I like self checkout as an option, almost everywhere.
I DON’T like REQUIRED self checkout.
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I will put one other mistake in there, is self checkouts with too many prompts. I avoid using self checkout at a few stores because the minimum number of prompts is higher than 3.
Good: scanning starts the process, select done AT MOST asks for how many bags, then payment type, swipe and pay (optional email receipt on pin pad).
Bad: Cant’ start till you tap start, asks for member ship card up front, asks if you want to donate, scan, asks if you want to use your rewards, asks for number of bags, also would you like an email receipt?
You missed incessant “place your item in the bagging area” and failing/requiring “assistance” if you scan too fast.
Ya and some of them will let you put your own bags in the bagging area in the start so you can fill your bags as you scan, while others do not.
What I find works pretty well is to have the bag ready and put the first item into it and then set it down on the bAgGiNg ArEa together
Scanned orange juice bottle “wrong item weight. Please wait for assistance.” Yes I have actually encountered this. :(
Do you have the overhead camera that tries to detect theft, and vaults your scanning to have an employee come over and review the footage before you can continue scanning? That’s my favorite.
so glad walmart here turned off the bagging scales. you can just take the wireless ‘gun’ and ‘shoot’ everything in your cart and toss 'em into your reusable bags as you go.
One cool thing I’ve found is that you can scan your card on the reader at any time.
I walk up to the machine, scan my first item, tap my card, then do the rest of my scanning. When I hit “done”/“pay” it just processes the card and prints a receipt
That trick likely only works on specific brands of these self checkout terminals.
It isn’t brand, it’s how the company had them configured to work.
My favorite kind is where you just get a scanner when you walk into the store. Scan stuff when you put it in your bag, scan the scanner at the end, pay and leave. No futzing about moving stuff from cart to bags or anything like that, and it’s way more convenient to use my own bags because I’m loading them as I go, instead of being rushed at the very end.
Last time I was at a Target with only self checkout I went to customer service and had them scan me out.
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It helped to be polite but firm about it.
“There are no staffed checkout lanes and I hate those robots. Please check me out here.“
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That’s not being polite, that’s just being an entitled dick head thinking you deserve special treatment.
I stopped shopping at a local grocery store because the damn self checkout made you scan everything and place it on the stupid scale. I couldn’t put my own personal bag there as it would upset the whole system. It ended up wasting more of my time. If they want self checkout to be used more they need to understand someone isn’t stealing and paying at the same time. Sure something might get missed on accident, but I’m not scanning $100 in groceries to steal some arbitrary amount.
Also, Home Depot took self checkout to the extreme and it sucks ass for it.
No no no, people definitely steal and pay at the same time. I was guilty of doing so when i was younger and more stupid. Older self checkout were so easy to scam by tag swapping or only scanning some of my items and not others.
You were going to steal in the first place. This doesn’t change anything. Ethically ambiguous people “stealing” by purchasing something at a slightly lower price doesn’t equate to a company therefore making it so I have to use weighted systems. It’s part of the cost of doing business. Odds are good they still broke even after profit margin. Im not going to argue any of that, but it doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have to put my stuff as I’m scanning on a scale. Either trust me to ring it up correctly or put the proper amount of people on checkout.
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This is so key. If they don’t have enough regular lanes (which at times is just 1), the old/slow/large/complex orders are much more likely to go through self-checkout. Now they’re annoyed that they “have” to use the machines, and so is everybody behind them that has to wait for them. Congratulations: you’ve managed to piss off literally everyone!
Walmart in my area was pretty famous for dropping all cashiers at certain times of the day, and splitting the self checkout “watcher” with customer service. Bit of a clusterfuck but they kept it up for years before 2020 made them shake things up.
They schedule what is budgeted by corporate, ime.
Same. I’m purchasing 2 small things and there’s a line with the creepy incel cashier? Yep self checkout FTW. I have an entire cart full of stuff and the store doesn’t even have a cashier? FML.
Ya, having a lot of items, or odd items like vegetables or bulk items at a grocery store that need to have a code entered or need to be weighed suck at self checkout.
I would also say large items, but home depot and costco provide wireless scanners which work very well. Can just roll your cart up grab the scanner scan and go without taking stuff off.
That and age-gated items like alcohol and [some] medicines. If the one human managing the self-checkout horde is busy, you’re just left waiting.
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They really need to just pay for extra cashiers. And* can’t they also have “express lanes?”
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I don’t mind self checkout. It turns out i can be so incompetent that the self checkout watcher has to scan everything for me.
