Target shoppers divided after retailer makes major change to checkout process

Target customers can no longer pay for their goods by check.

The payment method has become less popular in recent years, but it is still popular among some seniors.

Cards have become the main payment method, both physically and linked to digital wallets on smartphones. But customers who don’t want cards often opt for cash.

The Minnesota-based retailer, the seventh-largest in the U.S., has announced it will no longer accept personal checks effective July 15, citing extremely low volumes.

Fewer and fewer retailers are accepting personal checks. Aldi and Whole Foods have banned them entirely, as has Target. Others only accept them at certain checkout counters.

“When it comes to payments, cheques are something of a relic,” Global Data retail expert Neil Saunders told DailyMail.com.

‘They are used so little these days that it’s no surprise that Target decided to ditch them’

But he added: ‘There will be small groups of people, including older consumers, who will complain that they are being phased out.

Checks can still be mailed to pay balances on Target Circle Cards.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, checks were the primary way for Americans to pay for goods in stores, rent, bills, and sending gifts.

Its use declined as credit and debit cards became more popular and bills could be paid automatically via direct debit.

How little use is made of it is evident from the Federal Reserve’s most recent report on payment choices.

Of the 46 monthly payments Americans made in 2023 — at stores, bars, coffee shops, and to pay bills or friends, for example — only one was made by check.

That is a huge drop compared to 2016, when it involved three out of 45 monthly payments.

The pandemic has accelerated the abolition of checks, and the rise of digital wallets like Venmo and Zelle are also playing a major role.

The change will take effect after Target’s annual Circle Week sale, which runs from July 7 to 13.

Target assured customers they could continue to pay with cash, credit cards, debit cards, Target Circle cards, digital wallets, SNAP/EBT and pay later services.

“We have taken several measures to inform guests in advance, so that check-out is smooth and efficient,” the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Target customers are up in arms over a rule that keeps self-checkout lanes closed, increasing wait times.

Checks are now rarely used by Americans. Target said the low usage is the reason they are banning their use in stores

Some Target stores are keeping their self-checkout closed during certain hours

Local retailers now have ‘the flexibility to set self-checkout hours that suit their store’.

The new policy, introduced in March, allows employees to open kiosks later or close them earlier, or even during the day.

However, customers indicate that this leads to long waiting times, because stores do not open additional traditional manned checkouts to compensate for the closed self-checkouts.

“The store closes at 10pm but the self-checkout closes at 9pm and there are only three cashiers between 9pm and 10pm?” wrote one customer on X, which previously tweeted.

‘There is a huge queue every night between 9pm and 10pm.’