Good idea for groceries, bad idea for GM products. GM products could run high shrink.

I actually heard that they tried that in some K-marts a while back and the shrinkage was so bad that they took them out. I think if it worked really well for non-grocery stores, then we would see more of these self-checkout lanes not only at Sears but at Target, Kohl's, JCPenney, etc. I honestly think that these companies would love a permanent reduction in payroll by reducing the needed number of cashier hours, but in general merchandise sales the human element is just too essential. And it keep stealing much lower than what it could be.

Bad idea. Retailers have tried this and have backed of because to much merchandise walks away

I've used them at Hom.... another store. Still need one or two employees for four checkouts but they seem to work for the small item shopper.

What about using RFID tags & having the checkout be "automatic". This would work on non-grocery as well as grocery. For an interesting example, check into how the Algonquin, IL library uses RFID to check out a whole stack of books at one time, just by placing the stack on the check-out machine (can handle 30 items per second). http://www.checkpointsystems.com/docs/sixlibraries.doc

I used to work for one of our well known competitors and plans were discussed of implementing a system where every item would have a RFID tag and you could push a full cart thru a sensor and it would automatically read every item and ring them up at the same time! Not sure if they or any other retailer will ever do this, but it seems like it would be a nice idea if it worked right. We had TERRIBLE shrink thru the self checks when I worked there. You had to stand and watch people like a hawk. I can't tell you how many packages of meat and dvds etc people "accidentally" forgot to scan and would then get all defensive and beligerent when you stopped them from walking away!

GottaDance, that's pretty convenient for your library to offer this service! Self checkout could save a lot of time, but it sounds like there are a few pitfalls too. I think the majority of people are trustworthy and would scan and pay for their items. One thing I noticed at the self checkout lane at my local grocery store is that the technology gets doesn't always give the right sale price or gets confused about which items are in my basket.

I personally hate going to KMart and having to stand in line for 15 minutes to purchase two items while my children are going crazy on me. I prefer self checkout lanes and use them in every store that has them. I agree, there are probably stores in which items walk away, but isn't that why they place people at the self checkout lanes?!

Hi, Erica, self-checkouts are a nuisance. You can count on needing assistance from an employee whether it's wrong price,dept. code,etc.,.

I don't think this would work in a retail store like Sears - it doesn't work well at the grocery either. Nearly every time I have tried self checkout at groceries I have needed a cashier to help because the system didn't work properly.

lol so funny Sears or kmart will never have self checkout why because you wont open your own sears credit card in self checkout its all about selling you something else...

I don't care for self-checkout. It ALWAYS takes longer at the grocery store for me to use them than just go through a lane. I can only imagine the havoc in Sears. Just how am I supposed to self-checkout a lawn tractor or a refrigerator? I'll be glad when they get rid of self-checkout completely. They are nothing more than an excuse to not have proper customer service.

I have used many self-checkout lines and have found that normally I have to have a clerk come and help as prices are wrong, or have a product that UPC will not read and nor can I as it is to badly wrinkled to the human eye also. Also alot of products have special button's that have to be taken off products in order to walk out of the store with it. Just need more checkout lines that are open! When there is are self-checkout lanes open, I advoid them and prefer to stand in line and watch the prices going across the counter. Nothng is more madding then to get home and have paid 6 to 7 dollars more on a product! Most good cashiers will catch the mistae the computer will not!

those stores that have a minimum of cashiers on duty, at times, on purpose, should seriously petiton Sears Corp on self checkout process as it reduces their work staff . If any trouble using this process, folks at the customer service desk can handle any issues that arise with self checkout with customers who use it. but alas, then Sears wouldn't get all those questions asked at the checkout line, which Sears is infamous for, maybe that is why they wont do it and if they incorporated these multiple questions into the touch screen display before checking out, people would get fed up and leave....

People if you are looking for service and you are at sears you are in the wrong store.

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Do you want to contribute even more to the unemployment situation in this country?

