Circleville – Dollar General, a retail chain, has announced its decision to scale back on self-checkout services, joining a trend observed among major retailers. Local Circleville store that recently added the feature has turned it off, citing theft issues.
During an earnings call, Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos acknowledged the overreliance on self-checkout systems throughout the year. “We relied too much this year on self-checkout in our stores,” Vasos remarked. “We should be using self-checkout as a secondary checkout vehicle, not a primary […] It’s going to make a world of difference.”
In a move to enhance convenience, speed, and reduce labor costs, Dollar General had expanded self-checkout stations to approximately 19,000 stores in 2022, as reported by Retail Drive. The company even experimented with self-checkout-only stores, aiming to streamline the shopping experience.
However, following concerns over “shrink,” a term used in the retail industry to denote inventory loss, Dollar General has opted to reassess its reliance on self-checkout systems. Consequently, the retailer has announced plans to invest an additional $50 million into labor by the year’s end, bringing their total 2023 investments to $150 million.
This strategic shift suggests that Dollar General may soon prioritize human cashiers over automated self-checkout systems, potentially leading to an increased presence of employees within their stores.
Dollar General recently settled with Ohio over deceptive pricing, The Attorney General auditors found that many of the prices displayed on the shelves did not match the prices charged at the checkout. Even after Yost sued the company on Nov. 1, 2022, some of the same stores continued to charge more than the prices advertised.
