Reply to post: Re: Why has it been made so difficult?

All's fair in love and war when tech treats you like an infant

Alistair Dabbs

Re: Why has it been made so difficult?

Re: hand scanners at supermarkets

I stopped using these years ago. What happens is that some customers use them to facilitate shoplifting by scanning only the majority of items they put in their basket. So the supermarket runs a random spot-check on customers who use self-scan.

As you can guess, I would get random-checked every second visit. My wife ended up being random-checked *every* visit.

The random check involves a security man blocking your exit while a team of shop assistants empties your carefully packaged bags from your trolley, chucks everything onto the conveyor belt at a cash till and gets a cashier to scan everything through all over again. The shop assistants then chuck all your shopping carelessly into your bags in any old fashion, except they make sure the heaviest items are resting on top of soft or fragile items.

Naturally, a crowd of other shoppers forms to watch what’s going on, wondering what sort of criminal act I committed. Some take photos.

Eventually, you pay and go on your way. At home, you find all your eggs are smashed, a bag of flour has burst all over your cauliflower, and the top of a milk carton has been punctured by all the rough treatment and stuffed into your carrier bags upside down.

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