Just a few years after self-checkouts started becoming ubiquitous at grocers and big box stores in Canada, a few brands have backtracked on their rapid adoption of the technology, with Dollarama serving as the latest place where customers have noticed the removal of relatively recently-installed kiosks.

In Ontario, some Walmarts, Giant Tigers, Canadian Tires and more have nixed their self-checkout options, mainlyly due to an increase in theft through the machines and customer complaints about having to use them.

One shopper noticed just this past week that their local Dollarama at Dufferin Mall is among the outlets that have followed suit.

Hmmm. Dufferin Mall Dollarama got rid of all their self serve check-outs... pic.twitter.com/9SKMfKgYSD

— nicolas bello 🐀 (@nbellotoronto) November 8, 2024

In speaking with blogTO, Nicolas Bello wondered if the sudden withdrawal, as in the case of other retailers, may have had to do with an uptick in stealing. Or, perhaps the (lack of) reliability of the technology, as he's noticed that other Dollaramas in the city — like the one at Bloor and Bathurst — often seem to only have a few of the machines working properly at any given time.

"It makes no difference for my usual Dollarama transactions — I go to whichever is available first, cashier or self-service," he said.

"But I'm of two minds. They definitely had plenty of cashiers to make up for it, so it creates that kind of employment. However, it may just be seasonal and those jobs don't pay much or offer room for growth. Perhaps trained cashiers are faster than customers, especially at busy holiday season."

4pm Sunday, I counted about 70 shoppers in basement Dollarama store in Toronto

What’s more interesting is there were only 2 cashiers and 10 super busy selfcheckout terminals.

Minimum wages shot up from $11.40 to $14 on Jan 1 2018 overnight costed 10 cashiers’ jobs here. $DOL.TO pic.twitter.com/7banCXxUSK

— BSR Investing (@BeSmartRich1) November 17, 2019

The employment point is one that had many people up in arms when the machines were first introduced at select locations of the discount store, with some consumers complaining that they signified "more minimum wage jobs biting the dust."

Some joked, though, that in their own experience of self-checkouts, companies may end up needing more staff on hand  "for every time the machines say 'unexpected item in bagging area' and freeze." And, of course now, it seems that some are reverting back to a more staffed full-serve experience.

Mayfair Dollarama has removed all self-checkouts
byu/pinkcanoe inVictoriaBC 

Regarding the recent update of the Dufferin Mall store, a spokesperson for Dollarama told blogTO that the company does sometimes move the devices around between stores "to maximize performance," which is what happened in this case.

"Over the last several years, Dollarama has selectively deployed self-checkout technology in high-traffic stores to accelerate transaction processing. In the normal course, SCOs may get redeployed to locations where we believe they will be the most effective to accelerate transaction processing for customers," they said.

Though they did not touch on the theft issue, it does seem that customers who've inquired about the elimination of the tools at other outposts of the chain have been told by staff members on site that the move was to indeed to reduce shoplifting.

An employee of the Dufferin Mall store who likewise did not comment about theft stated over the phone that because the space is downstairs, they at times experienced network problems that led to some frustration for those using the SCOs, which they supposed could be a part of the reason for the change from higher up.