I die on this hill for a different reason: the store holds the customer responsible for scanning or incorrectly scanning your merchandise. There was an article of a store calling the cops to arrest someone who accidentally forgot to scan something on the bottom of their cart.
Self checkout is a way for companies not only to get rid of a job, but to shift shrink liability to the customer.
If you’re going to make me scan my own merchandise, then the store should wave my liability if I get it wrong.
I disagree. These companies aren’t total morons. I’m sure they’ve studied this thing exhaustively and calculated a slighter higher shrink and machine maintenance was cheaper than paying cashiers. Keep in mind, at the low end of the pay scale, the employer’s total cost is nearly double the wage paid.
Some places may call the cops, but I’d bet that’s a rare event. Look at it from the cop’s point of view, they’re going to get sick of that petty shit in a hurry, start slowing their roll when the store calls. Want an annoyed police force when your store has an actual emergency?
Most places in America, the big chains anyway, seem to have policies like I was trained with at Lowe’s. No cops unless it’s an emergency or they stole something huge like a $4,000 mower, and even then, call after they’ve left and give the cops the license plate pic. Never accuse a customer, not even an implication. Never block a thief from exiting or back them into a corner. They gave us some pretty slick tips on approaching someone we suspected, mainly consisting of chatting to make 'em nervous.
Always keep in mind when you see some crazy shit like the article you read, that makes news precisely because it’s crazy shit.
I was tired and hung over once and got checked at self-checkout, apparently forgot to scan two items. Probably looked incredibly suspicious.
Told the girl I simply forgot, she said ‘ok’, added the items, and let me leave. Never had issues since, didn’t get checked more regularly after that or anything.
So, yeah, they almost certainly just take into account people (deliberately) forgetting.
I die on this hill for a different reason: the store holds the customer responsible for scanning or incorrectly scanning your merchandise. There was an article of a store calling the cops to arrest someone who accidentally forgot to scan something on the bottom of their cart.
Self checkout is a way for companies not only to get rid of a job, but to shift shrink liability to the customer.
If you’re going to make me scan my own merchandise, then the store should wave my liability if I get it wrong.
I disagree. These companies aren’t total morons. I’m sure they’ve studied this thing exhaustively and calculated a slighter higher shrink and machine maintenance was cheaper than paying cashiers. Keep in mind, at the low end of the pay scale, the employer’s total cost is nearly double the wage paid.
Some places may call the cops, but I’d bet that’s a rare event. Look at it from the cop’s point of view, they’re going to get sick of that petty shit in a hurry, start slowing their roll when the store calls. Want an annoyed police force when your store has an actual emergency?
Most places in America, the big chains anyway, seem to have policies like I was trained with at Lowe’s. No cops unless it’s an emergency or they stole something huge like a $4,000 mower, and even then, call after they’ve left and give the cops the license plate pic. Never accuse a customer, not even an implication. Never block a thief from exiting or back them into a corner. They gave us some pretty slick tips on approaching someone we suspected, mainly consisting of chatting to make 'em nervous.
Always keep in mind when you see some crazy shit like the article you read, that makes news precisely because it’s crazy shit.
I was tired and hung over once and got checked at self-checkout, apparently forgot to scan two items. Probably looked incredibly suspicious.
Told the girl I simply forgot, she said ‘ok’, added the items, and let me leave. Never had issues since, didn’t get checked more regularly after that or anything.
So, yeah, they almost certainly just take into account people (deliberately) forgetting.
Solid reasoning, I could get behind this too.