Schnucks limiting sales at self-checkout lanes

Feb. 1 marks a change for self-checkout at Schnuck Markets. The chain's self-checkout lanes will start putting restrictions on the amount of items customers can purchase. Self-checkout stations will also no longer accept and give back cash.

Self-checkout lanes in all of its stores will be limited to customers who have 10 items or less to purchase, the grocer confirmed with Business Insider. Customers with more than 10 items will be redirected to staffed checkout lanes to complete their purchases.

According to Schnucks, the primary reason for the policy change is to improve checkout efficiency. "When self-checkouts were first introduced, they were intended for smaller orders,” said the grocer. “Over time, larger orders began moving through self-checkouts, and we are hoping to address that concern."

While the change helps improve customer service, a store representative also said that Schnucks expects the change to lower shopping thefts.

[Read more: Retail finds itself lost in space]

"Because self-checkouts are more susceptible to theft, this item limit will help us maintain our costs while keeping the prices lower for our customers," Schnucks said. 

According to research from Berkeley, Calif.-based Grabango, self-checkout machines are contributing to shrink in a major way, with losses totaling 3.5% of sales, or more than 16 times more loss than that of traditional cashier lanes.

Schnucks is the latest food retailer rethinking its self-checkout strategy. For example, Costco is asking shoppers for photo ID at self-checkout to make it more difficult to share membership cards. Additionally, over at Wakefern Food Corp., its ShopRite banner had to add back designated full-service checkout lanes to its Delaware stores after facing customer backlash over its self-checkout approach. 

St. Louis-based Schnucks operates 115 stores in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, and employs 12,000 associates.

This story originally appeared on Progressive Grocer.