Shady shoppers stealing millions using scanner tricks at Coles and Woolworths self-serve checkouts

[nabraxas]

November 10, 2012

UNSCRUPULOUS shoppers are stealing millions of dollars of goods from supermarkets by scanning expensive personal products as "carrots and onions" at self-serve checkouts.

The situation has become so critical that Woolworths has installed a locking and lights system to alert staff when "suspicious" quantities of cheap items are being bought.

A recent data check by the supermarket of its self-serve checkouts revealed more than 1000 transactions involving more than three bags of carrots in one week. This included a lone shopper scanning 18 bags of carrots.

Its rival Coles said its self-serve checkouts were also fitted with hi-tech anti-theft systems - but that the chain had not experienced a rise in thefts.

Woolworths has installed more than 3000 self-service checkouts in 500 stores, while Coles has about 3000 in 545 stores.

Both supermarket giants guard loss figures, but the Australian Retailers Association estimates retailers lose about 3 per cent of sales each year, equating to more than $100 million each.

An industry source said the self-serve checkouts had spawned a new breed of thief - one who ordinarily would not think of stealing but justified giving themselves a discount.

"There is a high frequency of otherwise upstanding citizens who don't see any harm in challenging the system and when they are caught, they are very, very embarrassed and remorseful," the source said. "But theft is theft."

A Woolworths spokeswoman said the supermarket began trialling data checks from its self-serve checkouts earlier this year.

The spokeswoman said carrots and onions were popular cheap items that opportunistic shoppers scanned in place of more expensive items.

She said the supermarket had upgraded its security and CCTV systems, while re-programming the checkouts to lock the system when a large quantity of a cheap item was being scanned.

The new security measures had been rolled out in the past few weeks and had already resulted in a decline in thefts, the spokeswoman said.

She said the measures had led to a drop in detected theft at self-serve checkouts to less than 200 cases a week and estimated it would save Woolworths more than $1 million a year.

The latest ARA figures show retailers lost $7.5 billion to theft in 2011, or about 3 per cent of retail sales.

This is up from $6.8 billion in 2010 and $5 billion in 2009.

 

[CβL]

$5 for 4 apples is not theft?

[quarterflesh]

lol i paid $4 for 3 peices of bacon yesterday

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

Is it my fault if the barcode of a single can of soft drink scans instead of the one provided on the package of the 24 pack ;-P

[Snowfella]

System should pick that up as from memory everything needs to be weighed after scanned. Out of principle I never use the self serve checkouts though so I can't say for sure how it works.

What they ought to look into rather than one off scam scans is whole pallets of stock that goes missing on a daily basis! I'm the one who generally get to answer the calls from 180 or so stores through the Sydney area when they have stock missing from their deliveries and it's shocking the amount of stock that just goes missing or that we have to dump due to pallets getting lost and turning up day's later.

Plus cocked up ordering systems that occationally have hickups and order insane amounts of stock, "rescued" one store today from getting an estimated 3 tonnes of margarine delivered when they only wanted a few boxes of the stuff.

[Francois le Danque]

 

snow: the weigh-after-scan thing is only at coles, not safewayz. also, what principle prevents you from using the self serve? loss of jobs for staff? i actually much much prefer the self service because i can go at my own pace, use my own boxes and bags etc. not to mention all the 'mistakes'

. personally i couldnt care less if these dastardly megacorps lose money, i wish i could stop shopping there altogether but i am just too lazy; coles is just down the street!

[Snowfella]

Be both staff cuts and the hassles I have to go through to get my 5% staff discount You'd be shocked at the amount of money I've saved over the near 11 years I've worked for one of the "big 2" using that staff discount card! 5% off just about all groceries, smokes for me and the wife plus grogg over 11 years add up to quite a large chunk of change!

Should really use the selfserve to save my bloodpressure though as I generally come home from the grocery shopping sounding like I have tourette's after finding how the teen's at the checkout packs the bags!

[Max Cady]

maybe stealing light stuff is the go any tips? how about meat I don't have a kid so I can't hid meat in a pram, so what's a good tactic for meat?

[Foo]

Put everything thru as potaoes.

