Walmart observations

[bayford]

I had one item in each hand in the footage.

This is probably where the system got confused, since it expects you to only handle one item at a time.

[storewanderer]

I just want to say be very careful at the Walmart self checkouts.

I had not been to Walmart for a while. But tonight I went. I had only about 5 things to buy. I scanned two small items (a container of mints and box of toaster strudels) and then tried to scan a bottle of soda. The system locked up and said I needed approval to continue (for a bottle of soda??!)

When I finally got someone to come over I told them it wouldn't scan. They scanned their ID card in and the system showed footage of me scanning the first two items and putting them in the bag. I had one item in each hand in the footage.

So it basically accused me of stealing, why I do not know. They took the two items it showed on the camera out of the bag and wanted to know where they were on the list I pointed to both of them on the list of items. I had scanned both of them. They scanned one of them to look at the price and then cleared it. They said everything was fine.

I've never heard of this happening and don't know what it was about. But I'd advise you to be very very careful at these checkouts because apparently they've added some kind of camera artificial intelligence or something similar to the setup that is monitoring footage for stealing. And apparently it doesn't just trigger when people are truly shoplifting.

It was a very scary feeling being what amounts to being accused of shoplifting by a self checkout. Never stolen anything in my life, don't plan to, certainly don't need to.

I did a Google search and found a few headlines from late 2021 (November/December) to 2022 about this. I didn't read through the articles but apparently this sort of "accused of shoplifting" thing has been happening.

I still don't know what triggered this as everything in the bags was on the list. I hadn't "accidentally" not scanned anything.

Yes, this is an enhancement on the self checkouts. Basically if the system thinks you passed two items over the scanner at once, but only scanned one, it will lock up and do this. This can also happen on items that have multiple barcodes on the same package (for instance, Wal Mart private label bread has bar codes all over the package). The system is supposed to sense if it is the same barcode presented multiple times and let it pass but it does not always work as intended. Wal Mart disabled the weight sensors on their self checkouts and part of the "enhancements" made when those got shut off, were this AI software and replaying video.

I had this happen recently on the self checkout at Kroger on something as well- in this case it was an item that had a markdown sticker that did not completely cover the UPC code. The system took the markdown sticker, scanned it, then evidently noticed the regular UPC and the system locked and it was the same old thing- employee had to come over and it played a terrible video of me scanning and bagging the item.

Basically if you see a self checkout that has a separate video screen that says video recording in process showing your picture, the self checkout may have this software. I have seen this at many chains but only seen the software actually active at Kroger or Wal Mart.

I wouldn't take it as being accused of theft; these systems are throwing these errors all day. I am surprised with the interaction you had with the employee being asked to show them where items were, etc. Also the employee scanning one of the items to look at the price was completely uncalled for as they could have looked at the UPC on the item and verified that against the UPC on the screen/pinpad. If the employees behaved in an accusatory manner I would get in contact with the local Coordinator and complain though the likelihood of anything being done to the employees is probably low.

Sometimes also at Kroger when I use the self checkout the system will lock up when I am done and it will say "NUMBER OF ITEMS 12" for instance and the system is basically telling the cashier to count and make sure I scanned 12 items. I am not sure why it does this, if it is a random thing, or what. This is basically the same thing as the video thing above, minus the video.

[Super S]

When I use self-checkout, I try to use one in plain view of the attendant. In the case of WinCo, where I often buy several gallons of water, the attendant sees this and clears the machine quickly.

I had a weird situation occur once at Walmart. The previous person apparently missed the bag with a smaller item, a 4 pack of batteries that fell in to the space behind the rack that holds the plastic bags. The attendant asked me about them, I told them that I had no batteries and they were welcome to watch the camera footage to prove it. They just took the batteries out and I continued with no further problems.

If a store's equipment is too sensitive though, it will lead to situations where people clear things without looking. This is where theft will start climbing.

[Brian Lutz]

The biggest problems I've had with Walmart self checkouts seem to be with purchasing age restricted items that aren't alcohol (primarily medicines.) From what I can understand of the problem, the employee prompt on the self checkout for "Is customer over 18?" is a different one from the "Is customer over 21?" prompt for alcohol purchases, and the "yes" and "no" buttons are in a different order. This means that what often happens is that the self checkout cashier, used to handling ID checks for alcohol, checks the ID, opens the menu, and without thinking hits the "no" button on the screen, which automatically blocks any age restricted items from being purchased, with no way to override. Ultimately this requires them to be removed from the purchase and rang up separately. I've had this happen multiple times in multiple Walmarts, and I suspect I'm not the only one. On the most recent occasion when this happened, a store manager was the one who did the ID check and clicked the wrong button, with the usual results. After five minutes of tinkering with menus and failing to override the ID check, he told us to just walk out the door with our purchases (which we hadn't paid for yet), which is something I'd normally never do. At this point it's probably best to just use regular check out lanes for those items if you have them.

