Self-service checkouts may prod shoplifting

Self-service checkout technology may offer convenience and speed, but it also helps turn law-abiding shoppers into petty thieves by giving them “ready-made excuses” to take merchandise without paying, two criminologists say.

In a study of retailers in the United States, Britain and other European countries, professor Adrian Beck and Matt Hopkins of the University of Leicester in England said the use of self-service lanes and smartphone apps to make purchases generated a loss rate of nearly 4 percent, more than double the average.

Given that the profit margin among European grocers is 3 percent, the technology is practically a non-profit venture, according to the study.

The scanning technology, which grew in popularity about 10 years ago, relies largely on the honour system. Instead of having a cashier ring up and bag a purchase, the shopper is solely responsible for completing the transaction. That lack of human intervention, however, reduces the perception of risk and could make shoplifting more common, the report said.

Studies have been inconclusive about whether the systems actually promote more pilfering, but researchers believe they are a gateway for shoppers to act in ways they ordinarily would not.

“Retailers could find themselves accused of making theft so easy that some customers who would normally — and happily — pay are tempted to commit crime, especially when they feel ‘justified’ in doing it,” the researchers said in a statement.

The study examined nearly 12 million shopping trips from four retailers in Britain, two in the United States and one each in Belgium and the Netherlands between December 2013 and February 2015.

One million shopping trips were audited in detail, amounting to 6 million items checked. Nearly 850,000 were found not to have been scanned, the report said, making up 4 percent of the total value of the purchases. Proving intent — determining whether it was deliberate or an oversight — and deciding whether to press charges can be “a legal and customer relations minefield,” the report noted.

The National Retail Security Survey by the National Retail Federation last year reported losses of $44 billion due to shoplifting, employee theft, fraud and errors. About $17 billion of that was connected to shoplifting.

Retailers wrestle with the question of whether the potential losses outweigh the benefits, which include reduced personnel expenses. Lisa LaBruno, the senior vice president for retail operations at the Retail Industry Leaders Association, said in an email that retailers “continue to test and identify effective methods for mitigating the risks.”

In the statement, Beck said: “Both loved and loathed by consumers, with the phrase ‘unexpected item in the bagging area’ striking dread into many a shopper, self-scan technologies are growing in use and likely to become even more prominent.”

Store employees assigned to self-service lanes are often monitoring too many at once to be effective, said Read Hayes, a research scientist at the University of Florida and the director of the Loss Prevention Research Council.

Hayes said the council works with 40 US retailers, including department and big-box stores and supermarkets, and two have discontinued the self-service systems, citing a lack of use or high rate of theft.

“Public view monitors” perched either above or at eye level at the self-service machines can help combat theft, Hayes said. Shoppers appear on the screen, with a sign noting they are being watched. Random controlled trials have found increased sales in lanes with the monitors, meaning there were fewer deliberate or careless losses, Hayes said.

In a behaviour known as “neutralising your guilt,” shoppers may tell themselves that the store is overpriced, so taking an item without scanning is acceptable; or they might blame faulty technology, problems with product bar codes or claim a lack of technical know-how, the report said.

The study quoted one respondent as saying that people who do not normally steal may come to realise that “when I buy 20, I can get five for free.”

“Maybe I’ll continue to do that,” the person said.