My Local woolworths stopped weighing items when placed in the bagging area. Now i wont use any self serve cheouts that do weight, not because i steall (anymore then most) but it sjust bullshit to wait for a 14 Y.O to verify my ultra heavy duty personal lube.

Edited November 13, 2012 by eatfoo

[Francois le Danque]

the best one at those things is, if you fuck around for too long, the machine says "do you wish to continue with your purchase?" and even if you have a hundred things in the weighed 'postshop' bit, it just goes "okay cool, seeya" and starts anew, leaving the 'shopper' free to walk off with the items it looks exactly like they purchased. i don't do that btw, just sayin.

whoever programmed these things is either a complete fucking moron or an evil genius...

[Change]

Fun Fact

If your need a bottle of water and all the singles are sold out, dont pull one out of a 24 pack.

Scanning a single bottle from the 24 pack brings up the price of the 24 pack, then if you ask the assistant why the water costs so much theyll be asking you where you got it from.....

[Francois le Danque]

no thats cool, because the stores have policies where if something scans for the wrong price, it's free. so it doesnt matter where it came from. also, you get the first one for free, then every other one at the cheaper of the two prices. so if you're ever at the supermarket and something expensive scans for one cent, stock up!!

[Psylo]

$5 for 4 apples is not theft?

 

Not as much as the facade of responsible, family-friendly fresh food people Woolworths also operating the largest network of poker machines in Australia through their ALH Group, an ever-expanding network of 300 hotels making billions of dollars in gambling revenue. Not to mention the plethora of bottleshops under the WW umbrella (Dan Murpheys, BWS, even their 'own brand' beer), they are profiting from the misery & addiction of others.

Steal from the big supermarkets if it pleases you, but bear in mind that they will simply factor the projected loss into next years price hike, so the customers are paying more to cover the shoplifters. In fact I dare say they have forecasted on the losses before introducing the new checkouts.

On the self-service machines, they are disgusting. Along with many low level office jobs going to Indian contracted companies, non-fixable, disposable appliances and local manufacturing on it's death bed, these checkouts are another nail in the coffin that will drive this country into the worst Depression imaginable in our lifetime.

[nabraxas]

so if you're ever at the supermarket and something expensive scans for one cent, stock up!!

that is correct in theory, in practice it's not a law & at anytime the supermarket can refuse to honour that policy,

so while they will probably let you have one item at 1cent, if you go to buy a dozen more ov that item they are quite likely &

within their rights to remove the "invitation to buy"

i agree w/psylo, "checkout person" has always been a great way for young people to get a taste ov the job market & earn some cash.

those self service machines are putting them out ov a job. i wont use them.

[ballzac]

On the self-service machines, they are disgusting. Along with many low level office jobs going to Indian contracted companies, non-fixable, disposable appliances and local manufacturing on it's death bed, these checkouts are another nail in the coffin that will drive this country into the worst Depression imaginable in our lifetime.

 

That's "cyclones are good for the economy" reasoning. I don't see why we should have a problem with using machines for menial tasks and free up human resources for more demanding tasks. Real economic growth comes from work being done, and the more machines are doing the simple tasks, the more work will get done over all.

If we follow your reasoning to its logical conclusion, we should be getting rid of ATMs and employing a lot more bank tellers, banning cars and employing rickshaw pullers, employing teams of human computers for numerical calculations in meteorology and other computational sciences, etc. Then we can see if you're right and we end up with a booming economy, or if we turn into the most backward and poor country in the west.

[ghosty]

LOL yes, the giant supermaket chains are the thiefs.. this is well known. big buying power means not savings for you, but profits for them. i dont support their ripoff shit at all. i shop in small family owed business's and cant enough crush supermarkets. their produce is so-far off fresh, i doubt it even safe to eat. typically it cost 2-3 times more to buy from these big chains than the little guy / gurl who's produce is fresh, and well priced. in short, F*ck coles, woolies etc. and all they wish to whinge about!

[ballzac]

I'm with you on the quality, ghostly, but in my experience, the small stores, whether it's a small-town general store or a medium sized, family owned store in a large city, are significantly more expensive than the supermarkets.

