A SHOPPER clapped back at Target after getting into a fight with workers at self-checkout.
Tensions are rising over Target’s controversial new policy that limits the number of items they can bring to kiosks.
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Consumers are now limited to scanning 10 items or fewer at self-checkout, but report having trouble finding a cashier for larger orders.
Target has cut more than 35,000 jobs, or nearly 8% of its total workforce, in the last two years alone, decreasing the number of checkouts available at a location, according to company records.
This means people are forced to stand in long lines with long wait times, even if they only have one or two items over the limit.
One frustrated customer said a Target employee didn’t give in to the rule despite seeing long lines at checkout.
“At Target, an employee at an empty self-checkout decided to die on the hill,” said frustrated customer posted in X.
The buyer said he only had 12 items and still got called.
END OF SELF-CHECKOUT?
The policy update comes as some major retailers are reducing self-checkout machines, citing a rise in crime and shoplifting since the pandemic.
Retailers like Walmart have already started turning off self-checkout in many states.
Walmart employees also saw retail layoffs increase 3,225% last year — which has many customers calling if that’s still an option.
However, there does not appear to be an increase in cashier hiring.
“No cashiers, no self-checkout queue. I’ve been listening for over an hour, timers on,” he wrote a Walmart shopper in New Jersey at X.
Retail executives have blamed rising crime for hurting their margins, as there is expected to be $132 billion in combined losses from shoplifting this year alone, according to to look for by Capital One.
However, corporate profits reached record levels in the same period.
In fact, corporate profits now represent the largest share of national income in a decade, according to the National Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Even though businesses are making more money than ever before, the vast majority of Americans are now in worse financial shape than they were before the pandemic began, according to Yahoo! Finance.
Americans often spend close to, if not more than double, what they used to before Covid on groceries alone.
This has created an uncomfortable feeling among customers regarding the treatment they have to go through when shopping in megastores.
Target lovers were excited to see the news that the chain would be slashing the price of more than 5,000 everyday items.
However, this move has led many to speculate on social media that Target has been actively participating in price gouging over the past four years.
“Alternative Headline: Target Confesses to Blatantly Defrauding Millions of Consumers, No Penalties Expected”, he wrote a user.
“The goal was to take you to hell while claiming inflationary pressure and losing a ton of customers,” posted other.
“So they will return prices to normal and pretend they are offering a deal.”
In 2023, Target sales were down nearly 2%. But despite this drop, the chain recorded growing profits, an increase of almost 2 billion dollars compared to the previous year.
“These companies, which are generating huge profits in recent years, need to stop being greedy and pay their workers a living wage,” Mary Jane Santos, a single mother, told the newspaper. Long Island Herald while shopping for her children.
“But then they will claim that if they do that, they will have to raise prices” – which, she pointed out, they are already doing anyway.
Target’s new self-checkout policy
In March, Target announced changes to its self-checkout policy
- Limits of 10 items or less at most of our nearly 2,000 stores nationwide.
- Target is planning to open more “traditional avenues” for shoppers who have more products in their carts.
- Store leaders now have the flexibility to open more registers and set self-service hours
- Target also promises to invest in additional cashier training
Source: Target
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
