To think giant supermarket scales to spot shoplifting won't work?

[SwanOfThoseThings]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0rzvrjkklko

Tesco are trialling these giant scales to check trolley contents match what has been self-scanned. Surely this is going to be nothing more than a giant pain in the arse? They're never going to be sensitive enough to weigh small items, e.g. cosmetics, bar of chocolate etc. plus you might have your own shopping bags in the trolley to complicate matters.

This is not the way to go. Supermarkets need to increase the number of staffed checkouts.

Greed.

Several supermarkets I use don't have manned tills after eg 6.30pm so there's no option but to use the self scanner for a trolley load of shopping. It's really annoying and can be embarrassing when it's the 4th time the person has had to come over for one reason or another!

My local Sainsbury’s just doesn’t open their traditional checkouts anymore. It’s all self scan. I had to self scan an entire trolley of shopping this week. It pisses me right off. If I wanted a job there I’d apply for one. Local Tesco keep exiting customers in a kind of holding pen that they can’t get out of until they scan their receipt. I refuse to be imprisoned in a flipping Tesco, thanks 😂

That's what Amazon shops do now

Why didn't you do Scan & Shop then? Very much quicker

I just want my shopping scanned in the traditional way, to be honest. We’ve decided to go somewhere else in future - there are no shortage of supermarkets in our area so we can pick and choose. That one has been going downhill for a while now.

Wasn't it Tesco that was also in the news this week for having a huge central CCTV centre watching the shops, I guess they'd pay most attention to the high value items. In my local one they are in security nets so swapping things wouldnt work

This seems like it would be really annoying. There are so many reasons why the scales would be off - a child who was in and out of the trolley seat, for example. But also my local Tesco has a pharmacy in it - medicine doesn't generally weigh a lot but it can if you've been prescribed liquid, or are buying a few things from behind the counter. My local Sainsbury's (I know Sainsbury's aren't doing this) has a Starbucks and an Argos within the main area of the shop, so people could have several other things in their trolley.

I understand why they're doing it. It just seems like it would be a pain in the arse to shop there.

So you just put 5 finger discounted stuff in your bag instead of the trolley 🤔

YANBU these shops introduced self scanning to reduce staff and increase profits. I find the smart shop handy BUT as my shop gets flagged for checking nearly every time, supposedly because I buy multiples of stuff, I’m going back to tills.
Would definitely avoid shopping and a shop with a full trolly (& person) scale.

They don't do anything about shoplifters anyway. I believe the police don't come out for thefts of less than £200 which effectively means that stealing up to £199 of goods is now decriminalized.
If a shoplifter does that x 10 a day ( different shops) they could easily lift nearly 2k worth of goods without consequence. Each and every day.

Our local Tesco jams your trolley wheels if they want to check you when you're leaving. I've had it happen twice. The most recent I had nothing in the trolley. I was taking it back as the wheels were making such a noise!

Yep. We’re paying soaring prices for our groceries and being expected to put in a shift while we’re there.

Nope. Can’t see how they’ll work. Greetings cards, for example, don’t register on the small scales in my local Tesco. Also, I often walk in with my handbag on my shoulder or coat on, and then pop it in the trolley later. How will that work?

Just another new kind of ridiculous nonsense.

People in our Tesco don't even want Scan and Go. When I enter, there is maybe one self scanner missing from the rack - and that's probably someone on holiday who regularly uses this stuff.

I think its Aldi in Greenwich you need to scan a card to get in, I'm sure there was something about a £10 hold I didnt pay much attention as DDs decided they wanted to go elsewhere.

Supermarket shopping is a pain in the arse as it is
At sainsburys there are gates to scan receipt and open them
2 manned checkouts at local large store
I use a Walker and have set the alarms off getting too close to gates to scan my bloody receipts
So exhausting that I've switched to Asda deliveries
They also haven't thought that people pocket things before paying for what they have in trolleys
I've often seen people putting stuff in bags or pockets.
Instead of wasting money on these stupid ideas, recruit more staff!!

The beans aren't there. You'd just scan the scotch as beans x 2.

What is it they're hoping to catch going through? Isn't most of the pricey stuff tagged anyway? Lipstick and ££ face cream ect have tags or the electronic stickers. Baby milk is tagged. Clothes are tagged. Even some of the ££ steak has security stickers!

Alcohol all has wire cages on them now too.

Re: self service tills, our nearest tesco is massive and about 18 months ago got rid of about 8 normal tills and replaced them with self service but with conveyor belt. They are never open. No one wants to use them. Was in there today. Heaving with people. Everyone either queuing up for a human till or doing self checkout with a basket. A sprinkle doing self scan. The single one of the new self service-with-conveyor they'd got open was empty.

Supermarkets would really rather not have shops. There's more profit in an Ocado model of just doing delivery. They aren't going to try and make your in shop experience more pleasant....

I only go into “big”
supermarkets once or twice a year. I’ve used Ocado for 20 years, stoped during the pandemic now use Amazon fresh, co-op delivery or uber eats. So much easier although it is more wasteful. Still I can’t imagine preciously holding onto the boring weekly shop

Yes. Plus being targeted and stigmatised as dishonest when being checked.
Nope. You can hire staff to do the scanning from now on.

The only way around shoplifting in supermarkets is going to be online only with free delivery.

Express shopping for say 5 items or less at self serve kiosks.

Who would want to go to a supermarket with all these rules for the dishonest but where the honest have to suffer. I hate it, and will only shop in the local shop/greengrocer for bits, and order online for everything else.

I know online ordering is not everyone's cup of tea, but honestly it is a great way to avoid impulse buying of crap/special offers (that are gimmicks) and all the rest of it, including my favourite hate, having to drag trolley to car, unload, then to the reverse when home.

Maybe I'm just lazy though!

What if you scan a £6 bottle of wine but pick up £20 bottle it will weigh the same.

I use scan and shop in tesco and sainsburys for my regular shopping. I actually live between that tesco and another big one. I go to the other one as they did scan as you shop. I saw these being fitted the other week. I didn't know exactly how they'd work but imagined it would be weighing the trolly. I personally couldn't be faffed with this being an extra element of it. I used it for convenience and I feel as the self serve tills are so unreliable with weight I can't imagine these would work well.

So you'd end up where checking out was a massive faff and the workers were pulled between loads of customers at a time. To check their shopping.