Shoppers who use some Target self-checkouts now have to limit themselves to 10 items or fewer.
"In select stores we are testing self-checkout lanes of 10 items or fewer in order to reduce wait times and better understand guest preferences," Target told Business Insider.
The retailer did not say how many stores are involved in the experiment, but CNN reports that the limit applies at select self-checkout kiosks "at a handful of stores."
One of the stores with the limited-item self-checkout kiosks is in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, which is home to Target's corporate headquarters, the Star Tribune reported on Wednesday. There, customers encounter signs reading "self-checkout is now 10 items or fewer" at some, though not all, of the kiosks, according to the Star Tribune.
Target hasn't disclosed whether customer theft played a role in launching the test. In September, Target said that it would close nine stores, citing violence and business impacts from theft. Target executives have talked about rising "shrink," or product losses, for over a year, usually attributing the problem to theft.
Crime data and a review of retailers' comments on theft reveal that theft might be overstated as a problem at stores.
Self-checkout has been around for decades, and many retailers have embraced it as a way to save money that they would otherwise use to pay human cashiers.
But self-checkout has been facing a reckoning lately thanks to theft and other problems.
Like Target, some retailers have experimented with or instituted tweaks to their self-checkout system. Costco employees now check shoppers' membership cards before allowing them to use self-checkout in an effort to reduce customers sharing memberships.
Other retailers are removing some of their self-checkout kiosks entirely. This fall, Walmart pulled self-checkout from three stores in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Walmart's self-checkout systems have annoyed shoppers, who say that the kiosks often prompt an employee to intervene even when the customer isn't trying to steal anything.
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