Dollar General eliminating self checkout

[storewanderer]

Dollar General is reportedly eliminating self checkout. Their self checkout had no weight sensors, no camera that recorded you and the counter (just recorded you standing there but opposite angle of the counter and bag area), and the scanner beeped even when the system was closed or had an error on the screen.

They are doing software updates to 1,000 stores per week to deactivate self checkout. Since many of these only have 1-2 registers the self checkouts will be back up registers that an employee can sign into and use as a register then move aside so the customer can operate the pinpad.

The amount of clutter makes it very difficult for anyone to monitor self checkout from any angle in many of these stores.

Another stupid knee jerk reaction move here.

The store I went to this weekend unplugged the self checkout and put a piece of a cardboard box over the sign that said "self checkout." No cashier up front as usual and a service bell present. Not the best neighborhood and the store is a disaster.

This retailer staffs with 1 or 2 employees at a time. Front end is frequently not staffed.

They should improve the self checkout technology, not remove it entirely.

[HCal]

Yikes. Hopefully they increase staffing levels to offset the loss of self checkout, but we all know that isn't going to happen. Their stores are already a mess and sometimes there is only one cashier who also seems to have other duties.

[storewanderer]

Yikes. Hopefully they increase staffing levels to offset the loss of self checkout, but we all know that isn't going to happen. Their stores are already a mess and sometimes there is only one cashier who also seems to have other duties.

Supposedly staffing levels are getting a laughable increase in many cases a single digit number of hours, not even close to the number of hours a week increase needed to put a cashier in front of the register from 8 AM to 10 PM.

I expect them to go back on this decision just like I see the decisions at Wal Mart and Target already starting to be backtracked.

What I wonder is if this will be the topic/issue that exposes the crack in Dollar General. As noted their per store profit is quite low, like, so low that adding another employee would turn the average store unprofitable unless adding the employee increased sales/reduced shrink... they think shrink is coming from self checkout. I think shrink is coming from their sloppy stores, lack of staffing, lack of inventory control, and warehouse issues. Also bad buying where they have way too much inventory that gets .01ed out. I am sure the self checkout is causing some shrink but so does the cashier who fails to scan every item due to not paying attention or due to a poor/slow NexGen POS system that barely functions, etc.

[storewanderer]

Next thing at these stores where you have an employee ring up your items on what used to be self checkout, now in order to use digital coupons (enter phone number like typical store loyalty program) it requires a manager override to be able to even enter the phone number. I am not sure if this is due to fraud, people trying to enter multiple phone numbers, employees trying to enter their own phone number, or what.

Yet at a regular register the customer can still enter their phone number for digital coupons and it will process with the cashier without requiring a manager override.