Customers Question Walmart’s Controversial Checkout Changes

(KMDL-FM) There was once a time when a shopper at a Walmart Store in Mandeville, Broussard, or Carencro, Louisiana would look for the shortest line at the checkout lines, assuming more than one was open in order to complete their purchases. The same could be said for Walmart shoppers in College Station, Denton, or Vidor in Texas.

That was when Walmart and other retailers actually had plenty of employees operating those checkout aisles and cashier stands. If you really think about it, it hasn't been that long ago that a friendly smile and some idle small talk were an expected part of the checkout process.

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Now, the chance for tepid and meaningless conversation has all but been eliminated by the self-checkout. But wait, based on  Walmart's recent changes in checkout strategy, the chance to make idle small talk with a Walmart employee might not be off the table completely.

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In fact, that employee might have even more time to chat with you as they stand and watch you do the job that they probably should be doing in order to earn a paycheck.  Confused? Me too, let's see if we can't shed a little more light on the subject.

Walmart, like many retailers, had gone to a self-checkout model as the country was moving through the COVID-19 pandemic. It made sense at the time, and it seemed as if the idea would be a major cost-saving measure for stores that employed the concept. Then companies realized that some people weren't honest and would steal if not supervised.

This led retailers, such as Walmart and Target, to limit the number of items brought to the self-checkout to 15 or fewer. This would make it easier for an employee to watch for possible pilfering should a customer decide to attempt to leave without paying.

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Now it is true that some Walmart stores across the country are scrapping self-checkouts in favor of more human cashiers, but that's only in places where the rate of theft is considered to be too high.

We are now learning, via comments from former Walmart employees, since current employees aren't supposed to speak about safety and security policy, that many stores now have a one-to-one ratio of observers to self-checkout machines.

Customers Question Walmart's Controversial Checkout Changes

Wait, so they are paying an employee to watch me do what that employee used to do at the checkout counter? How does that make sense? Why don't they just let the employee scan the items, slip them into a way-too-thin bag, and then tell us what we owe?

Do these actions suggest that we, the untrained customers of Walmart, are better cashiers than the alleged trained employees? Can we check our own selves out more efficiently than those who were hired to do the job? Sure seems that way.

So, if you're looking for a job that includes a lot of standing around and watching, you can either get into state government, or road construction, or become a Walmart cashier observer. Seems like great work if you can get it.