‘Difficult to accept,’ Lowe’s shopper says in response to checkout change – customers are ‘forced’ to use self-service

ONE shopper slammed Lowes for reportedly forcing them to use the self-checkout machines after not having flesh-and-blood checkout lanes open.

The angry customer slammed the Home improvement in a scathing post on social media.

"I just left @Lowes - they literally have ZERO options for human interaction in their checkout aisle," the customer wrote on X.

"Except for the poor soul who has to watch all the disgruntled shoppers being forced go through the self-checkout lines."

Several users were also quick to slam the store.

"Tell them. If they stop checking themselves out they’ll open the lines back up," One user

.

"Retail has become what will the customer tolerate. Especially at @Lowes which has one of the sorriest models in the country!"

"Kroger and Meijers got rid of their MEAT ISLES now its all prepackaged items and no one behind the counters there...GONE," a second person exploded.

A third user attempted to shed light on the situation.

"Ran a Lowe’s for years," the person explained.

"Lowes no longer has employees who do assembly, facility maintenance, or deliveries."

The former employee claimed that the store was "phasing out humans. Specifically humans that are Lowe’s employees."

The post was in response to a previous tweet that proclaimed that "customer service is dead."

"Customer service is dead in America," read the tweet.

"They want to make sure you can't speak to a real person even at retailers where you have made purchases."

Loews is no stranger to criticism.

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.

One user recently complained that the new checkout system forced him to wait a "drastically" long time to use the self-checkout line.

"@Lowes your decision to do away with cashiers and use self-checkout is disastrous," he wrote.

"The wait time to checkout has drastically increased and now people with large loads (like lumber) block the open kiosks, so you have to wait!"

"Taking my business to a mom & pop store," he threatened.

A second user also echoed the sentiments.

"@Lowes I visited your E. Gilbert location location," a second person complained.

"I picked up a bunch of tools and went to check out. There were only self-checkout machines open."

"I asked an employee where I could pay without using self-checkout," they continued.

"They told me that's not possible. You've just lost my business."