 items for self-service checkouts in a number of its stores.
Dollar General recently announced that it will be discontinuing its self-checkout service in numerous stores as a result of increasing incidents of shoplifting and merchandise loss. Additionally, the company plans to implement a restriction on the use of self-checkouts in select stores, limiting customers to scanning a maximum of five items at a time.
The hypermarket chain utilized artificial intelligence to analyze purchases made at its self-checkouts. Through this analysis, it was able to identify the stores with the highest occurrences of stolen products or mis-scanned items.
FiveBelow has announced plans to implement a hybrid checkout system, in which staff members will manually scan items for customers at the self-checkout machines.
According to a report by shopping startup Grabango in November, produce taken through self-checkout lanes is 16 times more likely to go missing compared to traditional lanes.
According to a study conducted by Professor Adrian Beck from the University of Leicester in 2022, data was collected from 13 prominent retailers in the United States and the United Kingdom, including retail giant Walmart. The research revealed that larger retailers, who rely on self-checkouts for approximately half of their sales, may face significant financial losses amounting to millions of dollars.
According to a 2019 report by the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention in the U.S., a survey conducted among numerous small-time shoplifters revealed that a significant number of them viewed self-checkout machines as easy targets due to the absence of staff members.
