Self Checkouts: Tailor-Made For Thieves?

[K245five]

Where I currently work, I talk from time to time with the Asset Protection person. He's the guy who walks the floor in street clothes undercover and watches for and detains people who try and shoplift. Even though he's fairly new, he's been doing a great job, stopping roughly 40+ people in four months.

Since starting in this position, he has come to absolutely HATE self checkouts for the simple reason that a few of his biggest stops have come from those registers, each one totalling well over $100 or more.

He says people will have multiple copies of one item, and try to scan one, and slide the rest under the cart or conceal them. Packages of meat seem to be the most popular item in this regard. Or, they'll get a box of trash bags, get one out, and slide the majority of their items in the bag. Then, they hide the bag under something large or inside something you can't see inside, like one of those big plastic blue totes.

This, and other tactics SC's try to employ are what frustrate him in this job. He wishes that self-checkouts would just disappear.

Anybody else see this?

[Starlord]

May I ask what country you are in? I know thisis an international site, and there is no clue like prices or anything here. I worked in Loss Prevention, but that was before the self-scans came in. The ones I have watched make it pretty hard to commit a theft, I guess the software has gotten better. Add this to the fact that most of the swtores in Arizona, where I live, have people at service kiosks who provide an additional level of security by keep ing an eye on the u-scans. I understand where he is coming from, though. Tell him he has a friend in Arizona.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The U-scans my company uses have an ultra-sensitive scale underneath the bag, so if you place an item in the bag without scanning it, the u-scan will tell you to remove the item and scan it, and also notify the attendant to watch that particular u-scan.

Of course, if you are not placing the item you're trying to steal in the bag, then that doesn't do any good and chances are the attendant isn't going to be watching closely.

I should mention my store does not have u-scans and probably never will due to lack of space--to fit in 4 u-scans we'd have to eliminate at least 2 checkout lanes, bringing us down to 6 lanes or less. But when I worked at a store that did have them, I used them extensively when I was purchasing food for my lunch breaks or other things.

[aurelemsrealm]

Personally, I love the self scans, especially when I'm in a hurry. That's a customer's perspective, though. I've noticed recently that one of the local Wal-Marts has installed monitors on its self-checkout stations which show the view from above.

[ShinyGreenApple]

To answer the OP's question, in my opinion yes, they are, however good the intentions may be. As a customer and a person with low tolerance for stupidity (ie, waiting in a long line because the lady in front of me either takes forever writing a check or digging for coins), I love self checkouts, especially if I'm in a rush.

However, having put in two years at Wal-Mart, I can tell you that every single associate, including management, hated self checkouts. I could tell you a dozen ways to successfully steal from a self-check, depending on how attentive the cashier monitoring it is. The store I was at had the super sensitive scales, but then had NCR remove them because 'they inconvenienced the customer'

'Coincidentally', after we had the self-checks installed, our inventory was over 1 million dollars in the red every year after.

[TWOLF]

I used to work for a store that hasd the u-scans and did have a weight sensor which made for some good laughs. One guy I worked with had a customer put a label for candy on a bottle of booze and try to scan it but kept setting of the sensor for the weight since it didn't match the barcode.

[hawkchick11]

I love the selfscanners. I like to bag my own groceries and stuff, since the checkers at Walmart like to put food in with cleaning supplies.

One Walmart near by never has their self scanners on. Once I asked a checker why they didn't and she said it was because shoplifting tripled when they had the machines turned on.

[Rubystars]

They will often try to scan just enough to get a receipt to come out of the machine, then walk out with the rest. Then they'll wave the receipt at you ask they walk out the door.

[Sharsarannon]

How does one get that job, Loss Prevention? Do the LP people just hunt SC's?

[Kogarashi]

Well, I must be one of the wierd ones, because as a cashier, I loved running the self-checkouts. Mostly because the big ticket items customers took through the SCO's I could pay close attention to on the screen (and make sure they scanned their TV), and DVDs and CDs had security tags that would set off the door alarm if they weren't deactivated properly.

