Self-service checkouts are turning shoppers into thieves

[Jazzy]

Self-service checkouts can be beyond annoying.

A new report from Leicester University shows supermarket losses more than double when the technology is used.

According to the study, the removal of human contact not only makes theft easier it makes it feel a lot less riskier as well.

But other reasons for increased losses include:

• It creates a ‘ready made excuse’ for non-scanning behaviour
• Retailers struggle to identify if customers meant to scan items or not
• It is so easy customers who wouldn’t normally consider stealing are more tempted to commit crime
• Some customers become so frustrated they feel justified in doing it

The study showed that the rate of loss at shops using self-scan technology increased by an average of 122%.

‘There are a few ways for a customer to “steal” and it be difficult to pin them down,’ a loss-prevention expert at a major supermarket told Metro.co.uk.

‘It’s very easy for a customer to say they didn’t realise it didn’t scan, there’s also a new way with pretending to tap contactless payments, even if the amount is above the contactless threshold.

‘It’s very easy to say they forgot or they didn’t realise.’

So how on earth does this keep happening?
‘Fewer people are there to manage the shop tills,’ the expert says.

‘They put the newest or worst member of staff on the self-service tills because people hate that job.

‘But the best one should be put on it.

‘The ideal number should be one staff member for four tills.

‘That never happens. You’ll have one person managing the whole bank of self’

Source

Thoughts?

 

[APS]

Something I just couldn't do,walk out without paying for everything.

 

[Bluezone777]

Self checkouts aren't making people into thieves as what is happening is the people who were truly thieves at heart are no longer afraid to be who they always were. For these people, the only reason they weren't stealing or at least not as much was the fear of getting caught and not a belief it is genuinely wrong to take what is not yours. If you were to ask these people if it is OK to steal from them if they ran a business and I used the same excuse they did when they stole from the stores they steal from then they would tell you no because deep down they really know it is wrong and their excuses don't justify their behavior.

 

[Worldwide]

Many of these people were probably already stealing, and not that this makes it right but I am sure that the supermarket chains that implement this weigh up the risk of increased theft vs the cost of hiring cashiers. My bet is that even with the theft they are probably coming out of it ahead.

 

[DrLeftover]

I've gotten to where I won't use the damned things.

The last time I used one, fully HALF of the items I wanted would not scan, and one of the ones that did, which was supposed to be on sale, scanned at the wrong price.

After waiting FOREVER for the local zombie to come over, who then accused me of not scanning the stuff correctly, which she then proved wrong when the first two items wouldn't scan for her either, and she did not apologize for her idiotic statement, I told her to forget the whole thing, and walked out.


A couple of weeks ago we were back in that store, and the 'front end manager zombie' cheerfully told us there was no waiting at the self check out, I looked at her and said, rather loudly, "You mean you want us to just leave the cart and walk out, we could do that."

Nobody, was leaving the TWO human operated checkout lines to go use the damned things.



.

 

[Webster]

I might be the rare exception here, but I've used the self-service checkout lines at a couple of places (at the local Wal-Mart Neighborhood Mkt and a nearby Food Lion) and wonder-of-wonders, the damn things actually work.

My experience: if you're buying a handful of items, the self-checkout line is way better; I'm not waiting 15-20 minutes behind someone w/a crap-ton of groceries in a checkout aisle when there's self-checkout lines I could use. *shrugs*

 

[Kid B]

I avoid them. It would be just like marriage, nothing but arguments. Unexpected item in bagging area isn't me.