Shopping trips often take longer than you planned. Not only can be it be difficult to find the items you need on the shelves (especially in big-box retailers that are bolstering their online presence while stripping away their store experience), it can take forever to pay and get on with your day. Checkout lines can stretch five, six, and sometimes ten customers long when they are at the height of busyness.
That’s why many retailers have added the self-checkout lanes. Not only are they useful for people only buying a few items, but they also reduce the amount of staff the companies need to pay. But now Walmart has made an announcement that they are no longer going to try to increase the number of self-checkout lanes in their litany of stores. Here’s why.
Walmart introduced the “Scan and Go” technology for customers trying to get in-and-out as fast as possible. They were allowed to scan items on their phone as they browsed the store and then pay easily as they left. Then they would just go through the Mobile Express lane before leaving for a simple security check to prevent shoplifting.