[Psylo]

Ballzac, do you actually have a grasp of whats happening in corporate Australia, or is this more of your self-assured speculation dressed up as fact? Financial Services & Customer Service Centres are being reviewd for viability in moving offshore. This is one of the top points of study for CFO's in this time of 2012 and beyond. I could list a dozen names off the top of my head of companies that have offshored their functions in the past two years. Huge industry names, many of them Aussie companies, certainly all of them have a major Aussie market exposure. Gone. People working in these sectors locally are finding the job market to be devoid of many permanent opportunities, because companies will not commit, knowing that a viability study might be around the corner. There is presently no growth in the recruitment market. Average salary reports show that the median pay has not gone up in five years. This is not a cyclone arguement, this is real life in 2012.

The removal of tens of thousands of jobs in one sector does not create new jobs by some mysterious default. We're not talking about replacing trucks with trains, or a meat industry with vegan agriculture opportunities. it's about jobs ceasing to exisit in this country. Its about manufacturing coming to an end, because its simply not viable to produce goods under our minimum wage laws, when the competition is imorting for a fraction of the cost. Sure, people will find other jobs. for now. But what about as more corporations move offshore ? They arent investing into future growth of their local employ, they want to report a bumper profit for the shareholders at their next AGM. The little guys' welfare doesnt factor into it.

In the case of technology, the supermarkets didnt install them to lose money carrying staff for other tasks, that's for sure. If youre a checkout person, well bad luck, your job is in danger. You won't be kept on to polish apples in the produce section, it'l be a boot in the bum and out the door. Presenntly, Australians are resiliant enough to survive, and the unemployment figurees are not (yet) truly reflective of what's happening in the real world corporate Australia, of which I can assure you there's a lot of 'how can we' questions from executives looking towards their next performance bonus.

[Snowfella]

Bit of a miss there I'd say mate. If the smaller stores pick up their produce from the same farmers markets that the big 2 do then I can more or less guarantee you it goes on the shelf just as fresh! Big 2 just don't have the storage facilities to stock up on produce for more than a few day's, place I work at more or less empty the racking every day and start anew every morning! And the deliveries come straight from the markets or growers. So if anything gets stored and later ripened it's in 99% of cases at the supplier, not the big 2.

[Psylo]

LOL yes, the giant supermaket chains are the thiefs.. this is well known. big buying power means not savings for you, but profits for them. i dont support their ripoff shit at all. i shop in small family owed business's and cant enough crush supermarkets. their produce is so-far off fresh, i doubt it even safe to eat. typically it cost 2-3 times more to buy from these big chains than the little guy / gurl who's produce is fresh, and well priced. in short, F*ck coles, woolies etc. and all they wish to whinge about!

 

Bunnings had a similar 'seeek & destroy' business model when they started out. Having working in the hardwre industry at the time, they would screw suppliers (as WW & Coles do) for a rock bottom price on high volume crap, take enough loss leaders to market so people would become addicted to the big green shed, and the majority of local hardwares dropped away. he Bunnings jaked their prices up with no competition on the industry landscape, but continued to screw the wholesalers for dirt cheap supply prices.

Wait and see when Masters rolls out across all of Australia, Bunnings will realign their margins significantly.

Bunnings = Coles (Wefarmers)

Masters = 2/3rds Woolworths (and 1/3 owned by US hardware clain Lowes)

[SunChaser]

LOL yes, the giant supermaket chains are the thiefs.. this is well known. big buying power means not savings for you, but profits for them. i dont support their ripoff shit at all. i shop in small family owed business's and cant enough crush supermarkets. their produce is so-far off fresh, i doubt it even safe to eat. typically it cost 2-3 times more to buy from these big chains than the little guy / gurl who's produce is fresh, and well priced. in short, F*ck coles, woolies etc. and all they wish to whinge about!

 

Personally I think the major chains usually have far fresher food than the local IGA’s or whatever. Plus you get far more variety for far better value, particularly from woolworths.

[Psylo]

What ever happened to the notion of buying produce from the fruit & veg shop, meat from the butcher and bread from the baker?

I know, I know, it's a quaint historical model thats probably going to be argued by someone as redundant

[ballzac]

Ballzac...

 

Sorry, my comments were only relevant to your point about checkout machines. The local versus global economy and minimum wage versus economic libertarianism is another aspect altogether, which I wasn't intending to contradict you on.

