That's the idea behind self-checkout lanes.

A way to skip the pleasantries and skate out of the store quickly.

Super fast, easy, convenient.

But more and more stores are now hitting cancel on those self-checkout machines.

Item cancelled.

Dollar General says it has pulled self-checkout from about 12,000 stores.

And Five Below, hoping to eliminate self-checkout options in its highest-risk locations.

Both companies saying theft is the main reason, as 15% of users confessed to purposely stealing at the self-checkout lane.

Entering in a cheaper type of produce when they're scanning their groceries or just pretending to scan something and just bagging it anyway.

It's one area where retailers are noticing that too much stuff.

Then there's the user experience.

For shoppers, self-checkout is supposed to offer the convenience of just scanning and then going.

But sometimes it ends up being more trouble than it's worth.

Please wait for assistance.

Definitely where I have to like wait for someone to come in and fix it and it's just a waste of time.

The solution?

Bringing sales associates back.

It's more profitable for the retailer to pay employees to manage checkout than it is to support the machines where they're probably getting less than accurate checkouts from consumers.

Self-checkout isn't going away though.

It's on the rise at grocery stores, making up 44% of transactions last year.

If your store decided to take out all the self-checkout lanes and put in like regular lanes. How do you feel about it? - I'd be really disappointed.

A battle of humans versus machines playing out in the checkout line.

Brian Chung, NBC News, New York.