How to Use Self-Checkout at the Grocery Store

Self-checkout lanes are now in almost every major grocery store in the United States — Walmart, Kroger, Target, Publix, and more. They let you scan your own groceries, bag them, and pay without waiting for a cashier. But if you have not used one before, or if a machine gave you trouble in the past, the process can feel frustrating.

The good news: a store attendant is always stationed near the self-checkout area. You are never truly on your own. If something goes wrong — and sometimes it does — you can wave for help or press the "Attendant" button on the screen and someone will come right over.

This guide walks you through every part of the self-checkout process, step by step.

What the machine looks like

A self-checkout station usually has a large touchscreen that shows you what to do. There is a scanner on the side — a glass window with a red light — where you pass items to read their barcode. There is a bagging area (a small platform or scale) where you place items after scanning. And there is a card reader for payment. Some stores also have a slot for cash.

Understanding barcodes

A barcode is the series of black and white stripes printed on nearly every packaged item. When you hold the item near the scanner, the red light reads those stripes and the machine identifies the product and its price. You will hear a beep and see the item appear on the screen.

Weighing loose produce

Loose fruits and vegetables — apples, bananas, broccoli, green beans — do not have a barcode. So you cannot scan them the normal way. Instead, the machine weighs them. You place the produce on the scale (usually the bagging area or a small scale to the side), then identify what it is on the touchscreen. The machine multiplies the weight by the price per pound.

To identify produce, you can either type in the four- or five-digit PLU code (Product Look-Up code) printed on the small sticker on the item, or tap "Find Item" on the screen and search by name. For example, you might tap "Find Item," type "banana," and select the right option from the list. You do not need to memorize any codes.

Using coupons

If you have paper coupons, hand them to the attendant — most stores have you give paper coupons to the attendant before or after you finish, rather than feeding them into the machine yourself. If you have a digital coupon clipped to your store loyalty app, your savings are applied automatically when you scan your loyalty card or phone number at the start of the transaction.

Paying by card or phone

You can pay with a debit or credit card by inserting it into the chip reader (the narrow slot) or swiping it. If you use Apple Pay or Google Pay (paying by holding your phone near the card reader), look for the contactless symbol. It looks like a sideways Wi-Fi icon — on the payment terminal.

When something goes wrong

The machine may pause and display a message like "Unexpected item in bagging area" or "Please wait for attendant." This usually happens if the scale detects something it did not expect, or if an item did not scan correctly. Do not panic. The screen will tell you what to do, or an attendant will come to you. These pauses happen to everyone and are resolved in seconds.

Sources: How-To Geek, AARP, individual grocery chain help pages (Walmart, Kroger, Target).