Retailers Abandon Self-Checkout Systems Due to Rising Theft and Customer Dissatisfaction
In 2020, Walmart initiated trials of cashierless, fully self-checkout large-scale stores, initially in the United States before expanding to Canada.
However, the trial didn’t gain widespread acceptance. Walmart disclosed to CBC News that currently, only one large-scale store across both Canada and the U.S. operates with an entirely self-checkout, cashier-free model—in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec.
Concurrently, over the past eight months, the retail behemoth has phased out all self-checkout terminals at six U.S. locations, aligning with other major big-box chains that have opted to remove the machines from select stores, including a recent case at a Giant Tiger outlet in Stratford, Ontario.
This marks a notable departure from the anticipated trend—as opposed to the prevalence of all-self-checkout stores, certain retail establishments are reverting to the traditional all-cashier setup.
“Stores anticipated that this technology would allow them to significantly reduce labour costs,” said Christopher Andrews, a sociologist and author of The Overworked Consumer: Self-Checkouts, Supermarkets, and the Do-It-Yourself Economy.
“I think they’re just losing so much [money] that it just becomes an economic liability.”
ranchise owner Scott Savage took action two weeks ago by eliminating the four self-checkout machines from his Giant Tiger discount store in Stratford, located approximately 90 kilometers west of Hamilton.
Savage clarified that the decision wasn’t driven by concerns about theft. Instead, it stemmed from feedback received from many of his senior customers who expressed a preference for traditional checkout methods over using the machines.
Numerous studies have indicated the prevalence of self-checkout theft, yet concrete data is scarce as retailers typically keep such information confidential.
The Retail Council of Canada has indicated through discussions with its members that incidents of self-checkout theft are increasing.
