Massachusetts Target Shoppers Must Adhere to New Check-Out Regulations

Massachusetts is a great place to live. Residents and visitors have their choice of city or county life, plenty of restaurants, and of course, plenty of shopping.

Massachusetts is home to an abundance of independent retailers from book stores, to sports equipment to gift shops. While small and family-owned businesses are a vital part of the state's economy, big box stores have their place in Massachusetts as well.

One of the more prolific big box chains in the country is Target. Target has 45 locations throughout Massachusetts (which is only three fewer locations than Walmart) and those stores employ around 14,000 residents.

Millions of Massachusetts shoppers take advantage of the affordable prices the chain offers, in addition to some extra incentive programs like the Target Card or Cartwheel app. Those millions are in for some big changes on their next Target run, especially at the register.

Targets in Massachusetts Change Self-Check Out Policy

This past weekend Targets across Massachusetts, and nationwide, have implemented new self-checkout lanes. All self check-out lanes will now be express lanes only, meaning customers who would like to use self-checkout are limited to 10 items or less. Any customers with more than ten items must use the regular check-out lanes with a Target associate.

The company says the change will make self-checkout lanes more efficient as well as protect stores from theft that can occur at self-checkout. The program was piloted at more than 200 Target locations which reported the automated lanes moved twice as fast when limiting the amount of items allowed through.

Concerning store theft, according to a LendingTree survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers in 2023, 15% of self-checkout users purposely stole goods, while 44% of self-checkout thieves said they would do it again.