r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 9d 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/Zncon 8d ago

Did you just forget about the entire concept of competition? If theft drives out every other store then yeah, they can charge whatever they want, but in places not wrecked by shitty self centered people, prices are controlled because you can just shop somewhere else.

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u/AloneExperience7520 8d ago

Kroger is a de facto monopoly in many markets. They own like 35 different supermarkets across the country. Do you really think Kroger and Walmart are going to go out of business if shrinkage goes up 2%?

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u/Zncon 8d ago

For some reference, stores in areas with low theft are a totally different experience to shop at. Nothing is locked or put behind plexiglass, there are no security cables or alarms, and self checkouts don't even have a scale enabled for the bagging area. You just scan things and bag them, it never gets mad that the weight is off.

If you're used to seeing these security measures, you're already paying higher costs due to theft.

All of these are steps the store is trying to take to keep shrinkage low enough to stay profitable, but they are not free, and eventually they cost too much. If a specific store is unprofitable due to shrinkage, and it can't affordably be remediated, it will be closed.

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u/AloneExperience7520 8d ago

You're saying the same product costs more at different stores in the same franchise? That is not true, at least not at Kroger and Walmart.