Do You Really Believe a KY Kroger Is Ditching All Its Self Checkout Machines?
A relatively recent social media story has had legs throughout 2023, even if the posts about said topic have only been a bit sporadic. It's the one about Walmart employees checking receipts at the door.
And the juice from those headlines revolves around more self checkout machines and fewer staffers at the front of the store. Again, I don't see these sorts of posts EVERY day, but they have popped up throughout the year. Hey, I like self-checkout, and I've never had a door greeter give much more than a cursory glance at my tab. I'm good.
Is a Kentucky Kroger REALLY 86-ing Self Checkout?
But if you were to believe a certain Facebook page originating in Kentucky, you'd think one major chain was reversing course. It would lead you to believe that a Kroger in Georgetown KY was actually ELIMINATING all of its self checkout machines. Seriously, what would YOU think if you saw this during a hasty scroll?
Now, how's that for a switch? Here we were, all prepared to check ourselves from now until the end of time, and then THIS happens.
Well...actually...this DIDN'T happen. I'm assuming, of course, but the Georgetown Insider's Facebook page contains this notation near the top:
That tells me that the Kroger in question is NOT dispensing with the self checkout aisle, even if there are those who might wish that would happen...like that disclaimer says.
It Does Beg the Question...Do Any Big Retailers Forgo Self Checkout?
But the Insider's parody post did make me wonder if there were ACTUALLY any stores anywhere doing away with self checkout altogether. I found none. But I did find a headline on the topic that grabbed my attention. Thestreet.com suggests the likes of Kroger, Walmart, and Target SHOULD do away with self checkout but not for the reasons you might think. Here's what I mean:
Amazon Go stores use sensors to charge customers directly through the company's app. As long as you have the app open and an account, there's no need to run items over a barcode scanner.
So yeah, the site suggests getting rid of self checkout, but not JUST self checkout...ALL checkout. Here's a demonstration:
We're probably quite a distance from that going mainstream at all retail stores and supermarkets, but that certainly is one streamlined operation. And there are kinks to be worked out. The Street admits that. What happens when you don't have just a few items? Again...quite a distance.
Back to the Georgetown Parody Site and Its Fondness for Retail
By the way, that Georgetown Insider parody site must really like retail. It made the following suggestion about shopping carts that I found amusing:
I don't, however, think there will be an app for that.