Wal Mart Remove Self Checkouts

[reymann]

The Walmart at Herndon/Ingram in Fresno is now restricting self-checkout to 20 items or less and only have a fraction of the self-checkouts open. They have an officer stationed near the self-checkout right now and are in the process of hiring private security to station near the entrances.

[Alpha8472]

Walmart got rid of self checkout in the past week or so at some San Francisco Bay Area stores. The lines are not noticeably longer since there were only 3 or 4 working self checkout machines at any given time.

I did notice many staffed registers which is shocking. Previously self checkout had 3 or 4 people watching customers at self checkout. Now those people are on registers.

Security at the Walmart stores near Oakland, California have armed guards in body armor. They are employed by a highly experienced security company that only employs military veterans. By far they are the best security I have ever seen at any retail store. They have really cut down on theft at these stores.

[storewanderer]

The Walmart at Herndon/Ingram in Fresno is now restricting self-checkout to 20 items or less and only have a fraction of the self-checkouts open. They have an officer stationed near the self-checkout right now and are in the process of hiring private security to station near the entrances.

This thing of having a fraction of the self checkouts open has started in the past couple days around Reno. However there is no item limit. An item limit would be great. The way this is going is they have a low number of self checkouts open (they seem to like to have 4 open, and 1 employee watching those 4), and then customers show up and do full carts and are using them for 5-10 minutes. They do not have any lanes with item limits so if you go find the 2-3 checkstands with a live cashier that are open those are also having full carts and long wait times. This chain has gone from having one of the quickest, best front end experiences around (since they had so many self checkouts, you NEVER had to wait in line) to a complete trainwreck. To say I am frustrated by this, is an understatement.

The other thing is even in stores that aren't removing self checkouts they have started to close the ones down next to the pharmacy. So if you are going in for a quick general merchandise purchase from hardware/auto/drug/pet, which I frequently do, you can enter there but have to walk all the way to the grocery half of the front end to check out. Again, a hassle, a waste of my time, and an inconvenience to have to walk further AND wait in a line.

For instance a store I went into Tuesday that was fine, with 20+ self checkouts open, was on this 4 self checkouts open thing by Thursday. It appears they are basically going and destroying the front end speed by telling stores they cannot open most of the self checkouts one store at a time.

Where this needs to end is with an item limit on self checkout. 20 items sounds right. And maybe a "no cart" policy at self checkout too. Also rip out all those NCR conveyor belt self checkouts. They are difficult to monitor and full grocery carts at Wal Mart self checkout are a PAINFUL thing to watch a customer process.

They also need to get rid of the clutter and excessive merchandising around the self checkouts. That also makes them difficult to watch and also easy for customers to slip items.

There are a number of things they need to do, in the stores that still have the old NCR self checkout units. They have already redesigned the self checkout in stores that were remodeled to different units that are smaller, do not have conveyor belts, only have 1-2 bag racks, and are clearly designed only for smaller purchases.

[storewanderer]

Went into that Kietzke Store- this time, 14 self checkouts open but no cashiers open. I have no clue what they're doing. The self checkout units at the general merchandise exit are shut off and the entire area is blocked by carts. I did ask about that as I was leaving since there is still a greeter standing down there at that door, and was told they are taking away all the self checkouts in June because they are had a very bad inventory and are now considered a very high theft store but until then they will be continuing to have them open at the other side of the checkstand area (by the produce). That is good... at least they won't have long lines there...until June... I guess they are okay to keep having this massive theft they think they have from self checkouts (I think they are at least somewhat adrift on what exactly is causing the theft and making a huge mistake removing ALL of the units) until June.

Meanwhile the other nearby Wal Mart in Reno on Second Street which has been a house of locked products for a couple years now and seems to have very major issues had TWO large/cart size (the ones along with the cashier checkstands) self checkouts open and the rest closed. The lines were halfway to the back of the store. At this store the units down at the general merchandise exit were closed but appear to be operational still (all turned on, had bags). The units down at the grocery side did not have bags, multiple were turned off, and they look like they are being decommissioned. They had one employee watching each self checkout that was open. They did have some cashiers open but those lines were also quite long. This place was a disaster- so many customers wanting stuff from locked cases. Very few employees on the floor to open locked cases.

