> Labor is a major cost for retail At least it used to be true that self checkout systems are not primarily sold with the promise of reducing labor costs, but

> Labor is a major cost for retail At least it used to be true that self checkout systems are not primarily sold with the promise of reducing labor costs, but primarily that they take up so much less space. If I remember correctly, six self checkouts take up as much floor space as one manual given the longer queues of the latter. That's why they first were sold in the cities where space is at a premium. You still need some employees around the check out area anyway, and even if one employee can serve several you also suddently have many more of them. The manned check out was never the most labour intensive part of running a store anyway so it wasn't the best selling point anyway. This walk-out concept has to compete with the various self scanning schemes that already exist, not with the manned check outs of old. It will be interesting to see if they can offer a cheaper and more reliable experience to shoppers.