Supermarket self checkouts and mistakes

[Mr_B]

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 ?

[Mr_B]

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 ?

[Mr_B]

So anyway, back to the original point, could you be done for shoplifting ( in the unlikely event they were to want to prosecute ) , is the onus on the store or me ?