Wegman's Ends Self-checkout Due To Theft

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Alpha8472
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Wegman's Ends Self-checkout Due To Theft

Post by Alpha8472 »

Wegman's has ended self checkout on their app due to theft. The customers at Wegman's tend to be more upper middle class. These types of customers expect full service. They already pay higher prices at this store.

I was at Sprouts last night and the employee at self checkout said that 600 people go through self checkout in a day. You have to watch them like hawks because even regular people forget to ring up items or disagree with the price and just don't pay for certain items.

https://chainstoreage.com/citing-theft- ... f-checkout
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Re: Wegman's Ends Self-checkout Due To Theft

Post by storewanderer »

They ended the "Scan Bag Go" thing where you scan items with a handheld scanner/app as you walk through the store and bag it on the sales floor. Kroger ended Scan Bag Go too. It is no secret that idea is a flop; a hassle for the customer and full of theft. Albertsons figured that out 20 years ago.

Wegman's still very much has an embraces self checkout.
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Re: Wegman's Ends Self-checkout Due To Theft

Post by BatteryMill »

Wegmans changed out a lot of self-checkout machines when this app went online, so I don't know how much worth that had.
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Re: Wegman's Ends Self-checkout Due To Theft

Post by buckguy »

I’ve very rarely seen anyone use these things anywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if Wegmans was being disingenuous about the reason—-the business press is better Than it used to be but it still lets large successful businesses say whatever without fact checking. Blaming stuff on shoplifting is easier than admitting this huge investment was their own bad idea. It may be that shoplifters were the only ones who used it, but the real problem probably was that almost no one, shoplifting or otherwise used it.

The title here is a bit misleading because as I’m not the first to notice, self-checkout in the traditional sense is alive and well at Wegman’s.
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Re: Wegman's Ends Self-checkout Due To Theft

Post by veteran+ »

Well said buckguy.......................especially regarding what "companies say"!
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Re: Wegman's Ends Self-checkout Due To Theft

Post by storewanderer »

Retailers are trying to address misuse of PLU codes at self checkout through artificial intelligence and increased "scanning" of produce barcodes. I also think Kroger and Wal Mart are trying to move more toward pre-bagged and pre-packaged produce to address some of this (and pass some garbage off to the customers in prepackaged bags that should not have been sold).

I am seeing a point where the retailers may be able to actually restrict the customer from entering a PLU code manually on the self checkout without employee intervention, but I don't know how they can do this for things like onions, potatoes, etc. I suppose they could push to only sell those pre-bagged or have 1-2 varieties sold loose and then allow a touch screen option to select those 1-2 varieties. And hope the AI stops the customer from bringing up a pack of steaks, putting it on the scale, obstructing the barcode, and pressing the option for a yellow onion.
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Re: Wegman's Ends Self-checkout Due To Theft

Post by BillyGr »

buckguy wrote: September 16th, 2022, 7:16 pm I’ve very rarely seen anyone use these things anywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if Wegmans was being disingenuous about the reason—-the business press is better Than it used to be but it still lets large successful businesses say whatever without fact checking. Blaming stuff on shoplifting is easier than admitting this huge investment was their own bad idea. It may be that shoplifters were the only ones who used it, but the real problem probably was that almost no one, shoplifting or otherwise used it.

The title here is a bit misleading because as I’m not the first to notice, self-checkout in the traditional sense is alive and well at Wegman’s.
Good question - the hand-held scanner version at Stop & Shop seemed to get used when I used to go there more often. There were always several spots where scanners were not in the holders, and you'd usually see one or two people using them as you went around the store.

They were handy in several ways, including knowing that items were ringing up correctly, being able to check prices for things not marked, plus they used to offer special coupons via the scanner for some items as well.
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Re: Wegman's Ends Self-checkout Due To Theft

Post by storewanderer »

BillyGr wrote: September 17th, 2022, 12:09 pm

Good question - the hand-held scanner version at Stop & Shop seemed to get used when I used to go there more often. There were always several spots where scanners were not in the holders, and you'd usually see one or two people using them as you went around the store.

They were handy in several ways, including knowing that items were ringing up correctly, being able to check prices for things not marked, plus they used to offer special coupons via the scanner for some items as well.
One Kroger in my area had these handhelds. After much fanfare Kroger wanted upwards of 20% of transactions to go through them. They got over 10% of total sales through them a few days when they had about 4 employees hounding customers at entry to use the scanners and offered $5 off $35 to use them but that was not sustainable. After that it got to the point where almost nobody used these scanners (probably wasn't even 1% of transactions). This store was one of the last ones to remove the scanners. As volume fell and theft issues became common these started to disappear from many locations but some locations did keep them longer than others. Before the final decision was made to remove them from all locations they did try to figure out a way to keep the scanners, but what really was the final blow was they were doing transaction audits and finding errors/underscanning in almost every transaction. The results of those audits sealed the fate of "Scan Bag Go."