If youre a checkout person, well bad luck, your job is in danger. You won't be kept on to polish apples in the produce section, it'l be a boot in the bum and out the door.

 

I'm sorry for people who lose their jobs under these circumstances, but tough luck I'm afraid. Cyclones are very good for builders and glaziers and many other people in the construction industry, as well as in health-care and various other industries. If there are a lot of cyclones in one area over several decades, there will be a lot of jobs in those sectors in that area. Real people are at risk of losing their jobs if the cyclones stop. But...this does not mean that cyclones are good. This is essentially the reasoning you are using. While there may be some significant differences, the basic assumption that the existence of more jobs in a particular sector is a good thing, is simplistic.

You didn't address my point about the other technologies we have today, like computers and ATMs, that take the place of human jobs from decades ago. Do you see a difference? Or do you think that we should all become Amish and shun all labour saving machines? If you see a difference, then what exactly is it? Progress is not a bad thing. When AI driven cars are commonplace and taxis are replaced with computer driven taxis, there will be complaints that taxi drivers are losing their jobs. When soldiers are replaced by robots, there will be a backlash because soldiers are losing their jobs. No different to the complaints about lost jobs when ATMs came in, or your complaint that check-out people are losing their jobs. But it's all progress. I'm not saying that replacing human workers with machines will have a direct and immediate positive effect, but if we allow these changes as technology improves, there is a reasonable level of hope that we may one day see a world where human's work fewer hours for higher pay. If we do not accept labour-saving technology, then we are condemned forever to a world where labour is a fact of life.

[nabraxas]

in a sense i agree w/you Ballzac, it's utopian to replace human labour w/machines, & in the case ov driverless cars it would also drastically reduce the road toll while speeding up traffic.

However in the case ov checkouts i don't think it applies.

the self service checkouts don't speed up the transaction in any meaningful way, they just replace a person w/you doing the scanning.

& seeing as how many checkout operators are at school or students working evenings or weekends, hardly anyone is being saved from a life ov drudgery so they can do something more fulfilling w/their life.

[Psylo]

employing rickshaw pullers,

employing teams of human computers for numerical calculations

 

do you think that we should all become Amish and shun all labour saving machines?

 

Please spare me the ridiculous statements of extremity that you are fond of when trying to illustrate your opinions.

I wholehearedly agree that ATM's should be removed in many areas, and to have local banks servicing the customer. It's not about them pinching pennies to ensure continued service, its solely for shareholder confidence, and ultimately, dividend return. Simly because technogy i embraced under an illusory notion of it benefitting the common man, doesnt mean that it's actually positive for our future in each instance. Medecine, safety, computation, sure, but auto checkouts serve no one in a tangeable way.

It's difficult to hold such a discussion when the respondant's attitude is 'tough luck' to unskilled workers losing their ability to draw an income. But I'll quickly run through a few thnigs, in the hope that it heads off another 'what about....' justifictation

The Fnancial Services Union reported that 25,000 jobs are being lost per year to offshoring. The common counter arguement from the AFR jurnalists and other vested interests is to prockaim that 60,000 jobs wree created in the same year. It;s an excellent journlistic approach, pity its bogus industry manipulation.

Let's say you have four contractors, who each engage in four projects per year ( ie four companies), and each of these companies have ongoing demand for contractor employees, four times a year. This represents 16 new 'job creations'. Sounds wonderful, until you consider that is only impacts on four employees, not 16. Applying this model to the 60,000 new jobs reporting trick actually only mens that 15,000 peopple, or 1/4 were impacted. Th reality may be even wider, if you cnsider that permanent part-time placements & jobshare schemes are also counted as individually created jobs. Thats 10,000 less than the financial and administrative sector, and we arent even looking at the IT services industry or manufacturing.

Since my las post I went to WW to get a few things, and spoke to a firl there that I chat with sometimes. I asked her how the store' staff have been impacted by tightening the team, and she said that in the last year, three people have gone and not been replaced, and rostered hours have been reduced. I didnt mention the automatic machines, bu it seems to be more than coincidence.

But, poor checkout people, tough luck to them, hey ! They can go work in the mines.