I actually really dislike it. I hate how it takes away lots of jobs from people. For example, there used to be a lot of retarded people who did bagging. That was an awesome way to get them into the workforce.
I understand some people don’t like social interaction and like self check out, but they should suck it up.
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No clue! XD
Sounds like something Collinsville would say for sure.
Is this a real tweet?
Lemmy users really will take the most obvious jokes at face value.
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Something being a crime and something being immoral are two different things.
It may not be immoral but it is unsafe.
Quite a jump from shoplifting to genocide, which makes for extremely poor rhetoric. You should’ve at least listed every next step, e.g.: shoplifting -> robbery -> armed robbery -> murder -> several other steps -> genocide. Which still looks absurd but like, less.
It was once a crime for black people to sit at the front of a bus in America. Guess that means Rosa Parks is responsible for the Holocaust.
Thank the gods we had you to point it out.
Wow, just wow…
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O green peppers are 99 cents each but red and yellow are 1.29? That’s so weird all these peppers I’m buying are green.
Fuck you, I’m the cashier now.
Bill Burr: “what’re you gonna do? cut my hours?”
Also
Oh, something didnt scan and you walked out without paying for it?
Enjoy your broken spine as cops appear in full swat outfit and tackle you to the ground and beat you with clubs because you are shocked and arent immediately calm and compliant.
Clearly a joke, but they will start a record for you till they can get you for a felony…
Start a felony charge for a loaf of bread?
give me a break. These companies cut corners every where they go. You think there stocking up on hard drives and algorithms to cut up and record people?
Look up the target method. They can automatically connect your face/payment ID to items you haven’t scanned. They get you after you’ve racked up enough cumulative value that you haven’t paid for to count for a felony.
So no, they aren’t sticking you with a felony charge for a loaf of bread. They’re sticking you with a felony charge for enough loafs of bread to value a serious theft charge.
It’s not going to effect you if you only ever stole one loaf of bread. Waiting until you commit enough theft is the cutting corners part you’re talking about.
Facial profiles and items stolen require directories, centralized databases, hard drives, programming, knowing the items. Personal to sift through the data.
Companies think that’s cheaper than self check out?
You must not be an engineer.
It doesn’t have to do with what I think. That is what they do. Why don’t you put any amount of effort into verifying what I said instead of insulting me like you think I just made it up?
You don’t think that loss prevention would be doing that stuff regardless of whether they had employed cashiers at registers or not? Loss prevention has been around since long before self checkout lanes, doing the same things they’re doing now. They already pay those guys. Self checkout is still cheaper if they don’t also have to pay a dozen cashiers.
Also, you seem to be imagining a whole fbi crime scene setup in every store for a job that’s basically handled per location by 2 guys and a computer.
A “database” doesn’t have to be (and usually isn’t) centralized across stores. “Hard drives” can be a single multi-terabyte hdd in the age we’re in now. “Programming” is just out of the box software they teach their prevention guys to use. The facial recognition and knowing items part comes built into the self checkout machine.
You must not be an engineer either, because an engineer would understand that the cheaper option isn’t necessarily lower tech.
Again, take 10 minutes and learn how to utilize a search engine. It’s not something they want people to know, but it’s also not exactly a secret. Target pioneered the kind of loss prevention techniques big box stores use today.
This is what I found. It’s just an attic from somewhere, but it has lots of references.
You sweet summer child…
My husband had a nasty cold and the self scan he was using we later found out should have had an out of order sign on it. After missing the fact that it wasn’t dinging for every item because he couldn’t hear well, they pulled him and had him arrested. His total was off by $100 and he should’ve realized it, admittedly, but he just wanted to get home. We were able to get them to drop the charges because the self check out was malfunctioning but he’s still banned from Walmart.
and getting banned from walmart is more devastating than most people realize, cause in a lot of places walmart has run out the competition, so if you cant go to your walmart due to a mistake on THEIR part, that means you might have to drive an extra hour to some not-walmart place.
Its complete and utter bullshit.
I hope that store burns down with the manager that made that decision trapped inside.
Yeah I’m not paid to use your stupid machine properly. I generally avoid self-checkout and never use it if I have a manually entered item. When there are no full service registers or only one, you know I’m going to be extra sloppy with the self-checkout.
I generally avoid self-checkout and never use it if I have a manually entered item.
At a certain point you’re just denying yourself the savings. Go get that informal employee discount!
I’m against what Walmart especially has done by remodelling stores and removing their checkout lanes and replacing them all with self checkout.
but I have nothing against a store having a couple self checkout lanes.
