Scan It Yourself Thieving...

[boxtops]

Quelle surprise....

http://metro.co.uk/2014/01/29/self-service-tills-turn-us-into-thieves-4282776/

[EcclesCake]

I can never get the damn things to work let alone how to cheat them!

I wonder if the losses are balanced by the saving in manpower?

[wolf63]

I can't see me stealing anything but I was pretty close to head butting the one in Tesco on Monday.

[Gromit]

I don't think 1 in 5 would admit to any stealing, let alone repeated offenses, if the survey wasn't anonymous.
If the survey is anonymous, then the answers are unreliable.

I also doubt the £1.7 billion figure. If rhe loses from these tills were that much, they would have trained shopfloor staff, store detectives, more visible security and CCTV notices. As it is, they do none of that.

People do get caught not scanning all items, but this survey and its results seem exaggerated to me.

[Old_Jim]

We are thieves already. Scanning just gives us another opportunity. For years we've been slipping stuff in our pockets or "accidentally" leaving it in the trolley instead of putting it on the checkout counter.

It's largely down to society's ideas of relative morality. I want something - I'll take it. I'm not actually depriving anyone of it. ASDA would only throw it away. If I get caught, I'll only be banned from the shop.

Bring back the pillory and stocks! Not only would it encourage respect for property, but it would provide a use for that out-of-date fruit and veg.

[FredPuli43]

Waitrose are particularly trusting. There you hand scan each item as you put it in the trolley. It's very easy to miss one, particularly if it's one of several identical items. Yet the only security is that about once in thirty times they do their own check, before you check out, so even then they are not showing whether you have just paid for less. No idea how they don't get taken for a lot; they must have calculated the risk against the benefits. It has not been experience that the more prosperous shopper does not steal!

[Gromit]

Supermarkets lose £4.4billion a year in ALL thefts. A third of that figure is attributed to staff.

Which means that scanning thefts are greater than general shoplifting thefts. I somehow doubt that.

[jim360]

I don't know about other people, when I get handed too much change I try to point it out. Never stolen a thing in my life -- not even a solitary grape. Self-service checkouts make no difference to that.

[gingejbee]

Fred: the last time I was "re-scanned" in Waitrose was about 18 months ago!

[youngmafbog]

I tend to agree with Gromit.

And even if the figures are true I would suspect that a large number of people doing would simply attempt to slip it in a pocket or whatever anyway. They are most likely just changing their thieving tactic.

The main problem with this sort of thieving is magistrates do not take it seriously. Quite often it is a small number of people who habitually steal, we need to adopt 3 strikes and out, but I'm sure some right-on liberals will be along in a bit to tell me why the littel darlings should be allowed to get away from it.

Poverty is not a reason to steal, there are plenty of people in quite severe poverty (relative to UK standards) who do not steal.

[boxtops]

I'm honest about change too, jim, even though I know some other people wouldn't.

[EcclesCake]

A neighbour got rescanned in Waitrose, she got a refund as she had scanned incorrectly in favour of the supermarket!

[jake-the-peg]

Yes - I'm dubious of that figure - looks as if they've simply multiplied up the results of a survey without looking at the demographics or being remotely scientific.

The BRC figure of half a billion sounds nearer the mark.

Now think what it saves the stores

Say Tesco has 2,000 stores and it saves 3 checkouts with automated tills over 12 hours a day at minimum wage

2000x3x12x365x6= about 160 million quid!

That's just Tesco!

[Prudie]

I'd never dream of trying to steal something but I guess we'd all say that. I use the self service all the time, I'm not sure how people have said they give up in frustration and shove it in their bag anyway - the weighing machine goes mad - at least it does in Tesco.

[ludwig]

It's not worth the risk, just ask Anthony Worrall Thompson.

[sunny-dave]

I remember AWT on Ready Steady Cook ...

"Well Anthony, what did you get with your £5?"

"A lobster, some foie gras, a bottle of Champagne ... and here's the £3.25 change"

[jno]

I've never knowlingly stolen anything. But it's possible that something may not have scanned properly - I tend not to check my receipts. If something goes in my bag unscanned and unpaid for then it presumably counts toward the missing billions - and yet it's the result not of theft but of equipment failure.

[emmie]

i hate these machines.

[emmie]

Eccles isn't it a case the supermarkets employ as many, as the staff continually show the customer how to work the machines. At least that is what happens in one supermarket i sometimes go to. Most can't work them, and have to ask for assistance.

[jno]

no as many, emmie... 8-10 machiines take up as much space as about 4 manned checkouts in my local, with only one extra staff to help you out when something goes wrong.