Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
NJ man’s fake ‘Walmart Self Checkout Christmas Party’ turns into real toy drive
By
Mike Hayes
Published Dec 11, 2023
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
By
Mike Hayes
Published Dec 11, 2023
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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.
Tagged
charity
walmart
elks lodge
self-checkout
retail
new jersey
holidays
Mike Hayes
Mike Hayes covers equity and access to opportunity in New Jersey. He joined WNYC and Gothamist in 2023. Before that, he worked as a freelance journalist writing about policing and criminal justice. He has written for ProPublica, CNN, HuffPost, BuzzFeed News and The Appeal. He is also the author of the book, “The Secret Files: Bill De Blasio, The NYPD, and the Broken Promises of Police Reform.” In 2019, he was a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 4:15 p.m. ET
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
News
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
NYC nor’easter dries up after weather service reports minor flooding
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .