Another Missouri Retailer is Axing Self-Checkout from All Stores
It was supposed to be the wave of the future, but now it's fast becoming a thing of the past. Yet another major Missouri retailer is reportedly axing self-checkout aisles from all of its stores.
A few weeks ago, I shared the news that a Missouri Walmart store had decided to remove its self-checkout. Now, another retailer has decided that it will return to a more traditional checkout method where actual humans man the registers.
CFO Brew is reporting that Dollar General will be eliminating self-checkout from its Missouri stores and also hundreds of locations in other states also.
This is quite a change in approach as there was an estimate last year that many retail stores might be fully-automated in as little as 3 years. Why the big change from technology to humans?
Why did Dollar General decide to ditch self-checkout at their Missouri stores?
I haven't seen a statement directly from Dollar General as of this writing, but publicly I've seen reports that Walmart and other retailers have found there is too much theft by those using self-checkout lanes. What's interesting is all of the theft isn't intentional as many just don't scan their items correctly or miss products.
I haven't seen a timeline for how long it will take for Dollar General to remove self-checkout from their Missouri stores, but some locations reportedly might take weeks or even months as they make the transition.
This is the one development I did not see coming. Now, we'll see how customers respond to having other humans to interact with now when they pay for their stuff instead of the robots.
Items You Probably Shouldn't Buy From a Missouri Dollar Store
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