Ours used to have the ultra-sensitive scale too, and then it was turned off one day as I discovered. No one mentioned why, but I guess it was because of customer ineptitude in bagging items properly and waiting for the screen to clear before removing a bag. Yes, you could do that, even with the scale turned on. You just had to wait until the screen was ready for you to scan another item, instead of picking the bag up when the screen was still asking you to bag your item. But too many customers put their purses on the scale, or didn't bag the items, or missed the "skip bagging" button, and whined to the cashiers and CSMs instead of listening when I tried to tell them how it worked.

[LadyAndreca]

In my store, it's called AP (Assets Protection), but their job involves

- visual presence at entrances/exits to deter shoplifters
- monitoring cameras, and reviewing footage when necessary
- breaking up fights and preventing customers from attacking employees (only needed that once, thankfully)
- handling and reporting counterfieted bills/checks/travelers' checks
- reviewing camera footage for 'paid and left' claims
- monitoring anything in the store that would require a call to 911 or police
- escorting whoever closes down (and empties) the registers
- escorting guests to their cars on request

My favorite at our store likes to lean against the carts at the entrance and chat with people who come in. He's always teasing me for standing around doing nothing at the guest service desk, and I always respond that I wish *I* could lounge on the carts all day. But I've also seen him flat-out tackle and handcuff a shoplifter who tried to make a break for the door.

[peoplesuck]

Given that shoplifting is higher at self scans. The question I'm sure that is really important is: Does shoplifting increase to the point to wipe out the cost savings of having fewer cashiers? Let me pull numbers out of the sky: A 4 lane self scan, with 1 attendant vs 4 full lanes - ignoring capital costs.

Assumptions:
Minimum wage: $8/hr
Employer cost: 1.5*Wage = $12/hr
Annual Cost of employee [again ignoring training] = $24,960/yr

4xFull Lanes: 4 persons
Cost $99,840/yr

4xSelf Serve: 1 person
Cost: $24,960/yr. Savings over 4 lanes: $74,880/yr
The ability to only open self serve when all cashiers are busy and provide a cashier multiplier without having to keep 3 additional people on full time is great. This could reduce the shop lifting factor.

So after a couple years of running the self serves: If loss increases less then 75k/year then its a win!

[CancelMyService]

Hell, I accidentally stole because of self-checkouts. I bought 2 frozen pizzas from the grocery store and for some reason the second one just did not want to scan. The belt would reverse and the system would tell me to rescan. Finally the scanner made the little "boop" noise and again the belt sent the pizza back towards me. I figured it scanned since I hear the boop and maybe the belt was broken. I looked at the register tape when I got home and saw I only was charged for 1 pizza.

Such was my brief career into grand theft: frozen food.

[Shengirl]

Where are you where minimum wage is $8? In Maryland it's something like $6.15, and the Federal minimum is even lower.

On topic: We don't have self checkouts at my grocery store, but when I go to stores that do, I hate 'em. As an actual cashier, it feels like remedial scanning for 'tards. Actually, it kind of feels like using a Mac. It drives me nuts.

:: puts bananas on scale, hits 4011, and removes them to continue::
Machine: ::refuses to scan the next item until it slowly says, "Remove item from scale!" ::
Me: "I'm already done; catch up! Aaah!"

And don't get me started on old people who are simultaneously afraid of the machine and convinced they should use it to save time. I want to grab their stuff and scan it for them.

...Wow, sorry for ranting. But yeah, I hardly ever use self checkouts anymore. >_> And I know other people actually need the instructions the thing gives; it's just that people who make money off of cashiering (and are impatient like me) don't like it.

[AirHostess]

I love using self checkouts so I can laugh at all the confused SC's!

I can imagine they increase shoplifting but as peoplesuck, it's probs still cheaper for the stores.