Cause they are nice to have if you only bought one or two things, and don’t want to wait behind a full cart… or if you are buying something you are personally embarrassed about and don’t want to have a cashier see.
Self Checkout should be a very minor option valuable to a select few.
not the primary means of checking out for everyone.
Oh for sure, if I gotta guess I’m picking the one that’s best for me every time.
Self checkout wants my opinion I’ll give it :)
At Costco it’s great minus the membership checks. Thanks this was a quick process, now let me stop and take my card out so you can see I’m not stealing deals.
Walmart, fuck you hire more cashier’s why am I waiting 10 minutes to checkout at self checkout when you have 50 closed fucking lanes!
Walmart, fuck you hire more cashier’s why am I waiting 10 minutes to checkout at self checkout when you have 50 closed fucking lanes!
I straight up said this the last time I was there to one of the managers watching the self checkout after I heard them complaining about the long ass line. Maybe if you actually turned the other 20 lanes on instead of only having 3 the lines would go by quicker, ya dumbasses.
You expect them to pull 20 extra people put of their ass?
If they offered a living wage it wouldn’t be a problem. They can afford it, without raising prices.
No no no no no, HOW could they afford that?
Tell me how they could afford it as a giant multi billion dollar company.
It’s not even possible to pull out billions to shareholders and CEO’s each year if they did that.
Why don’t anyone ever think about the poor ultra rich?
Whether they have them all open or just 3, they still only have 2 or 3 employees watching over it all. For some reason, they’re all open in the morning when there aren’t any customers, but then in the late afternoon, they turn everything off when the store is flooded with customers. It’s ass backwards.
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Having worked at a grocery store, it has to do with inventory stocking. All the trucks show up in the morning, so you need more people around to do intake and stock the shelves. Sometimes they go help in the front in the downtime. Despite what the antiwork folks say, most managers are not power mad assholes, they’re workers playing their role in the system. The owner class however…
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If you’re genuinely curious, a lot of it has to do with traffic management. I will blindly assume that you live near a large city in north america.
Trucks are big and cumbersome, especially semis. They’re fine ok the highway, but on city roads around busy places like grocery stores they’re like one man traffic jams.
Your typical American grocery store moves literal tons of product every single day, very little of which is produced locally. They require constant, daily replenishing, and it has to be done without disrupting the flow of shoppers and surrounding traffic.
The solution is to start your night at a store or distribution center in a major city. Pick up your trailer of paper products or whatever, make your first stop in town, then hit the highway. Stop at towns and cities along the way, dropping off a pallet or two at each until you reach your final stop in another major city where you swap trailers and take a nap before doing it all again. Many grocery stores employ a small team of (frequently underpaid) workers to process all this at odd hours in the night.
Supply chain is 24/7
The thing I really hate about it is that where I live, they don’t have bags at the self checkout. Cuz you know, someone might steal a fucking plastic bag. 🙄
Where I live (Montréal, Canada) plastic bags are banned everywhere. You either bring your own or buy a reusable at the cash. Some places (like grocery stores) also sell paper bags. You get used to it. If you have a car you leave a bunch of reusables in the trunk, if you don’t you just have to remember to bring one with you. The also sell some super thin ones you can carry in your pockets that are sturdy and large enough for a small run at the grocery store.
The only thing I’d hate about that, is if they don’t have a recyclable option and you always have to buy the reusable ones. At some point they just become garbage because you forgot them for the last 20 trips, and who needs 100 reusable bags?
Or how about you forgot to bring them in with you but don’t realize it until everything is unloaded on the conveyor?
Most grocery stores still offer paper bags and personally I love them to pack everything I want to bring to the recycling bin
Yes, and also for the compost. I used to store a few as well but they are so thin now, it’s not worth it.
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I think you’re misunderstanding me. I’m saying that I’d hate situations where my choice is “carry loose items” or “buy new bags” if I’ve forgotten my already owned bags at home. I don’t dislike reusable bags, I own quite a few actually, but when I forget them I’d rather buy paper bags than be forced to buy yet more reusable bags.
I agree. I have a drawer full and a bunch in my car. I see a lot of them for sale for a buck at thrift stores, it’s kind of funny and sad.
It’s not that I care what they’re made of. Here they’re required to charge 10¢/bag. I would happily take a paper bag. The thing I don’t like is being treated like an extremely petty criminal.
