Ten percent of Dutch shoppers don’t scan every item at self-checkouts

About ten percent of Netherlands residents don’t scan every product when using the self-checkout at supermarkets. Some by accident, some out of frustration about a barcode not working, and some to cut into supermarkets’ “mega profits,” EenVandaag reports after surveying 34,000 members of its opinion panel.

It’s mainly young people who sometimes don’t scan every product - 19 percent of people under 35 said they sometimes shoplift in this way. The older generation is more honest on this point, with only 4 percent saying they sometimes do this. For comparison, only 3 percent of all people said they sometimes shoplift at staffed cash registers, mostly because they don’t want the employee to get into trouble.

Most of the respondents said they weren’t out to go shoplifting. Some did so because they lost patience when a barcode wouldn’t scan. “When no employee came after a long wait, I was done. I just put it in my bag,” one respondent said. But there are those who steal products deliberately. “It’s asking for trouble to let people play cashier themselves.”

A third of respondents said that supermarkets brought this onto themselves. That sentiment is strongest among people over 55 (41 percent). Many mentioned the “mega profits” supermarkets made during the coronavirus pandemic, followed by massive price increases due to inflation. “Why should the supermarket be allowed to make so much profit while I have no money to buy certain products?” one respondent said.

Most (91 percent) agreed that not scanning something is theft and unacceptable, even people who occasionally do so themselves. “It’s stealing, and you don’t steal, even if it's made easy for you,” one respondent said. Another called it a “stupid” thing to do: “The more people steal, the more expensive they make products. Ultimately, you and others suffer. That loss is simply passed on to the customer.”

Supermarkets have been dealing with increasing shoplifting since the introduction of self-checkout counters. Earlier this month, Jumbo reported that over 100 million euros worth of products are stolen from their supermarkets every year.