Robert Brown|Target limits self-checkout to 10 items or less: What shoppers need to know

If you want to use Target's self-checkout lanes,Robert Brown you'll have to start limiting your cart to 10 items or less.

The Minneapolis-based retailer is making some checkout changes after recently testing limits on the number of items customers can have in self-checkout lanes. Express self-checkout lanes with limits of 10 items or fewer will be rolled out Sunday, March 17 at most of Target's nearly 2,000 stores nationwide, the company said in an announcement on Thursday.

"While the hours of operation may vary based on store needs, Express Self-Checkout will be available during the busiest shopping times," Target said in the announcement.

Stores will also open more checkout lanes staffed with clerks for shoppers "who have more in their Target carts, need a helping hand, or just enjoy connecting with our team to help them get on their way sooner," the company said.

At each location, "store leaders have the flexibility to open more lanes staffed by team members and set self-checkout hours that are right for their store," Target said.

"Checking out is one of the most important moments of the Target run, and we know that a fast, easy experience –whether at self-checkout or the lanes staffed by our friendly team members – is critical to getting guests on their way quickly," the company said in the announcement.

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Why is Target changing its self-checkout lines?

Back in October, Target spokesperson Brian Harper-Tibaldo told USA TODAY the retailer had begun experimenting with self-checkout lanes limited to 10 items or fewer at select locations "in order to reduce wait times and better understand guest preferences."

Earlier this month, he said pilot tests were continuing at select stores to assess "their impact on the overall guest experience."

The retailer's tests with Express Self-Checkout lanes for customers with 10 items or less found the process was "twice as fast at our pilot stores," the company said. "By having the option to pick self-checkout for a quick trip, or a traditional, staffed lane when their cart is full, guests who were surveyed told us the overall checkout experience was better, too."

Dollar General, other stores look at self-checkout changes

Several companies have been experimenting recently with changes in their self-checkout strategies.

Walmart has let store managers try different staffing options – including removing self-checkout at some stores – to see what works best at their locations. And Costco began cracking down on checking membership cards in self-checkout lines. One reason: an increase in "shrink," from theft or products selling for less than actual prices.

Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos said it would remove self-checkout from more than 300 of its stores, where the most "shrink," occurs. The retailer would also begin converting some or all of the self-checkout registers to assisted-checkout lines in about 9,000 stores, he said during the company's fourth quarter 2023 earnings call with investors on Thursday.

In stores with self-checkout, customers will be limited to five items or less, Vasos said.

Dollar General made the decision after having a company specializing in artificial intelligence assess its transactions, Vasos said, according to a transcript from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

"What we're able to see was how much shrink – true shrink we've had, both purpose shrink, unfortunately, and inadvertent shrink by items not being scanned properly or thinking they scanned it and didn't," he said.

Many retailers increased self-checkout during the pandemic to make it easier for customers and staffers to avoid close contact – and to cope with lack of staffing. Now, retailers are shopping for new models that reflect "the need to control losses and ensure a reasonably acceptable customer experience," Adrian Beck, emeritus professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of Leicester in the U.K., told USA TODAY this week.

He authored the 2022 report “Global Study on Self-Checkout,” which found two-thirds (66%) of the 93 retailers in the survey (29 were from North America) said they thought self-checkout losses were becoming more of a problem in their businesses.

"As the survey showed, if you have too few staff, it can lead to growing levels of customer frustration which in turn can lead to incidents of violence and verbal abuse," Beck said. "Retailers therefore have had to develop a more nuanced operating model."

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