A recent survey by Toast, a company that provides point-of-sale and restaurant management tools, shows that about a third of 340 small and midsize retail businesses now use self-checkout systems, down from 43 percent in 2025. This decline comes despite the fact that three-quarters of these businesses—mostly convenience stores, grocery shops, and bottle stores—still plan to invest heavily in other technologies, including artificial intelligence. Retailers have cited problems with self-checkout systems, including inefficiency and increased theft. Social media is filled with complaints from shoppers about the experience, ranging from having to scan and bag their own items—tasks that used to be handled by employees—to dealing with loud or awkward prompts from machines. One user on X (formerly Twitter) described being stopped by an employee after using self-checkout, who asked to see his receipt. Another user expressed discomfort with feeling watched by store employees or surveillance cameras while using self-checkout. There is limited data on whether shoppers overall prefer self-checkout over human cashiers. Some appreciate the ability to avoid interacting with others, especially after a long day or when not in the mood to chat. However, others see the lack of human interaction as a drawback. A common argument in favor of traditional cashier roles is preserving jobs for humans rather than replacing them with machines or robots. Retailers have reported increasing losses linked to self-checkout. A June report from ECR Retail Loss, a research group backed by retailers, found that grocery stores saw an average 22 percent increase in merchandise losses in the year after installing self-checkout. These losses include both theft and accidental errors, such as missed scans and incorrect product selections. Stores with self-checkout had average losses that were 33 percent higher than those without it, according to the report. In 2024, some major retailers began limiting the number of items customers could bring to self-checkout. Target set a 10-item limit nationwide, while Walmart tested a 15-item limit at some stores. Schnucks, a supermarket chain, limited self-checkout to shoppers with 10 items or fewer. Other retailers have reduced their use of self-checkout due to concerns about “shrink,” a term that refers to losses from theft, accidental errors, damaged goods, and inventory discrepancies. Dollar General removed self-checkout from about 12,000 stores in 2024, while Five Below also reduced its use of the technology that year. In Long Beach, California, a 2025 ordinance required stores offering self-checkout to limit each lane to 15 items and maintain at least one staffed checkout lane. According to the Toast survey, part of the move away from self-checkout is about improving efficiency. Around 31 percent of retailers listed simplifying operations as one of their top three business goals, up 12 percentage points from the previous year. A quarter of respondents mentioned the use of new technology. Retailers are investing in tools that can reduce manual labor and give them more control over pricing and orders. Digital shelf labels make price changes faster and easier, while order-ready boards help streamline the process of preparing and handing out orders. The use of electronic shelf labels increased by 11 percentage points year-over-year, while the use of order-ready boards increased by 9 points. Retailers are increasingly exploring AI, with 88 percent of those surveyed believing the technology will make their businesses more efficient.