News

More groceries check out self-service

June 20, 2004

WASHINGTON - The future does not look bright for supermarket-checkout clerks, according to a story on Journalnow.com

Self-checkout machines are becoming more popular with shoppers who want to avoid the lines at the checkout stands.

"This is like an ATM for them. It's quicker and easier," said Jennifer Panetta, a spokeswoman for the six-state Harris Teeter chain, based in Matthews, N.C. "They are in pretty much all our stores."

About one-quarter of grocery chains are trying them now, with about 34,000 machines in use in stores in 2003, said market analyst Greg Buzek, the president of IHL Consulting Group in Franklin, Tenn.

Buzek, who wrote a report on the equipment, predicts that by 2007 there will be 244,000 self-checkout machines in stores and that almost every chain will have some of them.

"The way we shop has changed quite a bit in the last 15 years," he said. "But the checkout lane hasn't changed all that much."

More than half of supermarket customers bring fewer than 15 items to the register, and self-checkout is ideal for them, according to Buzek's report.

Express lanes were set up to speed these customers through, but self-checkout can be even faster. "There's usually nobody in line at self-checkout," Buzek said.