Self-Checkout was never supposed to cut consumer costs, it was supposed to cut labor costs. The idea that any savings would make it to the consumer was always laughable. Everyone saw this coming years ago but capitalists were always going to try to squeeze every dime of profit out of a system.
“According to an April survey from Toast, a point-of-sale and restaurant management platform, approximately 36% of 340 small and midsize retail operators said they used self-checkout lanes this year, down from 43% in 2025.
That decrease could be attributed to merchandise losses.
According to a report from ECR Retail Loss, grocery stores experienced an average 22% increase in merchandise losses in the year after installing self-checkout lanes. These losses included both theft and accidental errors, such as missed scans and incorrect product selections.
Remember folks if you see someone stealing food or medicine, no you didn’t.