In other Walmart news, an updated store in Springdale Arkansas has been revealed that hints at a future direction for store remodels, integrating interactive video screens and brand displays similar to what you might see in some departments at Target.
https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/ ... s-that-wow

[SamSpade]

Walmart. What JCPenney was hoping to be a decade ago when it comes to apparel, home, and beauty retailing.

[arizonaguy]

As far as Wall Street is concerned, Walmart is firing on all cylinders: https://www.barrons.com/articles/walmar ... 1645049649

[Alpha8472]

Wallstreet thinks Walmart is doing great, but in reality Walmart could do better. Just walk into a Walmart where practically every single aisle is locked up in glass and there are no employees with the keys. Customers are abandoning their shopping carts after seeing cash register lines stretching down the aisles. Wallstreet is all about cutting employee hours and having as few employees as possible. The aisles are cluttered with merchandise that cannot even get stocked due to the lack of employees. If Walmart is doing so well, then why are they cutting labor hours and acting like the company needs to save every penny?

There needs to be a better balance. Walmart is seen as very customer unfriendly with unhappy employees and stores that lack employees and customer service. Many customers have abandoned Walmart and now shop online. Walmart has lost so much money to Amazon and online shopping.

If Walmart would hire more employees they could restock those shelves and shorten those outrageously long checkout lines. Walmart would make even more money and gain more customers.

[jamcool]

It depends on where the Walmart is located, WMs in nicer neighborhoods are nicer, WMs in not-so nice neighborhoods are not so nice.

[storewanderer]

Wallstreet thinks Walmart is doing great, but in reality Walmart could do better. Just walk into a Walmart where practically every single aisle is locked up in glass and there are no employees with the keys. Customers are abandoning their shopping carts after seeing cash register lines stretching down the aisles. Wallstreet is all about cutting employee hours and having as few employees as possible. The aisles are cluttered with merchandise that cannot even get stocked due to the lack of employees. If Walmart is doing so well, then why are they cutting labor hours and acting like the company needs to save every penny?

There needs to be a better balance. Walmart is seen as very customer unfriendly with unhappy employees and stores that lack employees and customer service. Many customers have abandoned Walmart and now shop online. Walmart has lost so much money to Amazon and online shopping.

If Walmart would hire more employees they could restock those shelves and shorten those outrageously long checkout lines. Walmart would make even more money and gain more customers.

You can get excellent service from Wal Mart by using the "pick up" service. It feels like all resources are being put on making that a superior experience. The employees are pleasant, friendly, and efficient who operate that service.

The store experience is really bad... yes. The customer is used to no customer service in Wal Mart. I find I am relatively satisfied with Wal Mart despite the various issues as long as nothing goes wrong (price error, refund, warranty, etc.) but if something goes wrong, getting it fixed is such a terrible experience that it makes me not want to return to Wal Mart. Also the prospect of getting items out of a locked case at Wal Mart- forget it. Best to just order pick up for that headlight bulb or whatever other random item you need that is locked up. Empty shelves and pallets all over are very common but somehow the shelves do get refilled from time to time. At this point the best course of action for the front end is to just install another 12 self checkouts and trust the customer to ring themself up. Maybe get it up to about 40 self checkouts per store.

I have pulled items off of pallets myself at Wal Mart that I am trying to buy and end up leaving with what I went in for.

I don't find the experience at Target to be any better than Wal Mart either and given how much less mix Target has, for me, that actually makes Target worse. Target has also been terrible with scan accuracy the past year and getting it fixed there has gone from relatively smooth to a Wal Mart like experience. Target also has numerous out of stocks and any attempts to get items that are out of stock is a complete fail since they have no pallets on the floor and the employees at Target specifically in Reno (I keep calling out this really bad store) are more interested in socializing in large groups than actually doing anything to help customers.

[arizonaguy]

Looks like Walmart is doing its annual store purge.

The list so far from media outlets is:

1143 Smiley Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45240

7100 Raggard Rd, Louisville, KY 40216

The Cincinnati one isn't surprising as it is across the freeway from the much maligned Forest Fair Mall (which is soon to be demolished) and also was recently halved in size (not a sign of a healthy store).

I'm sure there are more out there (both the above are scheduled to close next month) but Walmart isn't publishing a list.