As an aide though, everything I’ve read supports the conclusion that the bag bans only lead to more waste. IIRC, a generous estimate would mean you need to reuse a bag at least 20x in order to break even on resource usage… Which basically never happens. It’s an excellent example of a feel good solution that sounds good until you run the numbers. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That said, I’d be perfectly happy to see us eliminate almost all uses of disposable plastics.
I like the aldi model with no bags—when you forget a bag you look for an empty box. Not ideal for people who walked though.
It’s different here (at Walmart at least), they leave all their reusable bags at the self checkout where you can just buy them. But there is a lot of staff and the area is like a bullpen, so there is only one exit and there are employees looking at the carts’ contents.
As for the bags, for sure it’s a contentious topic. And I agree with you. As I mentioned in another reply, I see a lot of the sturdier reusable bags for sale at thrift store, they have to roll them up and put them in a bin they have so many…
IIRC, a generous estimate would mean you need to reuse a bag at least 20x in order to break even on resource usage… Which basically never happens.
I’ve definitely used my reusable bags more than 20 times. Why don’t people use them more than 20 times?
In the before times, when you could still find baggers at checkouts, paper bags were provided. I know the cost was figured in to the prices but it is B.S. that they now charge for them.
Neverminding that we have to scan the cards to even begin scanning the (soon to be our) stuff.
My Costco has had “self checkout” for about a year now. There’s a Costco employee that waves you over and scans all your items. I really don’t get it.
The Costco self checkouts can only do a certain amount of weight per square inch before they shit the bed. Which is bad, because it’s costco. Unloading the entire shelf while you haven’t paid can’t be done, so you have to scan, hit the weight limit, pay, unload, then scan and load the shelf again…and then pay again. Idiotic design that multiplies the wait times considerably, lol.
I only use them if I’m carrying my items in my hands.
I have no sympathy for companies losing money due to theft at self-checkout, it’s a cost saving measure that’s bitten them in the ass.
They also suck for alcohol, or anything that doesn’t have a barcode, as mentioned in the story. I never buy either of those products at self checkout.
That said, I really liked the opportunity to not have to socialize with someone
Ha, I once got booted from a Safeway in my early 20’s when I was trying to buy beers and the lady who was supposed to be verifying ID was shooting the shit w her coworker. She clearly saw the thing flashing, but wanted to finish her story. I tried waving at her to no avail. She had a very I’ll get to you in a minute vibe, but she clearly wasn’t talking about work stuff. I had worked at a Lucky previously and they used the same self checkout system system. I knew I just needed to type my bday on their terminal to get it to sell, so I went n did it lol. Hey, self check out amirite? I figured fuck it, I’ll do that part too I guess.
She finally noticed like right before I paid and took my beers and wouldn’t let me pay. I was like here’s my ID, I’ve been waiting like 5 minutes to show you. Manager showed up told me to leave, and never come back, it was a whole thing. Granted, I was 100% being a young , dumb prick, but I was annoyed with the lady not doing her job, and wasting my time. Having been on the other side of that terminal before, knowing how easy it was to do, I was super annoyed that she wasn’t even acknowledging me trying to get her attention. Fun times lol.
I would have done the same.
I knew I just needed to type my bday on their terminal to get it to sell, so I went n did it lol.
EWW
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It’s probably my inexperience with self-checkout speaking, but I would never enter PII into a corporate terminal for the sake of a six-pack.
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In my day it was a sight of your ID alone, and only on the cashier’s discretion. Which is still the norm today at many retailers. I will never use any POS system that requires ID scanning/PII provision as a default.
Self checkout is useful when you only want a few things. Much faster.
If you’re getting a full trolley, you’d need a barcode scanner to take round the shop with you. If you don’t have that, it’s faster to go with a manned checkout.
A grocery store near me has the self-scan as part of the app. It’s pretty good, but honestly it’s not that bad to do a full trip through the self checkout.
Wegmans tried that at first but failed and removed it. No one wants to scan products with their phone while shopping.
Oh dang, I love it. It’s awesome to be able to see what my total cost is as I shop. I definitely buy less when I do it that way, and added bonuses include everything already being bagged the way I like it and not having to talk to people (at least usually). I did it all the time during the pandemic.
The only thing is that I wish I had something other than the phone for the scanning. Using the phone camera to scan isn’t anywhere near as fast/good as using a scanning gun.
But my guess is that it got removed because too many people were “scanning” and just taking off. It’s pretty easy to fool self check, but enough people will avoid trying because there are people there, cameras, etc. Pretty hard to get that coverage on the whole store.
