Wegmans Cracking Down On Self-Checkout Theft Again?
Self-checkout can be annoying on its own but now customers are complaining about a different feature that seems to be holding them back.
Wegman's is a great store, People come from very long distances just to shop there. But according to a recent post from a shopper on Reddit, it's getting very difficult to shop there.
Wegmans has struggled with self-checkout recently
Let's start by giving credit where credit is due. Wegmans has been trying to find more and more ways to get you in and out of their stores as quickly as possible. They're trying to make it quick for you, and more cost-efficient for them. However, it's proving to be a pretty big task.
The self-checkout app was a bust
One of the most innovative attempts at making life easy for the customer was an option to do self-checkout right through their app. You would literally just fill your cart, enter what you were purchasing on the app, and pay right through the app.
Unfortunately, people were filling their carts and not entering everything on their app. So they noticed that theft was going up and profits were going down. They decided to scrap that app in September of 2022.
Are smart carts the new way to buy groceries?
The newest feature that they were testing at Wegmans was Smart Carts. This not only avoided a line at the register, but a register altogether. The carts are able to detect items that are being put in the cart and keep a running tally as you shop. Then you simply pay when you are all done and off you go.
These are still being tested at the last check.
Shoppers are complaining about a new update to the original self-checkout
While scrolling through Reddit, I noticed a shopper who was upset about how self-checkout stations have affected their experience at the Alberta Wegmans store.
The complaint was that while shopping there is a scale at the checkout station that detects the weights of items and will lock the shopper out if they place something whose weight doesn’t match what is expected. Instead of being able to quickly buzz through a checkout line, you end up having to wait for someone to unlock the checkout station that you're at before you can continue because the scales are so sensitive. This shopper ended up having to be unlocked 4 times in one session.
Hasn't this been the way it's gone for self-checkout since the beginning? It feels like the store would have to do this in order to eliminate theft.
The crazy thing is how many people commented on the original post to share their horror stories with self-checkout too.
Is there a better option to self-checkout?
I've always found self-checkout to be rather convenient. However, I do understand the sentiment of saving jobs by not using them. I never like to see a machine doing a job that a person can get paid to do (if they can do it well).
But they've never really been a huge pain in my neck.
What do you think is the best option for stores that choose to use self-checkout?