3rd of people steal from self-service check-outs

[Tyrewrecker]

LiamM45 said:

Best one I have seen, young woman scans her items through, bags them up, goes to pay with her card, taps in her pin then pulls the card straight out before the transaction was complete, and walks off. She knew exactly what she was doing, as she made a bloody sharp exit.

Security only clicked on by the time she was out of the door. They said it was fairly common.

Perfect crime really - if she's pulled up by anyone, it's a case 'oh sorry I was in a rush and didn't see the screen, etc etc.'

Likely to get a crim record for this? (plead ignorant?)

[LiamM45]

Tyrewrecker said:

Likely to get a crim record for this? (plead ignorant?)

I don't think you would get a criminal record for shoplifting these days anyway. Generally dealt with by a caution if you plead guilty. Sure some PH plod will confirm one way or another.

To me, it's a scenario where you show very little intent to steal, considering CPS usually require CCTV in a quality better than most Sky HD channels these days of the suspect doing a very comedy and obvious theft, something like I witnessed probably wouldn't go anywhere near a courtroom.

[Tyrewrecker]

LiamM45 said:

I don't think you would get a criminal record for shoplifting these days anyway. Generally dealt with by a caution if you plead guilty. Sure some PH plod will confirm one way or another.

To me, it's a scenario where you show very little intent to steal, considering CPS usually require CCTV in a quality better than most Sky HD channels these days of the suspect doing a very comedy and obvious theft, something like I witnessed probably wouldn't go anywhere near a courtroom.

All too easy for scum to steal and no repercussions...

[Carthage]

I've never stolen anything in my life, just don't see the point as I'm so disinterested in possessions whether food or other.
I don't particularly feel the need to obey laws though - and spend some time mentally planning perfect crimes.
They often involve my co-workers.

[Toaster Pilot]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Very surprised Sainsburys still have this - iirc it was Safeway (remember them?) that brought this to the UK and had a quick U turn due to the biblical amount of theft.

[erdnase]

Carthage said:

I've never stolen anything in my life, just don't see the point as I'm so disinterested in possessions whether food or other.

I know I'm being a pedantic tt, but I don't think there's a person alive that can say that.

[Carthage]

erdnase said:

I know I'm being a pedantic tt, but I don't think there's a person alive that can say that.

To be equally pedantic (but perhap less tttish) I think I just DID say that.
Although I concede it may not be true.

[Sir Bagalot]

And it isn't just the customers.....

A while back I went through self serve, scanned, total, pay with cash, collect coins, depart store.

As I'm leaving the self serve I notice the member of Tesco staff go to my checkout and I assume she's gonna clean up the receipts/litter etc so pay no attention. 20 seconds later I'm hitting the exit and realise that when I picked up my change I collected the coins not not the £5 I was due. Cue sharp turn and head back, go to my till and see someone is using it, look where notes come out and no notes. Ask him if he saw a fiver and only then does the member of staff approach me with said fiver.

Cheeky mare was going to keep it for herself as it then clicked that as soon as I moved off she sp[otted the fiver and moved in but made no attempt to return it to me.

[erdnase]

Yea, I've almost walked off, forgetting I'd left notes in the dispensor down low.

One time the guy in front of me did that, and I picked it up and went after him. He sh*t himself and said "F-ing hell mate, you gave me a fright. I thought you were the security guy"

[Gareth79]

Toaster Pilot said:

Very surprised Sainsburys still have this - iirc it was Safeway (remember them?) that brought this to the UK and had a quick U turn due to the biblical amount of theft.

My local one (Farnham) has it, and the newer self-service checkouts too. They just upgraded all the handheld scanners too, I was expecting them to withdraw it at some point.

I think they have refined the system enough though. Every now and then when you checkout it requests a rescan (where all your items are scanned in to check). It's certain that the number and frequency of missed items will trigger more rescans until either you stop "forgetting" to scan items, stop using the system because the rescans don't save any time, or they kick you off the scheme.

I had a few when I joined the scheme, but now it's only once every 10-20 shops. I was shopping recently and a couple at the next checkout commented to the cashier that it has requested rescans every time recently. I mentioned the above, that if you "forget" to scan items it asks for rescans more often, and they were "ohhhhh" and looked guilty

[Rowan138]

id hate to think how many bags of haribo went through tescos self checkout as 27p chocolate eclairs...

oh and how many times that reduced to 1p barcode was rescanned ...

my school playground haribo selling racket was profitable and popular, those things sell faster than crack inside school walls!

