"Do I Get An Employee Discount For Doing This?" Let's Talk About Self-Checkouts

We were sold a lie.

Self-checkout was supposed to be the next big thing: faster, easier, better, more convenient.

You walk in, scan a few things, beep-beep-boop, and you’re out. 

No small talk, no waiting, no “did you find everything okay?” Just grab and go. 

Sounds like heaven to introverts like me, right?

Except that’s not how it turned out.

Walk into any grocery store right now and tell me what you see. 

Six broken machines. 

One poor soul trying to babysit them all. 

A line of frustrated customers fidgeting with barcodes and broken bags. 

And the one actual cashier line? Wrapped around the candy aisle with three carts deep.

This isn’t innovation. This is cost-cutting theater dressed up as convenience.

"Do It Yourself" Shouldn't Mean "Deal With It Yourself"

Self-checkout wasn’t made for you. It was made because of you. 

More specifically, because of the labor cost you represent to a corporation trying to squeeze every last cent out of your shopping trip.

But what happens when you shift the labor to the customer?

They notice.

Customers aren’t stupid. 

They know they’re being used. 

It’s not just that they’re doing the scanning and the bagging themselves, it’s that they’re being forced into it. 

Stores close the manned lanes, cut cashier hours, and herd you toward machines that don’t work half the time. 

And when they do work? They still treat you like a suspect.

One missed scan, one product code that won’t register, and suddenly the machine flashes red like you just robbed the place. 

Now you’re stuck waiting for an “attendant”, who’s already busy helping five other people deal with their broken kiosk.

It’s embarrassing. It’s frustrating. And it kills any sense of dignity or service.

The Death of Human Touch

The worst part? You don’t get to talk to anyone anymore. No smiling face. No cashier who knows your name or your weird snack preferences. 

Just cold, glitchy machines and that robotic voice telling you to “place your item in the bagging area.”

For a lot of people, especially older folks or those with disabilities, those interactions matter. 

They’re a part of the community, a lifeline of human connection. 

We've stripped that out in the name of speed, but guess what? 

It's not even faster.

When did we decide that human connection was an inconvenience?

Self-Checkout Actually Makes Shopping Worse

Let’s talk about how broken the experience really is:

• Barcodes that won’t scan: You twist the item like you're defusing a bomb just to find the code.
• Frozen screens: Mid-transaction, the system just dies.
• Age-restricted items: Want to buy wine? Hope you brought ID and patience.
• No real help: There’s usually one employee for six to ten kiosks, and they're constantly scrambling.

So instead of waiting five minutes for a cashier, you’re now waiting ten for a machine and a human to maybe help you fix it.

Meanwhile, the store still has to staff someone to monitor the machines, check IDs, fix errors, and stop theft. 

So... what exactly are we saving here?

Safety and Security? More Like Suspicion and Shoplifting

Let’s not forget: self-checkout hasn’t just been a customer headache, it’s been a shoplifting disaster.

 

Theft is skyrocketing. 

And not just from criminals, just regular people who are tired, rushed, and confused. Missed scans. 

Forgotten items at the bottom of the cart. People trying to do too much while the machines do too little.

Dollar General and others are learning this the hard way. 

They ripped out their self-checkouts completely in some stores because the shrink (that’s theft + error + loss, for those not in retail) was off the charts.

And what do they replace them with? Human beings.

Funny how that works.

The Turnaround Is Already Happening

Big chains are waking up. 

Walmart, Kroger, Wegmans… one by one, they’re either limiting or rolling back self-checkout in certain stores. 

Some are bringing back cashier lanes. 

Others are hiring more staff to support hybrid setups.

Why?

Because customers are done. 

The novelty wore off. 

The frustration built up. 

And the numbers don’t lie, stores didn’t save as much as they thought, and they sure as hell didn’t earn any loyalty by making people do their own jobs and still get treated like shoplifters.

Self-Checkout Isn't the Problem. How It Was Used Is

Let’s be clear: the tech itself isn’t evil. A well-run self-checkout lane, with proper support, can actually be helpful for quick grabs or busy parents with fussy kids. 

But that’s not how it was rolled out.

Retailers saw it as a way to cut labor without cutting service. 

But you can’t have it both ways. 

If you take the human out of the experience, you have to make sure the machine is better.

And so far, it’s not.

People Still Want People

At the end of the day, this isn’t about nostalgia or being anti-tech. 

It’s about experience. 

People want to feel seen, supported, and respected. 

When you force them to do more work for a worse experience, they don’t thank you, they resent you.

Retail isn’t just about inventory and margins, it’s about service. 

The stores that remember that will win. 

The ones that don’t? 

They’ll keep building new kiosks while their customers shop somewhere else.

You want to win in retail?

Bring back the people.