The Albertsons Company has piloted a full self-checkout location at their Five Mile Road location in Boise, Idaho. Customers can now choose from several different self-checkout lanes based on size and assistance needed for their transactions. “At our Albertsons Five Mile and Ustick location, we are transitioning our traditional lanes to assisted checkout lanes as part of a pilot program. The decision to transition this location was based on extensive research of the available technologies, the customer market area, and the store traffic and checkout patterns” said Kathy Holland who handles communications and public relations for the Boise-based Intermountain Division.
The newly launched program directs customers to self-checkouts based on basket sizes ranging from 10, 15, and 20 items or more. There are over two dozen self-checkout registers grouped in pods to accommodate basket size the 20+ item pod is much larger allowing more room for the checkout process. Albertsons has maintained a large staff to assist shoppers in the checkout process going as far as checking out full baskets for customers.
“With the assisted checkout lanes, each checkout station will be equipped with a ‘checker assist’ feature which will allow the assisted checkout attendant to assist the customer similarly to the way that a traditional checker would, providing extra support for our guests,” Holland said. She noted that the ‘assisted checkout attendants’ would be particularly helpful during “busy times and holiday seasons to ensure guests are taken care of in a timely manner.”
Holland stated that courtesy clerks will remain a key resource helping customers bag groceries and assist with getting goods to the vehicles. The program will eventually include ‘check as you go carts’ allowing customers the ability to ring up groceries as they shop using AI features and cameras. Customers using this feature will enter a credit card prior to shopping and the cart will ring the total in as they go ultimately allowing customers to avoid checkout all together. Holland noted that the chain is not the first to make this change. Walmart has been testing the same concept in its hometown, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Their program has been in place since 2020, which is similar using lots of self-checkouts and having staff on hand to assist.
Currently, Albertsons does not have plans to roll the program out beyond the two pilot stores.
