Supermarket self checkouts and mistakes

Supermarket self checkouts and mistakes

Author
Discussion

Mr_B

Original Poster:

10,480 posts

242 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
Where do you stand on this if you make a mistake when using these ? I was with a friend who was stopped on leaving a small Tesco store and had his bag checked and found a bag of crisps that he had not paid for. He said it was a mistake and of course offered to pay for these. The security did this and at no point was there any mention of shoplifting etc. The guy earns plenty of money and I have never know him to nick anything and don't see why he would try and take a 50p bag of crisps when he spent £25 in there.

So if you choose to use these machines and make a mistake where do you stand legally ? I guess its on the person using them rather than the store, so is this common problem and been tried ?

Mk3Spitfire

2,921 posts

127 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
It's unlikely you'd ever get prosecuted for theft as there's no dishonesty. It comes down to common sense really. I will say however that money is irrelevant really when it comes to shoplifting. Some people just get a kick out of it. Wasn't there a "celebrity" not long ago getting caught all the time?

EskimoArapaho

5,135 posts

134 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
The odd bag of crisps is never going to raise issues. Supposedly supermarkets were getting ripped off by people weighing in all sorts of expensive stuff and selecting "Value Potatoes" from the menu.

I prefer the faint chance of witty banter with a human cashier over the certainty of the 'make me look like a fool' self-service machine.

amancalledrob

1,248 posts

133 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
Mk3Spitfire said:
It's unlikely you'd ever get prosecuted for theft as there's no dishonesty. It comes down to common sense really. I will say however that money is irrelevant really when it comes to shoplifting. Some people just get a kick out of it. Wasn't there a "celebrity" not long ago getting caught all the time?
Anthony Worrall Thompson was your guy there

I've no objection to self service machines and in fact the ones at my local library are extremely handy. GF doesn't agree though. Her mum's a librarian...

skilly1

2,699 posts

194 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
Those library machine are great, you can put 10 book in the shelf at once and it identifies all of them automatically.

amancalledrob

1,248 posts

133 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
skilly1 said:
Those library machine are great, you can put 10 book in the shelf at once and it identifies all of them automatically.
Yeah apparently the books have RFIDs in them

Mk3Spitfire

2,921 posts

127 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
amancalledrob said:
Anthony Worrall Thompson was your guy there..
It was a female I was thinking of...something to do with fashion? Or clothes? But yes, AWT proves the point just as well!

SistersofPercy

3,324 posts

165 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
I discovered accidentally the other day that tesco self service tills seemingly have no way of recognising if you've pushed an actual money off coupon or not.

I'd got a coupon for 30p off some dog treats, scanned it, ripped it off the card, inserted into the coupon slot and then realised that i'd put in the other half of the coupon, not the coupon itself. Of course wracked with guilt (and the fact my cousin is their security guard) I did push in the right half but it got me thinking. Whats stopping someone reusing a coupon weekly and shoving a blank bit of paper into the machine instead?

Mr_B

Original Poster:

10,480 posts

242 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
EskimoArapaho said:
The odd bag of crisps is never going to raise issues. Supposedly supermarkets were getting ripped off by people weighing in all sorts of expensive stuff and selecting "Value Potatoes" from the menu.

I prefer the faint chance of witty banter with a human cashier over the certainty of the 'make me look like a fool' self-service machine.
I guess they factor that in against employing fewer people, so maybe they still save ? Not sure.

Anyway, given that you always nearly had to go to a member of staff to scan your items and pay, how's it going to play out if you missed a £20 bottle of wine or something of reasonable value they would otherwise maybe try and call the Police in on ?

Fugazi

564 posts

120 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
SistersofPercy said:
I discovered accidentally the other day that tesco self service tills seemingly have no way of recognising if you've pushed an actual money off coupon or not.

