Startling Survey Shows What Keeps People From Using Self-Checkout Lanes

A new survey is providing an eye-opening look at consumer habits when it comes to using self-checkout lanes in stores.

Self-Checkout Frustrations Mount In Recent Years

Will stores ever make up their minds when it comes to relying on self-checkout lanes?

First, we saw the increase in self-checkout lane reliance during the pandemic. It was an easy way to ring up items without much (if any) human interaction.

Post-pandemic, the self-checkout lanes continued to be common in stores.

Target, for example, continued to see long lines of customers waiting to use self-checkout lanes. By the end of 2023, the chain reversed course and started to pullback from the self-checkout effort.

But instead of shutting self-checkout lanes down, Target instituted a 10-item limit.

Now, it appears that chains might want to rethink their self-checkout options.

What Would Make More People Use Self-Checkout Lanes?

A new survey shows just who is using self-checkout lanes and what is making them choose the options over interacting with cashiers.

Convenience Store News recently dove into the results of the 2025 Commerce Experience Report conducted by NCR Voyix Corp. and found that both Gen. Z and millennial shoppers have been the most willing to use self-checkout lanes.

"The majority (63%) of Gen. Z shoppers, ages 18 to 29, prefer self-0checkout, as do 45% of millennial shoppers (ages 30 to 44), the report noted," according to Convenience Store News.

READ MORE: Clothing Brands Once Popular Among Millennials Closing All Stores

Out of all people surveyed, 77% of those who do use self-checkout say they do so because it's the faster option.

Speed, or lack there of, also plays a factor in what make more people likely to use a self-checkout lane. Convenience Store News reports that 60% of those who do not frequently use self-checkout say they would change their mind if it was "easier to check out with more than 15 items."