Posted on 04/24/2018 1:13:33 PM PDT by simpson96
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-(WPRI)--Some grocery stores in Rhode Island and Massachusetts are using artificial intelligence to catch shoplifters.
The technology, called Stoplift, analyzes security video to automatically detect theft or errors at the checkout, according to Malay Kundu, the creator of Stoplift.
"It can actually tell what you've handled versus what you've rung up," Kundu said.
The Cambridge businessman used to develop real-time facial recognition systems to look for terrorists in airports. He realized similar technology could be used at the checkout to tackle a $13 billion per-year problem for grocery stores in the United States.
"For every item that is stolen, they have to sell 50 more just to make up for that one item that was lost," Kundu said. "As you can imagine, that's really, very difficult for the retailer."
When cashiers are in on it, Kundu calls it "sweethearting."
"It happens where a cashier is hooking up their friends, family, fellow employee with stuff for free simply by not scanning it," he said. "I'm giving a sweetheart deal, and it turns out that's really the easiest way to steal."
Kundu says Stoplift also catches shoplifters at self-checkout lanes.
"We'll see quite a bit of people treating themselves to things for free without scanning them," he said.
Theft can cost all consumers at the checkout.
Brian Vicente's family has owned and operated grocery stores in Massachusetts for years. He said shoplifting, or even just distracted cashiers who miss scanning some items, can affect prices consumers pay.
"We bring in orders, and we have a certain amount of money we're expecting to make on that," Vicente said. "When we don't make that amount of money on there, it has to come from somewhere else."
Vicente said since he started using Stoplift in his stores, there has been a decrease in loss.
(Excerpt) Read more at wwlp.com ...
It will be called racist.
Store shrinkage costs us all.
I’ve heard that it costs us honest consumers, the average household, over $200 a year in higher prices, to make up for disappearing inventory.
I think self checkout may well be penny wise and pound foolish for this reason. They try to save on labor costs by having fewer employees, but, are they seeing increased costs of loss of inventory, decline in sales, as self checkout people don’t scan everything?
Especially when you see someone with a full cart at self checkout, it’s not a stretch to think some of them “forget” to scan a few things here and there.
Places like Wal-mart of their inventory information to include dimensions and weight of the item in hand. It’s why they tell you to put the item in your bag when you have finished scanning it. The system then weighs the item and compares it to what it should weigh and if the difference is greater than what the till has been programmed to tolerate, it will alert the supervising cashier that there is a problem.
"...forget to scan..."
The Home depot on Brookhurst inn Anaheim was losing close to one million dollars a year to shrinkage or so. Says the old manager this was back in 05
Most large retailers have rules banning employees from attempting to apprehend suspected shoplifters, with the premise being that the potential costs for lawsuits outweigh the shrinkage losses.
My wife works for a big box home improvement store. The employees there can’t even call the police on a shoplifter, let alone confront a suspected shoplifter. Doing so will get you fired on the spot.
These are the same companies that would let their employees get slaughtered in a mass shooting, rather than face a potential discrimination lawsuit.
To these people, life is cheap, lawsuits are not.
[ It will be called racist. ]
You stole my thunder!
If it’s not racist, it won’t be effective.
I remember in Amarillo in the ‘80s a store banned people after they caught them shoplifting.
On the flip side, cashiers also ring up items twice or the sale price is conveniently not entered into the system so you’re charged the regular price. Bet management theft goes on much more than customer theft.
The answer to shoplifting?
Take orders from the homes, and have the stores deliver to the homes.
Amazon and Wal-mart are doing this already. Perhaps expanding it to everybody will be the only way to prevent shoplifting altogether.
Walmart and Amazon (and others) will have to figure out a way to prevent “return of goods”, since they can be spoiled by the time they’re returned.
In the good old days we used stereotypes.
The big stores should have overhead cameras above all checkouts and especially self-checkouts.
Casinos do so everywhere and catch the cheaters. I’ve been in Vegas and watched floor Security take away even slot players we were trying to scam the system.
A couple of years ago at Walmart, I had about a dozen items in my cart. I thought the total was too low, so checked the screen and saw that the cashier had only scanned one case of beer even though I told her I had two. I told her the mistake and held up a case for her to scan and correct the amount due. ....The woman was from Argentina, married and with children, attending night school for ESL. She thanked me profusely and explained she might have had to pay for that mistake.
I used to hang out in a convenience store before going to work as a security guard at a beach resort. I stood around in there for half an hour or so with a cup of coffee and could spot people coming in the door who would steal. I took to following them around or standing near them in the store. Usually they came in pairs and one of them would get nervous and hustle the other one out. Same- this was when the price of gas rose to the clouds and before pre-pay was required- I could tell when someone was going to drive off and would go out behind that car and ostentatiously write the tag number on a pad I carried. The would be perp would hang the nozzle back up and go inside to pay the dollar he had run up and leave. The store manager decreed that my coffee was free and I could have the hot dogs they kept on the rollers free. I did not avail myself of the wienies- Ble-e-e-ch- but it was fun. Manager said he thought I probably saved the store more than of 100k over 6 months.
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