Scan all items – but cancel some before paying to pay less. With these and other tricks, resourceful “customers” try to cheat at retailer’s direct payment kiosks. Blick reported scams in the spring used to steal payment machines from retailers.
Migros does not want to be idle anymore. It has set up barriers to the exit of automatic checkout registers at various branches in Zurich and now at Rapperswil SG. You cannot leave the store without scanning the receipt.
Not abuse and theft
The pilot project is carried out by the Zurich Cooperative on behalf of the entire Migros. “We want to further improve theft and fraud protection and use the latest technological possibilities,” Migros Zurich told Blick about the pilot test.
Such barriers were placed in a total of six branches. They are designed to make it harder for thieves and scammers to perform their tricks. At least they prevent you from sneaking out of the store unattended.
Another problem is that such tricks cannot be prosecuted as theft. Because thieves can only be prosecuted for “minor abuse of a data processing system”, not for theft.
Do such measures really help?
The introduction of the barriers was positively received at the branches participating in the pilot. “The redesigned outlets did not have a negative impact on processes either for staff or for our customers,” the Zurich Association of Migros Cooperatives continues in Blick. However, they are not yet able to provide any information on the effectiveness of the measure.
Lidl already has such control mechanisms when self-checking registers become available, while Coop does not want to do anything with such measures. The fact that all retailers follow a different strategy shows that there is no magic wand when it comes to this. Rather, it is a matter that may vary from branch to branch. Depending on location and customer. For this reason, Migros explains that it is difficult to say whether and how effective the different measures are.
It is also clear that even the most advanced security system presents certain loopholes. Therefore, such barriers and random checks should be understood as deterrent measures.