Recently, a TikTok user revealed the new high-tech features that the Walmart self-checkout have, which are designed to deter even the most skilled shoplifters. The TikToker @ashthetruth21 video, about the anti-theft measures at Walmart, has drawn a lot of attention online and has been viewed more than 165,000 times, while accumulated over 5,000 comments. Haven’t you seen it? We tell you the truth behind these machines that are trying to stop shoplifting.
The new self-checkout machines, to be installed in all the Walmart stores, are just crazy. They have a scale to weigh products that are sold by weight (like fruits or vegetables), laser scanners for barcodes and QR, a system to pay with a regular credit or debit card (and contactless). If you’re into cash, there are trays to pay with banknotes and coins. Sounds cool, pretty versatile, right? Well, here’s the trick: they come with two new technological additions that aim to prevent shoplifters from making their own by stealing small (or big) items. It might seem dystopian, but it’s among us, and it’s here to stay.
Walmart Wants to Stop Theft and Shoplifting With the New Self-Checkout System
Shoplifting is a multimillion-dollar problem for companies like Walmart because, imagine it like this: it could be that someone takes some bubblegum without paying, or a can of Pepsi. Or it may happen that you accidentally forget to scan the barcode of an Oreo’s, and that’s ok, I guess, it could be an accident. That doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but if you multiply that by thousands and thousands of customers, in thousands of Walmart stores all over the United States or Canada, the trouble can exceed six figures every year. That’s the real issue they’re trying to solve right there.
In his viral video, @ashthetruth21 starts by showing one of the new self-checkout at a Walmart, and then warns: “So you see those little machines right there? Every time you scan something, it takes pictures of you, my dude.”
“And let me just tell you, every time that you run your card through a Walmart scanner, they have a note of it. They can find you by your credit card”, she claimed with an astonished facial expression.
Yeah, Walmart Can See if Anyone Is Shoplifting
Not only that, but she told her followers that the self-checkout built-in camera also takes a photo of your face and your credit card. So, if anyone shoplifts with a credit card, they can track you down and find you. Afterward, the company keeps all that information as a file, in case the person comes back and tries to steal again.
“Every purchase that you make that’s associated with a card, they can pull up date and time information and pull up the camera footage, and see what you purchased,” @ashthetruth21 added. “Those cameras can read into your wallet – and they do.”
Another TikTok user, known as Righteous Ray, also went on and tried the machines. Beside the warnings we’ve already commented here, he stated that the system will notice if the costumer changed the tag of a product. How does it do that? Thanks to artificial intelligence recognition that identifies if you just scanned a cereal box or a beer, and then check by the cameras that, actually, it’s exactly what you are trying to pay.