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The Banana Trick and Other Acts of Self-Checkout Thievery (2018)

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Re: The Banana Trick and Other Acts of Self-Checkout Thievery (2018)

#92
post #13
post #12

I wanted to checkout at a Home Depot but there were no employees to be seen and only self-checkout lanes open. I had some items I wanted help with and in frustration asked the customer next to me, "does anybody work here?" He said "I guess we do." I won't be the guy who causes shrinkage but it seems reasonable for the seller to pay something for the buyers' labor as cashier.

I believe it's called lower prices – at least in theory. (My apologies for coming across as pedantic.) Physical stores use them to remain competitive in pricing. The lower price is your incentive for doing it yourself (again in theory.)

Higher profits, at least in theory.

Price is set by market. Two stores should charge the same for equivalent goods, all told.

Lower cost structure means greater profits at the same price.

Re: The Banana Trick and Other Acts of Self-Checkout Thievery (2018)

#93
post #48

Reminds me of the drama surrounding Genius co-founder Mahbod Moghadam after he penned "How To Steal From Whole Foods". https://thoughtcatalog.com/mahbod-moghadam/2014/11/how-to-st...

Most criminals think they are geniuses because they figured out how to outsmart the system. They are not. This is a trait highly correlated with low IQ. Real brilliant people don’t constantly seek the ego boost of exploitation.

Re: The Banana Trick and Other Acts of Self-Checkout Thievery (2018)

#94
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Extending this: there are services that will deliver your groceries to your house. If we go to a store and take things home ourselves, are we working for free? There’s no correct balance between customer labor and employee labor. Choose what suits you. If your chose store forces you into an arrangement you don’t like, choose a different one.

That's not the same thing. Those services cost extra. If you go to the store and take home the things yourself, you're avoiding paying the extra fee for those services

And if you use self checkout you’re avoiding waiting in a longer line for a cashier.

Re: The Banana Trick and Other Acts of Self-Checkout Thievery (2018)

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't shoplift, but I'm appalled at the double standards that are often applied to consumers and workers compared with large companies. Amazon is selling counterfeit products to unwitting shoppers across the United States. Large firms like this do not subject themselves to any code of ethics like we do; there is only the risk of getting penalized. Yet their business models are reliant on us acting ethically. It is…

Two wrongs don't make a right. Trying to not leave the world a worse place at the end of the day means not taking extra fruit at the self-checkout.

If you believe a corporation to be evil, then every possible act against them might be justifiable.

This is a question of ethics. What is the right behavior to resist evil?

For example, you could follow our own governments guide :) https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/...

Re: The Banana Trick and Other Acts of Self-Checkout Thievery (2018)

#96
post #63
post #48

Reminds me of the drama surrounding Genius co-founder Mahbod Moghadam after he penned "How To Steal From Whole Foods". https://thoughtcatalog.com/mahbod-moghadam/2014/11/how-to-st...

do you have the original copy?

Internet Archive to the rescue:

https://web.archive.org/web/20141117023310/https://thoughtca...

Re: The Banana Trick and Other Acts of Self-Checkout Thievery (2018)

#97
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Extending this: there are services that will deliver your groceries to your house. If we go to a store and take things home ourselves, are we working for free? There’s no correct balance between customer labor and employee labor. Choose what suits you. If your chose store forces you into an arrangement you don’t like, choose a different one.

That's not the same thing. Those services cost extra. If you go to the store and take home the things yourself, you're avoiding paying the extra fee for those services

GP's point is those things used to be a standard part of the service. They were done away in the name of convenience. Then later brought back for a fee.

Another example: self-service gas pumps.

Re: The Banana Trick and Other Acts of Self-Checkout Thievery (2018)

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad you get personal utility from the new method, but the rant is coming from a place where people are forced to use self checkouts and would rather not - eg stores where they shut all but one staffed register, creating a huge line.

That's more of a problem. In Europe the self-check outs are optional. They're also faster, because there isn't much of a queue and the people with carts all go to cashiers. I don't feel oppressed when I use them because I appreciate the speed. If that advantage disappeared, I'd be less pleased.

> In Europe the self-check outs are optional. They're also faster, because there isn't much of a queue and the people with carts all go to cashiers.

This is also my experience in the US.

Re: The Banana Trick and Other Acts of Self-Checkout Thievery (2018)

#99
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two wrongs don't make a right. Trying to not leave the world a worse place at the end of the day means not taking extra fruit at the self-checkout.

If you believe a corporation to be evil, then every possible act against them might be justifiable. This is a question of ethics. What is the right behavior to resist evil? For example, you could follow our own governments guide :) https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/...

So Amazon profiting from knockoffs means you can steal bananas from Kroger’s?

Re: The Banana Trick and Other Acts of Self-Checkout Thievery (2018)

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it seems reasonable for the seller to pay something for the buyers' labor as cashier. One argument against that is that if people are willing to provide that labor freely, it's worth nothing. Another argument: before supermarkets, you'd ask the clerk to get a list of things from the shelves (which customers couldn't access). Now this labor is done by customers. Self-checkout is just another change like that.

The super market chain "Piggly Wiggly" was the first grocery store that gave customers baskets and let them wander around the aisles grabbing items off the shelves themselves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piggly_Wiggly https://www.southernliving.com/culture/piggly-wiggly-history >Before Clarence Saunders opened his shop, anyone who needed groceries would hand their shopping list over to a clerk who would pluck the g…

Cute story. But it relies on Saunders having seen customers doing their own shopping prior to opening his store.
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