Missouri Walmart removes its self-checkout kiosks
One Walmart in Missouri is ditching selfcheckout kiosks, bringing employees back to work the register.
A Walmart store in Shrewsbury, a suburb of St. Louis, has begun converting the selfcheckout lanes to “traditional checkout lanes,” Walmart spokesperson Briand Little said in a statement to USA TODAY.
Little said the move is part of Walmart’s “announced plans for additional investments and improvements to stores across the country.”
“The decision was based on several factors, including feedback from associates and customers, shopping patterns and business needs in this area,” Little added. “We believe the change will improve the in-store shopping experience and give our associates the chance to provide more personalized and efficient service.”
The Walmart store also confirmed to USA TODAY the kiosks were being removed.
There has not yet been a corporate-wide directive issued for the removal of self-checkout lanes at Walmart stores nationwide. But Walmart has indicated it will allow store managers experiment with checkout options.
“Our managers look for ways to innovate within their stores and pay close attention to customer feedback on where they can better meet their needs,” company spokesperson Joe Pennington previously said in a statement obtained by USA TODAY in October.
Pennington noted at the time that “there are no current plans for self-checkout removals nationwide.”
Self-checkout is changing rapidly, with major retailers like Target and Dollar General opting to limit the number of items that can be purchased at self checkout or removing the kiosks from stores altogether. Target announced in March that it would began “to limit selfcheckout lanes to 10 items or less.” Customers with “larger shopping hauls” will be checked out by human cashiers, USA TODAY reported.
Dollar General also made a similar announcement recently, with CEO Todd Vasos saying the chain removed self-checkout from more than 300 of its stores, where the most “shrink,” which refers to theft or products selling for less than actual prices, occurs.
Customers will be limited to five items or fewer at Dollar General locations with selfcheckout kiosks.
Vasos said Dollar General would begin to “convert some or all of the self-checkout registers to assisted-checkout lines in about 9,000 stores,” according to USA TODAY reporting.
Costco, too, has begun cracking down – checking membership cards in self-checkout lines.