Self checkout was great for me because I'd have like 3 items and breeze on out. Now people come to them with overloaded carts because they don't have any actual checkouts.
this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2026
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I swear every time I pull into a manned checkout lane at one specific store I get the nastiest look from the cashiers. There are 3 functional self checkout kiosks and the scale on all of them is slightly under a single square foot. I'm not buying a thanksgiving feast, but forgive me if my regular shopping trip is more than a single cup of yoghurt and a TV dinner, and consequently cannot all fit on the self checkout scale. It's not like I'm asking them to open a lane just for me, they're just upset I've interrupted their scrolling session.
I try not to go there often, but sometimes my goto location is closed or doesn't have something I know I'm going to need. I know it's not all stores or employees because my normal one is pretty good and I can generally use the kiosk without issue, but it's so frustrating that the culture has shifted to expect all people to use the self checkout regardless of their situation. And I say this as someone who uses them regularly.
Conversely, my local Sam's club is doubling down, but...weirdly. They changed the layout of the self checkouts, and then removed several normal lanes so there's only 2 normal lanes at all. Here, Sam's is frequented most by older folks who hate self checkout. It was an incredibly stupid move.
Such a weird hatred against a fundamentally useful tool that means fewer people need to do an objectively shitty, monotonous job (=cashiers).
Here in Europe, we have enough people manning the registers that you can always opt to go to a human if you have a huge cart (and potentially wait a few minutes, or more during rush hour), or if you have less than ten items (quite often really, I buy dinner bread practically daily), you go to a self-checkout, and you're out in less than a minute.
It helps queue times when you need speed and are buying a few things only, and is literally irrelevant when you have a full cart, as you're better off going through a proper cash register anyway.
Note that the fact that hypercapitalist american supermarkets take this as an invitation to permanently understaff manned registers is not a fault of the machines themselves
"things have gotten so bad that it has made many people need to steal, so we can't keep self checkouts open"
They'd rather change their operations than lobby for the poorest to have enough money to not have to steal.
They’d rather change their operations than lobby for the poorest to have enough money to not have to steal.
They’d rather change their operations than ~~lobby for the poorest to~~ pay their employee's enough money to not have to steal.
I thought surely an organization of GROCERS would lobby vociferously for SNAP benefits (food stamps), at a time when onerous work requirements throw people off SNAP and overwhelm local food pantries.
Instead we get a bit of the pearlescent extraction of the meat cylinder via suction:
Good news, new jobs opening to fill the cashier roles. But watch they will just implement a ticket system and checkout will take 3 hours.
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I like how they do it at Sam’s Club. You use your phone camera as a barcode reader, use the same saved payment as online, then walk through a scanner at the exit. They still have a person who can check your receipt but usually they wave you through as the door scanner got it.
As someone who finds interacting with register attendants painful, and doesn't steal, this is unfortunate news.
We introverts pay the price 😭
Or those who shop while stoned...
As someone who also doesn't enjoy interacting with register attendants, but does steal, I too find this to be unfortunate news.
I'm a introvert and hate dealing with people, but for some reason I don't like using the self-checkout. I don't know why. But anyway, I recommend moving to Finland. My interactions are as follows:
A very quick eye contact with a nod as a hello.
I pay, receive the change, say thank you.
I go away.
There is no small talk or push for registering for their bonus card systems, etc, here. You go in, do your thing, say thank you, go away. And saying anything is optional. I do it because I feel like that's the least I can do for the poor person who has to deal with humans all day. But often I see people not even look at the checkout person, just stare at the register until it gives out a number, pay and bugger off.
That's pretty much the interaction I expect in New England.
And, it's better than waiting around for the self-checkout attendant to fix the error when the self-checkout kiosk doesn't detect the reusable bag I brought correctly.
I know I'm lucky that I live in a country that has 17 people living in it, I don't remember the last time I was in the checkout line for more than 5 minutes. Also, we have shops that are open until late at night and most of the hyper-markets are 24h. So I just go shopping at around 23:00 or later, when there is 2 people in the shop.
Agreed. Devastating.
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Well other technologies like accounting software are "at least 40%" and self checkout is at 36%, according to the article, so I don't think this is as devastating as one might think at first glance:
Of 340 retail operators surveyed in 2026's Voice of the Retail Industry Survey, only 36% say they plan to invest in self-checkout, down seven percentage points from last year. Self-checkout was the least popular technology and the only one to see lower interest YoY. Other investments, such as automated invoices, electronic shelf labels, and accounting software, attracted at least 40% of surveyed retailers.
And of course less retailers are investing in the tech than in previous years: they've all already got it.
Shitty thing is they won't hire more cashiers when they shut these off.
Guessing they'll also raise prices when they simply return to previously normal operations.
Thur raised prices when they put them in, they will raise prices when they remove them.
All actions lead to raising prices.
