The other shoe has dropped in Giant's changes to its self-checkout system, and it's landed directly on the shopper's head. Self-checkout will now be limited to 20 items or less, due to "a significant increase in crime and theft that we and many other retailers are experiencing across our market area," Giant President Ira Kress said in a message to customers. He said the new limit, along with the weighing scale recently added to the self-checkout units, will "mitigate the impact of theft to our business."
Under the new system, parents shopping for large families, or anyone who prefers to get their shopping out of the way once a week, will essentially be forced to go through the traditional checkout lines. However, Giant has tended to shut those down as the evening goes on, angering customers who were averse to self-checkout machines. Kress did not specify if Giant will now keep cashiers at the old checkout lines until closing at stores. But he did acknowledge what will be a major impact on many Giant customers.
"We know that these changes may cause some inconvenience or be disruptive to the experience you are used to," Kress said, "and I assure you we are making these changes out of necessity to prioritize the safety of our associates and customers." A shoplifter was recently caught on video assaulting a security guard at the Bethesda Row Giant store. Corporate policy appeared to limit the guard's ability to escalate his response; even after being struck in the face, he could only plaintively continue to ask the shoplifter to show him a receipt.
Once again, we see how the failure of our elected officials to respond to increasing crime - one of the most basic responsibilities of their offices - creates negative impacts for the law-abiding residents of our community. It's interesting that business leaders will admit crime is increasing, and is a major problem, before our elected officials will.
19 comments:
What, are politicians supposed to be enacting laws about Giant checkout lines now? You're so whiny about literally everything.
Giant can figure out their own loss prevention goals. If they want to have a scale or a loss prevention officer then that's their prerogative. If they don't then that's their prerogative, too. "Conservatives" who think government needs to "fix" every issue private companies or private individuals face are the worst. Giant can handle their own check out line strategies, for god's sake.
I would like to hear from you what you suggest the "local elected officials" could have done, or do, to reduce crime in a situation such as this. The current rate of crime in the nation, and in metropolitan (urban) areas is at a record high, however, there are those in the community that simply think some type of legislation (short of hanging) is the solution. yes, there is a shortage of police, I get that, that is also a nationwide dilemma, but your op ed is not adding any creative solutions, only finger pointing.
Watch. This is going to be like San Francisco where they let this fester because doing something about crimes like this and car break-ins is "Criminalizing poverty"
So, they discovered that replacing human cashiers with self-checkouts leads to exponentially increased "shrinkage".
Today's "Ahoy There Captain Obvious!"
Jawando is at fault here for demonizing law and order.
Remember when most of downtown Bethesda retail was boarded up a few summers ago? The wood boards are down, but you can't put the genie back into the bottle.
The teenager working the self checkout at the Bethesda Giant is over eager to play security guard as he hovers back and forth around me. He looks with great suspicion as I bag my 3 items. The guy wouldn't stand a chance against a real shoplifter.
7:25am it fosters a general sense of lawlessness when things like car break ins and shoplifting aren't dealt with.
I will be glad to see the police reigned in on nonsense traffic stops that turn into an interrogation.
@9:30, 7:25am here. What kind of nonsense interrogations are you talking about? I've been stopped for speeding (with the flow of traffic) before and, depending on the time of day, asked if I was drinking or had a light shined in my eyes and instructed to move them back and forth while keeping my head still. I'm a white male.
Funny. Just the other week you were pointing out how this Giant is different from every other grocery store because it doesn't have basic shoplifting deterrents like scales. Guess prospective shoplifters also noticed (did politicians point this out to people, is that why we're blaming them for Giant's decisions?)!
On a more serious note, I wonder how recently the shoplifting increase occurred. Food stamp benefits were greatly reduced at the start of March so if this has only started in the last couple months it's safe to say we know the impetus.
11am - a routine stop about something minor like a light out quickly turns into "where are you coming from?" "what were you doing there?"
Questions that have nothing to do with whatever minor issue you're pulled over about.
I'm glad these types of traffic stops will be banned in the county.
A few weeks ago Robert complained about the Bethesda Giant adding scales to the self-checkouts to detect any unscanned items. The Harris-Teeter has had that system for ages and it works fine.
"Kress did not specify if Giant will now keep cashiers at the old checkout lines until closing at stores. But he did acknowledge what will be a major impact on many Giant customers."
Problem *not solved*!! I usually shop after dinner, when there aren't many cashiers, so I typically use the self-service check-out to avoid the long/long-ish cashier lines.
Talk about doubling down in the wrong direction and not caring about the customer!
Maybe moving eventually to a "hybrid' checkout I saw at a Silver Spring Safeway. Conventional checkout with belt and person, she scanned my items but payed (cash in this instance) by putting money in those new mechanized slots (like in self chevron) but down at my knees. She never touched the money. Seems like they're keeping everyone honest. Mayne new trend everywhere?
I would like to see self-checkout lines in all stores limited to 20 items and also to the smaller shopping carts. So many of the self checkouts are clogged by people leisurely checking out their full (and full-sized) shopping carts.
But in order for this to work stores need to have a larger proportion of the smaller shopping carts and well-staffed old-fashioned checkout lines.
Arrest the perps and put them in jail. Not difficult.
Funny! The Giant Food locations in Rockville installed the scale system and now they are gone. According to one clerk I asked, they were a constant headache for staff monitoring the false weights and request for shoppers to place items on the scale and not in the bag. Progress? Nah, regress.
@10:22 "According to one clerk I asked, they were a constant headache for staff monitoring the false weights and request for shoppers to place items on the scale and not in the bag."
At stores that have the weighted self-serve check-outs, I've found it helps if I push down on light-weight items (e.g., small [3-oz] cans of cat food) as I place them in my shopping bag after scanning. Otherwise, the scale thinks you've tossed something into the bag without scanning it. It's always something!
That's how they caught Ted Bundy.
There is a certain 'component' to this, as well, that often checkers and now the staff overseeing self serve will 'turn a blind eye' to friends, acquaintances, and people they feel are 'deserving' of the stores' largesse. I've seen it quite a few times, but usually with more big ticket items but the economy may be bringing that threshold down.
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