RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – Many grocery stores in Central Virginia promote self-checkout lanes as a fast and easy way to buy groceries, but at what cost?
The owner of Stoplift Checkout Vision Systems, a company which sells store video analytic software, told USA Today theft is up to five times higher in self checkout lanes when compared to when cashiers are working. Malay Kundu said people steal in the self checkout lane by typing in codes for cheaper items or failing to scan certain items.
Stores like Albertson’s and New England-based Big Y have ditched the self checkout lanes, partly due to customer service and partly due to shoplifting.
The National Retail Federation suggests most stores aren’t ready to abandon self checkout altogether. It says new “tunnel” scanners will allow shoppers to put everything on a conveyor belt and have prices scanned automatically – even on unmarked produce.
