Self-Checkout Thievery

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
09/30/2020 at 11:37 • Filed to: None

I went to Walmart last week and one of the items I bought was an adjustable wrench to keep in my van. Was about $14. I got to the car and discovered that I’d missed ringing it up. So I went back inside and scanned it and paid for it.

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DISCUSSION (34)

JustAnotherG6 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
09/30/2020 at 11:43

Another instance of ‘just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.’

Just Jeepin' > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
09/30/2020 at 11:44

A few months ago I found a couple bags of flour (on discount! in 2020! ) I’d been keeping an eye out for and put it on the bottom of my cart.

Of course, I forgot to pay for them .

I got out to my Jeep just as it started raining, and I didn’t have my top up , so everything was getting wet including the flour. Rather than go back inside I raced home.

A week or so later I was back at the grocery, and they still had the flour for the same price, so I took it with me through self-checkout, paid for the items, and then gave them to a nearby employee to restock.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > JustAnotherG6
09/30/2020 at 11:44

Yeah. I think it’s a symptom of how deep our society has descended.

Just Jeepin' > Just Jeepin'
09/30/2020 at 11:44

(He was quite perplexed.)

Svend > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
09/30/2020 at 11:46

It has been so common for people to ring things such as avocados as cheaper items like bananas, that our store has new self service tills that have two cameras, one looking at the customer and one looking at the item being scanned, so if you try ringing up avocados as bananas, the camera sees it's too different and will ask for a till attendant to check and approve.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
09/30/2020 at 11:47

This happens to me a Home Depot all the time. Their scanners don’t require the weight / you don’t need to take stuff out of your cart, and it seems like I sometimes miss something small that was hiding. There’s no way self scanners aren’t costing more than they save in labor.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Just Jeepin'
09/30/2020 at 11:47

Perfect. I was not always this way. When I was young, I snagged things for sport. This is the Right Choice.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
09/30/2020 at 11:48

FUCK YOU, GOT MINE

- America

Just Jeepin' > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
09/30/2020 at 11:48

Labor is insanely expensive once you include benefits . I’m confident the groceries know what they’re losing and would remove self-checkout if the numbers didn’t work out in their favor.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Just Jeepin'
09/30/2020 at 11:52

Plus, I think a lot of customers like it. I know I do.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
09/30/2020 at 11:53

I think that about sums it up.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
09/30/2020 at 11:54

If I’m not using the labor of a check out clerk, why should I pay for their labor? The bottom line of most groceries is so low that theft doesn’t matter, and even if it did, the losses from this type of theft and accidental non-scans are accounted for in the store’s budget.

If using the system as the store desires doesn’t have a financial impact on the store, but does have a financial impact on you, aren’t you obligated to steal?

(I don’t use the self checkout because they’re hard to use and actually slower, but I don’t really see a logical fault in this argument)

jminer > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
09/30/2020 at 12:02

Same here, I’ll go to a self check out lane unless I have a cart full of stuff.

facw > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
09/30/2020 at 12:03

Alternatively you can also just shoplift. Lifehack!

Or you know, just pay for your stuff like a reasonable person. In any event, grocery stores hate self-checkout, both due to issues with theft, and due to the fact that sel f-checkout like express lanes encourages people to come in and buy a few things that are on sale, rather than a comprehensive shop. They do of course like the labor savings, but that’s often not enough for them. Of course also like express la nes, some customers like them. The grocery near my apartment in Houston actually removed their self-checkout lanes which was really annoying. Up where I am now, there’s only one grocery store out of a half-dozen that even has them.

Just Jeepin' > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
09/30/2020 at 12:04

Rationalizing theft from a big company is easy, but that’s all it is, rationalizing.

Future next gen S2000 owner > jminer
09/30/2020 at 12:12

I purposefully go to a checkout line with a person. I’m not a fan of self checkout.

jminer > Future next gen S2000 owner
09/30/2020 at 12:17

Around here the lines are usually shorter and move faster at the self checkout. If I’ve got more than 20 items I’ll go to a person as that’s easier.

MM54 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
09/30/2020 at 12:39

I once got to the car and realized I had a case of bottled water on the bottom of the cart I forgot about. Next time I got groceries that included a case of water, I scanned it twice and hoped nobody noticed and asked what I was doing.

