The self-scanning trend is on the decline in Sweden due to theft

STOCKHOLM, March 30 (Xinhua) -- A growing number of grocery store owners in Sweden are considering abandoning self-scanning in their stores due to an increase in thefts, especially of meat and meat products, local media reported Thursday.

The total value of stolen goods has grown by over 20 percent to 4.5 billion Swedish kronor (434 million US dollars) in 2021 compared to 2018, Dagens Nyheter (DN) reports.

One of the victims of the worsening trend, a shopkeeper in the capital of Stockholm, decided to phase out the self-scanning points within a year of the system being introduced.

- The main reason is theft. Enormous amounts of goods go in through the back door, says Ulf Svensson, who runs a store belonging to one of Sweden's largest grocery chains, ICA, to DN.

Theft-related losses at his store have doubled to SEK 9 million in one year, which is roughly 4 percent of annual turnover, he said. That's because customers sometimes "forget" to scan everything from plastic carrier bags to expensive items like meat or sikrom, he added.

According to Svensson, although the self-scanning system is not the only source of theft, it is a big enough facilitator to shut them down. Also, contrary to his expectations that the self-scanning system would enable his store to operate with fewer staff, the reality proved different.

- We have had to keep the express checkouts constantly staffed to help customers (with technical problems), so we have not saved a single working hour, says Svensson.

He said that although Swedish customers have been hit hard by inflation in the past year - according to Statistics Sweden, the cost of food increased by 22.1 percent in February compared to the previous year - organized crime is an even bigger problem.

Per Bygdeson, CEO of Livsmedelshandlarna, a trade organization for grocery store owners, tells DN that many more grocery stores will likely follow Svensson's example in the future. (1 Swedish krona = 0.096 US dollars)


https://nord.news/2023/03/30/the-self-scanning-trend-is-on-the-decline-in-sweden-due-to-theft/?feed_id=20887

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