Ten years after self-checkout lanes debuted in many American supermarkets, some chains are beginning to rethink the option or do away with them altogether, although big changes apparently aren't coming to Utah anytime soon.

Beginning this month, Albertsons LLC is removing the self-checkout lanes in all of its 217 stores in seven states.

But in Utah, larger stores are sticking with self-checkouts, even though customers aren't as quick as seasoned cashiers in tabulating grocery items and self-checkouts can be prone to shoplifting.

As it remodels stores nationwide, Kroger has decided to consider the metro, or Euro, style of checkout lanes, with one customer line for multiple staffed express lanes versus self-checkouts.

However, at Smith's Food & Drug, a division of Kroger's, a spokeswoman for the Salt Lake City-based chain said there are no immediate plans for metro-type checkouts in its 133 stores throughout seven Western states, including 47 in Utah.

"Kroger may be testing other checkout formats, but all of us are working toward the same thing — to offer a speedy, efficient checkout, recognizing that every customer has unique preferences. As customer needs and expectations change in the future, so must we," said Marsha Gilford.

She noted that Smith's shoppers do have other options, such as larger carousels for orders requiring more bags, smaller carousels in all its stores and the self-checkout lanes for those who want to control and bag their own items.

Bob Harmon, co-owner of the Utah-based Harmons Grocery Stores, said that the larger supermarkets in the chain's 14 stores have self-checkout lanes, and there are no plans to remove them.

"We don't view self-checkouts as an alternative to cashier lanes or express lanes, it's something that some of our customers prefer, so we provide that option for them," he said.

For Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons, self-checkout no longer fits with the customer-service experience it wants, spokeswoman Christine Wilcox said. "Our customers are our highest priority, and we want to provide them with an excellent experience from the time they park their car to when they leave." She declined to elaborate on specific reasons for eliminating self-checkout.

The four Albertsons stores in Utah, which are operated by SuperValu, are not impacted by the change.

When Albertsons installed self-checkout lanes nearly a decade ago, "it was in response to a growing trend in retail for stores to be even more self-service" than ever before, said Wilcox. Albertsons is replacing the self-checkout lanes with regular lanes and opening more staffed lanes during peak shopping hours.

Last month, Kroger removed the self-checkout lanes in its high-traffic store in Houston in response to shoppers who want to move through quickly with a few items, Kroger spokesman Gary Huddleston said.

"This isn't a test," Huddleston said. "We are looking at each and every store as we remodel to determine which checkout works best."

Whole Foods Market and H-E-B's Central Market both use the metro lane express checkouts instead of self-checkout in some areas of the country. The stacked checkouts with one line move faster, and shoppers don't get stuck in slow lanes or behind customers having trouble with self-checkout.

Metro lanes check ut customers three times faster than traditional express lanes, Huddleston said. The average wait time for customers who use metro lanes is 5 seconds to 20 seconds, he said.

The three Whole Foods stores in Salt Lake County all have express lanes and traditional checkouts, while the Park City store only has traditional checkouts. A company spokeswoman said customer service and efficiency are being met using these models.

Many regions of the country are in a state of hyper-competition in the grocery business as existing chains expand and new ones move in. That's inspiring grocery chains to rethink everything they do, said Bob Young, managing director of the Weitzman Group, which manages many grocery-anchored centers.

"Customer service and the personal touch is a prevailing theme today," Young said.

Technology also is moving checkouts in new directions.

Kroger is experimenting in Cincinnati with an automated tunnel scanning technology in which shoppers put their items on a conveyor belt and the items are scanned while moving through a tunnel. Gilford said that if the test proves successful, tunnel scanning could be offered in Utah at some point.

Home Depot recently put 30,000 First Phones in its stores that allow employees to walk around and check out customers anywhere in the store.

Although they're not viewed as a replacement for self-checkout, the First Phones, which Home Depot spent $64 million to develop and buy, are another speedy option for customers, said Craig Fishel, Home Depot spokesman.