It seems harmless to put your pine nuts through the self-serve registers as an apple, right? It saves you money; the store won’t notice the difference and no-one will be any the wiser.
Here’s the thing, the stores do notice.
Abusing the self-serve checkout machines is still stealing, and it’s against the law – yet 10% of shoppers admit to doing it.
News.com.au have reported that new technology out of NSW may be about to wipe out self-service theft for good.
An Australian start-up has devised a product recognition system, which films, then identify the products being checked out without the need for a barcode.
Some people are extremely upset about the changes and have strong opinions about the morals around stealing from self-service checkouts.
“Anyone who pays for more than half of their stuff in self-checkout is a total moron,” one customer said in an online forum.
“Let me makes something clear; There is NO MORAL ISSUE with stealing from a store that forces you to use self-checkout, period. THEY ARE CHARGING YOU TO WORK AT THEIR STORE,” they concluded.
While a somewhat radical point of view, people agree that while they are not ‘pro theft’, they are hesitant to defend companies spending money on automating employee functions and more likely to turn a blind-eye to stealing if they see it.
Tiliter Technology, the NSW company who developed the new ‘smart-checkouts’ explain there are big savings to be made with the installation of their product.
“The big value for supermarkets is removing the significant loss seen from people entering the wrong information when using self-service checkouts,” the company told News.com.au.
“Our tech is different from some of the stuff we have seen struggle in the past because it can tell the difference between a red delicious and royal gala apple for example,” he said.
Australian Retailers’ Association’s executive director Russell Zimmerman called the technology a “godsend.”
Buy beware!
