'We believe there is truly no substitute for an employee presence'
It seems store owners’ bid to automate customers’ in-store shopping experience is hurting their earnings as well as their relationships with customers as many get rid of their self-checkout systems.
"Stores anticipated that this technology would allow them to significantly reduce labour costs," said sociologist Christopher Andrews in a CBC report.
But instead of cutting costs, some stores discovered that self-checkout actually hurt their bottom line, largely due to theft, said Andrews.
"I think they're just losing so much [money] that it just becomes an economic liability,” said the associate professor at Drew University in Madison, N.J.
One employer that is ditching the self-checkout operation is Walmart, the world’s largest retailer.
In an interview with ABC's Good Morning America, John Furner, U.S. Walmart's CEO, admitted that the retailer has removed the machines from some locations.
"We want to make sure that the checkout process is accurate. Retail shrinkage is a cost. So enabling us to lower that cost, we can keep prices down."
Last month, Walmart Canada announced it will soon have robots working at its warehouses in Ontario, following a similar move in Alberta.
Self-checkout ‘no substitute’ for employees
Dollar General is also removing the self-checkout machines in 300 stores and scaling them back in thousands of others, according to the CBC report.
"Although adoption rates for self-checkout have been high, we believe there is truly no substitute for an employee presence," said Todd Vasos, Dollar General's CEO, during an earnings call in March.
"We believe these actions have the potential to have a material and positive impact on shrink," he said, using the industry term for disappearing merchandise.
Giant Tiger franchise owner Scott Savage removed self-checkout machines because many of his customers are seniors who do not like using the machines, he told CBC.
"The biggest complaint you have from everybody is, 'You don't pay me to work here,'" said Savage. "They would line up at my regular registers, and they would just prefer that service."
At least six Canadian Tire locations in Ontario have also scrapped self-checkout, according to the CBC.
A previous study led by Oracle and Future Workplace found that 82% of workers believe robots can do certain tasks more efficiently than their leaders.
