A Walmart employee went viral on TikTok for showing how customers can be tracked at the self-checkout tills, in order to prevent them to shoplift. This is a serious problem for the supermarkets and retailer stores in the United States, as this cost millions every year.
Some thieves use the old “banana trick”, that consists in switching the price tag of a cheaper product -usually, a banana (hence the name)- for another that’s more expensive. This is a felony that could end in criminal charges, no matter what US state the thief commits the crime. According to this TikTok viral video, Walmart has a new way to stop it.
The new way Walmart is catching self-checkout thieves red-handed
According to the viral video by a guy that claims to be a Walmart employee, the supermarket uses handheld devices made by Zebra Technologies to track what customers are buying and to stop people from stealing. The devices can even detect when a customer bags an item at the self-checkout kiosk without scanning it, and raise an alarm if something seems suspicious.
Tiktoker @thewalmartguy69 explained the technology in detail and posted a video with the text “POV: We know when you’re stealing.” Many people were startled by the technology and admitted that they had no idea Walmart was using such advanced tracking devices.
Some people even confessed to accidentally stealing items at the self-checkout, like one commenter who walked out of Walmart with a big bag of dog food because they forgot to pay for it. Another person admitted to accidentally stealing smoked paprika and a hat.
US supermarkets are tracking costumers all the way from the aisles to the self-checkout
But it’s not just Walmart using these tracking devices. Another US grocery store chain, Giant, has implemented a limit to shoppers using self-checkouts in an attempt to crack down on high rates of shoplifting. Now, shoppers at their Rockville, Maryland store are limited to 20 items or less when using self-checkout.
Costumers are not happy with this, with some saying that this situation feels like being in the Big Brother dystopian reality. Some others are worried about their privacy, and they feel like being constantly observed is like an invasion to their lifes.
Another TikToker that also worked at Walmart revealed a shocking truth: “So every time you scan something, it takes pictures of you 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. I don’t recommend using credit cards if you’re trying to do anything janky, my dude,” said @AshtheTruth21 on TikTok.
In the caption, she added: “Walmart building cases $500 at a time.” And then added: “That’s how people suddenly get notices they stole something and never talked to anyone.”
Commenters warned that it’s “not just Walmart” and another said: “Everything I purchased from any Walmart using my debit card is automatically on my app so I know they are tracking.”