Another Major Retailer in New York Making Big Changes To Self Checkouts

Self checkout at stores is something you either love or hate. Either way we aren't going to see the end of it any time soon. However, these continues to be changes to who can and can't use it at retailers across New York State.

Walmart made some major changes to their self checkouts in 2024 limiting it to 15 items or less at most locations. Even most grocery stores have limited the amount of items you can have if you want to use the self checkout option. Now it appears another retail giant has really changed who can use self checkout at their stores while shopping.

Target Limits Self Checkout

If you head into a Target location you may find that the only people that can use self checkout are people with 10 items or less.  According to Fox, the retailer has rolled these changes out after a year of planning. They claim it is because most customers want an express checkout for the self options, but statistics show that the real reason many retailers are scaling back self checkout is due to an increase in theft.

Read More: Duke's Mayo Now Available at Capital Region Grocery Stores

Target is one of the many retailers that has suffered millions of dollars in loss due to theft. Fox goes on to report that in one instance a California woman was caught stealing $60,000 worth of items by using self checkout.

While I fully welcome a new option for express checkout, I think they should have self checkout options for large orders, too. The Capital Region has many target locations including Central Ave in Colonie, East Greenbush, Clifton Park, Latham and more. These changes will certainly have an impact on local shoppers, especially if they don't open more human operated registers.

Target seems to be the biggest offender in not having enough staff to accommodate people trying to checkout. I hope this doesn't deter me from shopping there. Since Walmart made their change to self checkout I have avoided shopping there because they don't have enough registers and I don't want to spend a half hour in line waiting. The saving is not worth that aggravation.