Whether they were meant to helping speed up checkout wait times or alleviate payroll costs, some major retailers are starting to walk back the self-checkout revolution.
Now Target is receiving complaints after a new policy that allows store managers the discretion to decide when the self-checkout kiosks are operational, whether it be starting them up later in the day, shutting them down before closing, or even taking them out of operation in the middle of the day.
The official policy allowing local managers to “have the flexibility to set self-checkout hours that are right for their store” went into effect March 17.
The problem many have with the new policy seems to be that when the self-checkout kiosks are shut down, there are no manned registers opened up to compensate, resulting in long wait times to check out.
“Store closes at 10pm but self-checkout closes at 9pm and there are only three cashiers between 9pm and 10pm?,” one customer posted to X, formerly Twitter. “Huge line every night between 9pm and 10pm.”
“Banging my head against the wall. Why does running to target to get red bull take 20 minutes now? Because they closed all the self-checkout lines until 10am,” another agitated consumer tweeted.
Target has also limited the self-checkout lines to customers purchasing 10 items or less. Some locations have also age-restricted the self-checkout area or added extra security, citing an increase in theft when customers are allowed to ring up their own purchases.
Walmart has also taken steps to limit theft by taking the kiosks completely out of two more of their stores, according to a report by DailyMail.com.