‘I have 17 items’: Walmart shopper scans more than 15 items at self-checkout. Then a worker intervenes

Retailers, like Walmart, keep flip-flopping on their self-checkout policies. For example, sometimes Walmart employees enforce a "15 items or less" policy at self-checkout, and sometimes they don't

And it's getting really annoying for customers. For some, it might be the last straw.

Woman denied self-checkout over too many items

In a trending video with more than 42,000 views, Walmart customer Julie Ann (@disneygirl73) said she's over shopping at Walmart after this experience.

"I'm so mad," Julie Ann said.

Julie Ann explained that after she was done picking up a few items, including some dog treats, she looked down at her cart to see if it would be more prudent to go through shelf checkout or a traditional register.

Seeing that she only had about 15 items, Julie Ann said she headed to self-checkout.

But after ringing everything up herself, she said the machine wouldn't let her pay with her card, instead stating an associate was needed.

The associate told her that because she had more than 15 items, she couldn't use self-checkout, Julie Ann said. Julie Ann said she had 17 items.

Julie Ann said she was confused about why the store associate was insistent on the rule since the self-checkout area wasn't busy at all. But, being amenable to the rules, Julie Ann said she asked if she could put back two of the dog bones she bought.

"She wouldn't do it," Julie Ann said, surprised.

"'Nope, your whole order is canceled. Put everything back in your shopping cart. You have to go to one of the registers,'" she recalled the worker instructing her.

So what did she do?

"Guess what I did? I left my cart," Julie Ann said.

At that point, she said she was so appalled by the way Walmart treated her that she was willing to travel halfway across the city to get what she needed from a different retailer.

"I won't be shopping with you, Walmart, if that's the way you're gonna play the game," she said.

Commenters theorized that the 15 items or less policy was instated to curb shoplifting, but a Walmart spokesperson told the U.S. Sun that "store managers are simply experimenting with ways to improve checkout performance."

But it's getting mixed reviews. Some people appreciate the change, noting that it's inconvenient to wait behind shoppers with full carts who slow down the self-checkout area. But others say they don't like how regulated the shopping experience is becoming.

What is Walmart’s official policy on '15 items or less'?

The Walmart website does not list a universal maximum number of self-checkout items. However, various news sources reported that some stores had set limits of 10, 15, or 20 items.

This doesn’t come as a surprise, as Walmart has been scaling back its self-checkout machines due to revenue loss and customer feedback. Other large companies, including Target, Five Below, and Amazon, are also reversing course, NBC News reported.

“It’s a very love-hate technology. A lot of customers see it as a deterioration of the service, and they have to do more of the work. So it’s not good for driving customer loyalty, ” Neil Saunders, managing director of retail at GlobalData, told CBS News.

Self-checkout started as a way for companies to reduce costs. They figured buying a machine and paying one employee to oversee the self-checkout area would be cheaper than paying several people’s hourly wages.

They were even more popular during the pandemic due to decreased human interaction. But the machines aren’t proving to be the long-term solution for many brands.

Self-checkouts are notoriously frustrating. Multiple things can set a machine off—like not placing an item in the checkout area after scanning it or buying any form of alcohol—and make it so an employee has to come over anyway to help you out.

Plus, whether on purpose or not, people steal in the process, with about 15% of customers admitting to doing it on purpose, according to a LendingTree survey.

Commenters react

"Mine you have to pay for the ‘privilege’ of self checkout. Only 2 for anyone to use, the rest for plus members only. Then only 1 or 2 registers open. Haven’t been back since I found that out," a person shared.

"They put the signs up at ours but, the guy told me I could ring through. If not, I would have done the 15. Then, do a second transaction to do the remaining. Doesn’t say you can’t," another wrote.

"When I worked at Walmart years ago if we refused to take a customer at the express register that had more than 20 items we could be fired that is crazy I would have said let me see a manager," a commenter said.

@disneygirl73 #youhavetobekiddingme #walmart #selfcheckout ♬ original sound - Julie Ann ????

The Daily Dot reached out to Julie Ann for comment via Facebook and TikTok direct message.

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