Self Checkout Encourages Theft? Ep. 5.397

Self Checkout results in a surprising amount of shoplifting. Does anyone care?

[plangelierwot]

What drives me nuts is they have an employee trying to get you to use self check out..I always just say sorry I dont work here

[jimb]

Lady at Walmart center in Hollywood said I didn't scan all the cans of cat food. So she rescanned all the cans I scanned and came up with the same amount I did. At this point I told her to keep the cat food I will buy it somewhere else .

[startrek]

Well, apparently I'm a moron. I always pay for everything. I even made it out to the car having not paid for an item, and I went back inside the store and paid for it.

[reggiebenes]

I hate self check outs. I feel like the store fired someone, so that I would perform the job for free. The only benefit is to the store, certainly not the person who was fired or me.

[joeg]

If I shoplift in self checkout, and am cought- I have an excuse. Sorry sir. You did not properly train me in operation of your register.

[groermaik]

I'm retired, so I will wait for a human checker. I was asked by the store manager to use a self checker. I asked her how much of a discount I would get for checking myself out. She said "None". I replied "No." This happens very regularly at Meijer.

[americanmuslim]

I love self checkout. At first I had issues where I had to keep calling the agent to fix (not placing items on scale before removing them, etc..), but after figuring out how to avoid those issues. It saves me so much time (for me time > money). Instead of waiting 10 mins in line, I can go in less than a few mins in self checkout and with NO mistakes that a cashier can make.

[s.willey]

Someone mentioned Costco cashiers being the best. Absolutely. Costco does the right thing salary-wise and their check-out lines are a thing of beauty to watch. Most Costco' locations do not have self-checkout. The lines are long but the wait is short due to the efficiency of the two-person team that scans and carts your stuff. Funny how that works when you take care of your workers. It is actually good business.

[billythekid]

My sister works for a grocery store and she tells me all the horror stories of people who cheat and steal at the self checkout. It is pervasive at her store and these people get riled when she corrects their register. She is almost ready to quit over the abuse from thieves who steal from the store. The unfair part is that the honest people have to subsidize the theft by higher prices. A lot of companies do not want the publicity, violence, or abuse. They specifically tell employees not to confront thieves. Again, they just raise prices to cover the loss and the honest person pays the extra cost.
This is one mark of a corrupt society. I think we are almost to Sodom and Gomorrah decadence. Remember, for the lack of 10 righteous people Sodom is no more.

[nancycornett]

I refuse to go through self checkout. When the local Walmart drastically increased them, I asked a cashier if employees were being laid off. She said no but hours were being cut. On another visit I asked a different employee the same question and was told that cashiers were being switched to other jobs in the store. It’s hard for me to imagine that the total number of employees is not being reduced. I live in an area that was totally destroyed, in my eyes, when Walmart inveigled their way in with promises of all kinds of benefits to the community. All lies. But don’t let me get started!

[finris]

Stores used to have everything behind counters, so that the customers would only touch the merchandise after purchase. Then they decided to have the customers find the goods themselves and the employees would only have to do transactions at the exit. Now they are having the customer do that transaction too. They save all that money on labor. And considering how they get their stuff cheaper than they sell it for, I can see why they are willing to overlook some shoplifting. They still profit from it.
Ironically, I still like and use self-checkout. Not just because it is usually faster if you have a small number of items, but also because I feel like the cashiers judge me for everything I buy (even though my mind says they probably don't give a ... after working in retail long enough).

[chriskatz]

Has anyone thought that the companies this large, have considered this and determined that losing these profits is less loss than if they where having a employee paid to run the counter? As a business perspective that is a point to consider, as you said, they know they are losing the money

[tisjester]

One thing my local Meijer has is the ability to use their app to scan your items as you take them off the shelf.Then you can bag them in your own reusable shopping bags. I am seriously considering moving to this (If they pass new laws charging a tax on those plastic bags.
When it comes to shopping it is mostly dependent on how many items I have. If I have a large basket full of stuff I prefer the cashier. If I have some sort of coupons that I want to make sure are counted I will use a cashier. If I have just a couple of items? Yea if the self checkout line is small I will breeze through there.
What I like about our local Meijer is that if the Cashier lines get long they will open up a new line. They will pull people over to do the checkouts..
BUT all that being said I pay attention to the checkout people.. If I know they bag like crap and I have to keep redoing the bagging as we go I will avoid them and go to the Self Checkout.. I mean who puts poisons in the same bag as food stuffs? Who puts fragile things in with heavy things? Who loads 1 thin plastic bag with way too many heavy items so the bag rips when you pick it up?!?!?

I am not against self checkouts at all I like not having to deal with annoying people.(ie some checkout clerks) BUT I love me a good checkout person and I tell them so every time I am in their line. I thank them for being good at their job.

I am really interested in the whole checkout as you put items into your cart as you go idea. If I am using my own reusable bags. I would not even have an issue to have those bags checked as I leave LOL.

As for people that think having self checkout is BAD? Think of that poor checkout person that has to sit in one spot doing the same repetitive thing over and over again this is a job that begs for automation.

[metalbootlegslivearchives]

I hate self checkout. If I have to go through a self checkout I should pay less for the items I'm buying since I'm doing the work of the cashier for them.

[Alecw]

Local Walmart store has expanded to 12 self checkouts. But now they are putting in grocery pickup. Not only does the employees scan your items but you don’t have to get out of your car.

[timinwsac]

I hate standing in lines, I hate using the self checkout regestors but what I won't do is stand in line to self checkout.

The local Target put in self checkout regesters and in the mornings only have one clerk at a regester.  The last time I went in I got the things I wanted but when i went to pay for them the manned regester was closed and there was a line waiting for the self checkouts.  I went to the regester that had been open and put my things on the counter and stood there.  A manager saw me, came over and said that regester is closed.  I said OK, looked at the things I had picked up and then at the line for the self checkout, left everything on the counter and walked out.  Haven't been back.

[jaymcvey]

I only use self check outs ONLY when I'm out with my Autistic son.


One day when we had finished our shopping, I realized that I had forgotten to scan a couple of items after getting home.
The next week when we went shopping, I spoke to the store manager (who knows my son BTW) Told him what happened got the same items to scan them and was going to put them back as my son takes a lot of time. The store manager told me that since I was honest NOT to scan the items and I can have them for free.

[andrestorres]

The store doesn't want to pay for labor and the public doesn't want to pay for their products. Sounds like karma.

[Bretattech]

I work in a grocery store and it's a double edge sword. One piece of the puzzle is the fact that minimum wage is not usually going to cut it anymore. With being so close to full employment the potential pool of candidates is horrible at the minimum wage. To get anyone decent you have to pay a bit more to get them in the door. Where I work we are very understaffed. If we didn't have self checkouts we would not be able to make it through the summer season. Unfortunately we still manage to keep it together. Which puts us in an ever worse position because "you did more with less help". In some respects it would be nice to see the robots line up and take over so I can move on and change my job.

[wonderweirdo]

I have a friend (Honestly it's not me) who bragged about how he got a blue ray player by placing it on the scale on the scanner and selecting the option for potatoes. The blue ray player wasn't that heavy and he had to pay a few dollars. He bagged the blue ray player and paid with cash in the machine and walked out with a receipt for potatoes.