Lowe’s shopper vows to boycott chain after ‘being appalled by staffer’s response’ over store checkout policy change

A FORMER Lower’s shopper has revealed the final straw that saw him ditch the retailer for a rival.

The home improvement company’s customer service was slammed by the shopper on social media .

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Taking to X, the ex-customer fumed about the chain’s supposed reliance on its customers to do everything for them.

“Store #2698 has been distancing from customer service,” he claimed in the post in which he tagged Lowe’s .

“Since self-checkout was the only register open I went to customer service,” he explained.

However, the employee allegedly told him to return to self-checkout to carry out his purchase.

“I don’t work at Lowe’s! I don’t need a pi**y attitude!” he explained.

The shopper revealed that he ditched the items he had intended to buy and went to rival home improvement chain Ace Hardware instead.

Despite being tagged in the post, Lowe’s has not yet replied.

Others have shared their frustrations with the chain’s approach to self-checkout.

“The Lowe’s near me is 100% self-checkout…makes me not want to shop there ever again…” another shopper said .

Meanwhile, a woman claiming to be a former Lowe’s employee revealed on X that it was “brutal” to watch the slow take-over of self-checkouts as employees had their hours cut.

“Corporate greed will be these companies’ downfall,” she added.

She was responding to a rant from a shopper who called out major retailers like Walmart , Target, and Home Depot to warn them about losing customers due to their self-checkout approach.

“I didn’t choose to participate in that nonsense…You can either trust me to do self-checkout, or you can put your cashiers back in place like it used to be,” he said.

“I’m not interested in proving that I did your job for you.”

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.

The user signed off the lengthy rant from “All of Us” as shoppers flooded the comments to agree and call out other companies.

The U.S. Sun has reached out to Lowe’s for comment.

However, it is not the first time the home improvement chain has lost out on profits due to its checkout systems.

One customer shared how they and several other shoppers abandoned their carts after being forced to wait in a huge line as only four self-checkouts were open and no manned registers.

“I’m done,” they wrote as Lowe’s claims the phasing out of traditional registers will help make the checkout process more efficient and reduce wait times.

Meanwhile, Target has been hit with the same issue after introducing an item limit for self-checkout users.