Self checkout machines in Supermarkets.

thatguy1

lovingtescoforever wrote: »

Theft happens on self checkouts and is known however it is more cost effective to have the machines than pay the labour for staffing. Most of the time I do check the content when "unexpected item blah blah" however sometimes if I'm rushed of my feet then I will indeed trust the shopper.

It's not very hard to select finish and pay. See discounts and go back and carry on scanning... Takes a mater of seconds.

I work on these machines and they really are so easy to use. Frustrating as most of the time it's the customer who causes problems not the machine being funny...

Also if your 40+ years old saying a joke about how you need to be asked for ID or your just over 18 is tiresome. When I've heard it hundreds of time I don't bother to fake laugh anymore.

Also I don't know why people in pairs feel the need to scan, pack and then while one scans the next item the other takes the item out and repacks it... :mad: causing me to explain that their method is the reason. Scan, pack and pay.

It really is easy and I never have issues.

I could go on but I won't.

To answer the OP original question there's a array of things.

For example manually reduce a product which isn't possible on most self checkout machines... For example say a product has a £5 sticker on. Scans at £6. You can't reduce it on the machines. You have to do it on a manned till which is hassle when it really should be possible.

Other issues would be to have a limit to how many machines a staff member should be working on. 6 machine for one person is a perfect number. I have shopped in tesco where there's 10 for one staff member which is what causes delays as that's just ridiculous IMO especially when it's busy and people decide to have a trolley full and kids who decide to sit on the bagging area...

Get rid of all the gaps and holes in the machines (especially on the scanner element) where change and rubbish can get in. When the machines I work at get fixed or changed they will find a lot of awful rubbish including most likely lots of small change.

That's all I can think of ATM.

I left checkouts last year, and I don't miss self checkouts one bit!

MancBrel

I've noticed that our local Wilkinsons have ditched them completely now. Until recently they had a bank of them, but they'd gone completely the other weekend when I was in. I know it's not a supermarket, but I found it interesting to see the tide reversing on this particular shopping trend.

geordie_joe

lovingtescoforever wrote: »

Theft happens on self checkouts and is known however it is more cost effective to have the machines than pay the labour for staffing.

It probably was when they were introduced, but in the last few years more and more people have become short of money and shoplifting is increasing. It's not just an increase in thieves who set out to shoplift, but far more "ordinary shoppers" are "forgetting" to pay for things.

They don't steal expensive items, just "forget" to scan the odd pack of bacon at the self service till, or throw a pack of sausage into their trolley/basket but it misses and lands in their bag and they "forget" to take it out.

I work in a DIY store and you wouldn't believe the number of people, or the sort of people, who forget things going through the checkouts. We have to open any kind of container that can be opened by the customer in the shop because so many of them hide things inside. On Saturday a couple came through the till with a dustbin. When the girl unclipped the lid and looked inside she found a £199.00 power drill. The couple acted surprised and claimed they had forgot it was in there as they thought they had put it back on the shelf as they didn't want it any more. Then there was the "posh" woman who claimed she had forgot about the two £10 cushions she'd stuffed into the plastic storage box she was buying. Turned out she had changed her mind about buying them too.

Anyway I digress. My point is, with theft rising rapidly and self service till being seen as an easy way to "get out of paying" for items. There will probably come a time when the stores find they are costing more than they are saving. As MancBrel has already mentioned.

lovingtescoforever

geordie_joe wrote: »

It probably was when they were introduced, but in the last few years more and more people have become short of money and shoplifting is increasing. It's not just an increase in thieves who set out to shoplift, but far more "ordinary shoppers" are "forgetting" to pay for things.

They don't steal expensive items, just "forget" to scan the odd pack of bacon at the self service till, or throw a pack of sausage into their trolley/basket but it misses and lands in their bag and they "forget" to take it out.

