Self-checkout was supposed to cut costs. Instead, it created a problem retailers didn’t anticipate

Stores are cutting back on self-checkout lanes. According to an April survey from Toast, a point-of-sale and restaurant management platform, approximately 36% of 340 small and midsize retail operators said they used self-checkout lanes this year, down from 43% in 2025. That decrease could be attributed to merchandise losses. According to a report from ECR Retail Loss, grocery stores experienced an average 22% increase in merchandise losses in the year after installing self-checkout la...