Walmart has decided to make a specific change, and their customers are happy and mad about it. This is one of the most popular supermarket chains in the United States, so it means many people go there to do their shopping.
However, Walmart has done something not everybody agrees with: removing all self-checkouts in one of its most important stores.
Walmart is implementing new measures to avoid robberies in their stores, and this is one of them. So, let’s find out more about this decision and how it has affected their customers.
Walmart and robberies
The company is experiencing a wave of robberies that are causing economic loss, that’s why they are coming up with new measures to avoid these situations getting worse.
Recently, they have removed all self-checkouts from the most important Walmart store located in Shrewsbury, Missouri, 15 km from St. Louis.
The police has an important role in this decision
Lisa Vargas, police chief of Shresbury, personally requested the removal of self-checkouts in this specific store because they were increasing the amount of robberies and police calls.
So, Walmart decided to accept this petition and the self-checkouts disappeared in April of last year. There has been a noticeable impact since then.
What happened after Walmart carried out the request?
This decision was so positive because there were 108 arrests for robbery at Walmart in the first 5 months of no self-checkouts.
What is remarkable is that during those same months of 2025, that number of arrests lowered to 55. Another important impact was the number of police calls which changed from 509 to 183.
These numbers are a clear example of the effectiveness of this measure since Walmart experienced a 50% reduction on robberies and police incidents. According to Lisa Vargas, this measure was a huge success and she thanked Walmart for it.
What do customers think about it?
The police supported this initiative a lot, but not every client was excited about the removal of self-checkouts. Many people complained about this situation on social media, because now they have to wait in long queues due to the lack of open checkouts with staff.
However, there are others who feel relieved because those self-checkouts sometimes failed and customers were constantly asking for help from the staff.
Only in Missouri?
Not at all, Walmart has also implemented this measure in 4 other stores: in Steelyard (Cleveland, Ohio) and 3 stores in New Mexico. This expansion of the removal of self-checkouts, is a sign that the company is willing to reinforce their security and lower robberies.
Not every store is the same
Walmart explained that the decision of keeping or removing self-checkouts depends on each store and their situations. They take into account things like: staff and clients’ opinions, shopping habits in the area, and commercial and safety needs.
According to a spokesperson from the company, this measure allows Walmart to give a better, more personal and efficient service because the staff can focus on helping the clients directly.
It is good that big companies like Walmart are giving importance to clients and their safety. Of course, they are doing it because of the economic loss they have been experiencing as a consequence of the huge number of robberies in their stores.
Thanks to this measure, everybody wins because the company has lowered police incidents and less products are being stolen. It’s true some clients didn’t receive the removal of self-checkouts very well, but I am sure they just need some time to get used to it. Do you think more companies should implement this measure in their stores?
