I agree that I strongly prefer picking it out myself, but a lot of meat and produce would also stay fresher longer if it weren't on display (stored in basically

I agree that I strongly prefer picking it out myself, but a lot of meat and produce would also stay fresher longer if it weren't on display (stored in basically suboptimal conditions) for hours and days. So there are some potential gains in food waste reduction that could offset that. Think about how often people pick out some meat and then instead of putting it back, it sits on a shelf somewhere or by the register. Another anecdote is from when I had a CSA with my ex a few years ago and I was talking to the farmer. He said that he used to let people pick out things like tomatoes but switched to sorting it out himself. He'd start the day with basically 90%+ perfectly good tomatoes, and end the day with at least a third of it bruised and damaged from people picking and squeezing.