Rethinking Self-Checkout: When Convenience Becomes Chaos
Kit Campoy
I write for world-class SaaS Retail Tech Companies. Retail Leadership Expert & Author | Retail, Leadership, Business.
Self-checkout has failed.
Alright. Can we admit it now? Can we all come forward with the truth? Investing gratuitously in self-checkout stands did not work. But honestly, are we surprised?
Anyone who has ever worked a day on a retail floor would know this was a bad idea from the start. Customers can't even figure out where the cash wrap is or where the line begins, and you want them to ring themselves up?
Do you know how many times I've answered the question, "Where do I pay for this?" or "Where is the line?" I know you don't know because I don't know either. I stopped counting.
My store wasn't even all that big or merchandised in a funky way.
People still didn't know.
Yet major retailers bet big time that customers would be able to navigate self-checkout and ring themselves up properly.
Okay.
It's Still Happening
As I browsed through the retail news this morning, I was inundated with stories about angry customers fuming because of Walmart and their self-checkout situation. I've written about this before, you can read it here:
but it's a total mess.
It's not only Walmart, though.
It's grocery stores, too.
It's Home Depot, and Lowe's, and Target.
Now, retailers are crying about shrink. Right, of course, they are. What did they think was going to happen? It's not only straight-up theft; it's inaccuracies at the register. Because being an accurate cashier actually takes skill - sorry to inform you of that. I know executives want to pay people next to nothing because being a cashier is "low skill," but it's not.
Now that you've let customers lose in your stores, ringing themselves up, do you see it now?
When you're a cashier, you have to create your own system for what works for you so that you can be fast and accurate and connect with customers on their way out of the store. When people check themselves out, none of this happens. When they make a mistake, the POS scolds them, and then they need to wait for help, which could be embarrassing.
Not to mention, the one associate you've put in charge of eight registers now has to train non-employees on this tech when all they want to do is pay and leave.
Great idea.
It Was Better Before
Self-checkout should've been kept the way it was—a few stations for people who were buying a handful of items. That's it. Other than that, hire cashiers and pay them well.
If I'm running into Target for four items, I'll go through self-checkout; If I have groceries or I'm in Home Depot or something, I'm going to a person every time. Remember, I was a cashier for two decades and I'm still having a person ring me up.
Yes, I could do it. Yes, I could figure it out. I won't even get embarrassed if the machine yells at me, but I don't want to. I don't work here. I'm handing you money. The least you could do is hire someone to ring me up accurately and say, "Thank you."
When I trained my cashiers, I would tell them, "Remember, customers are handing you their hard-earned dollars. Be friendly, be accurate, be patient."
Did retailers forget this crucial element so they could save some money?
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They did. Now, it's a quagmire.
What to Do
Retailers need to ditch the extra self-checkout stations and hire cashiers. In case anyone forgot,
Excellent cashiers will:
Stores will make more money and ensure repeat business (also, more money here) if they staff checkouts with human employees. They just will.
Customers are fed up, tired of inflation, and tired of doing a job for no money because you didn't want to pay someone to do it.
So, please, retailers, hire cashiers.
Sincerely,
Everyone.
Hey, I'm Kit! For two decades, I thrived leading retail teams, building connections with customers, and inspiring sales teams. Now, I channel that people-first approach into powerful content as your ghostwriter.
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Sr. Specialist – Groom Project at Windstream
3 个月Honestly, I prefer self checkout.
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3 个月I waited for ten minutes for a self checkout register as two old men struggled to get the machine to work and a young man with a toddler tried to get it to work. The line of people are mad at them when they should be mad at the executives for expecting us all to work at the grocery store. This experiment has failed. You can't replace human cashiers. It's time to stop exclusively having self checkouts.?
It’s not about me, it’s about WE.
5 个月I encourage people to look at the BIG picture, which isn’t self checkout, it’s WHY self checkout became a thing…. The verbal abuse and emotional invalidation and social stigma deeming cashiers unintelligent, lower class, and not deserving of respect (from customers AND company employees/managers). Paid that with shit pay, unrealistic expectations, long hours, no weekends off, REQUIRED TO WORK HOLIDAYS, ridiculous uniform vests/aprons/smocks etc made customer service/cashering jobs difficult to fill. Nearly impossible to retain staff. Well… if the consumer openly admits that they can “do it faster/better themselves” and no one’s willing to subject themselves to the daily verbal whipping by customers or the soul crushing de validating treatment of “company leadership” SELF CHECK IT IS! Self check doesn’t give a shit what you say to it, it’s never out sick, and it doesn’t need a lunch break. Self check isn’t the problem. Shoplifting with out any real consequences, and shitty people treating cashiers like second class, and shitty companies not seeing the value of quality cashiers is the problem. Fix the problem, not the adverse effect solution.
Chief Digital Officer | E-Commerce & Digital Transformation Authority | Award-Winning Innovator | Digital Transformation
5 个月I often find myself preferring human interaction at the checkout too. It adds a personal touch that machines just can't replicate. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Experienced General Manager | Human Resources Professional
5 个月Hi Kit this was very well written, but I disagree to an extent. I think self check out has a time and a place. Talking about a basket full of groceries—totally understandable! But in the last 4 or 5 years I’ve watched as the culture of the customer towards service workers (cashiers especially) has changed. Your philosophy of providing that experience is spot on, but it’s the level of treatment by the general public that makes that position so undesirable and hard to staff. Not saying self check out doesn’t come with its own set of challenges with inventory, customer experience, etc. but I don’t think it’s as simple as “hire good people” because they are much fewer and farther between. And as far as the customers that don’t want to ring out their own groceries are concerned, I think this stems from more of a resistance to change than anything else. At some point it’s 2024 and the retail landscape is updating and becoming more automated. Respectfully, there is a need to start to align with the current state of things or there will eventually be that embarrassment during check out. Thanks for sharing this!