Maybe, and that’s probably the reason they cite, but honestly I bet the real reason is that people were buying less and so they wanted to make it as difficult as they could without removing the option entirely.
I do. It’s kinda new here in Germany, but I think it’s working pretty well.
You say that, but Walmart and SamsClub’s Scan and Go is extremely well received because it allows people to scan shit as they put it in their cart and pay on their phone.
The theft is a feature, not a bug in my eyes!
Alcohol isn’t so bad where I’m at, I just scan it first to give the worker some time to scan their badge and let me continue
I honestly only use self check out. I don’t buy a ton in a single shopping trip and I just find it easier to do it myself since I bring my own bulky bags that go on the side of my bike. A lot easier for me in general and sucks some places are getting rid of it.
Interesting! Alcohol doesn’t have a barcode there?
Here it does. But the self checkout lamp will go to red instantly and a clerk has to come to approve your age.
It has a barcode, but most places haven’t figured out the “show ID to a human” flow yet.
But the self checkout lamp will go to red instantly and a clerk has to come to approve your age.
Which negates the benefit of self service.
Just scan the alcohol first, scan the rest next. As long as it’s not the only thing you’re getting, it’s almost def faster. Even if it is the only thing you’re getting, the time for someone to do an age check compared to standing behind 2 carts/trollies is nothing. Self check for me almost every time is way, way faster. Exception being if I have a ton of groceries (I can scan as fast as teh employees, but the self check shit has more guardrails that slow shit down) or a ton of produce (employees at a lot of stores are required to memorize the PLU, I am not.)
The store near me stops the scanning process and makes an attendant come check your shit. Literally sits on a screen saying “AN ATTENDANT WILL BE WITH YOUR SHORTLY, PLEASE WAIT”.
Trying to tell the pears and their variants and potatoes and their variants apart is such a pain in the ass without a barcode. Especially since the example pic is usually quite different, and like 10px on a 480p greased up, airgapped touchscreen. I hate self checkout. The only time I use it is when the store is open late at night. Which, I actually do like. Having stores open till 1am or 3am can be extremely handy, especially if you have an office job during the day and do night classes.
After a few times I memorized where the bread or fruit (w/o barcode) I usually buy is in the menu and am almost equally fast as an employee would be. So it just took me some time to adjust personally.
I bought beer last time I went through self checkout and of course it called some teenage girl over to check my ID; I’m pushing 60. I just said “No. I’m old enough to be your grandfather.” She was fine with that.
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Remember kids, if you see someone shoplifting or switching the barcodes at your big-box self-checkout: No you didn’t.
Preach!
I’m lucky enough to not need to take the risks involved in order to get by, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to fuck over someone that may be unluckier than me. Idgaf what it is, I’m fucking sergeant Schultz.
The way I see it, you’re doing a public service…
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You’re creating jobs in loss prevention.
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You’re helping make the case for retaining more checkout workers.
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You’re keeping those minimum-wage checkout supervisors safe by not putting them in a position to intervene with desperate people trying to feed themselves.
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You’re helping the store avoid wage theft by having you play unpaid, untrained, unqualified security guard.
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You’re helping the needy feed themselves.
Give yourself a pat on the back, you local hero! 🫡
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My grandmother snitch on some poor bastard stealing crystal light at walmart. If someones stealing fucking crystal light from walmart theyre clearly in way worse than I am.
I worked at a supermarket in a wealthy area for years - no one stole more than the wealthy old crones from the retirement village next around the corner.
The funny thing is she ain’t wealthy, ffs we live in the same house. She’s just got a really stupid and weirdly conservative and at the same time progressive sense of morality.
But the self-checkout cameras sure did.
Genuine mistake, I can’t be expected to do a job I wasn’t trained for. All those apples look the same to me
Everything is an apple for the untrained eye
Thats why you follow safe Covid Precautions. 😁👍
If I cared enough, I’d tell someone because I hate thieves, but I generally prefer to mind my own business. Same philosophy if I saw someone stealing from a small business.
Walmart and their ilk steal far more in wage theft than they lose to shoplifters.
“These companies don’t pay their employees enough, in my opinion, so I’m ok with people stealing from them.”
Just say what you mean.
I’m not OK with people stealing from them because they don’t pay people enough.
I’m OK with people stealing from them and they don’t pay their employees enough, and they still steal more in wage theft than is shoplifted from them.
Why do you feel compelled to play unpaid security guard for a bunch of billionaires? They neither need nor appreciate your help.
I care about billionaires as much as I care about you and poor people: the sum of zero. My opinion is simply that, my opinion.
