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Self-Checkout Making It Much Harder To Prosecute Shoplifting
Which brings us back to the self-service kiosk. It is easy to imagine situations where a consumer, unfamiliar with the technology, fails to adequately scan all items in a basket. Recently, I was scolded by a machine when I placed scanned items on the floor next to me while I was drinking coffee, talking on the phone, fumbling for my wallet and scanning items. If an item was inadvertently not scanned, and the customer attempted to leave the store, would this support a prosecution for theft?
There may be no need for someone to, as the character Pinto did in the movie Animal House, shove pounds of steak into their pants. Rather, they can simply put a bag with the steaks on the floor next to the self-service register and then “forget” to scan the contents. Systems that rely on comparing the weight of items on the belt to what that product is supposed to weigh, by definition, rely on the consumer to place the items on the belt. Video or other surveillance technology can find some obvious frauds (like our friend Pinto), but not more subtle ones.
The problem is twofold. Not only is there a significant possibility that innocent grandmothers may get pinched for misusing the technology, but there is a similar likelihood that the technology’s apparent complexity may act as defense to actual shoplifters. To minimize these problems, stores may be forced to add more self-service assistants—or, as we might call them, cashiers. When assessing the costs or savings associated with technologies, adopters should consider all of these costs.
In the late 1970s, the U.S. Air Force was reportedly experimenting with cheap, disposable unmanned drone aircraft, similar to those used by Israel to fly over the battlefield, take snapshots, and return them for processing (yes, film cameras). The Air Force kept adding functionality to the cheap drones (real-time imagining, delivery of ordinance, stealth, active defense, speed) so that, in the end, the drone became so heavy and expensive that the service added one final item—a pilot.
This is not meant to be an indictment of self-service kiosks. Indeed, I use them all the time, and sometimes prefer them to human beings. But they are not without costs—and sometimes these costs include those associated with the inability to prosecute more clever shoplifters. And this has to be factored in to the value proposition.
If you disagree with me, I’ll see you in court, buddy. If you agree with me, however, I would love to hear from you.
-Marc
July 21st, 2011 at 8:59 am
I’m stepping out of stealth mode only for a brief moment to contribute to this wonderful and excellent blog. I intend to join the premium community and keep up the good work.
The best analogy to put next generation retailing systems in perspective is the centralized Big Blue computer versus the desktop PC. While many old-school consultants/developers/innovators wanted to focus on the Big Blue due to big contracts, the long tail of desktop PCs is what really changed the computing industry as we know it.
A lot of what I’m reading and hearing is too much focus on big box, big chain and large format retailings when it comes to new technology such as NFC and even self-checkout. What is not being discussed is the reality that micro-retailing which is the art of converging small-format with e-commerce functionality and logistics is really the best target for these technologies.
The issue with self-checkout is the inclusion of the self-fulfillment process (“bag it yourself”). My belief is self-checkout should be an an ordering and offering process for the consumer and fulfillment should be handled efficiently by the retail operation.
I can go deeper but let’s just say it is really annoying to see long lines at the self-checkout, standing there as someone is taking all day to bag their own items at the self-checkout or have a blank stare at the machine itself.
If self-checkout did not have the fulfillment/bagging process, shoplifting would not have been an issue.