Stores Losing Millions Due To Theft Via Self Check Outs

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

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The linked article states: "Since their introduction, self-checkouts have been a seemingly easy target for shoplifters, and research by criminologist and University of Leicester Professor Adrian Beck even showed from gathered data from 13 major UK and US retailers, including Walmart, that a large retailer with half of its sales being made through self-checkouts should expect losses in the millions of dollars from it." The article also covers how Walmart employees know when people are stealing via self checkout machines.
https://www.newsweek.com/walmart-staff-know-stealing-self-checkout-scanners-tiktok-1620193
 

I've seen where people get everything put in bags, then grab them and walkout. I've accidentally rang two boxes of crackers and paid for one.

Now with shopping, I make sure to have so much to checkout, I use a cashier. Sometimes alcohol and it's way easier as the cashier is focused on you and your stuff, not 5 others.

But it's probably going to make Walmart stop self checkout if losses keep mounting. I'm guessing in 20 years, if you go into a store, select your items, then have a robot grab it all and you're done. Theft is not possible as it's all automated.
 

Disgustedman said:
But it's probably going to make Walmart stop self checkout if losses keep mounting. I'm guessing in 20 years, if you go into a store, select your items, then have a robot grab it all and you're done. Theft is not possible as it's all automated.
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Seems weird but Walmart doesn't care much about losses. They sell trillions of 50-cent items for $14.99, so it balances out.

I agree about Auto Shopping, though.
 
Disgustedman said:
I've seen where people get everything put in bags, then grab them and walkout. I've accidentally rang two boxes of crackers and paid for one.

Now with shopping, I make sure to have so much to checkout, I use a cashier. Sometimes alcohol and it's way easier as the cashier is focused on you and your stuff, not 5 others.

But it's probably going to make Walmart stop self checkout if losses keep mounting. I'm guessing in 20 years, if you go into a store, select your items, then have a robot grab it all and you're done. Theft is not possible as it's all automated.
Click to expand...
Amazon Go already has stores where customers do not have to check out at all. They scan a smartphone app upon entering, do their shopping which is tracked and just walk out when they are done. There's one not too far from me but I haven't gone there. I have a feeling their items are more expensive. I'm curious enough to try it though. Good thing I read this article first. It points out that if a shopper takes down an item for someone else (say they can't reach it), that shopper will be charged.
https://www.businessinsider.com/no-checkout-needed-amazon-opens-cashier-less-grocery-store-2020-2
@1955
 
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Maybe the losses are less than the cost of the checkers.
There have been cases where people have been charged with stealing.
I have accidentally forgot things like the 20 roll TP bag underneath the basket.
They do have cameras but how the heck would they all be monitored?
I'm not worried about it, I just try to do the best I can.
Pretty soon you won't even need to checkout. Everything will contain an RFID chip & you just walk out the door.
 
1955 said:
Maybe the losses are less than the cost of the checkers.
There have been cases where people have been charged with stealing.
I have accidentally forgot things like the 20 roll TP bag underneath the basket.
They do have cameras but how the heck would they all be monitored?
I'm not worried about it, I just try to do the best I can.
Pretty soon you won't even need to checkout. Everything will contain an RFID chip & you just walk out the door.
Click to expand...
Whole Foods is already beginning to implement such a system.

Allowing customers to skip the checkout line, Just Walk Out uses overhead computer-vision cameras, weight sensors and deep-learning technology to detect merchandise that shoppers take from or return to shelves and track items selected in a virtual cart. At the store’s entry, customers are prompted to select Just Walk Out shopping or use the traditional checkout or self-checkout lanes.
https://www.supermarketnews.com/technology/it-s-go-amazon-s-just-walk-out-whole-foods
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Amazon Go already has stores where customers do not have to check out at all. They scan a smartphone app upon entering, do their shopping which is tracked and just walk out when they are done. There's one not too far from me but I haven't gone there. I have a feeling their items are more expensive. I'm curious enough to try it though. Good thing I read this article first. It points out that if a shopper takes down an item for someone else (say they can't reach it), that shopper will be charged.
https://www.businessinsider.com/no-checkout-needed-amazon-opens-cashier-less-grocery-store-2020-2
Click to expand...
yes we've had those stores in London for quite a while now
 
At first I did not like it. I have realized it is better to do it yourself, so you can take your time. Make sure you are charged the prices, get all the discounts advertised. Sometimes something is on sale and they don't change the computer system. We trust that they do but they don't.

