In early November, the self-checkout system at the U-Store’s University Place location was removed without explanation.
Joette Leamon, the U-Store’s Director of Stores, declined to comment about the reasoning behind the self-checkout system’s removal. Students, who rely on the option to quickly move through the store, have mixed feelings about the removal of self-checkout.
Darden Shuman ’27 and Anastasiya Chernitska ’28 both told The Daily Princetonian that they did not feel the removal of the self-checkout system was a major issue and expressed that they found the system faulty.
Shuman added that in her experience, the U-Store self-checkout system “usually did not work and had a lot of glitches.”
Six of eight students interviewed by the ‘Prince’ reported that they had experienced glitches in the system.
Ella Sloan ’27 said, “You would scan your stuff, and it would come up as an error, or you would scan your [student ID], and it wouldn’t work, so I just ended up going to the cashier.”
John Van Horn ’25 said that the system was “a bit buggy.”
Douglas Herring, a local criminal defense attorney, representing four University students charged with theft offenses at the U-Store claims that his clients’ charges were a result of alleged glitches in the self-checkout kiosks and cursory scanning of items, not an intent to steal.
Herring declined to provide corroborating documents or disclose the identity of his clients to the ‘Prince.’ Herring is soliciting clients accused of shoplifting from the U-Store. His website lays out his office’s plan for defending students and seeks students who might want his services.
The Princeton Municipal Prosecutor, Chris Koutsouris, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Leamon wrote in an email to ‘Prince’ that when it comes to cases regarding U-Store theft, “the Princeton University Store has complete faith in the judicial system and each party’s right to due process.”
U-Store lawyer Shawn Neufeld declined to comment about the legal proceedings of theft cases.
Still, students found the self-checkout option useful, especially during busy hours.
Brian Zhou ’27 told the ‘Prince’ that he was “a little disappointed that [the self-checkout] is gone.”
“It was really helpful, and I feel like it was pretty easy to use after the first time,” Zhou said.
Three students told the ‘Prince’ that they have experienced longer lines at the U-Store since the removal of the self-checkout.
“I was always a little frustrated with the software,” Van Horn said. “But I don’t think they should have removed it as an option. Sometimes when there’s long lines, it was very useful.”
Nico David-Fox is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Washington, D.C.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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