A grocery store chain in southern Ontario has been testing out gates at self-checkout areas that will only let you out if you scan a receipt—but a shopper points out a major flaw in the plan.
The video chronicling this development, put up on TikTok on Mar. 14, comes from creator Samantha (@samantha.affordingstyle). She stitched a TikTok of a news report about how customers of the Loblaws grocery store company are upset with this development, which includes an alarm going off for people who attempt to go through the gate without paying, before getting into why she thinks it’s absurd.
“Let’s say I go into the grocery store and I’m like, ‘Hey, I really want to buy some cookies. Maybe they’ll have lemon cookies in the bakery. And they don’t have the lemon cookies, so I think, ‘Oh, OK, that’s fine.’ Well, I didn’t want to buy anything else,” she says. “I can’t get out because I didn’t buy anything—like, is that how it works?”
She goes on to observe, “Sometimes I feel like when companies make these decisions, they never have someone in the room to be like, ‘OK, let’s run this through like a skit. OK, let’s see how this would work in real life.’”
She finished up by noting, “So, at this point, you’re not so much—I mean, you’re accusing people of shoplifting—but it’s not so much that as it is kidnapping people who didn’t want to spend money in your store.”
@samantha.affordingstyle #stitch with @CTVNews ♬ original sound – Samantha
Some retailers have signaled concern about self-checkout lanes, as covered by a recent Daily Dot story about changes Walmart appears to be making.
This video churned up some concerns for viewers.
“If the alarm went off on me even one time, I would NEVER return to that store,” one asserted.
Another said, “All it’s gonna do is make security desensitized to the alarm.”
One added, “Alarms go off on EVERYONE in a grocery shop I frequent, security waves at people hesitating without even looking.”
“I have ABSOLUTELY left without buying things because they didn’t have the EXACT thing I wanted,” said someone else.”
Several agreed they did this, with one remarking, “And it took years for me to get over the anxiety associated with doing this!”
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok direct message.
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