Walmart is facing an increase in retail crime in its stores and is taking steps to stop it, but most customers are not happy about it.
Walmart has implemented a number of strategies to combat increasing theft within its stores.
According to YouTuber Squirreltribe, the chain’s efforts to thwart theft include closing some stores and adding police stations to its Atlanta locations.
Alongside these measures, the store has police officers monitoring the store, particularly in the self-checkout lanes, and surveillance cameras have also been installed.
In addition to this, Walmart requires customers to present their receipt when leaving the store.
The YouTuber was referring to a US Sun article that reported that customers were planning to boycott Walmart stores after the company introduced receipt checks.
Walmart shopper Barbara Johnson said she scans and bags her own items and then refuses to wait in another line until an employee checks her receipt.
Unlike Costco, Walmart doesn’t have a policy requiring store employees to check shoppers’ receipts before they leave.
“Listen, if they know that self-checkout is causing a lot of theft, then shouldn’t it be incumbent upon them to reduce the number of self-checkouts and put more physical checkouts back into the stores, or just make them a little smarter? ‘Store,’ the YouTuber said in the video.
“That would theoretically reduce theft. There would be less chance that people would skip where they scanned something or skip the next scan,” she added.
“You’re less likely to steal something in front of people than when you’re at a self-checkout. It’s not rocket science,” she said.
The YouTuber pointed out that the National Retail Federation reported that the average shrinkage rate for retail businesses increased by 1.6% in 2022.
This means retailers lost nearly $112.1 billion to theft, shoplifting errors, fraud, and more.
At this time, shrink numbers for 2023 have not been announced.
In a statement to the US Sun, Walmart press director Joe Pennington confirmed the chain’s position regarding self-checkout.
“We are continually looking at ways to provide the best shopping experience for our customers, and that includes making adjustments to our store checkout areas,” Pennington said.
“At this time, there are no plans to remove self-checkouts nationwide.”