Guessing they'll also raise prices when they simply return to previously normal operations.

I really wonder who these retailers are. Like, my grocer typically has 2 human and 12 self checkout open, and it's no question which of those is going to be faster for someone pushing less than a full cart. They don't even have the floor space to build twelve more full service checkouts. Reminds me of the bad old days when I'd go to the store and they'd have every human checkout line open, every one of them with 5+ people in line, and it'd take 30 minutes just to check out. If you're a retailer that only processes a couple dozen patrons an hour, then yeah, I can see where a few self-checks wouldn't be any benefit.

Feels like we've reached the enshittification phase of self-checks: big stores are now so beholden to the technology that the vendors can jack up their prices to where self checks cost the store more than a full-service checkout, but they can't go back because there's no staff and no space.

My local grocery had self checkout for about a year before ripping them out and putting normal ones back in. They don’t seem to be understaffed.

Not all stores are awful on all fronts. They don’t have chairs for their checkout people yet though.