Despite efforts to reintroduce cashiers into stores, it seems that self-checkout lanes are becoming a permanent fixture in many supermarkets.

Recently, Kroger has been under fire for not having enough open registers, leading to customer frustration. In two separate cases, the company apologized and promised to address the issue, but it raises the question: will anything actually change, or will customers just receive a coupon for their trouble?

One incident occurred when a man named Michael Keefe took to X to express his dissatisfaction with Kroger’s self-checkout system. He wrote, “@kroger self checkout stinks. If this is the future I’m headed to Publix.” Kroger replied, assuring him that his concerns would be shared with their internal teams for review.

Keefe wasn’t satisfied, following up with a suggestion: “Start with if a store is open, there should always be 1 line open with a human cashier.”

A few days later, another complaint surfaced online. This time, a customer criticized their local Kroger for having no cashiers available after 7 p.m., stating that this had been a problem for over a year. Frustrated, the customer left a cart full of $200 worth of groceries behind rather than wait in line for the self-checkout.

“It’s ridiculous that customers are expected to ring up and bag our own groceries,” the customer added.

In response, Kroger requested the customer’s rewards ID to investigate the issue. However, it was clear that the company had missed the point of the complaint—the customer hadn’t even checked out due to the lack of available cashiers.

This raises a key question for shoppers: do you prefer the convenience of self-checkout lanes, or would you rather interact with a human cashier?