Poles are being forced to use self-service checkouts, for example, by limiting the number of cashiers at regular stations. So for now, it is really hard to assess whether Poles have really “loved” automatic checkouts in a situation where they have no choice (because there is no choice between a “kilometer-long” queue to the only open checkout and automatic machines).
When the cashier scans our products, they save us time at the expense of the store’s time and workload. Because at that moment we can already pack our purchases into bags. Forcing (due to the lack of cashiers) to scan on our own is not only stealing our, i.e. the consumers’, time. It is also forcing us to work for free for the network. Not to mention the constant, irritating errors, failures and the need to reach out to a store employee for help so often.
More losses than gains?
Western supermarket and discount chains are slowly starting to mature and abandon maintaining self-service checkouts. Why? Because their owners are making balances that increasingly show that AI cashiers bring more losses than profits. Not only in precise, quantifiable terms, i.e. directly financial (employing “live” cashiers versus maintaining automatic ones), but also in the form of invaluable frustration for customers, the need to engage technical support, and the challenge of a wave of frauds. As Newseria writes, Dr. Farhana Nusrat from the University of San Diego at Drexel, together with Dr. Yanliu Huang from the same university, examined hypothetical scenarios of the development of the situation, during which consumers recalled their visits to retail chains. They had to imagine two situations in particular: when they use a traditional checkout, with support in making a purchase from a cashier, and when, using an automatic checkout, they have to scan independently, and then, without any support, properly prepare and, of course, finally pack the purchased products. The study revealed that the greatest and positive correlation (or maybe the only one?) in the level of customer satisfaction was observed in the case of large and very large purchases. Customers stated the seemingly obvious fact that they feel full satisfaction from shopping when receiving human support. Also, the requirement for all products (including vegetables and fruit by weight or bread) to have a barcode, and the lack of a store employee nearby who is ready to help, and especially their absence when approving the sale of a product subject to restrictions – all this caused particular irritation to customers.
Although Global Market Insights still estimates that the global self-checkout market was worth $3.5 billion in 2021 and that it will more than triple that by 2030, this trend is likely to break down.
They steal as much as they can
Why can we expect a retreat from automatic checkouts, probably eventually in Poland? It is worth realizing that in Western countries people also steal from machines. On a massive and growing scale. In the United States – too. All the more so because the limit of almost unpunished theft, because it is penalized as a mild offense, was recently raised in the US to $800 for a single purchase.