New anti-theft measures to prevent self-checkout theft – Actions you need to take to show you’ve paid

RETAILERS have introduced a range of new security measures to counter the rise in self-checkout shoplifting.

Inflation and economic malaise are fueling the rise in theft, but grocery stores are far from powerless to stop it.

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Many stores in Canada have hired special security guards to monitor self-checkouts, the Financial Post reported.

Some of these new employees have even been tasked with checking customer receipts when they go out with their purchases.

Today, some retailers even prohibit customers with full-size shopping carts from using self-checkout lanes.

Only portable baskets are allowed at these checkouts as it is easier to hide unscanned goods in a large shopping cart.

For the same reason, other stores have chosen to trick customers into emptying their entire cart at checkout.

For these shoppers, the days of scanning bulky items like kitty litter or paper towels with a handheld device are over.

Shoplifting is a big problem for retailers, but it’s one they don’t like to talk about.

“Theft is a taboo subject among grocers,” said Sylvain Charlebois, a professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax who focuses on the food industry, according to the Financial Post.

That’s because a complaint about the problem can be alienating for a customer base that already harbors a fair amount of animosity towards major grocers.

Many shoppers, about 30 percent in Canada, believe high grocery prices are partly due to price gouging by retailers.

That’s why self-righteous thieves have come together on social media platforms like TikTok to share advice on the most effective ways to steal.

But Charlebois said these thieves don’t realize they are actually making things worse for their fellow customers.

Grocers would make up for shoplifting losses simply by raising prices, he said — a status quo that hurts law-abiding shoppers the most.