Intentionally Under-Ringing Merchandise at a Self-Service Scanner

[budwad]

What people don't realize, is that at self-checkout, each item has a weight associated with it. If something is placed in the purchase bag that has not been scanned, it is a big red flag and the weight of the checked items doesn't match the weight.

[asa_jim]

Bagging is part of the skip scanning technique. If you lift a bag from the bagging station as you slip a heavy item into the bag without it ever touching the scale, whisking quickly into the cart, that is an essential part of the scheme. The person bagging often proclaims their innocent, insisting "but I wasn't scanning, I was only bagging." It can be a two-person or a three-person operation, and each one has a role. It looks very innocent until it is played frame-by-frame on video. When it is explained it becomes obvious, but to an untrained eye the person positioning and the person bagging look entirely innocent.

Keep in mind that there are items that can be scanned that have such negligible weight that the scale does not expect anything to show up.

[RandallCS]

Bagging is part of the skip scanning technique. If you lift a bag from the bagging station as you slip a heavy item into the bag without it ever touching the scale, whisking quickly into the cart, that is an essential part of the scheme. The person bagging often proclaims their innocent, insisting "but I wasn't scanning, I was only bagging." It can be a two-person or a three-person operation, and each one has a role. It looks very innocent until it is played frame-by-frame on video. When it is explained it becomes obvious, but to an untrained eye the person positioning and the person bagging look entirely innocent.

Keep in mind that there are items that can be scanned that have such negligible weight that the scale does not expect anything to show up.

I agree with everything you said except the last point. I use these all the time, and I've encountered the situation where I bought two items, a bag of cat litter and a greeting card. I had to put the cat litter on the scale, and then it made me add the greeting card too. Since there's no way a grocery store could afford multiple scales that have 25+lb capacity and can also resolve the weight of a greeting card, I don't believe it was specifically trying to weigh the card, but it was definitely looking for me to set something light on the scale. I suspect I could have just tapped it with my finger to get approval. Perhaps I'll test that next time I buy litter.

[asa_jim]

Specifically with Walmart, an item less than an ounce will not register. For example, a drink coozie will not be expected to register on the scale.