LogFAQs > #979258563

I can see where they're coming from, from a really ultra strict standpoint, but the criticism just doesn't hold up in the light of competitive economics.

Strictly speaking, you're getting less for your money if you use self checkout, because the price is the same regardless and that, I dunno, ten or twenty cents' difference in labor isn't provided. In case you really care about that.

But the grocery space is largely retail, which in turn is one of the more competitive spaces, so the existence of the self-checkout reduces overall cost, and in the long run pushes profit back to zero.

Note, though, that profit being zero in the long run is both kind of misleading and an idealized notion.