Do-It-Yourself Checkout Coming to Home Depot

Home Depot Inc.’s do-it-yourself clientele can do it themselves at the checkout counter as part of a technology upgrade the company announced Monday that it says will make for faster service.

The touch-screen checkout counters have been used in supermarkets since 1995, but they’ll be a first for a home-improvement store chain.

“It should add a lot of value to the company because it will reduce the need for additional personnel and increase their ability to service their customers faster,” said Nathan Lewis, an analyst with Jackson Securities Inc. in Atlanta.

Self-service checkout terminals are being set up in about 800 locations to replace two or three employee-operated stations. Among the locations are Cypress, San Jose and Las Vegas.

The company also is buying performance software to assess cashiers’ skills.

But company spokesman Don Harrison said the move is not an attempt to cut staff.

“Nobody is losing a job or being displaced as a result of this,” he said. “Will it mean a shift toward more part-time work? I don’t know.” About 60% of Home Depot staff are full-time.

The nation’s largest home improvement store chain has partnered with NCR Corp. for the equipment and Microsoft Corp. for its Windows software. The technology is called FAST, Front-end Accuracy and Service Transformation.

The self-checkout terminals feature computerized voices that talk to customers in either English or Spanish.

At one Atlanta Home Depot store Monday, restaurant manager Mike Clark, 35, used the self-checkout to buy a snow shovel and a rake in less than three minutes.

“I look at it like you are getting four machines for the price of one employee,” Clark said. “It’s very efficient.”