Made an early morning trip to Walmart on Tuesday and discovered all the U-scan cash registers were closed. This was surprising

The store recently expanded the U-scan and cut back on traditional cash registers, the ones where a person processes your purchases. At the same time, it put in gates so that you have to go through the cash register area to exit the store. It isn’t just Walmart. The Loblaws store (Canada’s biggest grocery chain) in the same strip mall recently did the same thing.

I presume the gates help reduce shoplifting, but I find them really annoying. Sometimes I just want to check a price or product availability. I don’t want to have to detour to exit. That’s an issue at Walmart where I have to push past people waiting for a U-scan machine. (The grocery store is better designed so while I do have to go through a gate, I’m not annoying people by appearing to queue jump.)

When I saw all the U-scan machines closed, my first thought was a computer glitch that had shut down the system. I thought I might have to go elsewhere to make my purchase. But there were cashiers open and processing customers, so I got in line.

.When I reached the front of the line, I asked the cashier what was going on with all the closed checkouts. His response? “We’re trying something new.”

I was in a hurry and there were people in line so I didn’t ask what was new about helping customers with their purchases. What is new about returning to the system they used five years ago?

Nor did I point out that if they continue that when the store is busy they will soon lose customers. They took out most of the traditional cash registers with conveyer belts and cashiers, replacing them with self-scanning cash registers. As it is set up now, the store is almost exclusively self-scan machines.

It was amusing though to think that a cashier processing your purchases is something new. My understanding is that, in many cases, the new technology has actually slowed down the purchase process.

Many people apparently struggle to scan their groceries correctly. Especially as produce frequently has no bar code and numbers must be inputted manually. Staff have to be on hand to assist, which negates the reason the stores introduced the technology – cutting down on staff costs.

I’ve certainly read enough online rants from people who felt that they weren’t being paid to be cashiers, and maybe they should be since they were being asked to perform work the store used to do. I think that might be expecting a bit much – but lower grocery prices would be nice.

I don’t shop often at Walmart. The place just doesn’t feel customer friendly. It will be interesting to see if they abandon the self-scanning process in favor of this “new thing.”

Actually assisting customers with their purchases? Do you think it might catch on?