Dollar General is shifting away from self-checkout systems and reassigning staff to traditional cashier roles due to a strategy revision prompted by recent events.

The company, which had initially introduced self-checkout lanes in over half of its 19,000 locations, also experimented with stores featuring only self-checkout options and no cashier lanes.

The decision to move employees back to traditional cashier roles is driven by a desire to enhance sales and reduce merchandise losses, commonly referred to as "shrink," which encompasses issues such as shoplifting, employee theft, damaged products, administrative errors, and online fraud. 

Analyst QuickTake: This shift in the self-checkout strategy reflects a broader trend among retailers to reevaluate and, in some cases, eliminate self-checkout stations. Recently, british retailer Booths removed nearly all self-checkout stations as a response to the customer feedback and US retailer Walmart also removed several of its self-checkout lanes in New Mexico, and is currently testing various levels of employee assistance at self-checkout kiosks.