You care enough to intervene, to correct me, and to keep posting to tell me you don’t care.
OK, my guy.
This is a public forum. Where debate and conversation takes place. Having a conversation with someone doesn’t mean you care about them. That’s an odd conclusion to reach. Chill out guy. It’s ok when people disagree with you. It’s a good thing. It’s a way of being exposed to new ways of thinking. If you’re looking for an echo chamber, I’m sure reddit is taking new users.
If you hate thieves, you should love shoplifters. The real thieves are at the top scheming more ways to fuck the poor.
Yes yes of course. Poor good. Rich bad. I get it.
If you’re concerned about theft, this is objectively correct - Walmart steal more through wage theft than shoplifters steal from them.
Similarly, in terms of harm done, stealing even a flatscreen TV has an imperceptible impact on the Walton family, while stealing wages from an employee that’s so underpaid, their wages need to be supplemented with publicly funded food stamps is crippling.
Especially when these people aren’t shoplifting big-ticket items like TVs. They’re shoplifting things they’re desperate for like food.
Oh - that I just don’t care about. Do you care about the wage theft they’re committing? It’s at a far larger scale than any shoplifting.Why are you so concerned with protecting a massive multi-billionaire-owned company plagued with ethical issues? Are those billionaire boots super-tasty or something?I am not a smart man.
Huh? How am I protecting them when I’m saying don’t stop people if they shoplift food from them?
My reading comprehension is atrocious, apparently.
Sorry.
No they aren’t they are gonna lean in even harder what a dumbass story. One time fixed cost will always win over paying people in perpetuity
unexpected item in the bagging area. place items in the bagging area. unexpected item in the bagging area.
I’m thankful pretty much every store here deactivated that sensor shortly after installing self checkouts.
In my experience, self-checkout started with the weight sensors, rather than adding them later. I’ve noticed some stores have a system now without the weight thing, which probably cuts down on confusing and time-consuming error situations, but it makes it seem chaotic. My parents use them in the most fucked up way - leave everything in the cart, scan stuff, bag it, then put it in the cart, and I’m just WHAT? Aren’t they going to accuse you of stealing? Some walmarts aggressively pursue claims of theft from self checkout, like in the case of this lady who was awarded 2.1 million after being accused of stealing, which she said was not true. This article details the story of a lady who said she was arrested after not scanning things by accident, and the article notes “Sixty-two other people were cited and released by police at the same Tucson Walmart between January 2021 and April 2022.”
During the civil trial, which lasted about three weeks, the judge criticized Walmart for the “intentional loss” of the security camera footage, according to court records. The judge, James T. Patterson, said that the court would advise the jury that the videotapes “were destroyed by the defendants with the intent” to deprive the plaintiff of the benefit of seeing them “and that the jury therefore is to presume that the content of the missing videos would be adverse” to the defendants.
Walmart also is starting to use ‘AI’ to detect self checkout theft, which I’m sure will be foolproof and work out great.
And if you’re wondering which item causes the most problems, it’s milk. O’Herlihy explains, “People find it hard to scan milk … Sometimes they get frustrated and they just don’t scan it.”
What?
Anyway, I’m sure they love not paying employees to do this, but it seems like more trouble than it’s worth.
From Tucson here: Walmart in town is pretty sketchy compared to the other places. We had someone light the chemical isle on fire on Christmas Eve that burnt down half the entire store lmao. Walmart sold itself as a low price retailer for so long that only low income people go there and with that there’s theft and then the classism of hiring armed guards during their high crime periods.
And if you’re wondering which item causes the most problems, it’s milk. O’Herlihy explains, “People find it hard to scan milk … Sometimes they get frustrated and they just don’t scan it.”
Does milk not have a bar code?
If anything, I’d figure it would be produce items that would cause the most drama, but eventually you start to remember those codes. 4011 is bananas. 4799 is for tomatoes. 4065 is green peppers…
I love self-checkout because I bag things exactly like I want and I can get the process completed without having chat with the cashier or Karen out on the bagger for putting just two items in a large paper bag.
I don’t think I’ve ever been stopped or accused of stealing things, but then I usually choose the unit closest to the cashier and I leave all my items in the bagging area until I’m done. That said, I used to be a grocery store cashier, so I understand the process a little better than most, but it’s still easy to make mistakes.
Self checkout scanners are unbearably slow, and if you try to go any faster it’s “unexpected item in bagging area” and wait for the overworked assistant.
I refuse to be bossed around by shitty robots.
