The checkout experience at Target is worse than the checkout experience of anywhere else I shop — your lasting impression as you leave is “This place feels like a cheap operator and is understaffed.”
Replies
No self checkout or long lines at self checkout?
may 10, 2025, 4:40 pm • 0 0 • view
I can’t believe how far Target has fallen in the last 5 years. Even at our “bougie” local Target - no one works there, they only ever have 1 manned checkout lane open. It’s a nightmare to check out.
may 10, 2025, 5:09 pm • 5 0 • view
Went to Uniqlo on Weds and bought 6 items. To checkout, you drop everything all at once in a bin, a scanner reads all the tags, you tap, they ask if you’d like a bag for 11¢, put the stuff in the bag, hand you a receipt and wish you a nice day. This was a great way to buy $8 tees, instead of Target
may 10, 2025, 4:56 pm • 0 0 • view
One live cashier lane open. 19 lanes closed. Get in line for self-checkout. People inadvertently cutting. Half of the self checkout terminals closed because the line monitor can only watch one aisle.
may 10, 2025, 7:13 pm • 1 0 • view
Go on... Why?
may 10, 2025, 6:48 pm • 0 0 • view
Trader Joe’s is bad
may 10, 2025, 4:41 pm • 0 0 • view
There are things I like about Target (often pretty convenient locations, including in the city, some basic groceries to head off a 2nd trip), but the lack of staffing, reliance on self check out, and sometimes locked cases all make the experience a bit of a PITA. A Rite Aid level experience.
may 10, 2025, 4:43 pm • 3 0 • view
This is 100% accurate and honestly Target feels like a failing retailer.
may 10, 2025, 6:54 pm • 0 0 • view
It feels like they’re mimicking Walmart’s strategy…which would be weird given their historical positioning as being better than Walmart.
may 10, 2025, 4:42 pm • 6 0 • view
I noticed their store brand quality has gotten really poor too.
may 10, 2025, 4:42 pm • 3 0 • view
Self checkout, always.
may 10, 2025, 11:27 pm • 0 0 • view
Target used to have tons of checkout lanes staffed by real people. What happened?
may 10, 2025, 5:33 pm • 1 0 • view
Based on many of your responses it’s clear that a lot of you don’t have young kids — “pick out a toy, a birthday party present, and some home essentials on a weekend” is a shopping task where only Target and Walmart work.
may 10, 2025, 4:38 pm • 93 1 • view
Yeah, I would love to boycott Target but I literally can't do this and still make my life work. The only viable alternative is more Amazon shipping which is equally as blasphemous to the people wanting to boycott Target🤷. I just try to shop there only when necessary
may 11, 2025, 12:52 pm • 1 0 • view
I used to love a good Target run. Now it’s an absolute chore. The vibes are terrible and the experience has fallen to about par with Walmart. But it remains unavoidable for shopping tasks.
may 10, 2025, 5:18 pm • 4 0 • view
It’s the only consistent place for toys. I have gone back to Best Buy for anything electronic though, which I thought would never happen.
may 10, 2025, 4:45 pm • 1 0 • view
My local target has gone through two or three redesigns since covid and every time it’s worse, before I stopped shopping there I’d gone to only ordering for drive up because going in store was such a hassle
may 10, 2025, 4:44 pm • 3 0 • view
I'm thankful we have Meijer (problematic in its own ways!) so we don't have to go to Walmart or Target.
may 10, 2025, 4:43 pm • 1 0 • view
My daughter shopped for clothes last weekend while my son and I picked up home supplies and some groceries. Kinda glad we are at an age where we don’t get stuck in the toy aisle. Two people were doing checkout and there wasn’t a line so it wasn’t completely awful.
may 10, 2025, 6:18 pm • 1 0 • view
Blue Sky is not real life…
may 10, 2025, 5:23 pm • 1 0 • view
I find using self-checkout or mobile order pickup is much better than waiting in line at a traditional checkout
may 10, 2025, 4:40 pm • 0 0 • view
“Having your kid walk around and pick things out” is part of the point.
may 10, 2025, 4:40 pm • 4 0 • view
Can’t use self checkout?
may 10, 2025, 4:41 pm • 0 0 • view
For me, it depends on how many items I'm purchasing. Self checkouts works well for a candy bar and soda. For a full grocery haul, I need a cashier.
