A LOWE’S shopper couldn’t hide his rage after encountering problems when trying to buy items.
The customer was so incensed that he launched a boycott following his horror in-store experience at the warehouse.
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Todd Yancey said he walked out and claimed to have left $1,000 worth of products behind, according to an X post.
He claimed that a worker told him there were no cashiers free.
But then Todd claimed he couldn’t pay for his items with cash.
That proved to be the final straw.
“I walked out and left $1,000 worth of stuff right at the register,” he said.
“What a joke.”
Todd then scoffed he was going to Menards – a chain with more than 300 stores in several states across the US.
The U.S. Sun has approached Lowe’s for comment regarding its payment policy.
It’s not uncommon for retailers not to allow self-checkout users to pay for items by cash.
Retailers have offered some explanation as to why cash is no longer accepted at terminals.
In 2022, a Wegmans spokesperson revealed that customers were turning to electronic payment methods because they wanted to check out items as quickly as possible, per the NBC affiliate WHEC-TV.
The representative revealed the company had seen a downturn in the number of shoppers paying for goods by cash.
The prominence of mobile payment services has also raised a conversation about whether the US is edging toward a cashless society.
Businesses are not obliged to accept cash – even though it is legal tender.
Why doesn’t Walmart offer Apple Pay?
CEO of Walmart Doug McMillon has revealed why stores don’t offer Apple Pay on Stratechery with Ben Thompson.
Though using Apple Pay at the retailer has been an ongoing conversation, McMillon emphasized that “We would like to have the customers open our app in the store all the time.”
The app can be used to help find items in the store, but it can also be used to pay for your purchases.
“That’s one of the things that we would like people to use our app for,” he said.
In 2017, a Gallup survey revealed that 12% of people would make all purchases by cash.
Five years later, the number stood at 5%.
In 2022, more than six out of 10 Americans surveyed in the poll believed the US was on track to become a cashless society at some point.
Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, has claimed there is a war on cash.
Further accelerating the cashless society narrative is the popularity of Apple Pay.
Capital One Shopping Research revealed more than 60 million shoppers over the age of 14 will use Apple Pay this year.
That number could rise to more than 75 million by 2030.
More than 700 million people worldwide could be using Apple Pay by 2027.
However, despite the popularity of services such as Apple Pay, some retailers, notably Walmart, do not allow shoppers to pay for goods using the contactless method.
It doesn’t appear imminent that Walmart will integrate Apple Pay across its networks of stores, but that hasn’t stopped shoppers from venting their frustration.
Shoppers have gone so far as to label the decision not to roll out Apple Pay as the chain’s “dumbest” move.
Latest self-checkout changes
Retailers are evolving their self-checkout strategy in an effort to speed up checkout times and reduce theft.
Walmart shoppers were shocked when self-checkout lanes at various locations were made available only for Walmart+ members.
Other customers reported that self-checkout was closed during specific hours, and more cashiers were offered instead.
While shoppers feared that shoplifting fueled the updates, a Walmart spokesperson revealed that store managers are simply experimenting with ways to improve checkout performance.
One bizarre experiment included an RFID-powered self-checkout kiosk that would stop the fiercely contested receipt checks.
However, that test run has been phased out.
At Target, items are being limited at self-checkout.
Last fall, the brand surveyed new express self-checkout lanes across 200 stores with 10 items or less for more convenience.
As of March 2024, this policy has been expanded across 2,000 stores in the US.
Shoppers have also spotted their local Walmart stores restricting customers to 15 items or less to use self-checkout machines.
