Walmart

Sounds reasonable and it might get some Walmart customers into better shape. For me however, this is just another reason to not use self checkout.

I have gotten used to self-checkout and don't mind it......as long as the prices reflect this inconvenience.

There's room for a joke here, but I'm not going to make it. 

Do we / can we storm the trailer to 'pick / take' what we want...? 

Or can I get the forklifter job to unload ? 

I've been trained and licensed !! 

Steve 

Posted by: @jkuvakas

There's room for a joke here, but I'm not going to make it. 

I know a person who works for Wal-Mart in the self checkout and she says the amount of theft is unbelievable. "One item scanned...one item free...one item scanned...two items free."

@jack-dodds I have wondered about that.

@bob-jackman I think it's important to remember that of course the vast majority of people are honest and take pride in their integrity; it's just that the small percentage are so damned annoying.  At my local big box stores it is common public knowledge now that the store policy is that if a person is caught stealing in this manner they are required to leave everything and exit the store....no police contact, no being barred from the store , no consequences.  Police don't have time anymore to attend promptly; the prosecutorial system doesn't pursue spending time/budget on such "small" offences; store security officers are assaulted, sometimes very violently, so are told not to physically intervene anymore.  Sadly some honest folks get resentful of this theft and some of them think "why should I have to pay the increased product price to compensate for thieves" and begin to start behaving the same way.  It is a slippery slope which can at times bring out the worst in some people.  I suppose in time retailers will create a better computerized checkout system to mitigate this behavior, but for now this is what we have.  The alternative for now of course is to shop elsewhere where the prices are generally higher.  Sorry to sound so negative; I will leave it at that.

@jack-dodds The simple solution to the slippery slope problem would be to employ check-out staff. Although we're always told grocery margins are slim, these chains still return vast profits so the 'increasing product price' argument is a bit thin.  Also, I believe U.S. check-out machines ask for tips these days (!) and there's no telling how much goes to the check-out attendants, and how much goes to the shareholder. Please don't think me a commie - just a regular guy who knows when he's being done.

@charles-rockett Here in Canada (I will use Wal-Mart as an example) there are many checkout staff employed to watch those people using self-checkout dishonestly (no tip feature thus far btw).  This of course raises the obvious question of why not just employ these individuals as cashiers and go back to the future?  My guess is that even with the theft loss it is cheaper for the big box company to operate this way because the buying public continue to shoulder the "shrinkage" loss passed on to the consumer.  I also believe that the current self-checkout is just the relatively inexpensive experimental first step in massaging the customers into accepting this over time as the new norm.  Once the CEOs understand that this has occurred they will then spend the money required to develop technology to enable the customer to scan and pay for each item as they place it into their basket (or delete it if they change their mind).  Failing to do so would perhaps activate an alarm of some kind at a securable exit, where the offending customer will be scrutinized further.  This is just my thought about it but I expect to see something like this in the future.

Amazon has a working system in a few of their brick and mortar stores. All the merchandise is tagged. You sign in on your phone when you enter the store. You choose your items, then exit the store. Your account is automatically charged. If you have no account or have tried to remove a tag, there are a few security folks at the door and an alarm sounds. It's not totally foolproof...yet.

https://youtube.com/shorts/BPmyXV1-Qf0?feature=share

Well, well.....there ya go.  Very interesting!  Thanks John.

@jack-dodds Jack, you are so right! When one sees what is happening in China, over people having bank accounts frozen, or other social impediments used to punish people for whatever infraction the state deems unsavoury, it is frightening.  This is not anti China rhetoric - I've worked there and like it. It is, as you say, about the technology. And when they do away with cash - which is one of their aims - we'll all be baisé ! (To use terminology from our recent exchange)

Posted by: @jack-dodds

@bob-jackman I think it's important to remember that of course the vast majority of people are honest and take pride in their integrity; it's just that the small percentage are so damned annoying.  At my local big box stores it is common public knowledge now that the store policy is that if a person is caught stealing in this manner they are required to leave everything and exit the store....no police contact, no being barred from the store , no consequences.  Police don't have time anymore to attend promptly; the prosecutorial system doesn't pursue spending time/budget on such "small" offences; store security officers are assaulted, sometimes very violently, so are told not to physically intervene anymore.  Sadly some honest folks get resentful of this theft and some of them think "why should I have to pay the increased product price to compensate for thieves" and begin to start behaving the same way.  It is a slippery slope which can at times bring out the worst in some people.  I suppose in time retailers will create a better computerized checkout system to mitigate this behavior, but for now this is what we have.  The alternative for now of course is to shop elsewhere where the prices are generally higher.  Sorry to sound so negative; I will leave it at that.