I really wonder who these retailers are. Like, my grocer typically has 2 human and 12 self checkout open, and it's no question which of those is going to be faster for someone pushing less than a full cart. They don't even have the floor space to build twelve more full service checkouts. Reminds me of the bad old days when I'd go to the store and they'd have every human checkout line open, every one of them with 5+ people in line, and it'd take 30 minutes just to check out. If you're a retailer that only processes a couple dozen patrons an hour, then yeah, I can see where a few self-checks wouldn't be any benefit.
Feels like we've reached the enshittification phase of self-checks: big stores are now so beholden to the technology that the vendors can jack up their prices to where self checks cost the store more than a full-service checkout, but they can't go back because there's no staff and no space.
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I think this weird anti-self-checkout crowd is just young people who don’t remember the times before self-checkouts. Even if every checkout was manned it was still completely normal to wait upwards of ten minutes, even when it wasn’t that busy. I remember my Mum excitedly running to a checkout because there was only one person queueing there. Nowadays I totally expect there to be no queue at all and I feel hard done by if I have to queue for more than one minute.
Um, no. There are many other categories of people who have issues with self-checkouts. Like anyone who's legally or by the store's rules due a discount or tax waiver (people with Indigenous status aren't required to pay sales taxes in some jurisdictions, for instance), since the software often fails to account for these. Anyone paying cash. Anyone who knows anything at all about UI design or has wrestled with a self-checkout that just doesn't function properly.
I'll wait in line rather than deal with a machine that's broken by design, thanks. Fortunately, the stores around here mostly have reasonable staffing practices, so the wait isn't long unless some idiot tries to price-match against a flyer or something else weird and unusual.
Jusy FYI - I think self-checkouts can accept cash, but sometimes and sporadically do not, because I often see signs, permanent as well as improvisory, that they don't.
My problem with the self checkouts is they do require quite a bit of wrangling from the person on staff and that sometimes, depending on the time of day, that person has entirely fucked off to another corner of the store. I've abandoned a near-completed self-checkout for the safe harbor of a human-staffed register on more than one occassion.
My experience is that maybe a third of them are set up to accept cash. The others tend to have permanent "Credit or debit only" signage. (I pay in cash quite often, although I'll grant you that I'm an outlier.)
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I worked in grocery stores as a teen and I just want that to remain available.
I also do not like the self checkout machine. They have an unacceptable number of steps to pay. They’re horribly programmed. I don’t like the small baggage areas.
I’m over 50 but the queue has to be huge for me to go to self-checkout.
I do not enjoy waiting for someone to come and check if im stealing. I do not enjoy waiting for a go-ahead for goods that are age restricted. I do not enjoy doing unpaid work (wheres my rebate??)
Also - I think cashiers deserve a job.
s/pulling back/slowing expansion of installations/g
These are not the same thing, and if you look at any S curve you can see why.
I tried it twice at IKEA and it's so fucking shit and they still need to have people there to assist when you have a problem, IT'S THE SAME FUCKING THING JUST SLOWER.
They're not there to assist you. They are there to monitor you so you wouldn't steal more € than the self-checkout is cheaper than the staff it replaces.
In one of my local supermarkets there were 4 normal checkouts but never more than 2 of them were open because they're understaffed. They recently replaced 1 of them by 4 self checkout machines, it's soooo much faster now and lines are a lot shorter when it's shopping rush hour!
No shit. Those people with almost full shopping carts that go to the self checkout, check their items, put them on the loading shelf, pay and then, and only then, put the items in bags one-at-a-time.
Like, jesus christ, you can put the bags down FIRST and then put the items INSIDE THE BAG as ONE step.
How did humanity get to this point.
Ok, now will they actually staff the registers? Because every time I’m in the store there’s only one checkout lane open, and before 10am or so, the self-checkout is closed.
Luckily, self checkouts are expanding in Copenhagen. Seriously beats standing in a line for the next 10 minutes. Such a depressing waste of time.
Anyway, haven't even had half the issues most people seem to complain about with self check out. I'm guessing it's because Danish supermarkets don't half-ass it. Or maybe people are genuinely stupid around even simple technology.
I was a big fan of self checkouts when they were new.
Past year or so, I've completely changed course. I go out of my way now to go through the regular checkout lines.
But at least they harvested tons of biometric, personal, behavioral and health data connected to account names and numbers to sell to data harvesters, merchants, hackers, governments and other ill intentioned groups, right?? So not all a loss.
They were doing that before self-checkout. Can I scan your {store loyalty} card so you get the lower price?
biometric, personal, behavioral and health data
What data are self checkouts collecting that regular checkouts aren't?
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The store I worked at in high school got rid of all of its self checkout right after I stopped working there. Let me tell ya, I've never gone in there since then. I don't want to have to talk to someone who may recognize me. Although it's been like 12 years now so I'm prooooobably okay lol
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