The user interface on the Kroger scanners was poor. Loyalty card was mandatory to activate the scanner to begin a transaction. So they worked in "card price mode." Basically you scanned the item and it showed the price of the item (sale price if it was on sale). Anything with e-Coupons, "buy 5 save $5," must buy 3, etc. did not reflect final price until you went and paid then those deals applied at the bottom of the transaction. Coupons could not be processed through these units. Produce was misery as you had to like, enter the PLU code, then go find a scale, scan a QR code on the scale, hit okay on the unit, then it would charge the produce to you. Some Kroger locations installed scales with label printers so you could just go to the scale with your produce, weigh it, get a sticker and scan that sticker on the Scan Bag Go unit but still that was a hassle to most people and didn't last long.

The Amazon Go Cart is much better.
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Re: Wegman's Ends Self-checkout Due To Theft

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: September 17th, 2022, 10:02 pm
BillyGr wrote: September 17th, 2022, 12:09 pm

Good question - the hand-held scanner version at Stop & Shop seemed to get used when I used to go there more often. There were always several spots where scanners were not in the holders, and you'd usually see one or two people using them as you went around the store.

They were handy in several ways, including knowing that items were ringing up correctly, being able to check prices for things not marked, plus they used to offer special coupons via the scanner for some items as well.
One Kroger in my area had these handhelds. After much fanfare Kroger wanted upwards of 20% of transactions to go through them. They got over 10% of total sales through them a few days when they had about 4 employees hounding customers at entry to use the scanners and offered $5 off $35 to use them but that was not sustainable. After that it got to the point where almost nobody used these scanners (probably wasn't even 1% of transactions). This store was one of the last ones to remove the scanners. As volume fell and theft issues became common these started to disappear from many locations but some locations did keep them longer than others. Before the final decision was made to remove them from all locations they did try to figure out a way to keep the scanners, but what really was the final blow was they were doing transaction audits and finding errors/underscanning in almost every transaction. The results of those audits sealed the fate of "Scan Bag Go."

The user interface on the Kroger scanners was poor. Loyalty card was mandatory to activate the scanner to begin a transaction. So they worked in "card price mode." Basically you scanned the item and it showed the price of the item (sale price if it was on sale). Anything with e-Coupons, "buy 5 save $5," must buy 3, etc. did not reflect final price until you went and paid then those deals applied at the bottom of the transaction. Coupons could not be processed through these units. Produce was misery as you had to like, enter the PLU code, then go find a scale, scan a QR code on the scale, hit okay on the unit, then it would charge the produce to you. Some Kroger locations installed scales with label printers so you could just go to the scale with your produce, weigh it, get a sticker and scan that sticker on the Scan Bag Go unit but still that was a hassle to most people and didn't last long.

The Amazon Go Cart is much better.
As I remember, the Stop & Shop ones were similar in that you used your card to start with and it showed sales price. They did offer some coupons specifically on the scanners, though this was before most stores had e-coupons or similar so it was either these and/or paper coupons.

When you finished, you went to a checkout or self check, scanned a code there and it loaded in your whole order. Then you could scan regular coupons (including at self check, they didn't require employees to do that unless there was a problem with one) and pay with whatever you wanted.

The produce was similar to what you say, but putting it on the scale and getting a sticker was easy enough, then just scan that with your scanner.

I honestly don't know if they still offer these, as I just don't get to areas where S&S is now, like I once did.
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Re: Wegman's Ends Self-checkout Due To Theft

Post by mjhale »

BillyGr wrote: September 18th, 2022, 11:01 am As I remember, the Stop & Shop ones were similar in that you used your card to start with and it showed sales price. They did offer some coupons specifically on the scanners, though this was before most stores had e-coupons or similar so it was either these and/or paper coupons.

When you finished, you went to a checkout or self check, scanned a code there and it loaded in your whole order. Then you could scan regular coupons (including at self check, they didn't require employees to do that unless there was a problem with one) and pay with whatever you wanted.

The produce was similar to what you say, but putting it on the scale and getting a sticker was easy enough, then just scan that with your scanner.

I honestly don't know if they still offer these, as I just don't get to areas where S&S is now, like I once did.
Spot on description of how the Ahold handheld scanners work. There are still a few Giant-MD locations around me that have the handheld scanners. They are mostly high volume stores or stores that are in what we would call upscale areas. Interestingly none of the newly built stores around me got them even with Ahold talking about all of the other "features" of the new stores. I used to use the handheld scanners here and there, mostly for novelty. They did have some really good deals if you would use the handheld scanners but when those started to dry up I stopped used them. I never see anyone using the scanners and I don't recall seeing the "end of shop" barcodes at the checkout lanes since the Giant-MD store I go to was remodeled a couple of years ago. I'm all for technology but the handheld scanners were one of those things that didn't make shopping significantly more efficient. I think that is the reason they never caught on.
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