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Comment by smoyer | Hacker News Reader

Another major cost in retail is "loss" ... I can see this being pretty effective at loss prevention and coupon fraud (even my small town grocery store require an associate to visit the self-check kiosks if a customer has a coupon).

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Exactly, consider Apple Retail employees, who need to be searched [1] every time their shift ends due to suspected theft. Having automated cameras that can better track products could significantly alter this check.

[1]: https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/14/21137580/apple-store-reta...

They get searched because Apple devices cost hundreds to thousands of dollars.

If all the store sold was usb charging cables, there wouldn't be any searches.

Unless the grocery store is selling tins of caviar, the problem is simply not at the same magnitude.

Any other concerns about cheating the system for thefts are as ludicrous as people worrying about people shooting drones out of skies with shotguns or hijacking self-driving trucks.

I was actually just thinking about coupons and how this would change that landscape. Physical coupons would be pretty useless I could imagine, everything would have to shift to digital, unless you could scan them on your way out, which would then just defeat the purpose of "just walking out". I think my mailman would appreciate it regardless, due to the large amount of unwanted coupons that get put in my mail almost daily.

Seems like you'd want screens to help people with stuff, so they could double for scanning coupons. The problem with checkouts isn't the scanning, it's that they have to create a physical chokepoint.

I bet. Places like Kroger already apply coupons just by having them on your account and scanning your member barcode/QR at checkout, so that's most likely how couponing will work with this (if the store decides to have the 'scan your ID when you walk in' system for regular customers).

What sort of effect would this have on loss prevention? To stop theft you need to have staff. Cops will not arrive in time, if at all.

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