ST. LOUIS — A big change is coming to every Schnucks location starting Feb. 1.
Shoppers at numerous Schnucks stores around St. Louis recently noticed signs posted near exits that said the chain's self-checkouts will start limiting purchases to 10 items or less. 5 On Your Side reached out to Schnucks asking for details on the new policy, and a store representative confirmed the change affects each of the chain's locations.
"Self-checkout lanes in all of our stores will be limited to customers who have 10 items or less to purchase," the grocer said in an email to 5 On Your Side. "Customers with more than 10 items will be redirected to our staffed checkout lanes in order to complete their purchases."
The store said the primary purpose of the policy change is to improve customer service and checkout efficiency. However, a store representative also said they expect the change to lower shopping thefts.
"Because self-checkouts are more susceptible to theft, this item limit will help us maintain our costs while keeping the prices lower for our customers," Schnucks said. "When self-checkouts were first introduced, they were intended for smaller orders. Over time, larger orders began moving through self-checkouts, and we are hoping to address that concern."
Schnucks is the latest grocer to go through what's being called a "self-checkout reckoning." Numerous stores across the nation, including Walmart, Target and multiple local store chains have made adjustments to their self-checkout systems over the past year. Some retailers are adding restrictions and others are closing self-checkouts entirely.
READ MORE: Self-checkout technology faces a reckoning
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