USA TODAY: …. Big Y, which has 61 Massachusetts and Connecticut stores, opened self-serve lanes in 2003 to speed up the checkout process and save money. But a study found that the opposite has happened.
Checkout times have lengthened as customers struggle with bar codes, coupons and payment methods. And the lanes can’t replace the service provided by a real human being, Big Y says.
Over the past three years, supermarket chain Albertsons LLC, which owns and operates 217 stores in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico, Texas and Utah, has done away with self-serve lanes in all its stores , says spokeswoman Christine Wilcox… (more)