I've worked in a number of retail stores, and the amount of "shrinkage" (retail theft), is increasing by the year. As both an hourly worker and a manager, I've had the heartbreaking experience of catching both friends and co-workers stealing from the company and having to take action in response.
Today I read an article about a serial thief who was caught stealing and has now been banned at ALL 4,600 Walmart stores in America.
This "winner" used a barcode trick to scan more expensive items for $1 at the self-checkout, and then wander on out of the store after having "paid" for them. Thankfully, her five-finger-discount adventure is over, and now she sits behind bars awaiting some long overdue justice.
The surprising revelation in the article is the mention of 'invisible barcodes' which were designed to make self-checkout easier for purchases of Walmart's in-house Great Value brand products. This information was new to me but makes perfect sense with the expansion of the self-checkout system.
The company behind this new system Digimarc, creates novel packaging with not only the visible traditional barcode, but also prints a pattern of invisible watermark copies of said barcode all over the package itself. Take a look:
Been Caught Stealing
This not only makes self-checkout easier, but also has the effect of helping to "shrink" shrink when you're stopped by the Walmart employee at the exits who checks your receipt as you leave the store.
My area sees a ton of theft at our local Walmarts, and I've *often" seen people trying on sneakers for themselves and their kids, then walking out of the store without paying.
At Sears before they closed, our 'LP' (loss prevention) was kept busy running after suburban teens who kept stealing cosmetics on an almost daily basis. Turns out retail theft isn't confined to the "usual suspects" as I've seen people of all races, ages and genders pilfering (a word we need to use more) products then attempting to scram (another old word we need to bring back) with the goods.
I like to use self-checkout as a way of avoiding having the cashier touch my produce after picking their nose, of pulling their underwear from between their butt-cheeks with their fingers, then touching my stuff.
After shopping at our local Super Walmart for so long, (and spending so much money BTW), they now wave me past the checkout employee at the exit. No doubt, I'm in their facial recognition system as an actual shopper as opposed to the criminals that prey on the retail stores in the area.
I expect the invisible barcode system to expand to all products and all stores. Walmart now uses RFID in select products for "inventory control" and I see that being rolled out with the new barcode system for future insight and control.
Imagine all of the different ways this could be combined with a Chinese-style social credit system to um, track sales, lower shrink, and influence the "behavior" of the masses. It turns out that big brother isn't on the way, he's already here.