I went thru a cashier line a couple of days ago. When walking out, reviewing the receipt, I saw I had been overcharged for a product that was on special. Went straight to customer service and got my 4 bucks.
 
Previously I would not use a self-checkout. Now I’ve given up standing in long lines. Today was the exception. The lineup for self-checkout was long and that was before it got into the split up zone for a few items or a full cart. I went to cashier because amazingly there was only one person with just a few items. I set my bags on the counter and she threw the bags over the end so I could pack them myself. I asked if we were now supposed to pack them ourselves. Her reply was that there was a long line forming. That was true. If she’d just asked politely if I would mind packing them myself, I’d have been satisfied. I know this is the same woman who was extremely rude a few months ago. Next time I’m in there I’ll mention it to the manager.
 
The Walmart where I sometimes shop because I use their pharmacy seldom has assisted checkout. Back when they had most checkouts operated by humans, I wondered why the line was so long at the automated checkouts when the others were available. Now I think I know! It is not in the best part of town. I thought people don't you realize that it will take you twice as long?
 
My friend sent me a warning about the weigh scales at self-checkouts. They get so much use/abuse that it’s easy for them to go out of wack. She‘d read that a customer felt her bill was too high so she weighed her items on a digital scale at home. Things were about 1/3 higher. She went back to the store and they refunded her money.
 
The big problem in my area is that criminals will load up a basket and just leave the store with it. They know that the stores will not try and stop them. And the understaffed police can't possibly respond in time to do anything about it.
 
Brookswood said:
The big problem in my area is that criminals will load up a basket and just leave the store with it. They know that the stores will not try and stop them. And the understaffed police can't possibly respond in time to do anything about it.
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Yes, I guess honesty is a thing of the past for many of us. I doubt if my mom or dad would be very proud of me if they knew their som is a thief. My mom is still living and I know it would break her heart if she found out her only son was a thief.
 
Brookswood said:
The big problem in my area is that criminals will load up a basket and just leave the store with it. They know that the stores will not try and stop them. And the understaffed police can't possibly respond in time to do anything about it.
Click to expand...
I don't think so. I bet an employee would run after someone who didn't pay before leaving.
 
I do a modest amount of shopping at Walmart as well as many other chain supermarkets with self check-out isles. As an honest conscientious person, I doubt I've ever ever made a mistake missing a scan on any items in my cart. Just too easy to be accurate. So don't agree those with making excuses about the process as being difficult or error prone. For those so feeble, physically limited, or absent minded, there are always isles with a cashier. In general, the current retail status of shoplifting and thefts is horribly wrong and I would hope beyond politicians allowing such in their cities, retailers and their equipment vendors are working to eliminate as much as they can because it is a sick behavior that will otherwise spread festering in other unethical ways in our society. Obviously in some poorer neighborhoods, stores probably ought not have self-check-out options. And that ought be a corporate business decision of executives that are not afraid to implement such differences despite predictable complaints by some minorities and advocates.
 
The stores where I live have expanded the self check out lines. I think the cost of a machine that after installation only needs occasional maintenance vs. a human, has to have been evaluated by people skilled in cost analysis.

But just for grins & giggles maybe this has something of value to consider.

The machine

Can work 24/7 using electricity, doesn't need paid holidays, vacation pay, pay raises, a health care plan [albeit maintenance if it fails] recording hours worked for tax & Soc. Sec. payroll deduction, distribution of those taxes to federal, state or even counties. Bagging your own items is a plus especially since bagging by a checker can leave you with tomatoes under canned goods. And other unpleasant damage to purchases by a disgruntled employee. And this handy little gift by the IRS.
What Is Section 179? Section 179 of the IRS Tax Code allows businesses to write-off the full purchase price of any qualifying piece of equipment or software in the year it was purchased or financed.

And typically is programmed to thank you for shopping at whereever.

A human checker

8 hour shift with breaks, overtime pay if needed to fill in for another employee that calls in sick. Wages & benefits that can increase yearly. Wage documentation for tax purposes could increase corporate staff needed to process human employees required documentation.
 
I used to use self checkout frequently about ten years ago but have since stopped. I don't like the direction this is moving in and the only way to stop it, or slow it down, is not to support it.
 

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