Big Y Supermarkets Dump Self-Service Checkout Lanes
SPRINGFIELD (AP) -- A Massachusetts-based supermarket chain is doing away with its self-service checkout lanes, saying they haven't been able to replace the friendly human cashier.
Big Y says the self-serve lanes will be phased out by the end of the year, and more standard service lanes added.
The chain opened self-serve lanes in 2003 as a way to speed up checkout and save money. But it found checkout times actually lengthened as customers grappled with bar codes, coupons and payment methods.
WBZ-TV's Paul Burton reports
Big Y added that the lanes can't replace the service provided by a human being.
Another chain, Boise, Idaho-based Albertson's LLC, has said it's phasing out self-service lanes. Kroger says it's keeping the self-service option because customers like it, although one remodeled store replaced it with another quick-checkout method.
Big Y operates 61 stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)