[Alpha8472]

The number one Division 1 Walmart store in sales in the western US had issues with locked cabinets at first. Literally, customers were screaming and about to riot. This was near the Oakland area. Eventually, store management realized that they needed dedicated teams of key holders at all times. Now you see 2 or 3 people in one department running around frantically opening the glass cabinets.

The store shut down self checkout and switched to at least 9 staffed cash registers open at all times.

If that store can make it work and still be the number one store in the Western US, it can be done.

The way to do it is to motivate employees to work fast and get the customers taken care of. If that requires more employees, then that is what you have to do. The increase in sales volume will more than make up for the added employee hours.

At this store the manager actually walks around the store and does work. He actually helps employees do the work instead of telling them to do work.

[ClownLoach]

Went into that Kietzke Store- this time, 14 self checkouts open but no cashiers open. I have no clue what they're doing. The self checkout units at the general merchandise exit are shut off and the entire area is blocked by carts. I did ask about that as I was leaving since there is still a greeter standing down there at that door, and was told they are taking away all the self checkouts in June because they are had a very bad inventory and are now considered a very high theft store but until then they will be continuing to have them open at the other side of the checkstand area (by the produce). That is good... at least they won't have long lines there...until June... I guess they are okay to keep having this massive theft they think they have from self checkouts (I think they are at least somewhat adrift on what exactly is causing the theft and making a huge mistake removing ALL of the units) until June.

Meanwhile the other nearby Wal Mart in Reno on Second Street which has been a house of locked products for a couple years now and seems to have very major issues had TWO large/cart size (the ones along with the cashier checkstands) self checkouts open and the rest closed. The lines were halfway to the back of the store. At this store the units down at the general merchandise exit were closed but appear to be operational still (all turned on, had bags). The units down at the grocery side did not have bags, multiple were turned off, and they look like they are being decommissioned. They had one employee watching each self checkout that was open. They did have some cashiers open but those lines were also quite long. This place was a disaster- so many customers wanting stuff from locked cases. Very few employees on the floor to open locked cases.

Look closely at some of the products at that Walmart next time you're there. They have been adding a lot of RFID tags at Walmart and Sam's, but as we know they aren't used for ordering or checkout. I have to assume at this point they've added RFID surveillance around the self checkouts and they can quantify shrink like Target and Macy's have done. I do not believe for a second Walmart is happy about removing self checkout and increasing their labor spend, but I could see them choosing to make such a decision now that they have concrete evidence of the losses. If they know from the RFID surveillance that for example a hundred TV sets have moved through the self checkout area but the store has only sold ten and 90 are missing, that is the kind of data needed to "prove" there is too high of a level of customer abuse to keep the self checkouts.

Where I see this becoming an issue is that as they take them away in some stores, the thieves will start to drive to find stores that still have them. The shrink problem will move around. If you look at some of the recent arrests getting overly broadcasted in California (to make the public think that they are actually doing something about the problem), the people are charged with thefts from north of Sacramento all the way to the southern border... They have no problem with driving thousands of miles each week to steal their way through the state. In my most recent company we had multiple known shoplifters that would target our stores in every single city in California, moving from one to the next trying to commit the same thefts the same way and then try to return stolen items with falsified stolen ID cards. They applied a sticker to make a fake front side with picture that matches the thief but the magnetic strip and barcode on the back is someone else so that the system won't reject them for too many returns; more than once I peeled the sticker off the front and watched them bolt for the exit leaving the stolen goods at the service desk. They had no problem getting to hundreds of California locations.

[storewanderer]

I've found RFID tags on a ton of items I've bought on the general merchandise side.

