Accused of Shoplifting at a Self-Serve Scanner

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Quoting amiskrewedoverachicken?

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I briefly explained what happened and was told that I will get a civil demand notice and no criminal charges if I pay it.

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That civil demand letter will demand a large amount of money from you, and the security cameras clearly show that you were trying to scan the item. If I were you, I would not pay anything. If they try to prosecute you, you can sue them for having faulty scanners and being negligent.

My local grocery store just got rid of its self-service scanners, and this may be reason why.

And, if that security guard claims that you told your brother that you were going to steal (when the security guard doesn't even understand Russian), then you can sue the security guard for defamation.

I understand that you want to put this incident behind you and that you are concerned about your career. But these people are bullies, and somebody has to stand up to them.

Defamation is a non-issue.

I don't agree, John_2B.

Giant isn't going to pursue criminal charges at this point if they haven't done so already. They will send several letters demanding civil restitution but it won't be much. They're limited to actual damages or to just take the default of 2x the value of the item (minimum $50). They'll threaten civil action if you don't comply. Don't know how serious the threat is.

The video will PROVE nothing (at least NOTHING that is helpful to the defendent) by the way. I'm quite familiar with the piece of crap self checkouts at the Giant (of Landover) chain. There's no way you thought you scanned something but didn't. After you self scan it you must place the item on the conveyor (the stupid register even says out loud "Place Your Chicken On the Belt." The thing then moves through some electric eyes to verify it's about the right size and then down to the bagging area. If it fails it runs everything backwards and tells you to start again. There's NO WAY the defendant didn't know whether he scanned the thing or not. He'd have to take the chicken and bag it without running it down the conveyor like he did ALL THE OTHER ITEMS that were successfully scanned.

I assume he's not using the SCAN IT guns or apps because they operate completely differently (and they are reconciled differently) from described.

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Quoting flyingron

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I don't agree, John_2B.

Giant isn't going to pursue criminal charges at this point if they haven't done so already. They will send several letters demanding civil restitution but it won't be much. They're limited to actual damages or to just take the default of 2x the value of the item (minimum $50). They'll threaten civil action if you don't comply. Don't know how serious the threat is.

The video will PROVE nothing (at least NOTHING that is helpful to the defendent) by the way. I'm quite familiar with the piece of crap self checkouts at the Giant (of Landover) chain. There's no way you thought you scanned something but didn't. After you self scan it you must place the item on the conveyor (the stupid register even says out loud "Place Your Chicken On the Belt." The thing then moves through some electric eyes to verify it's about the right size and then down to the bagging area. If it fails it runs everything backwards and tells you to start again. There's NO WAY the defendant didn't know whether he scanned the thing or not. He'd have to take the chicken and bag it without running it down the conveyor like he did ALL THE OTHER ITEMS that were successfully scanned.

I assume he's not using the SCAN IT guns or apps because they operate completely differently (and they are reconciled differently) from described.

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Not all Giant stores work that way. I have been in some that don't. Admittedly its not frequent as it has only been when I was traveling, but not all of them work that way. That is some pretty big gun technology and I suspect they only use that in some areas. It would be cost prohibitive to use it across the board.

Even Wallyworld doesn't use that kind of big gun tech.

Personally, I think that the OP was foolish to call the store manager. I think that there was a chance that he wouldn't have even received a civil demand based on the absurdity of the whole thing. However, by calling the store manager he pretty much guaranteed that a civil demand will happen. I do disagree however about your assessment of how much the civil demand will be. Its more likely to be a couple of hundred dollars than 2x the value of the item. Most large retailers have a flat amount they use for their civil demands.

Seriously, that loss prevention officer had to be laughing inside based on the OP insisting that he still had to buy the chicken. That alone was reasonable doubt that the OP was deliberately trying to steal that chicken. The LP probably thought that the OP was higher than a kite and not even competent enough to try to steal it...LOL.

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Quoting llworking

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Not all Giant stores work that way. I have been in some that don't. Admittedly its not frequent as it has only been when I was traveling, but not all of them work that way. That is some pretty big gun technology and I suspect they only use that in some areas. It would be cost prohibitive to use it across the board.

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Are you sure you are in Giant of Landover territory? Giant of Carlise is a different company historically (though they now coincidentally have the same parent company).
Giant (Landover) has used this inane system since they rolled out self checkouts. I've never seen otherwise.

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Quoting flyingron

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Are you sure you are in Giant of Landover territory? Giant of Carlise is a different company historically (though they now coincidentally have the same parent company).
Giant (Landover) has used this inane system since they rolled out self checkouts. I've never seen otherwise.