I'd got a coupon for 30p off some dog treats, scanned it, ripped it off the card, inserted into the coupon slot and then realised that i'd put in the other half of the coupon, not the coupon itself. Of course wracked with guilt (and the fact my cousin is their security guard) I did push in the right half but it got me thinking. Whats stopping someone reusing a coupon weekly and shoving a blank bit of paper into the machine instead?
I'd always thought Tesco vouchers were linked to Clubcard ID's, therefore once scanned the voucher would be useless to use again?

TurboHatchback

4,150 posts

152 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
If you miss a £20 bottle of wine then hopefully you would notice that your shopping was curiously cheap. Also how would that happen short of just leaving it in the trolley and it never going near the till? I've never missed anything, the stupid things have enough of a tantrum when you put the right stuff in the bagging area let alone the wrong stuff.

oyster

12,561 posts

247 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
SistersofPercy said:
I discovered accidentally the other day that tesco self service tills seemingly have no way of recognising if you've pushed an actual money off coupon or not.

I'd got a coupon for 30p off some dog treats, scanned it, ripped it off the card, inserted into the coupon slot and then realised that i'd put in the other half of the coupon, not the coupon itself. Of course wracked with guilt (and the fact my cousin is their security guard) I did push in the right half but it got me thinking. Whats stopping someone reusing a coupon weekly and shoving a blank bit of paper into the machine instead?
I guess they know who you are by way of credit card or Clubcard.

SistersofPercy

3,324 posts

165 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
Fugazi said:
I'd always thought Tesco vouchers were linked to Clubcard ID's, therefore once scanned the voucher would be useless to use again?
Don't know, in my guilt I shoved it into the machine and I'm not brave enough to try it again, though that said I have a couple of these vouchers (we've had a big mail shot of samples with the coupons) and they are all the same with the same barcode so I don't see why it wouldn't work repeatedly.

tenpenceshort

32,880 posts

216 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
SistersofPercy said:
Don't know, in my guilt I shoved it into the machine and I'm not brave enough to try it again, though that said I have a couple of these vouchers (we've had a big mail shot of samples with the coupons) and they are all the same with the same barcode so I don't see why it wouldn't work repeatedly.
I presume the slots to dispose of the vouchers are to put people off reusing them without any actual technical blockage to doing so, if you're inclined to be dishonest.

Considering the points and their origins will be stored centrally somewhere, that I suspect the software will spot suspicious patterns and the low value of the coupons, it would be a pretty stupid type of theft.

Mephistofleas

1,385 posts

189 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
Do naughty people still scan a bottle of vodka through as a litre bottle of water costing 50p? nuts

Durzel

12,214 posts

167 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
Quite often when I'm bagging stuff up the machine will get confused by me having moved a bag around, or an empty bag landing on the counter, and moan about an item being removed or something and request attention from the operative who normally stands close by.

In all instances where this has happened they haven't checked to see whether the error is legitimate or not, and just flash their card across it and tap in a code which seems to stick the machine in a "don't bother checking weights" state. I've realised this because the display always sticks on showing the price on rather than asking you to put stuff in the bag.

You could at that point quite easily just bag up the rest of your shopping without even putting it through the scanner, or just pretending to.

I suspect this must happen quite a lot, and as is often the case with technology that is a bit demanding - humans get irritated by it and just bypass the safeguards.

Walford

2,259 posts

165 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
This should be on munsnet.bore

tenpenceshort

32,880 posts

216 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
Walford said:
This should be on munsnet.bore
Says an Eastenders buff? wink

spikeyhead

17,192 posts

196 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
I suspect that they lose no more on the self checkouts than they do from minimum wage staff serving friends.

The last mistake I had at a checkout was a new employee that rung up 66 doughnuts instead of just one.

Mk3Spitfire

2,921 posts

127 months

Monday 28th July 2014
quotequote all
spikeyhead said:
I suspect that they lose no more on the self checkouts than they do from minimum wage staff serving friends.

The last mistake I had at a checkout was a new employee that rung up 66 doughnuts instead of just one.
That wasn't a mistake....I really did buy 66....