Walmart Ditches Checkout Lines

Walmart is ditching checkout lines — this means that customers can now scan and pay for items without waiting in line or interacting with a cashier. Thanks to Walmart’s “Scan and Go” technology, shoppers can download the app and scan barcodes from items as they shop. You click a button and pay for your items when finished, and show your digital receipt on your way out.

This is Walmart’s move to make shopping there more easy and seamless — no more long lines to wait in. It’s also a pointed response to their rival Amazon, who launched a similar idea in December. The technology is used in its brick-and-mortar grocery stores called “Amazon Go,” but only employees in Seattle get to use it.

The convenient trend will likely be catching on at other retail chains. Kroger is also working on its own technology called “Scan, Bag, Go,” which it will be rolling out at 400 stores later this year. By the end of January, Walmart’s new convenient technology will be available in 100 stores nationwide. So if you’re constantly annoyed when having to stand in long lines at your favorite stores, just know that this may be a thing of the past soon.