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I have no idea. I just know that when traveling I have been in Giant stores that have more wally world type of self checkouts, and the type of self checkouts you are describing are seriously high cost tech.

No they're seriously braindead and low tech. They're abysmal first generation hacks. Most of the other chains in the area use weight based verification on the self scan.
Even the latter is going to gripe a lot if he put something weighing 5 pounds in the bagging area without scanning it.

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Quoting John_28

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That civil demand letter will demand a large amount of money from you, and the security cameras clearly show that you were trying to scan the item. If I were you, I would not pay anything. If they try to prosecute you, you can sue them for having faulty scanners and being negligent.

My local grocery store just got rid of its self-service scanners, and this may be reason why.

And, if that security guard claims that you told your brother that you were going to steal (when the security guard doesn't even understand Russian), then you can sue the security guard for defamation.

I understand that you want to put this incident behind you and that you are concerned about your career. But these people are bullies, and somebody has to stand up to them.

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Regardless of intent, I do feel it is my fault, AT LEAST partially, for not double checking that I scanned the item. I was also considering the defamation thing, but I don't think that is going to fly in court without audio of the incident, which I doubt I can get. While I'd rather not dish out large amounts of money, being in between jobs and all, I made a mistake and am ready to pay for it.

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Quoting flyingron

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I don't agree, John_2B.

Giant isn't going to pursue criminal charges at this point if they haven't done so already. They will send several letters demanding civil restitution but it won't be much. They're limited to actual damages or to just take the default of 2x the value of the item (minimum $50). They'll threaten civil action if you don't comply. Don't know how serious the threat is.

The video will PROVE nothing (at least NOTHING that is helpful to the defendent) by the way. I'm quite familiar with the piece of crap self checkouts at the Giant (of Landover) chain. There's no way you thought you scanned something but didn't. After you self scan it you must place the item on the conveyor (the stupid register even says out loud "Place Your Chicken On the Belt." The thing then moves through some electric eyes to verify it's about the right size and then down to the bagging area. If it fails it runs everything backwards and tells you to start again. There's NO WAY the defendant didn't know whether he scanned the thing or not. He'd have to take the chicken and bag it without running it down the conveyor like he did ALL THE OTHER ITEMS that were successfully scanned.

I assume he's not using the SCAN IT guns or apps because they operate completely differently (and they are reconciled differently) from described.

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I've never seen Giant self-checkouts like that. Ours are very simple, they ask you to scan in your membership thing for savings or phone number and then to scan items. That's it. Once you scan an item, it just beeps at you and you're on to the next one. There is no "conveyor" and the bagging area doesnt check anything either. After you finish, it asks you how many store bags you're using (I used two at the time from the store, that I payed 10c for) and then charges you. Please do not assume that every Giant works the same way yours does.

What county were you in?

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Quoting llworking

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Not all Giant stores work that way. I have been in some that don't. Admittedly its not frequent as it has only been when I was traveling, but not all of them work that way. That is some pretty big gun technology and I suspect they only use that in some areas. It would be cost prohibitive to use it across the board.

Even Wallyworld doesn't use that kind of big gun tech.

Personally, I think that the OP was foolish to call the store manager. I think that there was a chance that he wouldn't have even received a civil demand based on the absurdity of the whole thing. However, by calling the store manager he pretty much guaranteed that a civil demand will happen. I do disagree however about your assessment of how much the civil demand will be. Its more likely to be a couple of hundred dollars than 2x the value of the item. Most large retailers have a flat amount they use for their civil demands.

Seriously, that loss prevention officer had to be laughing inside based on the OP insisting that he still had to buy the chicken. That alone was reasonable doubt that the OP was deliberately trying to steal that chicken. The LP probably thought that the OP was higher than a kite and not even competent enough to try to steal it...LOL.

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Maybe you're right, but like I previously mentioned, it was my mistake, and they rightly stopped me and prevented a loss to their store, that otherwise would have happened. If I have to pay for it, I will. If it counts for anything, I didn't use any specific details, just a general "oh I mis-scanned something, was stopped by LP, what happens?" kind of thing. From what I've read online and here on the forums (I may be wrong), the CD will, most likely, be a flat amount plus x2-3 of the item's worth. My eyes were not red, just darker than night, he might have thought I was on something stronger, or just insane....

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Quoting bam!

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What county were you in?

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Potomac, MD. MOCO