[JonnyFive]

Tyrewrecker said:

All too easy for scum to steal and no repercussions...

Saw one at the local Tesco, some dossers stood outside discussing what they wanted for lunch..

I'm stood at the sandwich bit, which is just inside the doors.. One walks in, picks up some sandwiches and cans of RedBull and walks straight out. Staff wouldn't be able to do anything to these two anyway, they'd just run.. I'd imagine they do this often.

[carreauchompeur]

Road2Ruin said:

How did that happen? I thought bananas were weighed due to the unique size of each one! The machine can't of known how many bananas she had.

At Tesco Express they are sold per banana... Therefore even with margins of error it would be double the weight the machine's expecting.

[Rude-boy]

At the end of the day most supermarkets reduce stuff to silly prices to get rid. One of our locals has a habit of reducing stuff but forgetting that it is on BOGOF. You go to the till (no self serve) and they scan your two bottles of orange juice at 15p for the first (normal price £1.50), then 15p for the second but as the computer remembers that they are on BOGOF it takes £1.50 off your bill.

Pointed this out to them when I noticed it had happened a second time (first time I didn't spot it until I got home)and they said that they knew about it but there was little they could do other than amend when they spotted it and tell HO that their system was FUBAR'd.

These days I tend to point it out to them when I get to the till if I have spotted but they don't always amend. You would think that they might be a little more on the ball though sometimes when you are loading 4 bottles of OJ and 6 or 7 other things into you bag and they ask for £1.67...

[JonnyFive]

I guess, for the staff.. They get paid the same amount no matter how much they charge you, thus not really caring about what it's charging you. It's the computer system thats making the mistake, not the cashier.

[clarkey328is]

Rude-boy said:

At the end of the day most supermarkets reduce stuff to silly prices to get rid. One of our locals has a habit of reducing stuff but forgetting that it is on BOGOF. You go to the till (no self serve) and they scan your two bottles of orange juice at 15p for the first (normal price £1.50), then 15p for the second but as the computer remembers that they are on BOGOF it takes £1.50 off your bill.

Pointed this out to them when I noticed it had happened a second time (first time I didn't spot it until I got home)and they said that they knew about it but there was little they could do other than amend when they spotted it and tell HO that their system was FUBAR'd.

These days I tend to point it out to them when I get to the till if I have spotted but they don't always amend. You would think that they might be a little more on the ball though sometimes when you are loading 4 bottles of OJ and 6 or 7 other things into you bag and they ask for £1.67...

You would think so, but an acquaintance often "nicks" his lunch. He selects bananas on the menu and then puts his entire lunch on the scales. System weighs it as bananas and he puts it in the bag. Once, an attendant has had to come over to enter their code because the machine has gone nuts. Upon seeing it charging 20 odd pence for a massive bag of food, they laughed and just entered the code.
The people that I know that work for supermarkets do this more than most other people I know. They tend not to treat employees very well.

[Toaster Pilot]

clarkey328is said:

You would think so, but an acquaintance often "nicks" his lunch. .

Would this be fraud rather than theft?

Either way, I'd imagine he'd end up losing his job if he was to be prosecuted (no matter who he works for) so I do wonder what goes through these people's minds.

[Rollcage]

The figure is nothing like a third at all. Might be slightly more than a stores average leakage rate, but not by much. Maybe 2% overall loss by value? Im not aware that stores offering self scan suffer significantly higher leakage rates.

Sensationalist writing by a website that is clearly Australian!

[Zwolf]

Toaster Pilot said:

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Very surprised Sainsburys still have this - iirc it was Safeway (remember them?) that brought this to the UK and had a quick U turn due to the biblical amount of theft.

But weren't/aren't Safeway stores generally located in less salubrious locales than Sainsbury's? Hence the greater inclination towards stock losses by theft (by customers and staff alike).

[Toaster Pilot]

Zwolf said:

But weren't/aren't Safeway stores generally located in less salubrious locales than Sainsbury's? Hence the greater inclination towards stock losses by theft (by customers and staff alike).

Given my local Sainsburys borders onto a notorious council estate I fail to see your point.