I read somewhere that stealing from those self-service kiosks is very easy, and has become very common. At my supermarket, they have one store employee, who is often distracted, keeping an eye on up to 6 customers at once, who are scanning their items and throwing them into their bags. I bet people who want to steal have found that they often get away with it. And if they are caught, they can always say they made a mistake. It's basically an honor system.
I suspect the stores know all about this, and consider the occasional theft a lot cheaper for them than paying extra checkout personnel. Never mind the morality, most of their boards of directors are only interested in the bottom line.
