Walmart store employees complain of increased “safety issues” stemming from encounters with shoplifters as the big-box chain introduces more anti-theft measures due to spiking crime.
As a Business Insider report revealed, “Walmart’s anti-theft self-checkout technology is effective but involves confronting customers,” leading to many suspected shoplifters becoming “hostile” to workers.
The new technology targets those who try to steal by improperly using self-checkout machines. If the system detects misuse of a machine, such as purposely leaving an item unscanned, the machine will pause and alert employees. While Walmart has trained its employees to approach customers in a non-accusatory manner to get to the bottom of the issue, several former and current workers have spoken up about what they consider a faulty method for busting thieves.
A former employee posted a video to TikTok explaining how the anti-theft system, introduced in 2019, works. According to a user who goes by Atheniamaria on the video-sharing platform, employees are instructed to disable the register when they suspect someone has failed to scan an item, giving the customer “no choice but to call for help.”
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One Arkansas woman, who has been employed with Walmart for ten years, told Insider that some customers become so hostile when these problems arise at the registers that they throw merchandise at her.
Another Walmart employee in Illinois told the outlet that customers often get defensive when confronted over a “missed” scan.
“It’s really uncomfortable, and it becomes, like, a safety issue,” she said.
While Walmart has trained its employees to not directly accuse customers of stealing, another current employee from Missouri reported that the new method “feels more confrontational than it was before because…the evidence is right there,” referring to the machine’s video function playing back its detection of an unscanned item.
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Memphis Police DepartmentAnother added, “Mostly those who are trying to scam the register are the ones who get upset the most.”
A September Axios report revealed that Walmart had decided to shut 17 stores across nine states after CEO Doug McMillon warned in December that theft was the highest it had ever been and that stores would have to close if it did not slow down.
Shoplifting has become a massive problem across the U.S., with other retail chains such as Target, CVS, Macy’s, and Best Buy all shutting down locations across the country within the last year, reported the Daily Mail.
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Tiny-Remove-3734 / LOCAL NEWS X /TMXOn Monday, hundreds of Walgreens pharmacy employees walked out in protest of working conditions that “put their lives and your life in danger.” The workers’ complaints include being faced with increased demands to perform vaccinations and other medical tasks while dealing with excessive theft, bullying, and harassment from customers.
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