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Some Walmart employees say customers are getting hostile at self-checkout — and they blame anti-theft tech (www.businessinsider.com)
submitted 2 years ago by [M, B] to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Some Walmart employees say customers are getting hostile at self-checkout — and they blame anti-theft tech::When Walmart's anti-theft self-checkout tech alerts an employee of a missed scan, it can cause some uncomfortable situations.

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[–] 58 points 2 years ago* (13 children)

I'd get hostile too. This wastes literally everyone's time, employee and customer. Walmart and other companies already write off all their losses as tax write offs. It would actually be more cost efficient to do literally nothing. But it's not about preventing theft. It's about proving a point: that corporations control you.

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  • [+] -40 points 2 years ago (10 children)

    I’m sorry but I don’t think that makes very much sense.

    Retail theft is a real problem for a company’s bottom line. Enough so that Target is pulling out of San Francisco, IIRC. And self-checkout is one of the easiest ways to pull it off.

    Why would a corporation frantically seeking quarter over quarter growth spend money to “prove a point” about control?

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  • [–] 51 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Enough so that Target is pulling out of San Francisco, IIRC

    https://www.businessinsider.com/target-closing-stores-due-to-crime-stats-tell-another-story-2023-10?op=1

    ehhhhhhhhhhhhh. They're blaming theft, but that's not it. Theft might be a part of it, but the stats nearby contradict that. We don't have access to their internal theft metrics, but the city data doesn't pan out. When there are stores (mission district) that have higher theft and are staying open, then is it really theft?

    Or is it poor retail performance since WFH is the new king and people live in the suburbs more than in the city. When continue to order online more and more instead of shop at a physical store.

    Theft is an easy way to blame other people without providing evidence. It's not the CEO's failure to adapt to changing market conditions, it's the poors! It's their fault! /s

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  • [–] 45 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    How about this. If self check out is a problem go back to paying cashiers.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    I'll never understand why people like you care about a mega corporation's bottom line. The executives are still making billions, while keeping their employees as poor as they can get away with.

    Target will survive without San Francisco. Even if they fail, the top dogs will just liquidate and take a fat paycheck home, enough for a 1000+ employees to retire and live off of for the rest of their lives, and they'll just pocket it all. Fuck 'em.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    I don’t give a flying fuck about a megacorporation’s bottom line. Fuck Walmart. Fuck Target. I don’t disagree with a single thing you just said.

    I just didn’t think it made any sense to say that they made an expensive change to their self-checkout just to “prove a point” about controlling people.

    But apparently no one knows how to read. And once some of you saw downvotes you knew everything you needed to know about what I think.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    So is CEO greed though. And they could choose to use that money to balance their budget, not ruin my experience of being out and about.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago

    Yes, they absolutely could and should. That wasn’t my point. I just don’t think it makes any sense to say that they made the change to their self checkout to “prove a point” about controlling people.

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