may 10, 2025, 4:41 pm • 0 0 • view
Costco for a full grocery haul
may 10, 2025, 4:42 pm • 1 0 • view
Yeah, I’ve reduced consumption there since January, but it’s hard to avoid altogether for this reason. It’s the only approximation to our Toys R Us, so it’s a magical place for the kids, with the added plus that adults can add some needs to the cart. And “last minute birthday party presents”…SO true
may 10, 2025, 4:56 pm • 2 0 • view
I agree on in-store experience. However, we use Target Drive Up pretty religiously with great success.
may 10, 2025, 5:00 pm • 0 0 • view
you've just explained a good chunk of the China shock in actual terms
may 10, 2025, 4:42 pm • 8 0 • view
genuine question, what're the main factors that prevent Amazon from entering the ring? just timing?
may 10, 2025, 4:40 pm • 0 0 • view
They’ve got some grocery stores in Seattle and a couple other places, but they are more expensive than their competitors by quite a bit
may 10, 2025, 5:00 pm • 0 0 • view
They apparently can’t figure out stores.
may 10, 2025, 4:40 pm • 4 0 • view
yeah, I meant more what's stopping you from fulfilling the same needs by placing an order a day or two before? (or is it literally that you need all this stuff just in time)
may 10, 2025, 5:08 pm • 0 0 • view
Do you have young kids? Sometimes taking them to a store and letting them walk around, look at things, and pick something out is the point.
may 10, 2025, 5:27 pm • 3 0 • view
I do not! That makes sense though --- wonder if it's an opportunity for an experiment.
may 10, 2025, 5:30 pm • 1 0 • view
on the one hand, unbundling the "home essentials" part of the trip from the fun picking-out-toys part seems like it could be an opportunity for AMZN... on the other, unclear that it would be particularly profitable without picking up the higher-margin toys purchases as well.
may 10, 2025, 5:32 pm • 0 0 • view
The way I look at it, Walmart especially with Walmart+ & Sam’s (which are better digital experiences than Amazon/Costco let alone Target), is going to do to Target what they did to Kmart. Midwestern mass retailers simply have a cultural problem vs. their coastal/Sunbelt competitors, esp. in IT.
may 10, 2025, 5:04 pm • 2 0 • view
It’s weird because I feel like there should be a place in the market for Target to succeed but they’ve botched it.
may 10, 2025, 5:07 pm • 7 0 • view
Honestly they need someone like a Brian Niccol of retailing to help turn them around, as in theory they occupy the same aspirational market segment as Starbucks/Chipotle. OTOH the economy as it is right now isn’t exactly in a great place for such aspirational retailers.
may 10, 2025, 5:28 pm • 2 0 • view
For us, our local Target (which is in a smaller/older footprint but convenient location at a good East Cobb commercial node) largely serves for curbside pickup & an occasional safe place for tweens to hang out.
may 10, 2025, 5:29 pm • 1 0 • view
the "Brian Niccol" of retailing is some talented SVP at COST or WMT or maybe even LVMH who's willing to take it on and become a hero vs stay at a strong operator and enjoy being at the top already
may 10, 2025, 5:34 pm • 4 1 • view
There’s this book called “Why We Buy” that’s relatively dated now but the main premise still rings true: The positive perception of a store is based on how much time shoppers spend in the store, if there are employees readily available to help find items, and how quickly you are able to check out.
may 10, 2025, 4:25 pm • 1 0 • view
Competent cashiers and the existence of ceiling tiles were the two essential elements of "Walmart but nicer" and they went ahead and got rid of one of them.
may 11, 2025, 4:57 am • 2 0 • view
Target employees also are the least engaged and helpful of any place I have shopped. From this I take that they are underpaid and badly treated. Not true of Trader Joe’s or especially Costco employees, who seem cheerful and genuinely interested in helping you out.
may 10, 2025, 4:51 pm • 10 0 • view
Good point, the people in the checkout area don’t have good vibes.
may 10, 2025, 4:58 pm • 10 0 • view
Target is utter trash, went in for 15min with my kid cuz she wanted to “shop”, and everything about the shopping experience was lame and outdated.
may 10, 2025, 4:23 pm • 0 0 • view
Yeah agree
may 10, 2025, 5:35 pm • 9 0 • view
Target is in its death throw.
