After a Midwestern Walmart location closed its self-checkout option last year, the store’s local police team says that police calls and arrests at the store have dropped, per The U.S. Sun.
The seemingly successful attempt to decrease issues like theft stems from Walmart’s Shrewsbury, Missouri superstore, which closed the self-checkout area last spring, according to The U.S. Sun’s report. The change makes it harder for guests to shoplift by not scanning all of their merchandise.
Now, roughly a year later, Missouri outlet The Webster-Kirkwood Times reports that the Shrewsbury Police Department has seen a decrease in police calls from the store. Between January and May of 2024, police responded to 509 calls from Walmart, while in the same period this year, they responded to 183.
Likewise, The Webster-Kirkwood Times states that arrests at Walmart during the same five month timeframe have also decreased, shrinking from 108 in 2024 to only 49 this year.
But that doesn’t mean that self-checkouts at other locations, including those in Massachusetts, are going away. Charles Crowson, a Walmart representative, shared a statement from the company’s corporate affairs team: “Currently, there aren’t any plans to remove self-checkouts from our stores.”
“We’re always looking for ways to innovate in our stores, including the checkout experience,” the statement reads. “Any adjustments are based on varying factors, including feedback from associates and customers, shopping patterns and business needs in the area.”
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