Love it or hate it, Publix is the latest to join the self-checkout trend. More on the way
Notice something familiar on your latest grocery run to Publix? Familiar, as in you are seeing self-checkout lanes at more and more retailers like Target, Whole Foods, Winn-Dixie, Walmart and others, but not quite so much at the “shopping is a pleasure” Florida chain?
Yep, self checkout has come to Publix and more are on the way.
“We’re always evaluating how to best serve our customers and self-checkout is one of those considerations,” said Publix media relations manager Lindsey Willis. “The self-checkout lane is another extension of customer service if our customer chooses to access it.”
Currently, Willis says more than 600 stores of the Lakeland-based chain’s 1,306 — almost half — have self-checkout lanes. In addition to Florida’s 838 locations, there are 197 in Georgia, 83 in Alabama, 65 in South Carolina, 53 in Tennessee, 51 in North Carolina and 19 in Virginia.
“Where we are able to we will offer self-checkout,” she said. As stores go up for remodel we will offer self-checkout if there is space.”
The Pinecrest Publix location at 13401 South Dixie Hwy. near The Falls is among the most recent existing stores that saw the addition of two rows of self-checkout aisles about two weeks ago. The Publix at the Kendall Town and Country mall at 8250 Mills Dr. does not have the self-checkout lanes.
Not yet, anyway.
Publix’s new self-checkout lanes accept only digital or credit card transactions, no cash. But they accept all of the credit cards staffed cashier lanes take, as well as Apple Pay and the Publix app.
Store associates also stand near the machines to assist customers as you would also see at your nearby Target, Whole Foods and other chains with the feature.
Willis would not say whether Publix had cut staff as self-checkout lanes crop up at new and existing stores.
Self-checkout lanes are spreading at retailers across the country, a trend that began after the COVID pandemic first hit in March 2020.
CNN reported that in 2020, 29% of transactions at food retailers were processed via self-checkout, up from 23% the year prior, according to the latest data from the Food Marketing Institute-The Food Industry Association.
According to San Francisco-based Grand View Research, the U.S. self-checkout systems market size was valued at $1.26 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 11.3% from 2021 to 2028, according to Grand View Research.
Customers who use self-checkout machines tend to prefer the ability to get in and out of the stores quicker, without having to wait in lines to pay for a small basket of groceries.
But not everyone is a fan.
In September, The Wall Street Journal ran a feature on the growth of self-checkout options under the cheeky headline, More Self-Checkout is Coming, No Matter How Much You Hate It.
“Grocery stores short on labor are increasingly relying on customers to ring themselves up. The transition isn’t always seamless,” The Wall Street Journal noted.
“The machines have a very high failure rate to scans — you end up having to wait a long time for a human to unblock your register. The platforms are too small if you are buying a lot of stuff & there is no way to pause 2 bag your stuff. It’s a hassle now, but it will get better,” posted an online reader on the Journal’s Twitter feed.
