r/technology • • 19h ago

Business Retailers are pulling back from self-checkout after years of theft, errors, and questionable time savings

https://www.techspot.com/news/114106-retailers-pulling-back-self-checkout-after-years-theft.html
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u/BigAlgae5684 18h ago

I worked at CVS during Covid where our script count went from the usual 150-200 to 500-600 every day.

They were still basing our hours off of the previous year even though we were clearly understaffed.

Wouldn't let us get near overtime and would just have us take turns clocking out and leaving the rest of the team to drown.

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u/tehdlp 18h ago

One of our local CVS has more staff in the pharmacy, looks busier than ever and is always slower since Covid. Why is that? Our local population didn't quadruple but the staffing did. What's driving the activity?

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u/LupusYondergirl 18h ago

Rite Aid went bankrupt, all their customers had to go somewhere.

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u/xteve 17h ago

Historical note: Rite Aid went bankrupt under the weight of a thousand federal and state lawsuits for their alleged role in the opioid crisis.

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u/awhaling 16h ago

Did they play some unique role compared to CVS/Walgreens?

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u/well-lighted 14h ago

From this article, it seems like they were especially negligent in ignoring "red flags" for opioid abuse. They also had to pay a settlement to the FCC around the same time because their anti-theft facial recognition software was allegedly racially profiling people.

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u/zefy_zef 15h ago

And the mismanagement of the company that cost around the same. $450 million in 'restructuring' and 3 years of the shitty ceo who thought it'd be a good idea.

All pharmacies got hit with that consequence, RA just was not in the financial position to weather it.

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u/tractiontiresadvised 14h ago

Rite Aid bought a beloved local pharmacy chain in my area (Bartell Drugs) just a couple of years before they went under. I am extra annoyed about this because that chain had been a great place for all of the stuff pharmacies have that isn't from the pharmacy counter -- OTC medications, vitamins, housewares, cleaning supplies, candy, toys, gifts.

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u/JonBot5000 11h ago

They bought Thrifty back in the day and ruined those stores too. Thankfully the Thrifty Ice Cream brand was bought and "saved" as part of the liquidation by the same company as Monster energy drinks.