may 10, 2025, 6:00 pm • 0 0 • view
If you have more than 5 items and are with kids the self check out experience is awful especially bc only one lane is usually open. I will say the drive up experience has been good
may 10, 2025, 4:55 pm • 0 0 • view
Join the boycott
may 10, 2025, 4:13 pm • 0 0 • view
Whole Foods is pretty much the same. Just replace “cheap” with “overpriced.”
may 10, 2025, 4:23 pm • 0 0 • view
Whole Foods should be punished for using those cheap ass paper bags with the handles that had the useful of those elements way at the end of the periodic table.
may 10, 2025, 4:44 pm • 2 0 • view
may 10, 2025, 6:43 pm • 1 0 • view
If you are a shareholder, you will get the ballot for proposals and election of directors. Got mine and I voted at www.proxyvote.com, making sure to vote FOR shareholder proposal for report on affirm action initiatives impact Target. Target, of course, recommends NO!
may 10, 2025, 11:37 pm • 0 0 • view
Kroger grocery would like a word
may 10, 2025, 6:16 pm • 1 0 • view
Okay fair
may 10, 2025, 6:52 pm • 2 0 • view
I’ll get killed for saying it because the rest of the experience is great (other than the parking lot), but the checkout experience at Costco is dramatically worse in my opinion. Whenever I go to Costco the lines feel like they start almost at the middle of the store…
may 10, 2025, 9:58 pm • 1 0 • view
But for what it is, the checkout experience at Target is really bad. Very few human lines open and for whatever reason the people in them are using some coupon that doesn’t work and takes forever. And you have to wait usually a few minutes to self checkout, which is only slightly less ridiculous.
may 10, 2025, 10:00 pm • 0 0 • view
Target has all the welcoming energy of the basement at Lumon: sedated, cold, spartan and soul-destroying. I’m amazed Cornell hasn’t been sacked as CEO.
may 10, 2025, 5:36 pm • 2 0 • view
Enough to never go again?
may 10, 2025, 4:28 pm • 0 0 • view
It’s still the best place to take my kids on a lazy weekend.
may 10, 2025, 4:36 pm • 8 0 • view
This! My kid loves going to target! I think their conundrum is that if people like self checkout then why staff other check out lanes with staff? I'm with you, I can't figure out why they're trying to be Walmart
may 10, 2025, 6:45 pm • 1 0 • view
Heh. You should’ve seen how the website check out experience was when trying to pre order a Nintendo Switch 2. Website immediately buckled and screwed up their information and email systems
may 10, 2025, 4:12 pm • 1 0 • view
Feel like this is a store specific situation vs being broadly applicable.
may 10, 2025, 4:24 pm • 2 0 • view
I think Targets bar is set to be just slightly higher than Walmarts.
may 10, 2025, 4:21 pm • 0 0 • view
I’m not even sure it is anymore.
may 10, 2025, 4:22 pm • 6 0 • view
TGT is not all in on self checkout, our TGT has 6 self check outs and 15 empty regular checkouts with 2 staffed. WMT next door to TGT has around 25 self check out with a dedicated check out for plus, WMT is much more efficient in our area.
may 10, 2025, 4:29 pm • 2 0 • view
When I left the US I missed Target quite a bit. I have to say that feeling has now passed.
may 10, 2025, 7:23 pm • 0 0 • view
The one in midtown Charlotte is pretty good
may 10, 2025, 11:14 pm • 1 0 • view
You need to go to Aldis for some perspective
may 10, 2025, 4:11 pm • 2 0 • view
That’s Aldis business model. It’s purposeful. That’s why you can get all your groceries there for 23.00
may 10, 2025, 4:42 pm • 0 0 • view
Aldi's is an intentionally cheap place with savings passed on to customer, target has tradionally positioned itself as "hey we're nicer than walmart"
may 10, 2025, 4:22 pm • 8 0 • view
Aldi is good, because stretching their (relatively well paid) staff is how you get the significant savings over traditional grocery stores.
may 10, 2025, 4:14 pm • 2 0 • view
The one near me has 20 checkout lanes and if you're lucky, one is staffed at any time. I don't get it.
may 10, 2025, 4:57 pm • 1 0 • view
Ethics aside another fantastic reason to not shop there. Haven't been since Feb, but went there weekly for years. Lines in Philly stores were always outrageous, maybe 1 in 5 lanes ever open at a time, 2 in 4 self checkouts busted.
may 10, 2025, 4:13 pm • 5 0 • view