I think that everyone could use a little more help here and there. I also understand that all the major department stores have had to reduce the amount of employees due to the economy. Will you please consider more closely reviewing the ones you keep? Too much favoritism with the *********** does a great disservice to the good employees that you do have. This goes for all stores. Dedicated employees get sick and tired and eventually leave then the higher management wonders why so and so left, (he/she was such a good worker"). That's just my opinion

As someone in the logistics field, I can tell you that there is a LOT of opportunity for RFID. However, its full capabilities have yet to be realized (or have been discovered but not yet rolled out) for two reasons. The first reason: There are still a few kinks. Last year, while traveling in Germany, I visited Metro RFID, a leading innovator in the way RFID will change the entire process from the warehouse, to the storefront, to the cash register. Trust me when I say that the things that they can do are AMAZING!!! (Check it out here: http://www.future-store.org/fsi-internet/html/en/375/index.html) However, RFID tags still interfere with each other when they are too close or back to back, and have a hard time being read around any packaging with aluminium foil or items like bottled water. Until they can come up with a more viable solution, retailers aren't ready to buy on the hope and prayer that it will be fine... And reason number two: The cost. RFID is still a very expensive technology to adopt. While the RFID tags are relatively inexpensive, they are still more expensive than what is currently used, and it would take time and money for suppliers to change the process to "tag" everything for a certain retailer, especially when it is not yet mainstream. Much more costly would be the equipment that the retailers themselves would have to purchase. The "active readers" of the tags, depending on where/what they are used for, are very expensive and could be located anywhere from shipping/receiving and inventory tracking all the way to the cash register. It's a GREAT idea, and a GREAT technology! But installing it all the way down to the store level would nearly deplete any company's balance sheet, especially in the current economy! Wait a few years until the cost of the technology goes down, and I'm sure you'll start to see it more often...

As far as the Self-Check-out idea! That is a good idea as long as you still have checkout clerks available to prevent problems with checkout. It should be express checkout with payment by credit card or debit card only.

You KNOW the machine will somehow ask and expect an answer to the miriad of questions the human machine operators are presently having to ask you? If the barcode doesn't scan, do you know how to manually enter in the SKU? What is the code for retrieving an item from the floor, versus the store warehouse, versus you got it with you at the counter? Sears is not quite LIKE the other retail stores that have those self-checkers. I'm sure they're working on it, though.

I work in one of the stores that had self-checkouts when they were being tested. Even with one or two people to watch four registers, too much merchandise still just walked out of the store. You'll notice that Wal-mart is also pulling their self-checkouts from their stores for the same reasons. It's just another example of honest people losing out because of what those who are not so honest do. Shoplifters wait and watch for just the right time. Some of them even bring their friends to "distract" the associates so they can get what they want.

Problem with self checkout isthe salespeople are commissioned if you check yourself out there will no longer be salespeople to help you as they will not get paid

While it's true that self-checkout lanes may be faster, they also deprive a real human of a job. For that reason, I won't use them.

The retail workers who are commenting should explain what "shrinkage" means for the benefit of us civilians. I gather it means shop lifting. The local Albertsons store has self-checkout lines and I'll use them if I am in a hurry and have only a few items. I even know how to enter the identification numbers for produce items. In the same conditions, I'd use them at the local Kmarts if they were available. As to unemploying people, when you use a credit card you unemploy check printers. When you use an ATM, you unemploy bank tellers. I don't see self-checkout machines in a worse or better light than those examples. The general trend of technology is clear. In the future, products will have identification that can be read automatically. I think it will not only identify the type of product but it will distinguish individual items. It may seem silly for a roll of wintergreen LifeSavers to have a serial number to distinguish it from another roll of wintergreen LifeSavers, but I think that will eventually happen since inventory control in stores would like to distinguish products to that level of resolution. No doubt the checkout process will automatically read this information. Whether it is a good idea to introduce self-checkout machines right away depends on evaluating current technology and public tastes. I'll have to leave it to people like EricB to evaluate current technology. Public tastes gradually change. Right now, the Albertsons self-checkout machines are heavily used by the public when the store is busy. When they were first introduced they were not much used. Only a human cashier can give you a newspaper coupon that saves you a dollar or point out that one of your soda bottles is leaking.

i dont think the main problem with self check outs causings a high amount of shrink is in people who "accidently" forget items in the cart, ive seen it happen even with a cashier, you put some soda in the bottom part and forget its there, i dont think that shrink would raise much, the major problem i see with that is security tags on clothing. If we make it so that a customer can take it off themselves then it totally defeats the purpose of them and not having them is just as bad. But if you kept them on and needed an employee to remove them then you may as well skip the self checkout all together.