For over a decade, self-checkout was the retail future, speed, convenience, and cost savings. However, in 2025, nine of the largest retailers in the world are kicking these systems to the curb in an unbelievable reversal.
The purpose of these systems was to make shopping easier for customers, but it has ultimately led to more theft, longer lines, and messier stores. This goes against automation’s dominance and communicates something greater regarding human behavior and trust in retail.
As retailers like Dollar General and Walmart scale back self-checkout, the industry seeks a new approach balancing efficiency with personalized service. What’s next for shopping?
Dollar General’s Radical Reversal
The test run of Dollar General’s 100% self-checkout stores in early 2025 had a surprise end, cutting self-checkout out of 12,000 stores except for small-item lanes. CEO Todd Vasos pointed to exploding shrinkage, thefts, and errors at the heart of the issue.
This complete change of direction reveals a hard truth: technology simply can’t replace the watchful eyes and careful judgment of human cashiers when dealing with crime-ridden stores.
The company’s decision to refocus investments on frontline staff as crime deterrents and customer service providers shows a smart understanding that retail isn’t just about speed; it’s also deeply about building trust and having human oversight.
Walmart and Five Below: The Double-Edged Sword Of Self-Checkout
Walmart and Five Below also ditched self-checkout because of widespread theft and customer unhappiness. Even Walmart, a big proponent of automation, discovered that self-checkout lanes became hotspots for shrinkage and chaos.
For Five Below, the problems were terrible in their riskier locations, with losses directly linked to people abusing the self-checkout systems. These are contradictory facts. For instance, automation, which is supposed to save labour costs, has increased the cost of operations related to theft and customer service.
The message is clear: if you allow automation without a human element to control it, you will have chaos, and therefore, the benefit is useless.
Sam’s Club’s Tech-Heavy Gamble: Scan & Go
Sam’s Club diverged from the rest by eliminating all the conventional lanes and lanes with self-checkouts and replacing them with an app-based “Scan & Go” system supported by AI and cameras.
This system eliminates human cashiers entirely and relies on technology to verify purchases. It ensures speed and efficiency but at the expense of privacy, tech savvy for less tech-savvy shoppers, and layoffs.
This drastic shift illustrates the boundaries that retailers are willing to test, yet highlights social and ethical compromises of total automation.
Safeway and The Limits Of AI Verification
Safeway is copying Sam’s Club’s strategy by using AI-powered image recognition and many cameras to replace human cashiers at checkout. Although this setup was meant to make things run more smoothly, it’s facing challenges with getting customers to accept it and dealing with technology that isn’t always reliable.
Relying on AI to track theft and errors is a vast technology utopianism gamble, with great hopes resting on success against the things history teaches. The human element of retail is not just about scanning sales; it’s about building rapport, de-escalating conflict, and reacting to the unexpected moments AI can’t handle.
The Psychological Cost
Besides technology failures and theft, self-checkout frustrates numerous consumers, especially older people and those less comfortable with technology. The anxiety of scanning properly, handling payment failures, and avoiding alarms diminishes the shopping experience.
Psychologically, self-checkout shifts responsibility to consumers, violating the personal service relationship and introducing cognitive load. This alienation drives customers away, proving that convenience cannot substitute for personal contact in retailing.
The Pandemic Of Theft
Self-checkout stands are now notorious theft hotspots. Without watchful human eyes to detect, unethical customers exploit system vulnerabilities, sending shrinkage percentages soaring. Retailers report that regular losses through self-checkout theft outweigh the benefits of reduced labor expenses.
This unexpected side effect proves the most significant flaw in the automation aspect: technology can facilitate crime if not paired with effective human management. The resulting money bleeding forces retailers to re-examine the cost-benefit ratio of self-checkout.
When Technology Overpromised and Underperformed
The backlash against self-checkout reminds us of history’s tech flops in retail, such as early barcode readers and automated inventory controls, which were revolutionary at first but required human adaptation and oversight.
History teaches us that retail technology is an assistant to, not a replacement for, human judgment. The withdrawal from self-checkout is not anti-technology but a balancing act, conceding that human instinct and social interaction remain indispensable in high-complexity service settings.
The Power Of Rebuilding Human Capital In Retail
With self-checkout flagging, stores pour cash into human capital, training associates to better serve customers, deter theft, and regain. This new trend turns the premise that technology should always be ahead of people.
It claims that authentic human connection is the thing that builds loyalty and happiness. The movement may create new roles combining technology and humanity, such as technology guides that help the consumer with the purchase, but only if the human is central.
This kind of hybrid model may organize a new paradigm for the evolution of retail, marrying efficiency with authentic human care.
Broad Implications: What It Means For Automation In The Industries
The self-checkout fiasco is a warning for automation in other industries. Technology has limitations regarding trust, judgment, and contact. Banking, healthcare, and other industries should learn from this: automation is there to augment human capabilities, not supplant them.
The backlash could lead to great strides in human-centered design and hybrid models that use AI while still allowing for the necessary human oversight and touch.
The Close Of this Era and The Start Of A Balanced Future
The closure of self-checkouts by nine major retailers signals part of a retailing moment in history. It ends the illusion that technology can solve intangible human problems like theft, frustration, and eroding trust.
Instead, it proves the necessity of human judgment and interaction in commerce. The future of retail is not in avoiding technology but in blending it astutely with the power of human beings.
That golden formula needs a healthier, customer-focused, and more successful retail climate that respects innovation and the value of being human.