Why would a store remove all the self checkout machines?

Theft

Theft and complaints. There are a lot of people picketing self serve, since it ‘puts humans out of jobs.’ Some people just cant do it, not savvy.

@stanleybmanly is right, and the situation is unfortunate. There are people who pretend to scan their items but bypass the scanner, paying for only a portion of what they “buy.”

Self-checks are inherently unfriendly and reduce customer satisfaction. People (cashiers) are an opportunity to sell more and engage customers, and not have cold heartless machines.

Maybe the company (whatever it is) believes that customer service is important.

^^^ As an introvert, I greatly prefer the “heartless” machine to some overly-friendly cashier. A courteousl greeting and a nice farewell are fine, but I really don’t enjoy having someone comment about what I’m buying or trying to upsell me on other items.

I shop at Trader Joe’s at least 2X per week. I love the products, and the prices are good. But, I truly wish the store would install some self-checkout stations. Here are some actual things said to me, when all I want to do is pay and leave:

“Did you find everything ok? What do you need that we don’t have?”

“Wow! That’s a lot of blueberries! How will you use them?”

“This hand cream is the BEST! Have you tried it before?”

“Are you sure you’re buying the right type of coconut milk? We sell 3 kinds, and you want to be certain you’re getting what you need. I once used creamy coconut milk instead of regular, and my meal was too rich and heavy. Are you certain this is what you want?”

If what I see lately is typical, there is an epidemic of theft underway in the supermarkets here.

@Love_my_doggie just the opposite for me. A self-check is just a way of pawning off labor that used to be done by an employee onto me, the buyer.

What particular peeves me are self-check stations at libraries.

Most of the theft problems can be solved by a scale.

It is extremely easy to steal through the self check-out if, like Walmart, there is no way of weighing the items as they are placed in the bagging area.

With the scale, If something is placed in the bagging area that has not been scanned, the weight discrepancy will forstall the checkout process and alert the person supervising the area.

Without this scale and alert system, all you have to do is scan a smaller, less expensive item (such as a candy bar or mailer envelope) with a more expensive item, letting the machine scan the bar code of the less expensive item. If anyone is watching, they see that you scanned it and the machine registered something. Or, you can bypass the scanner entirely.

But if the weight is a factor, and the scale knows what was scanned is supposed to weigh, it is impossible to place an unscanned item into the bagging area without alerting the supervisor.

I hate them. I encountered malfunctions nearly every time I used them. I finally gave up.
The last time I used one, the total was still waiting payment from the previous customer when I arrived. I had to ask someone to clear it. Nobody went after the thief who had gone without paying.

So, I am another vote for theft.

It depends on the store. Grocery store workers have solid unions, that may have someth8ng to do with it.
Large general retailers may have decided that they are not cost-effective after all.
I like them, as they are more customer friendly at my closest supermarket than the surly cashiers. I don’t use them at the stores where the cashiers are civil, unless encouraged to do so by the line managers.

The amount of time you have to wait in line is what I use in determining whether I use them. A live cashier usually is faster and more efficient, and usually friendlier. But people who use the live cashiers usually have a months’ supply of groceries or merchandise in their carts. Its not worth the wait if you only have a few items.

We do NEED the self check, but as I mentioned above, there needs to be a way of weighing or some other way to ensure that what is being placed in the bagging area is what’s actually being scanned.

Self-checkout does not put people out of work. That is a myth. https://www.ziprecruiter.com/blog/automation-is-not-killing-retail-jobs/

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), retail jobs haven’t begun to evaporate quite yet. With 15.9M jobs as of August 2018, the retail industry continues to grow, in spite of the fact that self-scanning checkouts have been in use for nearly two decades. What is changing, however, are job descriptions. According to ZipRecruiter data, retail and customer service job descriptions have begun to evolve since the introduction of automated checkouts.

In most businesses that’s all a checker does is scan and bag.

At one time, you had to enter the amount of each item, although most of our lives we did have a bar code. But you had to count and make change manually.

By the way some stores self check machines no longer accept cash, I guess counterfeit money.
But to eliminate it completely? There are ways of solving the theft thing. There is someone at all times right there, watching every activity, handing the plastic bags, solving problems with the machines helping people hiow to use them, asking questions what is the code for….

The person watching CAN solve this, but they have to be watching or ‘scanning’ each individual. Often times they’re socializing with co-workers or customers, or laughing at something on their smart phone. They also might not trust what they think they saw, or think its worth a confrontation. Some indication with the scanner that something is wrong, some alert system, is necessary.

I agree with an alert system, Everything has to have a bar code and there should be some kind of a bar that we go through that beeps.
I haven’t seen them socializing with co-workers or customers, or laughing at something on their smart phone…

I have. But generally, they are helpful and attentive. I’m not knocking that. But if they are helping someone, having to get into the machine’s codes to remove or cancel something, they can’t be watching everybody.

Store security is usually watching, too. They may not react in time to catch an individual act of theft, but they will watch and eventually catch someone who does it habitually. And when they do, they will have ,lots of evidence.

Eventually (I think retail will survive), more stores will have people who check at the door, like Sam’s Club does, and a uniformed security guard with cuffs one has to pass on the way out is also a HUGE deterrent. That guard may know more than he/she seems.

I must be naive. When I saw the question the only possible reason I thought of was that they wanted to hire more people. Theft didn’t come to mind.

Ok, but the person who’s planning to steal would have to make it coincide with when the person goes to help someone, ... I just don’t know how the presence of the security cameras and security guard and the helpers witht the machines can not be deterring almost 98% of it.

I have not seen a lack of people using them. I prefer them too. But there is a big opportunity for theft there.
There are lots of different kinds of theft @flo, not just the kind where you slip something in your pocket and then try to sneak out with it.

I would be more inclined to use them if I got a discount. Otherwise I avail myself of the labor imbedded in the price.

I have used the new Amazon Go store near work to get lunch.no scanning, no bagging or weighing, just grab off the shelf and walk out; deducts from your debit card as you walk out the door.

I hate them because they easily throw errors, which then needing assistance: product put directly into cart instead of onto the receiving side, product too light to trigger an OK on the receiving side, typed in wrong produce code. Then if you have multiple of the same item, you have to scan each one, you can’t type in the quantity then scan once.