Uh-oh! Apparently Self Service Checkouts Have Seriously Skewed Everyone’s Morals

Picture the scene.

It’s a Friday night. You’re in Tesco picking up a tub of Ben N Jerrys and some jellies and the queue for the checkout is about a mile long.

On the flip side, there isn’t a soul over at the self service, and so your choice is obvious.

Scan, bag, pay and go.

But have you ever considered popping that expensive ice cream through as something a lot cheaper, like an apple or some veggies?

Well, if you have then it appears you’re certainly not alone.

A study by the University of Leicester found that since the introduction of self checkouts in supermarkets, retailers had encountered a 122% increase in theft, when items were self scanned.

Add to that, the research also discovered that many of the thefts were down to people who wouldn’t normally consider stealing. Basically, self checkouts just made it too easy for them to pop through an item without paying, and with minimal chance of getting caught.

Fortunately, it might not be so easy to scan through your ‘buys’ on the sly as it’s worth noting that many retailers are now cracking down on self service theft.

“Retailers are becoming aware of these problems and introducing ways of ‘amplifying’ risk in the mobile scan and pay environment, trying to ensure that all that ends up in the basket also makes it onto the receipt,” the study concludes, so maybe just head to the normal tills to be on the safe side.