When you walk into an Albertson’s supermarket, you can find pretty much anything you want, from soup to nuts. But one thing you won’t be able to find in many of the chain’s stores soon is a self-checkout lane.
Albertson’s LLC, which operates 217 stores in Florida, Texas and five other states, said this month it would eliminate self-checkouts from all its locations to promote more customer interaction. The decision generated enormous reaction among msnbc.com readers, who expressed strong opinions about the merits of the technology.
But love it or hate it, the self-checkout phenomenon is not disappearing from the retail scene anytime soon.
Self-checkout suppliers raked in $524.1 million worldwide in 2010, a 46 percent increase from 2007, according to technology research firm VDC Research Group, which projects growth of 84 percent over the next five years. As technology improves, self-checkout likely will migrate into store aisles as customers armed with smart phones use new apps to scan and pay for items on the spot.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: MSNBC
