I’m a former Walmart executive – using the self checkout might get you in trouble, but using another payment method is far worse

WALMART shoppers have been caught using the store’s self-service checkouts, and some have even been warned by police after accidentally failing to scan groceries.

But Joel Larson, a former executive at the retailer, has warned that the Scan & Go payment method is far worse for theft.

1

Cashless technology allowed customers to scan groceries before putting them in their shopping cart.

Buyers could use a provided handheld kit or their camera on their phone.

After Scan & Go rolled out to hundreds of Walmart stores, it was suspended due to low usage and bugs in the system.

A customer tried to exit a store with 100 items in their cart, but only 40 products were scanned.

Larson told Insider, “You think self-checkout theft is bad?

“Wait until you try Scan & Go where no one is watching the customers in the aisles.”

And Jeremy King, Walmart’s chief technology officer, said, “We found too many bugs in the process … to make sure people are scanning things right, multiple batches, that sort of thing.”

Walmart told Insider, “In our efforts to minimize friction, we found that the program created some of its own, such as:

“Also, low adoption played a role in removing the program.”

Lawyers have warned shoppers about the risks of using self-checkout machines at major retailers, not just Walmart.

Between January 2021 and March 2022, more than 60 customers were arrested at a supermarket in Tucson, Arizona after accidentally forgetting to scan some items.

Attorney Sandra Barger said she heard the story that shoppers failed to scan an item and receive a ticket.

She told KGUN9: “I had a client who had his children with him and it was the simple element that he was missing that can happen. Anyone can do that.”

She believes shoppers should be able to scan items they may have missed before calling the police.

A shopper, who is in her 60s, was “completely shocked” when police handed her a petty theft subpoena after she failed to scan some items.

And legal expert Carrie Jernigan has revealed there are three groups of people most at risk of being caught.

She said: “The first group of people to be charged with self-checkout shoplifting are people who go into stores with the intention of stealing.

“The second group of people who take up this charge, I will call accidental theft. These are the people I really think just forgot to scan an item.

“The last group of people are attacked after leaving the store. They get in trouble when the store starts looking for lost inventory.”