Self-checkouts are nothing new, they have been around for a couple of years now. You can find them in grocery stores, hardware stores, even McDonald’s has the option to use a self-checkout instead of a traditional cashier. A Walmart store is starting to switch to a self-checkout store only.
via shutterstock
Walmart Self-Checkout
Fayetteville, Arkansas is doing a new test for its Walmart. They will only be having self-checkouts at their store, no cashiers. This is a new experiment for them to see what works better.
If all goes well and the test is successful, then Walmart will do the same thing in more locations and across the country.
While they did not have a set date in place for these to take effect, it could happen sooner rather than later. These new decisions will also depend on many different things.
One factor is feedback from their employees as well as the customers. The main concern is Walmart just wants to do things that are easiest for both their employees and their customers.
Why the Change
Some people wonder why the need for a change and if it will help employees or just make things worse.
One of the main reasons for this change is self-checkout is very cost-efficient. Having a customer do the same work you would normally pay an employee does save the company a lot of money.
One report found that checking someone into their flight at the airport with a cashier costs around $3 dollars. If the customer checks themselves in, it only costs about 14 cents, which is a significant difference.
Another positive is the privacy that customers get when they buy things. If someone gets a personal item or something they might be embarrassed to get, having the self-checkout allows them to keep their purchases private.
Negatives of Self-Checkouts
A lot of customers actually are against self-checkouts. They feel that they are doing all the work and not getting paid for it.
Others find the machine to be difficult to use and cause more problems and takes up more time. Especially the older people who don’t use technology too often may have more problems with the self-checkouts than others.
Oftentimes customers have to ask the employees for help, which is basically like having a cashier anyway. With there being only one or two employees around to help a dozen or more self-checkout stations, it could end up taking more time on customers to get the things they need.
One other negative is that it does put workers out of a job. With the way the economy is going, we need more jobs open for people to live in this world.
With the way things are going, Walmart may be the first to change out cashiers for a self-checkout only system. Which way do you prefer?
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377 comments on “Walmart Store Switches to Self-Checkout Only”
Self checkout is nice and all. But people need to work to do anything now a days Especially rent bills food. Food isn’t cheap either . How will you expect people to live
No self checkout! I do not work for Walmart so I expect customer service of a real person checking me out. I spend an average of $700 per month at Walmart. If you go to all self checkout, I WILL take my business elsewhere! How about you move the 2 people who check receipts at the door to work a cash register? Since you don’t do anything when someone shoplifts anyway, there is no need for the receipt checkers.
I work for walmart. Although we can’t do anything to the shoplifter, we hire cops to hang out on their days off from regular cop shift work. As for the door checkers, they are able to stop and retrieve most of the stolen items by checking receipts. I’ve had to do go backs for massive orders of people trying to steal and getting stopped. We don’t get the chance to stop everyone, but I feel like at my store at least we do stop most of the shoplifters and when the cops are there, they cart the offender off to jail because it’s usually theft over $500 when they get caught
For a while at my local Walmart there was an app I could use to scan items as I shopped. It was an incredible time saver. I was sorry to see it go. If they brought that back I wouldn’t mind checking out myself. On the other hand, a huge company like Walmart looking to save money by employeeing fewer people is a bad look.
If walmart does this I’ll be looking for another store to do my shopping @.
If Walmart goes strictly to no cashiers I will find some place else to shop! I use the self check out now sometimes if I have a small order but not a big order. I almost always have questions and need help!
I don’t think we should go to self-check outs. People lose there jobs & then people will soon stop talking to one another. It’s bad enough now when people just text each other when sitting at the same table.
If they have no cashiers then WalMart should be able to lower their prices. I am against taking away cashiers.
I think the self check put idea is stupid and put people out of jobs and will not beable to live or pay their bills. I will boycott Walmart if this happens
Old people have trouble with this.
I hate the self checkout. I’m a senior and I need help. It’s really a bummer when you go to the store. Consider the elderly please.