I work in a DIY store and you wouldn't believe the number of people, or the sort of people, who forget things going through the checkouts. We have to open any kind of container that can be opened by the customer in the shop because so many of them hide things inside. On Saturday a couple came through the till with a dustbin. When the girl unclipped the lid and looked inside she found a £199.00 power drill. The couple acted surprised and claimed they had forgot it was in there as they thought they had put it back on the shelf as they didn't want it any more. Then there was the "posh" woman who claimed she had forgot about the two £10 cushions she'd stuffed into the plastic storage box she was buying. Turned out she had changed her mind about buying them too.

Anyway I digress. My point is, with theft rising rapidly and self service till being seen as an easy way to "get out of paying" for items. There will probably come a time when the stores find they are costing more than they are saving. As MancBrel has already mentioned.

I see your point entirely, I've heard all odd excuses when people forget to pay or not scan items.

However I did read a journal (a few years old) monitoring shrinkage (basically theft mainly instore) comparing self service tills vs manned tills. I was surprised to see actually a higher rate on manned tills!

However I believe it. Due to a number of reasons, mainly people will on average use a basket on self checkouts and will know and make sure they scan the items. They did place them in the basket so they know what they have. Compare this to a person on a till who is scanning £100 trolleys for 8/9 hours they make mistakes, double scans or items not scanned entirely. It happens. The number of times I've nearly done it:o we are only human, plus (it's not the most exciting job..)

It would be dumb of me to say self checkouts doesn't have theft. Of course it does, it's impossible to stop it all (lord I've tried!! But I've only got 2 eyes..) but at the same time it isn't as high as I think people believe it is.

There's always people who try it on in all walks of life. The good old I forgot to scan it.. No you didn't. You intended to steal and it's more of the middle class individuals who believe they can get away with it.

Had a lady who repeatedly "forgot to scan" items and in the end I just stood behind her staring.. In the end cancelled the transaction and told her this lovely lady on this till will scan your items for you (as you're incapable of doing it yourself:p) she didn't argue. Funny enough she didn't want half the things also in the end...

You learn a valuable lesson in retail, trust no one. Everybody is out to screw you (the company) over if they get the chance. Even the staff.

I do think self checkouts /scan as you go checkouts will increase in the future and possibly might be more theft proof (don't ask me how). They certainly won't be going. My local tesco has now half the checkouts being self service tills which I find amazing.

Dare I say maybe in 10 years time the majority of tills maybe indeed robots :eek::o

dlusman

lovingtescoforever wrote: »

Dare I say maybe in 10 years time the majority of tills maybe indeed robots :eek::o

Probably within the next 10 years , everything will be radio frequency tagged . Just wheel your trolley through the checkout and everything scanned automatically

geordie_joe

lovingtescoforever wrote: »

However I did read a journal (a few years old) monitoring shrinkage (basically theft mainly instore) comparing self service tills vs manned tills. I was surprised to see actually a higher rate on manned tills!

How can they measure that? If you have something on the shelf and it "goes missing" how do you know how it left the store? The only way you would know is if you actually caught the person stealing it, if they get away without being caught/seen then you never know which till they went through.

I suspect what you read was just a measure of those getting caught, which would obviously show a larger number getting caught going through a manned till.

As you, or perhaps someone else said, one person for 10 tills. You've only got 2 eyes, and assuming you can look at 1 till per eye, you are missing 80% of what is happening.

lovingtescoforever wrote: »

However I believe it. Due to a number of reasons, mainly people will on average use a basket on self checkouts and will know and make sure they scan the items.

Yes but my point was an increasing number of those people will shoplift. They don't see it as shoplifting, just "forgetting to pay" or "getting away without paying".

You may not catch many shoplifters, and so think it doesn't happen very often, but I see the results/evidence of shoplifting every day.

Apart from trying to smuggle things through the till in boxes, a lot of our "customers" remove the items from the packaging and dump the packaging in the shop. It's not just "professionals", it's ordinary people who you would never think would do it, but they do. They will come in to buy a screwdriver, take it out of the package to inspect it, then the packaging "gets lost" and they have to put the screwdriver in their pocket then they forget about it when they go through the till.

They also take parts off things too! They may want a hacksaw blade, which we sell in packs of 10. They only want 1 so when they see the hacksaws on display they take a blade from one of them and slip it into their pocket. They may want 1 or 2 bolts, find we sell them in packs of 10, so they open a packet and take 2.

