Is self-checkout checking out?

Target customers are claiming — and complaining — that the popular retailer is removing self-checkout stations from stores. However, Target representatives say that isn’t true.

In March 2024, the chain announced plans to limit “express” self-checkout to 10 items at nearly 2,000 U.S. stores amid issues with clunky technology and concerns about rising theft.

Along with paring back customers’ self-checkout hauls, stores have expanded the number of traditional checkout lanes available. 

Reddit user @jxbermudez72 shared a photo two weeks ago showing where the store they shop at had a large, empty space where the self-checkout stations reportedly had been.

“The target I live near completely got rid of self-checkout,” the user wrote.

Plenty of others replied to the thread, saying their local Target had done the same.

However, a company spokesperson countered that claim in a statement to The Post, saying, “Target is not removing self-checkout. We offer it in the vast majority of our stores and have no plans to change this.”

Regardless, shoppers are still not happy with having to wait as an employee scans their items in traditional checkout lines.

“Ugh, I hate this… I just want to get my groceries without forcing people to do more labor,” someone replied to the thread.

“This definitely is not the better option,” one person said after a terrible experience waiting in line. ” I went to my local Target to pick up a flashlight that was on sale. Took me almost a ½ hour. There was a group of people waiting and one girl running herself ragged.”

Another person added: “That’s a shame. I hate having to go thru a manned register. I prefer self-checkout every time.”

Despite customer frustration, Target attributed the change partly to shifting consumer patterns, as shoppers preferred self-checkout during the height of the pandemic when customers sought minimal contact with others.

The shift also conveniently comes as Target has recognized a surge in organized retail crime plaguing its stores — and many other popular retailers — nationwide and forcing some to shutter.

A California thief used Target’s self-checkout service to snatch over $60,000 worth of merchandise during a shoplifting spree spanning 100 visits to the retail store.

In New York, retailers have bemoaned that organized shoplifting rings cost them a staggering $4.4 billion a year to supply the booming shadow resale economy.

Shoplifting in New York City alone rose 64% from June 2019 to June 2023, according to the Council on Criminal Justice.

Thieves and middlemen are selling shoplifted goods on resale sites such as eBay and Facebook Marketplace and filling warehouse spaces at illegal pawn shops, The Post previously reported.