I’m sure that when the local DIY store went to self checkout, the losses reduced! The checkout operators they employed seemed incapable of getting it correct, I gave up trying to correct them unless the total was higher than expected, it was normally lower, and more likely correct than over.
Thin Plastic bags got almost phased out here on environmental grounds, for the supermarket, bags are now ‘lifetime’ bags, often made from natural materials, so carbon negative. The thin ones have a huge tax on them, making them undesirable except to the wasteful.
Single-use plastic packaging of all kinds sucks bigtime
Don't know how the rest of the world does it, but at the local Aldi you can load your groceries into any boxes they have, purchase paper bags to put them in, or bring your own bags
It's a good system but you can't know if any boxes will be available until you need them. Long ago before paper bags were in use you brought your own containers to the store where bulk goods were distributed, and at best they'd have paper you could wrap and carry things in. Kind of hard to imagine these days but it minimized waste and costs
I re-use and repurpose the plastic shopping bags but in the end they still go to a landfill so it only partially solves the problem.
On losses at the check-out it's a problem of poor employee selection and poor supervision. A lot of stores have cams where cashiers can be monitored but the problem remains. I've heard managers complain that they can't get better people but that's BS
In my business I say that one in ten of new hires will do OK, one in fifty will be good, and one in a hundred will be exactly who you want. It's up to you who you have and who you keep and who you dismiss. Having to deal with this is a nasty part of business but it's integral to it so you do it or you suffer because you don't
I abhor thievery so I'm careful to scan everything, but not everyone feels as I do. I don't know anyone who cheats with this, but I do know a few who load their lumber carts for employee checkouts in a way to obscure some items in hope they won't be scanned and it sometimes works. Devious intent but really who's to blame? It's always been a problem since the beginning of retail store operation. In the end I see it as an issue with society as a whole; when any form of wrongdoing doesn't bring a universal shunning and rejection of the wrongdoer then it will not only exist, but it will grow
The world is our garden and it is up to each of us to do our part at keeping the weeds pulled so that the good things we want from it can prosper
Phil