This is also the instance at Walmart. There, I had to use a staffed checkout line because I could not find the tag with the UPC Code of the fanny pack I was buying. The clerk opened all the zippers, and removed packing papers stuffed inside one of the pockets to find a fabric tag with the UPC Code. Could you envision anybody doing this in the self checkout area?NFriday wrote: At Sam's Club, they have somebody at the door where you exit checking your receipt to make sure it matches what you have in your cart. I could see somebody going to the self checkout at Jewel or Walmart and stealing something.
There is something else involved with self checkout: The ability of the person checking out to get the package scanned. On the November day when I was out-&-about in the 1987 Chevrolet Sprint; shopping at the Harwood Heights Aldi, I bought the Advent calendar of twenty-four beers [from Oktopi Brwg. in Wisconsin]. The Advent box was 'enclosed' by a cardboard sleeve which had the UPC Code. In my cart, it was on the bottom ledge. In a lane with a clerk, I could not get this case out of the cart and in a spot where it could be scanned without the box trying to slide out the side of the cardboard sleeve and | or the shopping cart rolling away as I tried to pick up the case. The clerk wound up blocking the shopping cart's movement with her leg as I grabbed the open ends of the cardboard sleeve. Aldi does not have a trigger gun for anybody. Let's see if anybody successfully bought this thru self checkout. I suspect not many did. Will this be discontinued in 2023 because hardly any of them were reported 'sold'?tjr wrote: [edit]
On the theft issue, I suspect the main modus operandi for grocery shoplifting is simply dumping products into a large coat or stroller, or bolting for the exit, rather than sneaking them through the self checkout. For self checkout theft, it's much easier at stores like Walmart or PicknSave where purchases don't need to be put on the scale compared with Woodmans or Jewel where they do. But I assume Walmart studied their decision and found it worthwhile to forgo the scale to make the system work more smoothly. And I'm not surprised that the chaos that characterizes Costco is particularly vulnerable to theft, given the variety of small high priced items.
When it comes to grocery shopping, there seem to be two kinds of people in this world: those who prefer self-checkout, and those who prefer interaction with a human.
Booths, a small chain that has sold groceries in northern England since 1847, has decided its customers belong to the latter category and announced this week that it will be getting rid of the self-checkouts in all but two of its 28 stores. They’re bucking a trend that has remade retail shopping around the world over the last 20 years.
Dave148 wrote:When it comes to grocery shopping, there seem to be two kinds of people in this world: those who prefer self-checkout, and those who prefer interaction with a human.
Booths, a small chain that has sold groceries in northern England since 1847, has decided its customers belong to the latter category and announced this week that it will be getting rid of the self-checkouts in all but two of its 28 stores. They’re bucking a trend that has remade retail shopping around the world over the last 20 years.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/10/busi ... ticleShare