DISCUSSION
Does Walmart Self-Checkout Make Harmful Theft Easy?
Written by RetailWire Staff
Photo: Walmart
As theft from stores continues to be a big problem for Walmart, one report says both employees and customers are pointing to one factor as a particular enabler for shoplifters. Walmart self-checkout makes it easier for for people to steal from the store.
More than 100 customers and employees (both current and former) told Business Insider that, as a measure to reduce shrink, Walmart needs to stop relying on self-checkout. That came in response to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon telling CNBC earlier this month that the rate of shrink has reached a point where it could lead to store closures. While Walmart did not comment on the ratio of cashiers to self-checkout lanes in its stores, an anonymous employee from a store in Spokane, WA told Insider that the store had drastically cut down on manned checkout lanes in favor of self-checkout.
In the past, Walmart has tried implementing a store solely dedicated to self-checkout only And Amazon has begun seeing signs of success with their Amazon Fresh stores that have no cashiers or registers. Clearly, self-checkout theft needs to be addressed because register-less shopping is becoming a norm. And with all the different types of consumers, Walmart self-checkout is an important feature that should be present in every store belonging to the brand name retailer.
The phenomenon of defrauding self-checkouts to shoplift is hardly new, and by 2018 the practice had grown so widespread that The Atlantic reported a lingo sprouting up among shoplifters to describe different tricks. Unabashed shoplifters use the term “the banana trick” for ringing up an expensive bulk item as a cheaper one and refer to price tag swapping as “the switcheroo.”
Reports have posited that up to 20 percent of people who use self-checkout have stolen something while using it.
In the last year there have been widely reported instances of even newer unattended self-checkout solutions being prone to theft.
For instance, Wegmans earlier this year, due to an unsustainable rate of shoplifting, shut down its SCAN app, which allowed shoppers to scan products and leave the store without visiting a register.
However rampant petty theft is not the only reason for the uptick in shrink numbers over the past few years. Organized retail crime has also been widely reported as having reached epidemic levels. Organized retail crime consists of operatives working for criminal rings stealing large amounts of product from retailers, sometimes through violent brute force attacks, so that the rings can resell the product online.
Organized retail crime experienced a spike between 2021 and 2022, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In 2020, it was already up 50 percent over five years, costing retailers $700,000 per $1 billion in sales.
Walmart self-checkout is a convenient option for tech-savvy shoppers who know what they want, buy a small amount of items, and know how to get in and out of the store quickly.
Walmart Self-Checkout Woes
More than 100 customers and employees (both current and former) told Business Insider that, as a measure to reduce shrink, Walmart needs to stop relying on self-checkout. That came in response to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon telling CNBC earlier this month that the rate of shrink has reached a point where it could lead to store closures. While Walmart did not comment on the ratio of cashiers to self-checkout lanes in its stores, an anonymous employee from a store in Spokane, WA told Insider that the store had drastically cut down on manned checkout lanes in favor of self-checkout.
In the past, Walmart has tried implementing a store solely dedicated to self-checkout only And Amazon has begun seeing signs of success with their Amazon Fresh stores that have no cashiers or registers. Clearly, self-checkout theft needs to be addressed because register-less shopping is becoming a norm. And with all the different types of consumers, Walmart self-checkout is an important feature that should be present in every store belonging to the brand name retailer.
Walmart Self-Checkout is Not the Only Problem
The phenomenon of defrauding self-checkouts to shoplift is hardly new, and by 2018 the practice had grown so widespread that The Atlantic reported a lingo sprouting up among shoplifters to describe different tricks. Unabashed shoplifters use the term “the banana trick” for ringing up an expensive bulk item as a cheaper one and refer to price tag swapping as “the switcheroo.”
Reports have posited that up to 20 percent of people who use self-checkout have stolen something while using it.
In the last year there have been widely reported instances of even newer unattended self-checkout solutions being prone to theft.
For instance, Wegmans earlier this year, due to an unsustainable rate of shoplifting, shut down its SCAN app, which allowed shoppers to scan products and leave the store without visiting a register.
However rampant petty theft is not the only reason for the uptick in shrink numbers over the past few years. Organized retail crime has also been widely reported as having reached epidemic levels. Organized retail crime consists of operatives working for criminal rings stealing large amounts of product from retailers, sometimes through violent brute force attacks, so that the rings can resell the product online.
Organized retail crime experienced a spike between 2021 and 2022, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In 2020, it was already up 50 percent over five years, costing retailers $700,000 per $1 billion in sales.
Walmart self-checkout is a convenient option for tech-savvy shoppers who know what they want, buy a small amount of items, and know how to get in and out of the store quickly.
- Walmart rolled out self-checkout to streamline operations and reduce labor needs — but employees and customers say it's causing a surge in theft – Business Insider
- Rising thefts at Walmart could lead to price jumps, store closures, CEO says – CNBC
- Shoplifters force Wegmans to pull the plug on its self-scanning app – RetailWire
- The Banana Trick and Other Acts of Self-Checkout Thievery – The Atlantic
- Organized Retail Theft 101: What Is It and What Can Be Done About It? – U.S. Chamber of Commerce