Are Oklahoma Walmart’s Getting Rid of Self-Checkout?

There's a rumor floating around social media--Facebook, Twitter-X, TikTok, etc--that Walmart is getting rid of the self-checkout in stores and going back to having more checkers like it used to be. While Walmart has recently made small changes to self-checkout, this was worth a deeper dive.

Are they really ditching self-checkout? Yes... sort of.

Self-checkout is costing some stores more than just paying workers.

It's important to note that while Walmart is getting rid of self-checkout, it's only in select stores and it's likely due to theft.

Shoplifting and scamming the self-checkout line isn't anything new. It's been happening since Walmart forced shoppers into it. Maybe you've even seen it on social media, when "influencers" ring up a $4 television using the UPC code off a bag of chips. It's not a life hack, it's theft.

Here's the funny thing, Walmart doesn't put too much thought into caring about the occasional theft. Much like how convenience stores will sell gasoline at a loss just to get people into the store, Walmart will weigh the losses vs. cost. Sure, they lost X-amount of dollars in self-checkout this month but hiring workers to check customers out of have cost more... Still profiting.

It's in certain locations where theft far outweighs the true cost of staffing that self-checkouts are being removed.

Odds are, if your local Walmart is ditching your self-checkout, you're store is in a bad neighborhood where theft is extremely high.

Most welcome the change.

While it may be a sign of a bad neighborhood, people are welcoming the culture back to cashiers. Especially among older adults who don't want to bag their own groceries. Boomers.

I like helping myself, will there still be self-checkouts?

Yeah. This isn't a nationwide thing, it's only affecting certain stores across the state and country. If contactless checkout is your thing, it'll still be your thing. You might have to change stores in the near future, but you'll find that option somewhere close by.