I actually read that same article y ou linked to yesterday (it was in the “new tab” suggestions... thing... during the debacle debate), people are pathetic.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
09/30/2020 at 12:39

Regressed is a better word.

Honestly, a not insignificant part of our population might as well be Morlocks.

Svend > facw
09/30/2020 at 13:12

Our store went from 27 c heckouts operated by staff to 22 operated by staff and six self scans, then to 19 operated by staff, sic self scans and give ‘hybrids’ (which are self scan, but can be turned into staff operated tills by filing down a shelf over the weighing area and turning around the card reader.

We now have 12 tills operated by staff, 10 small self scan tills, and six large shop self scan tills as well as five ‘scan and go’ pods so you can scan on your mobile or the stores scanners.

Stores love self scans because you only need three staff to watch over those 21 self scan tills and scan and go pods.

At our current hourly rate of just under £9 per hour, that’s about £100 s aving per hour plus, you only need the tills operated by staff when it's busy, so you can use them to fill or tidy the shelves until a 'service call one' goes out on the tannoy. Meaning less costs on having staff solely to fill shelves.

facw > Svend
09/30/2020 at 13:14

The economics might be different in the UK than the US (and even in the US, it varies based on how likely they think people are to steal stuff based on store location).

DipodomysDeserti > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
09/30/2020 at 13:29

O ur economy used to be powered by slaves, and we used to not let people of different skin tones use the same grocery stores.

People have always stolen things.

The Ghost of Oppo > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
09/30/2020 at 13:30

My local grocer’s self check out aisles only work if you first scan your rewards card , which they only issue by scanning an driver’s license or ID, and you can’t just enter a phone number either, so if they find out later you’re stealing they know exactly who you are.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > DipodomysDeserti
09/30/2020 at 13:34

I’m not sure what to make of your reply, but I am reminded of Mike Pence’s recent comment about COVID: “Think of how much worse it could have been...”

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
09/30/2020 at 13:39

Ah yes...

https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/31/thief-got-ps4-8-self-service-checkout-scanning-fruit-8419296/

MonkeePuzzle > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
09/30/2020 at 13:40

I cant remember the comedian now, but his bit was that he says random words to the self checkout scanner, and if people ask him about it he says its for a coupon discount and they should try it.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > The Ghost of Oppo
09/30/2020 at 13:40

Yes, but do they actually take action? I know that Trader Joe’s, for example, will not confront a shoplifter nor take any action at all, nor to they have any cameras in their stores. At the Safeway in town, theft of baby formula is rampant. They put the formula aisle in direct line of site of the cashier supervisor station and the shoplifters are blatant. It’s crazy.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
09/30/2020 at 13:42

This one is valuable enough to pursue. Perhaps in the UK, they’re more active on this sort of thing anyhow. But yeah.

Svend > facw
09/30/2020 at 13:43

Ye’, between the U.K. and U.S. the economics of taxes and RRPs vary massively.

But I think, on the whole it equals out.

The Ghost of Oppo > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
09/30/2020 at 14:08

My local grocery store has an insane amount of cameras and I know they use secret shoppers.

I can say one time an older lady was in front of me in line, and I don’t think she was trying to steal, she got frustrated with the automated screen and just left with her groceries . So I had to call an employee over and they entered something into the system and said that corporate would contact them. But does someone(or some AI) review security camera footage to see if people are not scanning things? Who knows

Chariotoflove > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
09/30/2020 at 14:46

On the other hand, we got caught Sunday leaving Sam’s with a box of cereal we forgot to scan. Lady at the door caught it, and sure enough, it wasn’t on the receipt. I was so ap ologetic, but she was cool and took payment right there.

Wallaby > jminer
09/30/2020 at 16:20

I’m in the same boat. I’ll self checkout if I only have a handful of items but if there’s a week’s worth of groceries I’m not really up for seeing “remove une xpected item from bagging area” a dozen times.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Chariotoflove
09/30/2020 at 17:36

People oops. I cannot imagine you to be anything less than scrupulously honest.

Chariotoflove > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
09/30/2020 at 18:07

Thanks. It was a relief that they behaved the same. They just said mistakes happen.