Theft and surveillance costs... Companies Regretting 'Self-Checkout' Systems

Walmart, Costco, and UK Booths Abolish Self-Checkout Counters
High Losses Due to Calculation Errors and Theft Monitoring Costs

Self-checkout counters, introduced in the US and UK to reduce labor costs, are gradually disappearing due to increased losses, consumer dissatisfaction, and rising management costs.

Walmart and Costco Implement Policies to Reduce or Close Self-Checkout Counters

Walmart's Self-Checkout Counter

According to major foreign media such as CNN on the 15th (local time), Walmart and Costco in the US, and the UK supermarket chain Booths are implementing policies to eliminate self-checkout counters.

Walmart replaced 75% of staffed checkout counters nationwide with self-checkout counters over the past few years to reduce costs. However, as losses due to theft increased because of self-checkout counters, the company is remodeling stores and either completely removing or significantly reducing self-checkout counters.

In particular, Walmart removed self-checkout counters from some stores in New Mexico earlier this year.

Recently, Costco increased the number of staff at self-checkout counters after frequent incidents of non-members secretly using other people’s membership cards. Costco requires membership registration to purchase items. Ultimately, the introduction of self-checkout counters has led to increased labor costs to manage them.

Wegmans, a grocery store headquartered in Rochester, USA, discontinued its mobile self-checkout app service that allowed customers to scan, pack, and pay all at once. In a statement, Wegmans said, "While many customers prefer the convenience of the self-checkout app, we can no longer provide the app service due to ongoing losses."

Booths announced that it will remove self-checkout counters from all but two of its 28 stores.

Expansion After COVID-19... "Theft by Not Scanning or Using Fake Barcodes... Loss Rate More Than Doubled"

[Image source=Pixabay]

Large supermarkets first introduced self-checkout counters in the early 1980s, and they became widespread in the early 2000s. The use of self-checkout counters expanded significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. They emerged as an alternative to reduce soaring labor costs.

However, recently, various problems with self-checkout counters have caused hesitation in adopting them and even led to the removal of existing self-checkout counters.

For example, customers increasingly deliberately scan incorrect barcodes when purchasing fruits or vegetables at self-checkout counters. They might buy organic carrots but scan the barcode for cheaper regular carrots.

When purchasing alcoholic beverages, staff must come to the self-checkout counter to verify the customer's age, which can actually cause delays.

As inflation worsened worldwide, thieves exploiting the vulnerabilities of self-checkout counters have become rampant.

They either do not scan items, scan fake barcodes to pay, or scan all items but leave without paying. Such methods have been detected.

Foreign media reported, "The loss rate for companies using self-checkout counters and apps is about 4%, more than double the industry average."