I have, however, seen entrepreneurial individuals dedicated to mitigating the wealth-disparity of multi-location retailers via reallocating in-store inventory directly to end users.
Boomers go to the checkout person so they can have someone to get pissed off at when the item doesn't ring up right and they go "heh, guess it's free then!"
It's also less obnoxious when a cashier rings up something and goes "oh I love these, they're so tasty" as a product endorsement instead of a fucking advertisement.
Okay that’s a dumb boomer joke that drives me crazy but also I do ultimately believe that’s exactly how it should work
Any problems processing payment means it’s free. I believe this on a fundamental “we live in a society” level. As a business, the social contract you fulfill is to 1. provide goods and services, and 2. in exchange for doing so we allow you to collect money. Whether you are able to do part 2 is really not our problem, and you have to do part 1 regardless.
If a Walmart has its credit card readers go down you should be allowed to take anything you’d like
first they replaced workers with automated checkouts depriving themselves of the other 20 jobs a "mere" checkout operator had to do; what'll happen next is now they'll pair every self-checkout with a checkout operator anyway so you'll just have someone who's job is to breathe down your neck to make sure you're not walking out with one of those 5 in 1, 1 gallon shampoo bottles
"Hi, I'll be your self-checkout specialist today. Can I interest you in a premium reusable tote? It's only $0.75 more and hides 30% more items from the Loss Prevention Officer."
They are literally already doing this. A couple weeks back at Costco, the self checkout lanes had an employee at every one of them checking your ID against your member card. They then would scan your stuff. They still had someone at the exit checking your receipt.
The labor spend on preventing you from sharing your member card and then STILL verifying your receipt against their own employees seems like a massive waste.
as a geriatric millenial, self-checkout and self-serve kiosks are hilarious. the first ones i remember seeing were at the movie theater like 20 damn years ago. took less than a day for word to spread that "the move" was to buy a senior, child, or student ticket and use that. as someone who used to have the "tear your ticket" job, i never gave a fuck. i just looked at the number of the theater and pointed toward it. if they went somewhere else, i also didn't give a fuck. i also never policed outside food. i would usually smile and nod at people willing to bring in crazy shit without hiding it. like a full blown boston market rotisserie chicken or a big ass fast food bag with a giant drink. fuckin' kings.
my employer uses self-checkout shit at this giant cafeteria. the cafeteria workers routinely give us barcode stickers for the wrong item at super cheap (like a $1.50 side instead of an $8 entree) and load up the portions/extras. and when a barcode reads as invalid? that means it's free! nobody gives a shit so long as you don't draw attention to yourself and pantomime like you're ringing it all up normally and paying.
all it really takes to get free shit in this world sometimes is being friendly to the workers, not stacking up on someone when they are busy with others, and being easy with a laugh, smile and a knowing glance. and not trying to press your luck when some overseer is making their rounds. always make everybody look like they are crushing it at their job while delivering outstanding customer service and, together, we can rob the motherfuckers blind.
I picked up some yoghurt pouches from the supermarket for my kids because they were discounted to $1.20. Then I went to the fruit and vegetable store and saw THE SAME pouches for 49c.
I was going to get angry but then I remembered I didn't pay for them.
From what I can tell it seems pretty hit or miss and it doesn't actually do anything with the information - no one tried to check my receipt when I triggered it.
When do they play this video? While you are in the middle of scanning items through the self-checkout or when you complete it? Is it accompanied by a frowny face or some other sign of disapproval to shame you?
After you bag the offending item. The video plays and a loud voice passive-aggressively reminds you to make sure you've scanned everything before bagging.
If you arbitrarily raise prices without there being any scarcity, you don't get to complain about stealing. If they must be charged, it should be for vigilante justice, not theft.
I'm old and tired enough to absolutely hate self checkout. I mean it's good for a few items and stealing, but when I'm coming home from a long day at work and have a full cart of groceries and they close all the human-run checkout ailes to force everyone through self checkout, I'll just abandon the cart and leave. I assume then someone has to go around the store and restock all the products I was about to buy... or it just sits there for too long and they have to loss out all the cold items. Very efficient, capitalism. Well done.
I accidently shoplifted a portable SSD from Costco some time back. It was wedged between the cart and some paper towels or something. They just never saw it, i checked the recipt sad it wasn't there. I still feel pretty cool 😎.
They have been writing these articles since the self-checkouts came out. The only thing new here is the commentariat has finally realized millennials are old now and started writing Gen Z.
found out while i was buying christmas presents that a big box of bougie ass chocolates just so happens to weigh the exact same as store brand toilet paper hiding shit behind the dodgy weighting mechanics of these machines is great
hell, the other day i got a free lunch by literally just holding my bag of snacks in my mouth like i didn't have enough hands and then walking out with them with a shop assistent like 10 paces away. i didn't even realise i was "stealing" until i was paying for the other shit lol. i wish i were braver about it though, every time i feel like i'm missing Value™ by not pushing my luck. at least the scandalised look on my middleclass roommates' faces when i mention this shit is fun.
I'd wager most of it isn't shoplifting anyway. It's items not scanning, being put in the bag, and either the scales don't pick it up, or a staff member comes along and just swipes their little pass because they're really not paid enough to give a fuck.
M&S doesn't even have scales in the self checkout. They just rely on the customers being middle class enough to not steal anything.
I almost walked out of a Sam's club with a smallish item hidden away but the door lady spotted it. It was a complete accident on my part. I always felt my routine of counting items in basket vs the receipt was fulIproof but it's not.
Media needs to stop this framing when customers don't even realize they are missing scans. Have stores thought about hiring more employees?