Self-checkout or human contact? Grocery stores differ

(Business Wire/Tesco)

While some supermarket chains are getting rid of self-checkout lanes and reverting to business the old fashioned way, another has announced it's expanding the system across Europe.

Supermarket giant Tesco announced Friday that they've implemented a self-service checkout system into Central and Eastern Europe.

They claim to be the first retailer in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary to make this technology available and has more self-checkout systems in Poland than any other supermarket.

Meanwhile, major grocery store chain Albertsons LLC  - which operates 217 supermarkets in the US - said this summer they'll be eliminating the self-checkout lanes in about half of their locations and replacing them with standard or express lanes to encourage more human contact with their customers.

Tesco installed their first self-checkout lanes in the UK in 2002, and expanded to Ireland, the US and South Korea.

In the UK, more than 10 million Tesco shoppers use the self-checkout lanes every week, accounting for more than a third of the retailer's store transactions.