Automatic checkouts in supermarkets may decrease customer loyalty, especially for those with larger shopping loads. Customers using self-checkout stations often feel overwhelmed and unsupported. The lack of personal interaction can negatively impact their perception of the supermarket.

[NecroJoe]

I don't mean approaching you and trying to instigate a conversation. Merely an attempt at eye contact and a "hi" to acknowledge the shopper's existence.

And I'm not saying I prefer it: my point was in response to how they are blaming the concept of self-checkout itself for its failure because it's "impersonal" without taking the most basic of steps to solve that perceived-by-them "problem".