Can regular checkout lanes be a thing of the past?

Kroger, the nation’s largest supermarket is now experimenting with an all self-checkout store in Franklin, Tennessee. It uses the new belt scanners that you saw a year ago. The initial reaction from shoppers we spoke with was positive.

These new-style lanes are much more convenient than the old-fashioned self-check lanes where you had o little room to place all of yourself. Kroger’s Jen Moore says the chain is expanding these belted lanes to other stores, but says it has no plans to go to an all self-checkout model elsewhere.

“We have implemented a self-checkout model at a location in our Nashville division where customers were already primarily using self-checkout. Kroger associates remain at checkout, assisting customers scan and bag groceries. No reduction in labor occurred as a result of this change .”

Some of the shoppers said they like the new belted self-scan lanes.

Sure, anything is possible in the future but for now, most stores will keep human checkout clerks, so you don’t waste your money.