Dollar General drops self-checkout at hundreds of stores to reduce theft

Dollar General is pulling again on self-checkout because it tries to curtail retail theft throughout its shops. 

The corporate will take away self-checkout registers from 300 shops which have the most important problem with shrink – an business time period referring to misplaced or stolen merchandise – throughout the first half of the yr, CEO Todd Vasos instructed analysts on a Thursday earnings name. 

At the moment, the corporate has self-checkout choices out there in additional than 14,000 shops. Nevertheless, it’s deploying three initiatives to alter its self-checkout strategy this yr because it tries to scale back the continued headwind.

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In its most up-to-date quarter, the corporate reported that “year-over-year shrink headwinds continued to construct throughout the yr, growing greater than 100 foundation factors for each the fourth quarter and full yr,” CFO Kelly Dilts stated throughout the earnings name.

An indication hangs above a Greenback Basic retailer on Aug. 31, 2023, in Chicago. (Scott Olson/Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)

In its newest quarter, gross profit as a percentage of gross sales fell 29.5%, a lower of 138 foundation factors, which Dilts stated was pushed largely by shrink. 

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To assist, the corporate has already began changing self-checkout registers to assisted-checkout choices in roughly 9,000 shops.

An indication hangs above a Greenback Basic retailer on Aug. 31, 2023, in Chicago. (Scott Olson/Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)

“That is supposed to drive visitors first to our staffed registers, with assisted-checkout choices out there as second or third choices to scale back traces throughout high-volume time,” Vasos stated. 

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The corporate can be limiting self-checkout to transactions consisting of 5 gadgets or fewer.

Vasos stated the corporate believes “these actions have the potential to have a fabric and optimistic influence on shrink” within the second half of the yr and into 2025.