Are Colorado Walmarts Edging Closer to Scrapping Self-Checkout?

Of all the places that Coloradans do their shopping, Walmart ranks among the most-visited stores. Most larger cities have at least one in their town, from Pueblo to Loveland; how many Colorado Walmart shoppers would be disappointed if they all took out self-checkout?

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It's hard to believe, but there may be a couple of generations of Coloradans out there that don't know about a time before there weren't any self-checkout lanes in any stores. It boggles the mind, doesn't it? The first self-checkout lane was in a Kroeger store in 1986; 40 years later, people love them as much as they hate them. What if they were to go away, completely, though? How would we all feel?

Are Self-Checkout Lanes Worth the Quickness?

The self-checkout lanes at Walmart have a way of making me feel self-conscious: "Am I going fast enough for the person waiting?" "Where's the code to scan?" "Why it always such a hassle getting things into the bag that I brought?" I just feel stupid. I'm sure I'm not alone, but at least I'm not waiting behind someone in a regular lane that has $300 worth of goods to get scanned.

How Many Coloradans Aren't Paying for Things in Self-Checkout Lanes?

According to MSN.com, Walmart lost over $6.5 billion from theft in 2023, with a majority of that thievery happening in the self-checkout lanes; that has lead to Walmart continuing to take self-checkout lanes out of some stores. Yes, they do have a staffer watching over the self-checkout area, but it looks like they can't catch everything: $6.5 billion is a lot of money. If we "can't have nice things," like self-checkout, what's to keep stores like Walmart from just eliminating them, altogether?