Target has not changed its self-checkout policy, retailer says, despite recent reports about ‘shrink’

Target Corp. is pushing back on media reports this week that it has changed its policies around self-checkout technology in response to shoplifting or customer dissatisfaction.

A number of news outlets reported over the weekend and yesterday that the retail giant has limited self-checkout registers to 10 items or fewer, but Target made that announcement more than a year ago.

“Target is not removing self-checkout,” a spokesperson told Fast Company when reached for comment. “We offer it in the vast majority of our stores and have no plans to change this.”

The company declined to share additional details about how theft—or “shrink” in industry parlance—has shaped its self-checkout policies. At the time of its original announcement in March 2024, Target said its 10-items-or-fewer rule was based on “guest feedback.”

In a fact sheet updated this week, Target said that its transaction times have improved at both human-run and automated checkout lanes since the policy was implemented and that customers typically like having both options.

Does self-checkout actually impact inventory “shrink”?

Some surveys have indicated that self-checkout options can and do contribute to shoplifting, as highlighted in a research roundup published by Capital One in February. Even as the technology has become commonplace over the last two decades, companies are still trying to strike the right balance between being technology forward and letting technology run roughshod over the customer experience—and sometimes they admittedly veer too far in the latter direction.

At the same time, our perception of how bad the problem is might not always match reality: While 69% of respondents to a 2023 LendingTree survey said that they believed self-checkout lanes make it easier to steal, only 15% admitted to actually doing so.

Is 15% bad enough to abandon self-checkout in favor of more human cashiers? That’s up to retailers and their accountants to figure out. In the short term, don’t expect big changes at Target. The company only admits that it will “continue evolving to match guests with the right checkout options so they can get what they need.”