The Dark Side of the Automated Checkout Line

Personally, I love the self service line at Wal-Mart and my local grocery stores. I am far more efficient than most of the high schoolers who typically man the "full service" lines, and they allow me to be anti-social when I wish to be. But I know many folks despise the increasingly ubiquitous "convenience" as store owners try to minimize their staffing costs. But now they are starting to be bitten by their parsimonious ways. It appears that while they are saving on staffing costs, grocery stores are seeing their sales of impulse items by the register (especially tabloid magazines, already under pressure by the internet) cut almost in half. The impulse items are almost pure profit, so that means a large portion of the revenue side of the equation is being destroyed by an attempt to save on the cost side of the balance books.