Question about CCTV and self checkout

Tumtitums

The ASDA i go to has installed cctv cameras at each of the self checkout tills. There are about 12. The cameras are attached to a monitor above each of the checkout tills.
1. Does this mean that someone is watching each of the individual self checkout cctv cameras as well as all the cameras that are dotted around the shop?
2. The cameras only seem to record your face and not the item that you are scanning , am i missing something ? are they linked to the till somehow so they know what is being scanned ?

3. This all sounds costly, why not just employ more human beings , about 60% of the time there are checkout lanes which are unstaffed when i go there

VfM4meplse

I find this an odd thread...but what I will say is this. My knowledge, from a conversation with a member of the security team in one of the largest branches of Tesco's is that the cameras are sufficiently powerful to zoom into the transaction and read the serial number from a £5 note.

Bearing in mind this was in the late 90s, I expect technology will have moved on considerably since that time.

VfM4meplse

Actually having heard a radio article just now - including the "carrot" trick- I now realise where the question comes from. It's a pity that trust is being so routinely breached, but if transmitting images back to the customer on the screen is what it takes to show the customer the deliberate error of their ways then so be it.

There's nothing quite as effective as a bit of real-time "feedback"

Tumtitums

so there isnt actually anyone watching the images at these self checkout machines then ?

Owain_Moneysaver

There may be.

There may not be.

There probably is sometimes -- and they may be in a security centre somewhere, not in the store itself.

You will never know -- unless you get caught doing something you shouldn't do.

Incidentally, I'm fairly confident there are mini concealed cameras above the money in and money out slots too.

VfM4meplse

Tumtitums wrote: »

so there isnt actually anyone watching the images at these self checkout machines then ?

Thereis usually a member of staff to trouble shoot. The thinking was that the scales on both the basket and bag side of the self-scan are so sensitive that they would bring any customer misdemeanour in the scanning process to the attention of the staff, but the carrot trick obviously got round that. As for cameras on money in and out, I'm pretty sure that the machines were designed to be accurate in counting in the first place.

If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to worry about.

hollydays

Why do you want to know?
As a deterrent it is probably cost effective.

baldelectrician

I think they are present for facial recognition


They can identify known persons who have had 'issues' in the past and highlight them


The cameras now can identify a known person when they walk in the store and flag up the picture to the security staff for clarity or intervention with no manual input

jenniewb

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Actually having heard a radio article just now - including the "carrot" trick- I now realise where the question comes from. It's a pity that trust is being so routinely breached, but if transmitting images back to the customer on the screen is what it takes to show the customer the deliberate error of their ways then so be it.

There's nothing quite as effective as a bit of real-time "feedback"

Exactly what I thought. If they'd wanted to put in cameras to watch people, they could have done this a lot cheaper by being more covert and not adding in a tablet device to every machine.
Still, it does come in very useful when you need to reapply your lip stick before leaving the store...

Doc_N

Given the extent of theft (let's face it - that's what it is) from self checkouts it's not surprising these cameras are appearing - and I'm delighted to see it. Everybody else has to pay for the losses on the carrot trick, and all the others.

Assume that everything you do is being watched and monitored.

We use the self-scanning systems at Tesco and Waitrose whenever we shop there (admittedly only occasionally since Aldi and Lidl upped their game). What amazes me is that Tesco do a rescan quite frequently, but Waitrose haven't rescanned for at least four years.

Different types of customer? I have a theory that part of the algorithm might also relate to the paper you buy.