It's a head scratcher as to how the self-checkout thing is profitable. Aside from the stealing stuff you've mentioned, the things break down all the time. Really though, that's just the tip of the iceburg when it comes to policy stuff at Wal-Mart that flat out doesn't seem to make any sense. I've pretty much given up trying to figure it out myself.mjmjr25 wrote:The Wal-Mart near us has (6) of the self-checkouts staffed by one person.
That one person is constantly assisting someone, so really, only 1 of the 6 are being actively monitored.
I've noticed people put the same weighted product on the scale, ring it up, then put the same weighted product in the bag. Then re-ring the same product making it look like they had multiplies of that product.
First time I saw it was w/coffee creamer and didn't take much notice. I think the Wal-Mart brand was like 2.49 for the 32oz and the International Delight was 3.49. So the guy stole like $4 worth total on the (5) total creamers he bought.
The next time it was more obvious to me, from a checkout view across the way. He had (1) 6 pack of a cheap beer, like $6 a 6-pack. And then had about 5-6 similar styled / weighted 6-packs of a more expensive beer. About $4 "savings" per 6-pack and dude made off w/$25 of theft, a few feet away from an employee. I have to think the cost of these self-checkouts and the amount of pure theft has to outweigh the cost of (5) hourly employees. An hourly cashier employee w/benefits is what, $12-17 an hour, depending on location. I have to think at least that much is stolen each hour per checkout.
Where I work, we recently remodeled the self checkouts and put them all on one side. Now, instead of 1 employee monitoring 4-6 checkouts, they're monitoring 8-12. Oh boy.
