Canada

A few years ago I remember a solution to problems like this. The store would hire a person and that person would ensure all items a customer had in their cart were scanned. That person would then also help in processing the payment for those items. In exchange for this service the person would collect a wage from the store.

"Organized retail crime across the entire industry is a serious issue, and has only gotten worse," said spokesperson Catherine Thomas. She did not provide data to back up the claim.

Riiiight

Customers who go through self-checkout must use the device to scan their receipt's barcode — confirming that they paid something — which opens a metal gate, letting them leave.

How is that supposed to help at all in stopping theft? "Oh, you paid for something, you definitely aren't leaving with anything you didn't pay for." I can't see a way "organized crime" could possibly work around that. /s

During the pandemic they forgot to close the store for the entire long weekend and people could just walk in with no employees there at all.

During that time, people grabbed what they needed and left the money at an unattended register.

I'm cynical enough that I suspect these anti-theft measures are an attempt to get people thinking "there must be a lot of theft these days, so the high prices make sense. The government is responsible for crime, not Loblaws".

I've stopped shopping at Loblaw's as they have make it increasingly clear that they don't care at all about their customers. I used to actually be a big fan, they had good selection and their house bands were actually pretty good. But I'm tired of continuously being treated like a criminal as they continue to cut costs and raise prices. Their self-checkout stands must be the most user-hostile thing ever. I actually enjoy using self checkouts when they don't suck. Have you used self-checkout at IKEA? Absolutely pleasurable. You just grab the scanner and go beep-beep-beep and you are done in like 3 seconds. But Loblaw's is like beep, place item in bagging area, wait for the bagging scale to stabilize, beep, wait for scale, beep, out of space try to put something on the floor, YOU HAVE ANGERED THE SCALE!!! LOCKING WHOLE UNIT UNTIL ATTENDANT COMES!!!, a minute the attendant—who is clearly also tired of these hostile machines—unlocks it without even looking at the error or what you have "stolen", then I can continue scanning hoping that I don't anger it again. When I am done it asks how many bags I used, they don't even have bags anymore. Then it asks if I want to make a charitable donation in their name, go away and donate yourself and I'll donate on my own. Finally I can pay. And now I have the pleasure being locked in until I scan my receipt.

Also who is this stopping? If I want to steal something I'm not going to sticker-swap or try to sneak it on the scale. I'm just going to leave it in the bag and never scan it. What happens if I didn't buy anything, am I going to be allowed out? Are they going to demand to pat me down? They don't have the right to do that.

I'm tired of this shit, I've recently been shopping at Farm Boy and they have a nice human who quickly scans my stuff and I am on my way. It isn't even any more expensive for most things. (though they do frequently lack bulk options which can result in a higher price.) I have the luxury of being able to pretty freely choose where I shop, and I appreciate that no everyone has that privilege, but I've started shopping mostly based on how they treat me. Loblaws and Canadian Tire can fuck right off, they treat me like a criminal. Shoppers and Amazon are bad, but not awful. IKEA and Farm Boy treat me like an actual human who's time and experience is valued, so they get my money.

My local zehrs setup those one-way gates that everyone just ignores. I've never stolen from them and yet I'm treated like a criminal.

Whats criminal is $9 for ground beef.

People leave grocery stores without buying anything all the time. The self-checkout area is usually the easiest way to leave because there's lots of empty space. I don't see what they can possibly accomplish with this.

Customers who go through self-checkout must use the device to scan their receipt's barcode — confirming that they paid something — which opens a metal gate, letting them leave.

How can scanning a receipt prove that you scanned all the items, and are leaving with only what you paid for?

Also, how does this locking metal gate fall under the municipal fire code?

More money wasted on security theater instead of fixing actual issues lol

New York Subway comes to mind.

All of this crap to avoid paying for a few cashiers.

At my local Loblaws store they installed stupid metal barriers all around the store entrance and checkout last year. Whereas I previously always returned my cart to the corral at the entrance, that area is now blocked off and it would be annoying to exit.

Now carts, including mine, are just left to pile up randomly near the door until an employee comes around.

That’s how it works in Swedish grocery stores

Am I the only one who is more annoyed by the lack of efficiency for the consumer. Integrate the checkouts into the exits if you want to do this.

"Organized retail crime across the entire industry is a serious issue, and has only gotten worse," said spokesperson Catherine Thomas. She did not provide data to back up the claim.

Put up or shut up. I hope Catherine Thomas steps on a Lego.

Also everyone should just keep doing what the old people do and go through the gates without scanning.

Simple answer is to stop using the self checkout. If loblaws is stupid enough to let people scan their own items, then what do they expect? That’s like calling the insurance company to report a stolen vehicle and saying you left the keys in, the engine running and the door open.

If people don’t want to scan a receipt then everyone should stop using self checkout.

This is common practice here in Germany. All self checkouts I used have a gate requiring the receipt scan. I wasn’t aware that it’s controversial elsewhere. Seems only logical to avoid having personnel monitoring the exit, defeating the purpose of self checkouts.

There is no way I would fucken do this.

The one in Woodstock was short lived, I hope it stays gone.

Some larger stores in Germany have this. It's super annoying if you don't buy anything, and have to ask to be let out or wait until someone else leaves.

We've had these in Finland at some stores. Seems to work fine imo. Sometimes I forget I put the receipt in my pocket and it's annoying but usually I do that mistake once and next time I remember.

Arent the self check outs right next to the exit anyways? At least here in germany they are so it really is a non issue to just carry them 1 metre and scan them. They have a bin right outside so you can throw them away then.

Y'all, just bust that gate down and keep walking. The alarm gives you extra style points.