SPRINGFIELD - Once hailed as a time and money-saving innovation, self-checkout lanes may be going the way of the cassette tape.

The Springfield-based grocer Big Y announced this week that by the end of the year, all of the self checkout kiosks would be removed from their 58 stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

"After extensive research, Big Y has concluded that these self checkout lanes not only do not save their customers time but usually take them even more time to check out than customers in standard checkout lanes," the company said in a statement Wednesday. "Self-checkout lines get clogged as the customers needed to wait for store staff to assist with problems with bar codes, coupons, payment problems and other issues that invariably arise with many transactions."

Michael A. Tami, VP for information resources and technologies at Big Y, told ProgressiveGrocer.com that the machines couldn't provide "the exceptional customer service through them that has made Big Y what it is today."

"While other chains are opting to replace cashiers with more self-checkouts, we are adding cashiers to service more standard lanes," Tami said. “Our self-checkout technology could not deliver on the service needs of our customers."

Big Y is not the first major grocer in the nation to make such a move. In July, Idaho-based Albertsons announced it was pulling the machines from its stores, citing a growing disconnect between the customer and the level of service the company wanted to be a standard.

The Ohio-based grocery chain Kroger is also removing the self-checkout machines from some of its stores as part of routine renovations.

In an effort to better serve its customers, the Atlanta-based retailer Home Depot recently equipped employees with the Motorola First Phone.

The phone was developed based on a $64 million investment by Home Depot, which has since equipped each of its U.S. stores with 15 of the handheld units.

The First Phone serves a a mobile computer, a walkie-talkie and a cash register, allowing employees to check-out customers anywhere in the store.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Home Depot officials said the technology was a success as it gives employees more information to easily and correctly answer questions from the public in addition to taking the wait out of the check-out process.