Theft is always a problem in the retail industry.
Some people shoplift because they are criminals, while others steal because they are hungry and don’t have the money to buy what they need.
Shrinkage, as the industry calls it, has increased significantly, and many retailers say it’s a drag on profits.
According to the National Retail Federation’s 2023 National Retail Security Survey, shrink losses as a percentage of total retail sales in 2022 were $112.1 billion, an increase of nearly 20% from $93.9 billion in 2021.
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The problem of theft could not be solved with self-checkout. Removing cashiers from the checkout process makes it easier for people to intentionally “forget” to scan some items while having plausible deniability that their actions are legitimate mistakes. .
The situation is made worse by people who weren’t trying to shoplift, but genuinely failed to scan the items.
“Retailers are seeing unprecedented levels of theft on top of rampant in-store crime, and the situation is only going to get more dire,” said David, Vice President of Asset Protection and Retail Affairs at the Retail Federation.・Mr. Johnston stated.
Retailers have tried to solve the problem in a variety of ways.walmart WMT is building a store with a police station attached to it in the Atlanta area and introducing self-checkout at a small number of stores, among other measures.
Now, a former Walmart employee has noted that the retailer is taking some extreme measures to combat theft at self-checkout lines.
Walmart takes thorough measures for self-checkout
Self-checkout benefits retailers, not customers. This method transfers tasks normally performed by store employees to shoppers.
Of course, there are benefits for people who don’t want to deal with cashiers or who don’t want to wait in line because they don’t have a lot of items, but in general self-checkout helps the store, not the customer.
Walmart is the same as its rival Kroger. KR and target targetwants to find a way to buy and eat self-checkout cake. The company has tried various methods to reduce theft, but you might be upset to learn of the methods not mentioned.
“If you’ve ever been to Walmart, you’ve probably used this self-checkout system,” a former Walmart employee who showed off his employee badge said in a TikTok post. “What you probably don’t know is that Walmart employees who work in the self-checkout area carry around a device called a TC device.”
These portable machines allow employees to see what people are buying at self-checkout.
“We can see everything you’re buying, the total purchase price, and the price of each item,” the former employee said.
The poster, who goes by the name “obeygoddess,” shared what the screen of his TC device looks like. It literally represents a kind of ongoing receipt of a customer’s purchases.
An employee with the device can suspend the self-checkout for any customer and “pretend there’s something wrong with the machine if they suspect theft,” she said. Ta.
If you press the “pause” button, the self-checkout station will go into something like an error mode or the screen will freeze.
“At that point, you have no choice but to call for help. Once we arrive, we will pretend as if there is something wrong with the machine,” she added.
”[Obviously,] There is nothing wrong with the machine because they intentionally paused your transaction, but they are making it look like there is something wrong with the machine because they suspect you are stealing. ”
If an employee suspects someone is stealing, they take everything out of a customer’s bag, saying they’ll call another machine.
“At that point, they take you to the main register, where there’s someone who actually hands over the cash. The important thing is, don’t steal from a self-checkout at Walmart. They can see everything.” she added.
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