Sam’s Club plans to eliminate all checkout and self-checkout lanes

Stembolt

Sam’s Club plans to eliminate all checkout lanes and self-checkout in favor of Scan & Go

Sam’s Club announced plans to remove all self-checkout kiosks and traditional checkout lanes nationwide,. The retail warehouse chain will rely solely on its app-based “Scan & Go” system, which allows customers to scan and pay for items as they shop.

Donoreo

For a second I thought this was going to be a round about way of saying they were shutting down 😃. If they want to get rid of older customers, this will do it.

AMDUSER

Donoreo Not everyone wants to pay with card either. There are quite a few locally, that still pay with cash.

Kathy_9

I’ve been using the scan and go feature at Sam’s Club for years and love it but I too wonder how this will impact those older or less tech savvy shoppers. I can pretty much guarantee you it was not an older person who came up with this idea. There needs to be at least one checkout area with a cashier that accepts cash.

FrankCole

Scan and go absolutely rocks! In addition you no longer have to show your receipt to be checked by a human anymore. You just walk thru the smart arch prior to the exit. Getting in and out of the store has been sped up massively since they’ve made these improvements. These technologies are something all stores should embrace if it saves me time and hassle.

Go Sams!

FrankCole

Kathy_9 I too wonder how this will impact those older

I agree in part but I will be 80 in June and I love it. I think it’s more of an individual challenge.

Technological progress challenging us geezers is something that is older than us ourselves. It has been a challenge to learn new ways from everything from cars to computers. I remember when my elderly mom first got a push button Touch Tone phone in the 1980s. She was in her late 60s and scoffed at it as pushing buttons on a silly “space phone” for months. Eventually she adapted.

With scan and go I think success is in the intuitiveness of how it is designed. Back in the day we used to refer to that as whether or not something was “user friendly”. If you make something easy enough to use, any monkey like me will be able to use it. 🐵

I remember reading that some store tried and failed with an approach where you could just walk out of the store with stuff and it would automatically ring you up. If they can get that working they can have my money.

Donoreo

I thought using the app would be the limit, never even considered paying in cash because….paying in cash is weird to me now.

Bobcat00

FrankCole I’ll never step one foot into a Sam’s but what is a “smart arch”?

FrankCole You just walk thru the smart arch prior to the exit.

px_eliezer_

FrankCole If you make something easy enough to use, any monkey like me will be able to use it.

But why should we have to?

Next thing, Goodyear or Firestone will want me to mount my own tires.

Will there be ANY services left anymore?

Self-haircuts may be coming next.

As well:

I’ve been a Costco member for years.

I signed up for a Sam’s membership a few months ago because of a discount offer.

I was not happy that Sam’s does NOT give you a membership card unless you really push for it.

Rather, they want you to bring up the Sam’s app on your phone.

That’s not good for me—a lot of 2FA logins relate to my cellphone, and I try to NOT want to take it out and show it to the store workers or the scanners. I tend to keep in in secure inner pockets.

Anyway—

ping, ping, PING! Ricochet Rabbit!

I just told Sam’s (using the app) to CANCEL my membership at renewal time. ✔

COSTCO for the win, for me.

takeahike

px_eliezer_

Every time you check out with the self-service they try to sneak getting your payment method saved in their system for your “convenience.” Only the savvy can bypass this happening with a small little “X” in the upper right-hand corner. No thank you–has there been a major outfit that hasn’t had a huge breach in the last few years? Doesn’t seem like something I will like as I understand that Scan and Go requires a saved payment method. Costco is equally bad, asking for your papers, please electronically to even get in.

px_eliezer_

takeahike Every time you check out with the self-service they try to sneak getting your payment method saved in their system for your “convenience.”

Another reason to say Sayōnara Sam’s.

takeahike Costco is equally bad, asking for your papers, please electronically to even get in.

I can’t blame them for that, Costco makes most of their profit from the annual membership dues, not from the products they sell, and they’ve had to cut down on unauthorized card-sharing.

dave

It’s not geezerdom that causes me to prefer humans – it’s my ornery refusal to do unpaid work.

Astyanax

Stembolt Sam’s Club plans to eliminate all checkout lanes and self-checkout

Yay! Everything’s free! 😜

AMDUSER

Kathy_9 I can pretty much guarantee you it was not an older person who came up with this idea. There needs to be at least one checkout area with a cashier that accepts cash.

I agree, but this move may end up causing people to go elsewhere, like Costco.

FrankCole

Bobcat00 I’ll never step one foot into a Sam’s but what is a “smart arch”?

https://www.pcmag.com/news/sams-club-swaps-receipt-checkers-for-automated-ai-tech-at-120-stores

I never have to show my receipt to anyone anymore.

First announced in CES 2024 in January, Sam’s Club rolled out automated receipt-checking technology at 120 stores in Q1 and plans to do the same in all 600 stores by year’s end.

FrankCole

px_eliezer_ But why should we have to?

Next thing, Goodyear or Firestone will want me to mount my own tires.

Will there be ANY services left anymore?

Self-haircuts may be coming next.

I don’t understand the angst here. Does somebody put money in a Coke machine for you? Do you remember when we used to have elevator operators? I think the outrage is exaggerated.

FrankCole

dave my ornery refusal to do unpaid work

Do you do your own laundry at home? Cook your own meals? Cut your own grass? Do your own shopping? That’s unpaid work. You can hire other people to do most of those things.

dave

FrankCole

So what? I have a choice - I choose not to shop in stores where they want me to do the work of store employees.

The point you (intentionally?) miss is that I refuse to do unpaid labour for the benefit of the store. At home, I don’t expect anyone to cut my grass for free, i.e. make them do unpaid labour for my benefit. When I have someone cut my grass, they get paid.

As it says in the bible, the labourer is worthy of his hire.

px_eliezer_

FrankCole

I’m not quite old enough for elevator operators.

But having to press a button in an elevator is much less of an issue than the customer having to scan all of their own purchases.

Also this new system will:

1) Increase potential for theft.

2) Increase potential for being falsely ACCUSED of theft, if the customer accidentally forgets to scan something, or if the scanner does not pick it up properly.

dave

FrankCole ? I think the outrage is exaggerated.

I think the claim of ‘outrage’ is exaggerated. I see no outrage in responses here, mere dislike for store policies.