Walmart uses AI camera tech to track checkout theft at 1,000 stores

[justoffal]

My first official paying job was as a cashier at a five and ten. Didn't have scanners, then--just sticky labels that had to be stuck somewhere on every blessed cheap piece of crap in the store. Sometimes I got relegated to the stockroom doing that, too.

So anyway, checkout games. Customers would try to sneak items through checkout by hiding them in other things. When I found a pair of earrings stuffed inside a skein of yarn, I was to politely ask with a smile, "Did you want to buy these, too?" They would stuff things inside boxes, in the folds of a dishtowel, rolled socks, and boy could they get a lot of lightweight stuff into a suitcase or purse.

Customers have this idea that if it gets past the checkout girl, it isn't stealing. That may be true, I don't know. We just got trained in sniffing it out.

When I use the self checkout and an item for some reason fails to scan and then is placed in the receiving area....the whole thing shuts down because it detects the motion anyway. It then requires an attendant to come over and reset everything who will then look for the item that was not scanned and scan it in. I don't know I tend to think the self-checkout will decrease shoplifting. The electronic scanning is far more alert and consistent than any pair of human eyes. Random receipt checks at the door will also discourage people from trying to roll out with more items than they paid for.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Yes and the AI is not very good.
Many times when scanning you have several items in your hand, as you place the scanned item in a bag it sees the motion of the other arm and stops with the "attendant" screen.
Also if someone is standing next to you, it picks up their motion... and stops the process.
To me it seems very simple to fix. Simply have scales on the bagging thing and if you scan a toothbrush, it is expecting say 1 oz. If you place something in the bag that weighs 3 oz or whatever - it stops. Seems way more accurate than motion sensors.

 

[justoffal]

Yes and the AI is not very good.
Many times when scanning you have several items in your hand, as you place the scanned item in a bag it sees the motion of the other arm and stops with the "attendant" screen.
Also if someone is standing next to you, it picks up their motion... and stops the process.
To me it seems very simple to fix. Simply have scales on the bagging thing and if you scan a toothbrush, it is expecting say 1 oz. If you place something in the bag that weighs 3 oz or whatever - it stops. Seems way more accurate than motion sensors.

With a small investment in packaging technology I can forsee simply walking underneath a scanning gantry without even slowing down....money is auto deducted from your bank or credit card.