Condensation on milk barcodes causes scanning issues I’ve found
Probably because it sweats and the pure white nature might make the laser more reflective? Only thing I can think of.
Milk is frustrating to scan? I did it yesterday just fine…
I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean. People find it difficult to maneuver? Can’t find the bar code? Self checkouts tend to have a hand scanner too, and they could use that.
Self checkouts tend to have a hand scanner too
I’m going to guess that this is regional or vendor specific, because I’ve literally never seen a self-checkout with a hand scanner. And if I ever did, I would expect it to transform into a broken, dangling cable within a few months.
Perhaps. I’ve seen many, and they’re wireless. I suppose they might end up missing.
I know Walmart has them, it’s kinda necessary considering the size of some of the products they sell.
We have hand scanners at the local grocery chains HyVee and Dillon’s (owned by Kroger) that are doing just fine. Lowe’s and Home Depot have hand scanners too. They have all sorted out all the ‘unexpected item in baggage area’ and other stuff years ago.
No idea about Walmart, but could see that type of store going cheap on the hardware and having it treated terribly.
It’s fairly new in my area, but it’s great. That and contactless payments (Google and Apple Pay) are nice.
Every self checkout I’ve used has a hand scanner. Scanning your own things is so much faster. I fail to understand why people whose job it is to check people out all day are so slow at it.
Then you get the customers that want to have a conversation with the checkout clerk. I’m sure the checkout person doesn’t care that your grandfather has the same name and he was name after his great grandfather who rode the rails across the expanding United States in the 1800s.
I fail to understand why people whose job it is to check people out all day are so slow at it.
It is tiring as hell and they might just be pacing themselves.
Can’t wrap my head around this one. I held the gallon up the the scanner, it beeped, and added the price to my total. I can understand if people were intentionally stealing it for any other reason, but to say that the act of scanning it is just too much of a hassle…?
The condensation over the barcode/potentially warped shape of the milk often makes it not scan on the first go. Seen it many times haha.
At my Walmart the employees don’t stop people from stealing food. They told me as much.
I believe it’s policy at Walmart for the regular staff to not prevent theft at all. Loss prevention handles that. They’ll build a case without pursuing at first, and then being down the hammer.
I keep hearing this and I wonder about how they do this. I mean how to they keep records of every shoplifter? Do the employees recognize the people every time they come in? How many shoplifters can they keep track of? Are they like “ah yeah it’s shoplifter 687, put this video in his file”? Do they bother with people stealing an occasional item like basic clothing or food? Are they watching a single shoplifter over years, like what if they only steal once in a while and it’s low value? I’m curious about this, I’ve never actually heard from anyone who was watched over a period of time and then prosecuted.
I was busted for shoplifting as a teenager and I sort of know how this works. The general employees (cashiers, service staff, etc.) don’t give a fuck if you steal and will actually get in trouble if they try and apprehend you. Almost all large companies operate this way for liability reasons. They aren’t insured enough to cover all of their staff in the event that one of them gets injured or killed trying to stop someone from stealing something. Much less costly to simply budget in a line item expense for incidental theft that’s bound to happen.
Instead of the employees focusing on shoplifters, they have a loss prevention agent in the back watching cameras. Those cameras all over the place in all the big box retail stores, and they don’t even look like those super obvious dome cameras anymore. Most people who steal and get away with it will eventually come back to the same store to do it again. They take note of your face/features and watch for you to return (also, the large chain stores will share this information with other nearby stores). As soon as you step through the door the next time you come in, cameras are recording your every move. That’s exactly what happened with me and my delinquent friends. We ripped off the same store about 2-3 times and the last time was when the guy actually made his move and apprehended us. He waited for us to actually take something without paying for it and physically stopped us at the door as we were stepping through the threshold. At that point, they confiscate whatever you stole, show you the security footage of you taking the product and walking out with it, call the cops, press charges for petty theft if under $1000, and call your parent/guardian if you are a minor.
In my case, I got extremely lucky because the cops simply never showed up after hours of waiting for them, and eventually, they couldn’t legally detain us any longer, so they released us to our parents without charges. My Mom was pissed and set me straight when we got home, and I stopped hanging around the dumbass kids who coerced me into doing it in the first place. We were also banned for life from the store, but I’ve actually been back to that same store several times as an actual customer and they didn’t recognize me anymore. Or they just didn’t give a shit.
If you just steal once, especially if it’s a spur of the moment thing, a very low value item, or a complete accident, it’s really unlikely that loss prevention will care. If they start noticing lots of inventory going missing, they will watch those sections much closer for suspicious activity. There’s always the chance that you could just be randomly singled out by the cameras.
