Thanks to self-service checkouts, stores save money: vending machines do not take vacations, they do not have breaks. In Polish stores, the spectacle is becoming more and more popular - six or eight self-service checkouts and only one with a human worker. The other side of the coin is that such cash registers facilitate petty theft. In the Netherlands, a chain has removed cash registers from stores, but does not want to confirm that this is due to thefts.
“Please place the item in the packing area.” “Product not recognized. Please help” - these messages, sometimes very loudly formatted and creating an unbearable cacophony, discourage some customers from using self-checkout. Say what you like, but we scan purchases, because most stores have a policy that open only one cash desk “with a face”, so we either stay in it for a long time, or we process the entire purchase ourselves.
Actions to phase out self-service checkouts in the Netherlands
Self-service checkouts are available in most discount stores and some other types of stores such as pharmacies. And whether we like it or not, there will be more of them. It turns out that not everywhere they are as popular as in Poland.
Action chain stores are removing self-service checkouts from their stores in the Netherlands. Employees explain this by massive thefts, but the company does not sign such statements. A spokesman for the chain said the removal of cash registers was due to “testing new technologies” and it is possible that cash registers will be restored in some stores.
Fast track to self-service checkouts. Students stole
Questions about the legality of use cash registers also appeared in other countries and other retail chains. “One of the discounters owned by the Aldi Sud chain in the Niel district of Cologne, after a short use of self-checkouts, decided to remove them from its outlet” – said the portal Wiadomoscihandlowe.pl in the wake of the German media. The reason turned out to be simple. Neighborhood teenagers were stealing food.
According to German journalists, there are several schools near the market. During breaks, students willingly came to the store for shopping. “Young people were very eager to scan the purchased goods on their own. Many of them did it dishonestly.” - reports the German portal express.de. They robbed the store using inadequate checkout controls.
Young people most often carried with them bakery products or other small-sized products. Other shops also have to deal with numerous thefts at self-checkouts. Markets are implementing various solutions to reduce losses.
More shoplifting
Police statistics in the Netherlands show that shoplifting has increased by 30% over the past year. Also in Poland, the number of shoplifting is increasing: from January to October 2022, 30% more than in 2022. more burglaries than last year. Shoppers are increasingly stealing small food items such as bread, sweets and cheese. Thanks to self-service checkouts, stealing bulk goods and bread is easier than before: you take a more expensive product, such as buns with grain, and “stuff” with Kaiser buns. If the weight of the more expensive item is the same as that of the cheaper item, the machine will not detect unevenness.
Source: Wprost
I am George Brown, author at Daily News Hack. I mostly cover economy news and I have been doing this for quite some time now. I have a lot of experience in this field and I’m always looking for new opportunities to learn more.
