You may like it, you may hate it, but we have no choice. Self-checkout kiosks came into our lives to stay for a long, long time. Retailers have invested huge amounts of money in these technologies, and they have to make them profitable. But, beyond the purely commercial aspect, are customers satisfied with what these systems offer?
Whether it’s your go-to method or not, self-checkout centers are taking up more and more relevance in national supermarket chains like Walmart, Costco, Sam’s Club, and more. But, how are things looking for grocery shoppers in 2023? According to the latest data from CivicScience, the proportion of US adults who currently prefer human cashiers to self-checkout kiosks has significantly increased year over year (currently up to 60% from last year’s 55%). Self-checkout kiosks’ usage are currently at their lowest level of support in the past two years, despite their increased prevalence.
How to Avoid Being Falsely Accused of Theft at the Self-Checkout
Retailers and business groups have raised concerns about a surge in theft during the pandemic, which they describe as reaching crisis levels. Criminal groups are stealing everyday products such as deodorant, shampoo, and toothpaste in violent “smash-and-grab” incidents. This has resulted in retailers locking up these products, making shopping trips more cumbersome for customers.
According to companies, incidents such as external theft, organized retail crime, employee theft, human errors, vendor fraud, damaged or mismarked items, and other losses have caused an increase in merchandise losses, which is commonly referred to as shrink. This metric takes into account the inventory losses resulting from these incidents.
What a Lawyer Says About Being Charged of Stealing at the Self-Checkout
A criminal defense attorney from Arkansas, named Carrie Jernigan, has posted a video on TikTok advising her viewers to avoid using self-checkout in retail stores. She claims that some retailers are unfairly targeting customers for loss prevention, even when they haven’t stolen anything.
Jernigan explained in her video that in the past, big retailers used to be more lenient towards shoplifters and those who accidentally took items without paying for them. However, as shoplifters have become more skilled at stealing expensive items, stores have started cracking down on everyone.
Her video warning has become very popular, with over 1.7 million views on TikTok as of Saturday. Jernigan has classified the people charged with shoplifting into three categories: those who intentionally steal, those who do it unintentionally, and those who are wrongly accused. In this last category, she recommends always getting legal advice, and never accept any charges if they are false.
Why Do People Hate the Self-Checkout Kiosks? The Reasons May Surprise You, or Not
One of the main barriers to self-checkout adoption has long been human or machine error, requiring a payment assistant to resolve the issue. Fewer Americans who currently use self-checkout report encountering errors ‘very often’ (22%) than in last year’s study (24%). Age is not a great predictor of who will have problems, but adults 34 and younger are more likely than older groups to encounter a problem (those over 55 are the least likely to face errors ‘very often’ at 19%).
However, it’s overwhelmingly more likely that those who regularly report errors prefer a human cashier. Even almost half of those who opt for self-checkout report encountering a problem at least “somewhat often” (49%).
Certain grocery stores may have more to gain by prioritizing self-checkout than others. Take Aldi, one of the most self-sufficient grocery stores for self-sufficient shoppers (pack it yourself, with your own bags, and don’t forget that coin to unlock the cart), which recently introduced self-checkout in several of its stores. According to CivicScience’s latest survey data, that may have been a smart move, as Aldi outpaces all other favorable grocery stores in self-checkout preference.
Among those in favor at most grocery stores, only around 30% prefer self-checkout. Trader Joe’s, which is one of the last holdouts of self-checkout, registers near the bottom with 26%, and that’s not a surprise: TJ’s won’t introduce these machines so far, and will prioritize human-driven costumer care.