In South Philadelphia, the nation’s largest retailer has begun removing self-checkout kiosks at one of its stores, replacing them with cashier-led lanes in a move that cuts against decades of momentum toward automation. For a company that helped popularize self-checkout in the late 1990s, the shift is not quite a reversal.
Walmart said the decision was driven by an evaluation of customer shopping habits at that specific location. The Philadelphia store is one of five in the city transitioning back to traditional lanes, a localized adjustment rather than a wholesale retreat. The company did not cite theft as a reason, though industrywide concerns about shrink have hovered over self-checkout for years.
Nationally, Walmart is in the midst of a sweeping transformation, planning to remodel 650 stores across the United States in 2026 after completing a similar number of upgrades across 47 states and Puerto Rico in 2025. The remodels underscore the company’s investment in physical retail even as it fine-tunes how customers move through it.
Self-checkout has been popular. Nearly four in five shoppers use self-checkout regularly, according to Capital One Shopping Research data cited by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Speed is its primary appeal: 70% of shoppers say they choose self-checkout because it is faster, while others prefer bagging their own items or avoiding long lines. The North American market for self-checkout technology is projected to more than double, reaching $5.43 billion by 2030.
But the same systems have drawn criticism from labor advocates and policymakers who argue that self-checkout shifts work onto customers while reducing cashier jobs. That tension is increasingly finding its way into legislation. In Massachusetts, a bill introduced in early 2025 would limit grocery stores to no more than eight self-checkout stations at a time and require one staffed lane for every two self-checkouts. It would also mandate that a single employee monitor no more than two kiosks, and that those employees be dedicated solely to that task. Similar proposals have surfaced in Rhode Island and Connecticut, while lawmakers in states including California, New York, Ohio and Washington are weighing broader restrictions—from capping the number of items eligible for self-checkout to requiring minimum staffing levels.
Retailers are trying to balance efficiency and oversight, as theft remains a persistent concern. A LendingTree survey found that 15% of self-checkout users admitted to intentionally stealing an item, and 44% of those respondents said they planned to do so again. In response, companies have experimented with a range of strategies. Some, like Target, have imposed item limits, rebranding lanes as “Express Self-Checkout” to keep transactions quick and easier to monitor. Others have leaned further into technology, betting that smarter systems can solve the problems they created.
Among the most aggressive adopters is Sam’s Club, Walmart’s membership-based subsidiary, which has been expanding its use of AI to streamline the checkout process altogether. The company said it has deployed AI-powered exit technology to more than 120 locations, allowing customers to leave without stopping for receipt checks. Using computer vision, the system verifies purchases automatically, reducing exit times by 23% and delivering what the company describes as a “friction-free” experience for more than half of its members. Executives have framed the shift as a reallocation of labor rather than its elimination, freeing employees to assist customers instead of policing exits.
Mobile app–based systems, like Sam’s Club’s Scan & Go, allow shoppers to ring up items as they move through the store, effectively dissolving the checkout line. Competitors are experimenting with similar tools, while also testing smart carts equipped with sensors and cameras that track items in real time.
Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” technology, once seen as the most radical iteration of cashier-free retail, continues to find footing in smaller, high-traffic environments like airports and stadiums.
