Pick n Pay silent about self-service check-out tills

Pick n Pay could not explain what happened to its self-service checkout tills, which the retailer started testing eight years ago.
Pick n Pay unveiled its self-service terminals at its Ottery store in Cape Town in 2016 to help customers who are in a hurry.
Cobus Barnard, Pick n Pay’s executive for retail office and supply chain at the time, said the self-help checkout points were designed to make shopping more convenient.
The retailer said it was always looking at new ways to help its customers by making their shopping trips easier and more convenient.
“In this case, we are testing self-service checkouts to see if they can save customers time at the till, particularly those in a hurry and shopping for just a few items,” it said.
Self-service checkouts are widely used in advanced economies like the United Kingdom, where manned tills have become the exception.
Tesco has express checkouts, while Marks & Spencer has self-checkouts in food halls, clothing shops, and homeware shops.
Self-service checkout tills and new technologies like RFID checkouts are seen as the future of in-store retail.
In 2017, Pick n Pay said it had eliminated many of its roles and functions due to technological and productivity improvements.
“Through its work to improve the efficiency and productivity of its workforce, the group identified opportunities to remove around 10% of its roles and functions,” it said.
“These roles and functions were no longer required due to improvements in organisation, planning and technology.”
Therefore, self-service checkouts fit into this strategy. They could improve productivity and make shopping a more pleasant experience.
However, in South Africa, these technological advances were not celebrated. It was slated by the trade union Cosatu.
Cosatu and its affiliates were up in arms, saying it was not consulted regarding Pick n Pay’s self-service terminals.
According to Cosatu, Pick n Pay employees were fearful the self-service tills would impact their jobs.
Cosatu said it would oppose the self-service terminals and even threatened boycotts, as the technology was “anti-worker and anti-the objectives of South Africa”.
After that, Pick n Pay’s self-service checkout till plans went quiet. There was no update about it for years.
MyBroadband asked Pick n Pay about this initiative, but the retailer would not answer questions about it.
It is not clear whether the project failed or whether Pick n Pay did not have a stomach to battle with the unions about the technology.
Another challenge with self-checkout counters in South Africa is the country’s high crime and shoplifting rates.
Self-checkout counters will open the door for shoplifters to steal items with less chance of being caught.
To date, no large retailer in South Africa has gone the route of Tesco and Marks & Spencer with self-service checkouts.
This may indicate that the technology is unsuitable for South Africa, which has unique crime and poverty challenges.
Reports from overseas also indicate that Pick n Pay may have dodged a bullet by not following through on its self-service checkout plans.
BBC reported last year that the technology had not delivered on its promises, with frustrated customers stuck in long queues while a lone store employee tried to troubleshoot multiple malfunctioning machines.
Despite the millions it costs to install a basic four-kiosk system, the report said many retailers were abandoning the technology.
Target began restricting the number of items self-checkout customers can purchase at one time, while Walmart removed self-checkout machines to deter theft in specific stores.
UK supermarket chain Booths also reduced the number of self-checkout kiosks it uses after customers complained that they were slow and unreliable.
One of the United States’ fastest-growing retailers, Dollar General, also told investors in 2023 that it was rethinking its self-checkout strategy and increasing the number of employees in stores.
“We had relied and started to rely too much this year on self-checkout in our stores. We should be using self-checkout as a secondary checkout vehicle, not a primary,” Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos said during the company’s Q3 2023 earnings call.