Just as we thought this was the "new-normal" of shopping, things are taking a step back a notch when it comes to shopping at Target.

After the pandemic and the increase of prices due to inflation, many retail stores across the U.S. have experienced a rise in theft. Forcing a lot of stores to shut down or completely revert to online shopping. Instead of closing completely, Target has thought of a solution to try to decrease the amount of theft in their stores.

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What new policy are we to expect at Target? 

As of Sunday, March 17, 2024, we are expected to abide by a new "10 items or less" policy at all self-checkouts. As we all know, self-checkouts are a love and hate system when it comes to cashing out merchandise. According to Star Tribune, self-checkouts gained a lot of popularity during the pandemic due to it being 100% contactless with another human being. But now this new change will likely speed up service and overall customer satisfaction.

There's a lot of shrink that happens at self-checkouts both deliberately and accidentally and I think Target is very keen to reduce that, nudging people back to manned checkouts where it's more of a controlled experience and these mistakes don't happen is a way of trying to reduce that shrink." - Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData

A Target spokesman also stated while theft was not the primary reason the retailer is making the changes to its self-checkout lanes, he acknowledged the company did see a reduction in shrink in the stores where the restrictions were tested.

LOOK: Here's how much grocery shopping now costs in the U.S.

The average cost of groceries for one person per month in 2023 was around $337. But how does your state compare? Do you pay more, or less? Data compiled by Zippia takes a look at the average monthly grocery bill per person in all 50 states. States are listed from least expensive to most expensive and are rounded up to the nearest dollar.

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