Target shoppers nationwide stranded at check-out lines amid register system outage
Checkout systems at Target stores in Miami-Dade County and across the country crashed Saturday, causing long lines and confusion among customers, for at least two hours.
The nationwide crash wasn’t completely fixed until about 6 p.m., according to a tweet from the retail chain. Target apologized for the inconvenience and confirmed all of the registers were back online after what it described as “an internal technology issue.”
“After an initial but thorough review, we can confirm that this was not a data breach or security-related issue, and no guest information was compromised at any time,” the statement read.
It remains unclear how many of the 1,850 stores in the U.S. were affected, but multiple locations in Miami-Dade confirmed they were temporarily unable to process transactions.
At the Target in Midtown Miami, roughly 15 shoppers were waiting out the hour-long crash Saturday afternoon, while some left their carts and walked out.
“It’s down,” said Mariela Alivea, a team member at the store. “They are working” to fix it.
The Target at Pinecrest Place, where an employee confirmed the system had been down for an hour and only briefly brought back online before crashing again.
An employee from the Super Target located at Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise confirmed the store’s cashier system was down for about two hours. The woman, who refused to be identified, works at the Guest Services Desk and said she didn’t know what issue was exactly but that it was fixed at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
Customers from across the country took to social media to broadcast their gripes to the world.
“After 45 minutes, I give up,” tweeted Lisa Thompson from Washington, D.C. “Avoid target today as the registers are down globally.”
“This is how you bring America to a standstill,” tweeted Nancy Yang, a digital producer with Minnesota Public Radio. She posted a photo of a malfunctioning cash register there.
One father in Maryland said he and his daughter were looking on the bright side, enjoying Starbucks drinks while waiting in line.
“All the registers at #Target are down nationwide but we’re making the most of it,” posted Dan Clemens on Twitter.
This story was originally published June 15, 2019 at 3:53 PM.
.JPG)