I agree with your example on TVs but it seems to me they need to figure out how to monitor the area more closely if the issue is a 10% scan rate and 90% walk out without paying rate on TVs. That seems to indicate a complete failure of their "door greeter/check receipts of unbagged items" policy too. That could be as easy as not having TVs on the sales floor and requiring them to be brought out from the back room.

Now if the issue is they have a 10% scan rate on the entire Lego category and a 90% walk out without paying rate on the entire Lego category and then similar situations across other categories then that is a bigger problem that may warrant self checkout removal.

I think what has happened here is Asset Protection has gotten an overly significant portion of influence in making policy decisions at these Wal Mart Stores and this is not going to end well. They have more products locked up than ever, and this is really causing a lot of customer frustration. Personally I'd rather see it locked up than see a wiped empty shelf, but I emphasize with the customers who are waiting 20 minutes for a case to be opened and have difficulty finding anyone to ask for help (call boxes do not work, if they even have call boxes...). Now they have decided to turn their front end into a complete nightmare and there is total arrogance regarding any customer feedback to these front end changes. There is little consistency from store to store on what is going on which shows a lack of ownership/oversight on this from the upper management. I do not think this will end well. Customers are becoming very frustrated. Wal Mart customers are very loyal but when the point comes they make it nearly impossible to get many products you want due to the lock up then they make you wait in a long checkout line for 15-20 minutes to pay the point of even the most loyal customers reconsidering their loyalty occurs. To compound the matter there is also the situation where you have the Wal Mart employees who want to pick a few items up when they go off shift also facing these same issues with a long checkout wait time then even the employees who want to support their employer may find it faster/more convenient to just stop elsewhere on the way home.

The answer to all of this is staffing- but if they had more staffing in the first place, would they have needed to do the shelf lock ups? If they had more staffing in the first place, would they have needed to put in self checkouts in the first place? So now they suddenly will be willing to pay for more staffing... on an ongoing basis... to support all this? I am not seeing that staffing yet. They needed to get staffed up before implementing these locked cases and self checkout changes. This is where it feels like Asset Protection is dictating the rules but they may not be communicating properly with Operations to understand how to go about implementing this in a way that does not completely piss off a ton of customers and make a very bad situation for the employees.

[storewanderer]

Went to another couple of locations.

One location is mostly self checkout; they had about 10 of them open late this afternoon. The store wasn't very busy so this was adequate to not have lines. They have them in 4-5 rows. There was basically one employee watching each "row" plus there were three plainclothes asset protection employees standing against the front wall (spread out) also monitoring everything. They were moving around but never moved away from the front wall. The only reason I even know they are employees is because I've seen a couple of them acting as door greeters in the past.

Went to another location who previously only had 4 self checkouts open the past couple weeks, which was a total disaster for them. This time they had 10 self checkouts open and no lines. There were 3 employees on duty watching them, but they were just standing around talking to each other not paying attention.

[Alpha8472]

The self checkout machines at some San Francisco Bay Area Walmart stores are now open only to those who have Walmart Plus Memberships. This hasn't impacted the lines at my local store that much as there were only about 3 working self checkout machines. They were constantly breaking down.

Very few people have Walmart Plus Memberships. It does include the Paramount Plus Essential plan which is $59.99. Walmart Plus is $98. If you like Paramount Plus then Walmart Plus is not that much more per year.

[storewanderer]

This store in Reno on Kietzke has completed the removal of self checkout on the hardlines side of the store. The equipment is gone. These were older NCR units. The space is now shelves (looks like it may turn into a Dollar Spot).

They still have about 18 self checkouts down at the grocery side but supposedly all of those are getting removed once they get their construction permit issue resolved. They are still using all of those though... open and being used. If there is such a shrink issue here that self checkouts need to be removed and this store was flagged by corporate for this removal of self checkouts thing, only like a very small group of extremely high theft stores are, I find it strange they keep using them. I wonder if whoever did their inventory screwed something up...