# All in on self checkout...now you self checkers are fired! \[Target, Walmart, etc.\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 20, 2024, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-on-self-checkout-now-you-self-checkers-are-fired-target-walmart-etc/999089 "2024-03-20T15:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-on-self-checkout-now-you-self-checkers-are-fired-target-walmart-etc/999089/61 "2024-03-21T00:14:52Z")
All manner of computerized enforcement is flat prohibited by state law. Cops with radar guns do exist, but not in the areas where the situation is truly out of control. On the rare occasions I do see somebody pulled over in crazytown I always think “Now what did that person do that could possibly be outrageous enough to have attracted that cop’s attention?” I and many others routinely zip along at 100mph pacing the police as they roll down the freeway just leisurely going from here to there. When they are actually in a hurry with lights and sirens they _really_ get it on. By and large the insanity is limited to the freeways and tollways. The arterial boulevards are generally signed for 45 and folks top out around 60 if they’re making the lights and congestion permits. Getting crazy on surface streets will get you stopped pretty quickly; the townie cops in the burbs take a dim view of serious speed on boulevards and are death on crazy in residential areas. As they should be. Likewise, if you keep up the urban speeds as the freeway moves out of suburbia into ruralia, then more normal standards begin to apply. Doing 100 past a parked out-county highway patrolman or rural sheriff deputy will be an expensive mistake. Though not so bad as the far more sensible standards imposed in Canada as @wolfpup has so helpfully reminded us. I’m not exactly proud of having learned to drive like this. But it is fun and saves a great deal of time getting around a solidly urban/suburban area that’s over 125 miles long and ~30 miles wide. Scale matters, and we have a lot of it. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-on-self-checkout-now-you-self-checkers-are-fired-target-walmart-etc/999089/62 "2024-03-21T14:23:43Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I can totally believe that there’s a lot of shoplifting facilitated through self-checkout. I’ve done it myself, by accident–twice, both times for two bananas. Hint: if I were trying to steal, 27 cents worth of bananas wouldn’t be my target. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-on-self-checkout-now-you-self-checkers-are-fired-target-walmart-etc/999089/63 "2024-03-21T16:10:54Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Do you actually want the average store clerk to risk injury or death to confront a shoplifter? I sure don’t. No, actually - and as this is my 5’6" daughter, who has roughly the strength of a piece of undercooked spaghetti, I REALLY do not. I’m just surprised they don’t have cameras or something to catch these people. A security guard would be out of the question, i’m sure; I doubt their shrinkage is enough to make that cost worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-on-self-checkout-now-you-self-checkers-are-fired-target-walmart-etc/999089/64 "2024-03-21T16:14:59Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > any thoughts on why there are no more speed-traps in Miami (et al.)? > > legally not allowed? > > I mean given what you say, a speedtrap should easily make $10k per day (100 tickets x $100) … so $300k per month > > that is crazy good business, and I assume with the new digital cameras you don’t run out of film as the old one’s were … There are arguments that speeding tickets as a source of revenue can result in excessive enforcement (sometimes inappropriately targeted). Quotas are or at least sometimes have been a thing, too. [Public Safety or Speed Traps? The Conflicts of Interest Behind Fines and Fees | Tax Policy Center](https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/public-safety-or-speed-traps-conflicts-interest-behind-fines-and-fees) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-on-self-checkout-now-you-self-checkers-are-fired-target-walmart-etc/999089/65 "2024-03-21T16:24:21Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > > [@Broomstick](#): > > > > Do you actually want the average store clerk to risk injury or death to confront a shoplifter? I sure don’t. > > No, actually - and as this is my 5’6" daughter, who has roughly the strength of a piece of undercooked spaghetti, I REALLY do not. I’m just surprised they don’t have cameras or something to catch these people. A security guard would be out of the question, i’m sure; I doubt their shrinkage is enough to make that cost worth it. Well, my store has cameras everywhere but having a camera doesn’t mean the shoplifter is stopped, it just provides a record of the crime, hopefully shows who did it, and provides evidence for the legal system later. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-on-self-checkout-now-you-self-checkers-are-fired-target-walmart-etc/999089/66 "2024-03-21T16:32:06Z")
[Poll in the Polls-Only thread on self-checkouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polls-only-no-discussion/953642/4721) ---
**Author:** ![Slight\_Off\_Hand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@Slight\_Off\_Hand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slight_Off_Hand)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-on-self-checkout-now-you-self-checkers-are-fired-target-walmart-etc/999089/67 "2024-03-21T16:52:37Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > There are no paper bags here, either. There are paper bags in New Brunswick. I’m assuming that the self checkout systems are the same between same owned stores so that the need to accommodate NB results in ON self checkouts having some features that are not relevant. As an aside, it is nice to encounter a situation where someone in Ontario may need to adapt as opposed to a New Brunswicker getting shafted for a change. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-on-self-checkout-now-you-self-checkers-are-fired-target-walmart-etc/999089/68 "2024-03-22T17:31:26Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Well, my store has cameras everywhere but having a camera doesn’t mean the shoplifter is stopped, it just provides a record of the crime, hopefully shows who did it, and provides evidence for the legal system later. Exactly. I don’t know that my daughter’s store has cameras, and she’s never heard of anyone being prosecuted later. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-on-self-checkout-now-you-self-checkers-are-fired-target-walmart-etc/999089/69 "2024-03-22T17:39:41Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Apparently the losses were great enough, that the companies decided that the cost of hiring more checkers and having to pay up for that labor was less than the amount of projected losses they would have from having greater access to self check out. Good paying jobs, brought to you by the efforts of the Amalgamated Union of Shoplifters, Pilferers, Sneak Thieves, Footpads and Looters. Look for the AUSPSTFaL label! ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-on-self-checkout-now-you-self-checkers-are-fired-target-walmart-etc/999089/70 "2024-03-22T18:57:00Z")
If it’s a chain of more than 20 stores, they almost certainly have cameras. Their liability insurance carrier probably requires it. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-on-self-checkout-now-you-self-checkers-are-fired-target-walmart-etc/999089/71 "2024-03-25T17:02:25Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Do you actually want the average store clerk to risk injury or death to confront a shoplifter? I sure don’t. Absolutely. Way beyond their pay grade. Over the last few years though, I have noticed that supermarkets here in the UK have started to post people who look like security staff at the entrance. I have never seen them confront anyone though. Maybe they hope that the appearence of security will have an effect? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-in-on-self-checkout-now-you-self-checkers-are-fired-target-walmart-etc/999089.md?page=3)