‘No more Walmart trips,’ fumes shopper after store imposes limit – waited ’20 minutes’ while no ‘manned’ registers open

WALMART'S most recent self-checkout limited the number of people who can use it, pushing customers to other stores.

Walmart is the latest retailer to limit how many items can be brought through self-checkout lanes.

Only shoppers buying 15 items or fewer can go through self-checkout now.

There was instant backlash from customers, who blamed the change on long lines.

"Is Walmart trying to lose customers?" asked shopper Jonathan (@jkalen133) on X.

"They removed cashiers for self-checkout, not have a strict 15-item limit on those."

He said an employee counted the items in people's carts to ensure they abided by the rule.

Unfortunately, only a few other cashiers were open for shoppers with bigger hauls.

"No more Walmart trips for me," he wrote.

Another customer faced a similar issue when shopping at a busy time.

"I'm looking at four front-of-house employees looking at each other's phones and chatting while I stand in the single checkout line with 20 other customers on a Friday afternoon," they wrote.

They claimed they waited in line for 20 minutes.

A third shopper was forced to use self-checkout despite the new rule because her store didn't have any staffed registers open.

"If you can have seven workers watching everybody, you can put them on a register," she wrote.

"I'm 68 years old, and I don't want to work for Walmart checking my stuff out!"

MISSING THE MARK

Target rolled out a similar rule earlier this year, limiting self-checkout to only ten items or fewer.

Latest self-checkout changes

Retailers are evolving their self-checkout strategy in an effort to speed up checkout times and reduce theft.

Walmart shoppers were shocked when self-checkout lanes at various locations were made available only for Walmart+ members.

Other customers reported that self-checkout was closed during specific hours, and more cashiers were offered instead.

While shoppers feared that shoplifting fueled the updates, a Walmart spokesperson revealed that store managers are simply experimenting with ways to improve checkout performance.

One bizarre experiment included an RFID-powered self-checkout kiosk that would stop the fiercely contested receipt checks.

However, that test run has been phased out.

At Target, items are being limited at self-checkout.

Last fall, the brand surveyed new express self-checkout lanes across 200 stores with 10 items or less for more convenience.

As of March 2024, this policy has been expanded across 2,000 stores in the US.

Shoppers have also spotted their local Walmart stores restricting customers to 15 items or less to use self-checkout machines.

Dubbed "express self-checkout," the change was supposed to shorten lines.

But customers have seen otherwise in stores.

"Dear Target, you can't change self-checkout to 10 items or less and then only open one regular checkout lane," wrote one disgruntled shopper on X.

"No one has 20 minutes to wait in line to checkout."

Target apologized to the customer, but similar complaints weren't far behind.

"Target’s new 10-item self-checkout limit is trash," another customer wrote.

"Straight up never buying 10+ items from there again."

One Target customer said they'd boycott the store over the change.

Walmart shoppers have also complained about the store's limited payment options.