As major retailers pull back on self-checkout technology, the industry faces a reckoning over lost efficiency, rising theft, and the myth of a faster shopping experience.
The frustration of the flashing light and the ‘unexpected item in bagging area’ alert has become a universal grocery store experience. For years, retailers promised that the shift toward self-service would revolutionize the checkout lane. Instead. they are now quietly walking back the technology that shoppers never quite embraced and that stores can no longer justify.
The decline is etched in the numbers. In this year’s Voice of the Retail Industry Survey. which polled 340 retailers. only 36% stated they planned to invest further in self-checkout. That figure marks a seven-point drop from the previous year. making it the least popular technology in the entire survey and the only one currently losing momentum.
The industry is grappling with a hard truth: self-checkout doesn’t actually save time. As far back as the late 1980s. a Kroger executive conceded that scanning one’s own groceries is fundamentally slower than having a professional do it. The perceived speed is an illusion, a psychological trick that relies on the customer being the one in control. In reality. shoppers scan items at a slower pace and are prone to more errors; a 2021 survey found that more than two-thirds of customers have hit significant snags while attempting to operate the machines.
Beyond the inefficiency, the rise of self-checkout introduced a new category of loss: theft, both accidental and intentional. The machines have become a liability rather than a cost-saving measure.
The pivot is already visible on the sales floor. Major chains like Walmart, Costco, and Kroger are responding by adding staff back into these lanes to monitor the machines. Other retailers are imposing harsh limits, with Target now capping its express lanes at 10 items. Some have opted for total removal; in 2024, Dollar General pulled its kiosks from 12,000 locations. Even Amazon. which once touted a futuristic. cashierless retail model. has ditched its own technology after it was revealed that human workers in India were processing the checkouts remotely.
The transition away from self-service reveals a fundamental misalignment between corporate strategy and consumer reality. Retailers gambled that customers would trade convenience for autonomy. but the machines proved slower. more frustrating. and more costly than the staff they were meant to replace.
retail self-checkout grocery stores Walmart Kroger Amazon consumer trends