
Dollar General is rolling back self-checkout in thousands of stores
CNN
Dollar General is removing self-checkout stations from 300 stores and changing self-checkout strategies in thousands of other stores after shoplifting and customer frustration with the technology.
Dollar General is backing away from the self-checkout trend in retail. The company is pulling out self-checkout stands in 300 stores that have the highest levels of shoplifting and merchandise losses. In 9,000 other stores, Dollar General is converting some or all of its self-checkout registers to regular checkout with cashiers. And in another 4,500 or so stores, Dollar General is limiting self-checkout to purchases of five items or less. Dollar General said the moves will help it reduce shrink — the retail industry term for shoplifting, employee theft, damaged products, administrative errors, online fraud and other factors. Dollar General has skeleton staffing levels in stores and is more vulnerable to shoplifting and other merchandise losses than many other retailers, retail analysts say. “We believe these actions have the potential to have a material and positive impact on shrink,” CEO Todd Vasos said on a call with analysts Thursday. “Shrink” was mentioned 37 times on the call. Vasos said Dollar General made the decision after using artificial intelligence to analyze hundreds of thousands of purchases at self-checkout. The company said it was able to determine which stores had the highest levels of stolen merchandise and mis-scanned items. Dollar General is the latest retailer to backtrack on self-checkout.

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