I’ve heard of some places not bothering to stop food thieves because a person who steals food from a grocery store probably desperately needs it, but I imagine they all have a line that they aren’t willing to let people cross.
I feel like in the future this is going to get more intense. They will have facial+ear+gait recognition combined with AI so they can detect and combine literally every instance of shoplifting, intentional or not (to say nothing of footage that only coincidentally has the appearance of shoplifting but they retain it as “proof” anyway), over decades of visits to any of their locations, and once you’ve accumulated over $1000 combined in unpaid merchandise, hit you with a felony charge.
Or they just ban you after the first incident straight up, and electronically recognize you and kick you out for the rest of your life afterward.
And you would have no affordable recourse because they have all the footage and lawyer money to oppose fighting it.
They have your face and whatever else information you give them when you check out. It’s all covered in cameras. Doesn’t take much. I’m sure they don’t get everything and they have false positives. But if you become such a problem for them yeah.
I don’t have any real experience with this but I think it’s actually hard to catch the accidental thefts and such who they are losing so much money and starting to rethink these things.
Target will wait for you to steal serval “inflated value mind you full profit plus…” thousand dollars of stuff before pursuing you legally. It’s easier when it’s large sums.
That’s how it works for most stores in Canada.
“theft over” (aka theft over $5,000.00) can get you 10 years in federal prison, “theft under” is up to two years in provincial jail. That’s a huuuge difference.
Also, more footage, more angles, easier to convict.
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-334.html
Honestly, can you blame them?
Electronics, luxury items, other “nice to haves” maybe. But who wants to be the reason someone goes hungry?
Not to mention, they are getting paid dogshit wages.
And they actually can get reprimanded or fired for doing so. Fuck it.
Can confirm. Used to work for a big retailer and one day caught someone stealing (not food) and confronted them. I was a pretty solid employee who had been there for years but my manager had to fight hard to stop me from being fired; it was a really close call.
Yeah it’s been 20+ years since I worked retail but we weren’t allowed to confront anyone, especially inside the store. We had to wait until they left the store for a manager to approach them and we had to be 100% sure they stole something in the first place.
The worst I ever saw happen to someone is they gave it back when confronted outside the store, it was a $5 can of automotive spray paint.
I was never quite sure if this was all legal reasons or because of the blowback against the brand if someone was wrong and it made headlines.
When I was a youth, we used to go to Safeway and get donuts or “Mojo’s” (wedge fries) at the bakery, then munch them while walking through the store so that they were gone by the time we got to the till to buy our cans of pop.
One of those unforgettable moments from those years was when we were finally called out by a security guy, something very casual like “you boys are gonna pay for those donuts up front, right?” and Chris who was “that guy” in our crew, bounced his donut off the mall cop’s head and ran like his life depended on it
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For this reason, I think it’s pretty shitty they put condoms in alarm boxes. If there’s something I’m okay with stealing from a Wal-Mart, it’s food and condoms.
Don’t think I could convict anyone stealing safety glasses either.
Jokes on them, I shoplift at the staffed checkout too.
Walmarts’s self checkout is the only one in my area that doesn’t frustrate the hell out of me. I’ve stopped going to certain other stores simply because I don’t like their self checkout systems.
Don’t get it. Sam’s and BJs both have scanning apps on the phone. Most amazing tech ever! Costco… HURRY UP! Also, Sam’s and Bjs don’t check my card because I WOULDNT BE ABLE TO BUY ANYTHING WITHOUT THE CARD ANYWAYS… Costco!!
It is a dumb bit of ceremony, but the door checker just glances at the card. You could roll in with a paper print out and be fine until the registers.
Still, enough people do stupidly wait until they are in the door threshold and then block the path while digging around, so they should get rid of it.
Pretty sure the check for the door is just there to make people feel more important.
Makes it feel exclusive?
It’s to make sure they didn’t forget the card at home/in the car/etc, and not realize it until checkout
BJ’s doesn’t check anyone going in. You’re free to browse without a membership you just can’t buy anything.
At our Sam’s we just walk right by that door checker. If you show a card they nod, but if you don’t get out your card they ignore you
It’s so that you can’t share your card with friends. You specifically have to live at the same place and have proof when you add them to the account
As long as shrink stays below what they save by removing cashiers they will stay. It may be location specific removals at high shrink stores.
The only reason for Costco to do this would be theft prevention or to make sure members are the only ones using their cards.