Hello Jack,

Notice I skipped the 'hi' intro...lol.

So just what are the police so busy doing that keeps them from showing up to a burglary ? 

It's absolute madness here in SoCal.... I kid you not !!! 

You can steal up to 900$, run off, get caught, it's a misdemeanor and you're outta the cell before the arresting officer is done writing his or her report. 

 I wish I had enough money to stick my fist up the butt of California's governor and tell him to shove it so I can get the hell out of this state.

Steve 

@100ford2003 What is going on in some of the major North American cities regarding rampant crime is extremely concerning.  IMHO and from my perspective as a retired police officer with 27 years service I can honestly say that the system is truly broken.  It has been in rapid decline for the past 20 plus years and has reached the point where there is almost no consequences for low level crime anymore.  This of course causes an increasing percentage of people to lose respect for "the system" as they understand how much they can get away with and it just escalates from there.  The basic requirements of public safety have not been adequately addressed for many years as governments at all levels have been reluctant to tell the truth about what is needed to decrease criminality.  I think most people understand what  the root problems are; drug addiction, alcoholism, mental illness, homelessness, dysfunctional home environments for children, gangs, guns, plus growing disrespect for the law and the entire criminal justice system and government in general.  These are now major social issues that should have been addressed and funded in an organized and efficient manner many years ago.  The biggest hurdle faced is coordinating a common effort between government and all related agencies to create and fund a system that addresses these contributing factors to social breakdown.  Obviously such a coordinated effort would take many billions of tax dollars, which is a huge stumbling block as politicians do not want to be singled out as the person or party asking for these huge amounts of  money.  The obvious fear politicians have is not getting re-elected; their lives seem to be played out in 4 year cycles, with their main objective being to convince the public that they are worthy of their vote and that the adversarial party/parties are not.  The last thing they would ever want to do is assist in having an adversarial political party in power look good by working with them to solve problems.  IMHO much time, effort and money is wasted on desperately creating "smoke and mirrors" band-aid measures in order to have the public believe they are addressing social breakdown adequately when in fact they are not.  The entire criminal justice system is vastly underfunded and lacking in common goals and properly coordinated objectives.  What we are seeing as a result of this is many agencies working in silo environments; desperately attempting to have their agency seem effective while all around them society continues to decline.  IMHO what is needed is secure treatment centers for addicts and those suffering from mental illness from substance abuse in order to give them a fighting chance to get clean and healthy.  The civil libertarians rail against this as being oppressive and against a person's rights but what about a person's right to a decent life off drugs, away from dealers and temptation and off the degrading mean streets?  Drug importation and distribution at the higher levels has to be addressed much better and those people convicted jailed at labor for decades; that is the only way to end this activity....good old fashioned fear of extreme punishment.  Countries that have extreme penalties for drug importation and trafficking don't have the drug problems North America does.  The prosecutorial system is also very underfunded and understaffed, resulting in the lower level crime being dealt with "by other means"; which is a term for making the ever increasing number of such cases go away by the issuance of warning letters, multiple probation orders and release conditions that are frequently inadequately monitored or assessed due to staff shortages.  These so-called lower level crimes now include some rather serious offences, which of course sends the exact wrong message to the younger offenders and increases their disrespect for the system.  It also adds to the elevation of increasingly more serious and violent criminal acts committed by them as they become bolder.  I wish I didn't have to say this but more prisons at various levels need to be built to house convicts properly and for adequate terms relative to the seriousness of their crimes, rather than the reduced sentences and undeserved early parole they currently experience.

Some people argue that it is impossible to find the tax dollars necessary to fund the above described coordinated effort to reduce crime.  I believe that if we added up the aggregate cost to the taxpayer to maintain all of our current and collectively ineffective agencies that comprise the criminal justice system,  the cost of insurance claims paid out to victims annually and resulting increased premiums, plus the cost of medical services related to crime incidents, we would be dumbfounded by how much is being wasted on maintaining a system that is a proven failure.  If we are spending this amount anyway then why not spend it on building a well considered system that works properly and in a fiscally prudent manner that includes the ability to accurately measure its effectiveness?  The various levels of government and stakeholders within the  agencies and services that comprise both the criminal justice system and medical service delivery need to work together.  It's time to dedicate themselves to setting their self serving political priorities and agendas aside in order to make the changes required to turn this critical social problem around.  There is no time to lose, our way of life is slipping away. 

Hmmmm....sorry folks, this has absolutely nothing to do with cars does it?