Walmart-owned Sam’s Club tests a future without checkout lines

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/07/sams-club-scan-and-go-technology.html

38 Comments

  1. DefinitelyNotaGuest on

    Honestly, the scan & go at Sam’s is great. We just walk in, grab what we need, scan it as we go, and then walk out the door. They scan your phone to verify a couple of items and you basically have to wait in 0 lines. Probably not ideal for giant purchases but if you’re just getting a few things it’s a nice option.

  2. derp_mcherpington on

    i’m sure it will have its detractors, but I’ve been using Scan & Go for years and love the convenience. As long as the people at the exit have equipment that works and are trained properly, it’s a great experience.

  3. Youvebeeneloned on

    Been using it the last year at our Sams. Honestly its amazing, we scan as we go, they scan the barcode at the end, have not waited in a line outside of the one to leave the place.

  4. Tried this system at Tesco the other week and it was slow and annoying, don’t do it again. The machine was slow and took forever to recognize the product you scanned and then when I go to the till the staff had to take a bunch of random stuff out of my cart and scan it again as a security check which was a pain in the ass.

  5. LeadPrevenger on

    I like the idea but I think it’s important to be stuck in line with your family. I think cashiers are essential to our American society. I don’t mind one chain doing it but I don’t want every other company copying them because of a small raise in profits greatly exaggerated to stock shareholders

  6. Scan & Go is awesome. I’ve been using it for a year, and would hate to have to stand in line again. A couple of months ago, they installed these arches you have to walk through and I guess they have scanners on them, because 9 times out of 10, the human just waves me through, without doing the item check.

  7. tacotacotacorock on

    Maybe I would need to see this system in action but I am very skeptical. Seems like all that companies are trying to do is cut costs and Make the customer do the job that was eliminated. I don’t need extra steps and extra things to manage when I am shopping. For one item no big deal. But the monthly shopping trip or stocking up for supplies or whatever? I’d much rather shop at a low tech store that isn’t trying to make me do work and especially if they’re not going to lower the costs for my involvement. I don’t like the self checkouts at grocery stores if I have more than a few items and I could see that applying here as well. More than likely people in the future will not know better and just accept it. 

  8. Honestly, I’m not a fan of most self-checkouts, but Scan and Go is amazingly easy and fast. It actually enhances the shopping experience.

  9. Went to Sam’s with my GF and thought it was magic. I wish Costco had the scan and go.

  10. I’ve been using Scan and Go for years now. I appreciate not having to wait in checkout lines. It’s quick and easy. I would use it at Walmart too but they charge you extra to use it there. There’s a benefit to me for having a Sam’s Club membership, I save money. There’s no benefit to me paying for a Walmart Plus membership. Store prices are the same and none of the other stuff matters, and I’m on disability so I have a limited income.

  11. vanityinlines on

    Oh, so instead of lines at the cash register, there will be lines to get out the door. And people will inevitably find a way to still shoplift, and then everyone will start complaining about “they shouldn’t have to work for the store and scan my own stuff!!” And then it’ll get shut down in a few years. Again, anything to not just hire a few more cashiers.

  12. I love the Sam’s Club scan and go. It’s amazing and it’s funny watching people in these massive lines when they could just scan and go.

  13. I have used it and it is fantastic. No waiting in lines and you are in and out of the store. The app is very easy to use and the scanner has no problem scanning the items.

  14. Everything works better at our Sam’s compared to Walmart. The carts are always in like new condition, the self check out scanners always work, the credit card payment machines always work and bathrooms are always clean. Savings in gas prices alone make up for the fee.

  15. Frankie_Says_Reddit on

    Scan and go is the only reason why I’d shop at Sam’s, wish my nearest Costco would do the same.

  16. The biggest issue with this I find when shopping for groceries is how disgusting the area gets. A lot of people just are disgusting with spitting and wiping crap on the scanner.

  17. Independent_Wrap_321 on

    Where do you get bags for everything? I never bring my own, though my kitchen drawers are absolutely stuffed with them lol

  18. Used it for a year and now we look at the lines of people taking all of their stuff out onto the checkout just to put them back in while we breeze right past wondering why they all don’t use the app

  19. bibimbapblonde on

    Where we live, we only had a Sam’s Club for a long time and I loved the scan and go. A Costco opened and my wife and I decided to get a membership there to compare. The actual shopping experience is hell compared to Sam’s in part due to the check out procedures. In Sam’s everything was simple and easy. In Costco, there are so many roadblocks and checks it lengthened our trip and really made me feel like they were assuming I would steal. We’re keeping our Sam’s membership and not renewing costco due to the difference in experiences.

  20. KrookedDoesStuff on

    I have never waited in a line at Sam’s Club, exclusively use Scan & Go and wish every store had it.

  21. They have been its called scan and go, works great. Unfortunately most of Sams customers are 55 plus and refuse to learn new things out of spite.

  22. It works good but as I was told at my Sam’s club this weekend their system does not scan every cart and they still have to check at the door with the phone thing the employees have in their hands so its far from the seamless system everyone is making it out to be.

    Or is that just my club being glitchy with the scanners?

  23. The_Knife_Pie on

    So this sounds like you get your own wireless scanner that you scan items as you walk through the shop, and then just put the scanner back, pay and leave? And that’s only becoming a thing in the US *now*? We’ve had this in stores since like 2016 in Stockholm.

  24. Scan and Go was great for me for years but now it always makes me go to the register “just this time” and check out there with my credit card. I’m on the Sam’s Club Wifi so it’s not that. There’s some issue where if it can’t process your payment via app within like 3 seconds it makes you go to a self checkout register which negates some of the time savings (you don’t have to rescan items just have to physically tap/swipe your card).

  25. What about security against shop-lifting and looting? The article doesn’t mention anything about security of the goods.

  26. Byod for free labor isn’t my cup of tea. Sounds like an opportunity for all kinds of data farming

  27. I thought this was about their new scan arches.

    As a scan & go customer I just hold my phone up so the cameras can see the barcode as I walk through the arch, and the receipt-checker just waves me on. Saves me maybe 30-40 seconds.

  28. I love the scan and go. I usually get around 15-20 items when I go, and half of the time, they don’t even need to check my cart when I leave.

    This makes me question of they have some type of cart tracking or monitoring system or something. I find it really odd. They’ll sometimes look down at the scanner and just say “you’re good!” Without even looking at the QR code on my receipt. Then other times they make sure to stop me and check everything. I wonder if they have some people or AI watching for you to scan an item after every time it enters your cart? I remember one time I got stopped, didn’t scan something till I had added a few other items to the cart, then I did all 3 at once.

  29. Present-Perception77 on

    Online shopping.. curbside pickup. Been doing it since Covid. I’ll probably never step foot in a Sam’s again.