Every day I find empty packaging, items with bits taken off and packets with a couple of items taken out.

It's not professional shoplifters, or even people who think they are shoplifting. It's people who are short of money, who want/need small items and see a way of getting it for free. I bet they don't think of themselves as shoplifters or thieves, they probably just think they are someone who "got away without paying".

But I bet you one thing....... If they will go into a DIY store and steal the blades from a hacksaw, or take a couple of cup hooks from a pack of five, or open a box of 12 batteries and slip 2 into their pockets, they will think nothing of buying 3 tins of beans in your store and only scan 2 at the checkout.

lovingtescoforever wrote: »

They did place them in the basket so they know what they have. Compare this to a person on a till who is scanning £100 trolleys for 8/9 hours they make mistakes, double scans or items not scanned entirely. It happens. The number of times I've nearly done it:o we are only human, plus (it's not the most exciting job..)

I agree, but at least with a human checkout operator they mistakes are genuine and they could go either way. The operator may not scan an item, for whatever reason, so the customer gets it without paying. But they are just as likely to scan something twice, so they customer pays for something they didn't buy. There are whole threads on here with lots of people complaining they were charged for more items than they bought, so it does happen.

But........how often does a customer accidentally scan something twice and just pay for it and leave?

It seems to me that manned tills are "you win some and you lose some", but self service are "you lose some every time".

lovingtescoforever wrote: »

It would be dumb of me to say self checkouts doesn't have theft. Of course it does, it's impossible to stop it all (lord I've tried!! But I've only got 2 eyes..) but at the same time it isn't as high as I think people believe it is.

Are you sure it's not just you thinking it's not high because you don't see it? I don't see things getting stolen, but I see the evidence left behind. I find the empty packaging hidden around the store, I see the opened packets with items take, I see the items on shelves/hooks with parts missing.

lovingtescoforever wrote: »

Had a lady who repeatedly "forgot to scan" items and in the end I just stood behind her staring.. In the end cancelled the transaction and told her this lovely lady on this till will scan your items for you (as you're incapable of doing it yourself:p) she didn't argue. Funny enough she didn't want half the things also in the end...

My point exactly, how many of the other 9 people who you weren't helping took the opportunity to "get away without paying"?

In my experience the number of previously honest people who are taking the opportunity to "get something free" is rising sharply. And if they are doing it in my store, then they are probably doing it at the self service tills too.

Professionals too, they used to steal clothes, electronics, cosmetics, DVDs etc. But their customers are getting short of money, they can't afford those luxuries, even if they are cheap. Now they want cheap food, and if they are willing to pay for cheap food the shoplifters will get it for them. Especially when getting caught stealing a DVD means a shoplifting charge, but "forgetting" to scan something can be sorted with an "Oops, I forgot about that.......actually, I don't want it now, you can have it back ....Bye".

tessie_bear

what an interesting thread...i use the sainsburys self serve and find them quite good noticed they had them in ikea so might give them a go

iammumtoone

I get that theft goes on in shops, it has done for years. What I don't understand from this thread is why people don't seem to be prosecuted for it? Why when someone is caught 'forgetting to pay for something' why are they not reported? I always thought that 'forgetting' wasn't a defense? If people are not reported and prosecuted then of course its going to go on and and the shops are not helping themselves by appearing to let people get away with it!

dlusman

iammumtoone wrote: »

I get that theft goes on in shops, it has done for years. What I don't understand from this thread is why people don't seem to be prosecuted for it? Why when someone is caught 'forgetting to pay for something' why are they not reported? I always thought that 'forgetting' wasn't a defense? If people are not reported and prosecuted then of course its going to go on and and the shops are not helping themselves by appearing to let people get away with it!

Large scale shopliflifting they will prosecute , but probably isnt worth their time it would take to process the shoplifting of a few tins of beans.

Prothet_of_Doom

I love the fact that I can put through my Bogoff, 3 for the price of 2, etc deals, and press subtotal. So I know there and then if I'm about to get conned.