NJ man’s fake ‘Walmart Self Checkout Christmas Party’ turns into real toy drive

What started as an online joke about Walmart might turn out as one of the big holiday-giving events of the season in Lacey, New Jersey.

Lacey resident Drew Delgado last month posted an event on Facebook for what he dubbed a “Walmart Self Checkout Christmas Party” at the Lanoka Harbor store nearby. Under “what to expect,” Delgado posted a tongue-in-cheek description of the party plan: “Celebrating another successful year of picking, paying, and bagging your own groceries while actual employees just stand around and check receipts.”

Delgado, who described himself as “a bit of a prankster,” wasn’t serious about the party — but then more than 21,000 people responded they were interested. Some even RSVP’d with regrets. One man wrote in the comments that he has to attend the Target self-checkout party on the same night.

“And I was like, wow, this got a lot bigger than I thought it would," Delgado said. "And I was like, you know what, why don't we try and do something with it?”

After the event started to blow up on Facebook, Delgado said he got a call from the manager of the Lanoka Harbor store, telling him the “Self Checkout Christmas Party” was funny but Walmart had no interest in hosting it.

“With that being said, we came to the agreement that it would be amazing if we turned this into something positive for families in need,” Delgado wrote in another post about his interaction with the store.

Instead of gathering at Walmart, Delgado asked people to come by the Elks Lodge in Lacey on Dec. 15 and bring toys to donate to families who need them. The lodge has gotten on board and shared posts on Facebook advertising the toy drive. “Should be a nice night for all the right reasons,” the lodge posted.

“Things are tough right now for everybody, and they're not getting any easier," Delgado said. "I feel like it's slowly been getting worse. And I said, 'why don't we try and put something together, we can help other people out.'"

(Delgado posted on the event page that he’ll find another time to “throw a banger Walmart party.”)

While self-checkout at major retailers has exploded in popularity over the past decade, some companies are starting to rethink how much they use it. That includes Walmart, which recently did away with its self-checkout lanes in three New Mexico stores, according to a report from Business Insider.

One reason the self-checkout boom is starting to wane is increased shoplifting. A 2016 study of U.S. and European retailers found companies that use self-checkout had a loss rate of about 4%, more than double the industry average.

Delgado said, all joking aside, he wouldn’t want self-checkout at his local Walmart to go away. “I prefer it, I personally like it," he said.

Walmart’s corporate office did not respond to a request for comment.