• thefartographer@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      I’ve never seen a shoplifter in my entire life.

      I have, however, seen entrepreneurial individuals dedicated to mitigating the wealth-disparity of multi-location retailers via reallocating in-store inventory directly to end users.

  • as a geriatric millenial, self-checkout and self-serve kiosks are hilarious. the first ones i remember seeing were at the movie theater like 20 damn years ago. took less than a day for word to spread that “the move” was to buy a senior, child, or student ticket and use that. as someone who used to have the “tear your ticket” job, i never gave a fuck. i just looked at the number of the theater and pointed toward it. if they went somewhere else, i also didn’t give a fuck. i also never policed outside food. i would usually smile and nod at people willing to bring in crazy shit without hiding it. like a full blown boston market rotisserie chicken or a big ass fast food bag with a giant drink. fuckin’ kings.

    my employer uses self-checkout shit at this giant cafeteria. the cafeteria workers routinely give us barcode stickers for the wrong item at super cheap (like a $1.50 side instead of an $8 entree) and load up the portions/extras. and when a barcode reads as invalid? that means it’s free! nobody gives a shit so long as you don’t draw attention to yourself and pantomime like you’re ringing it all up normally and paying.

    all it really takes to get free shit in this world sometimes is being friendly to the workers, not stacking up on someone when they are busy with others, and being easy with a laugh, smile and a knowing glance. and not trying to press your luck when some overseer is making their rounds. always make everybody look like they are crushing it at their job while delivering outstanding customer service and, together, we can rob the motherfuckers blind.

  • the_post_of_tom_joad [any, any]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    Watch: This is the same bullshit as the “retail shoplifting scare” that turned out completely fabricated.

    It will be drummed up for the public while they enact harsher penalties for stealing food

  • DragonBallZinn [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    If you arbitrarily raise prices without there being any scarcity, you don’t get to complain about stealing. If they must be charged, it should be for vigilante justice, not theft.

  • save_vs_death [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    first they replaced workers with automated checkouts depriving themselves of the other 20 jobs a “mere” checkout operator had to do; what’ll happen next is now they’ll pair every self-checkout with a checkout operator anyway so you’ll just have someone who’s job is to breathe down your neck to make sure you’re not walking out with one of those 5 in 1, 1 gallon shampoo bottles

    • thefartographer@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      “Hi, I’ll be your self-checkout specialist today. Can I interest you in a premium reusable tote? It’s only $0.75 more and hides 30% more items from the Loss Prevention Officer.”

    • Gerudo@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      They are literally already doing this. A couple weeks back at Costco, the self checkout lanes had an employee at every one of them checking your ID against your member card. They then would scan your stuff. They still had someone at the exit checking your receipt.

      The labor spend on preventing you from sharing your member card and then STILL verifying your receipt against their own employees seems like a massive waste.

      • invo_rt [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        8 months ago

        Not to mention the untold amount of money wasted on extra camera surveillance and all kinds of algorithmic gait analysis and tracking shit.

        • jkrtn@lemmy.ml
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          8 months ago

          The price of cameras and gait analysis is well under the cost of even one year of a full time employee, which is why they are doing it. If they can hire even one less employee it is a win for them.

  • BodyBySisyphus [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    My grocery store has added an automated narc cam that plays back a video of you putting the item into the bag when it thinks you didn’t scan it.

      • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        8 months ago

        It’s also less obnoxious when a cashier rings up something and goes “oh I love these, they’re so tasty” as a product endorsement instead of a fucking advertisement.

    • Okay that’s a dumb boomer joke that drives me crazy but also I do ultimately believe that’s exactly how it should work

      Any problems processing payment means it’s free. I believe this on a fundamental “we live in a society” level. As a business, the social contract you fulfill is to 1. provide goods and services, and 2. in exchange for doing so we allow you to collect money. Whether you are able to do part 2 is really not our problem, and you have to do part 1 regardless.

      If a Walmart has its credit card readers go down you should be allowed to take anything you’d like