For Brian Simpson, a recent routine shopping trip to a Canadian Tire store in Toronto turned into an unsettling experience. He says after paying for his items at a self-checkout, a security guard blocked him from exiting and demanded to see his receipt.
“It made me feel like a suspect, like I had done something wrong,” Simpson said. “I don’t like that they’re … painting us all with the same brush, that they’re assuming that everyone who uses self-checkout is going to steal.”
The Retail Council of Canada (RCC) told CBC News that shoplifting is on the rise and that it’s working with retailers on solutions. Some major retailers have adopted random receipt checks in selected stores, but the practice has sparked backlash from shoppers, who say they shouldn’t have to pay the price for self-checkout theft.
“It’s treating us like criminals because of the changes that they made to the store because of this expansion of self-checkout,” said John McCracken, who encountered a receipt check warning sign last month at a Loblaw-owned Superstore just outside Halifax.
“If you’ve ever used the self-checkouts, you know how unbelievably easy it is to rip them off.”
Brian Simpson of Toronto says he felt as though he was being treated as a suspect when he was stopped for a receipt check at the exit of a Canadian Tire store. (Keith Burgess/CBC)
So just how bad is the self-checkout theft problem — and is it the driving force behind receipt checks? CBC News put those questions to Canadian Tire, Walmart and Loblaw Companies Ltd., which have each incorporated the checks in some capacity. None directly answered the questions.
Canadian Tire said in an email that receipt and bag checks, which are left up to the discretion of individual store owners, are commonly used in the industry for “inventory control.” Walmart said receipt checks can be used for theft prevention, but it didn’t specify what type of theft. Loblaw directed comment to the RCC, but the retail council said it doesn’t track self-checkout losses.
So CBC News turned to criminologist Adrian Beck, who has studied self-checkout theft for more than a decade. He said it’s a growing problem due to the expansion of self-checkout machines and the fact that thieves feel the risk of getting caught is low.
“We’ve got a larger proportion of people using them, and quite a lot of people now are feeling more comfortable about how you might be able to use and abuse these systems,” said Beck, an emeritus professor at the University of Leicester in England.
I had a receipt check <a href=”https://twitter.com/CanadianTire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@CanadianTire</a> tonight by the security guard at the exit. I used the self-checkout. Not impressed. I was already watched by the staff member who was monitoring the self-checkout.
As part of an industry-funded study published in 2022, Beck surveyed 93 retailers (he wouldn’t provide names) spread across 25 countries that have incorporated self-checkout technology.
According to the study, retailers estimated that as much as 23 per cent of their store losses were due to a combination of theft and customer error at self-checkouts.
Two-thirds of the retailers said self-checkout-related losses were a growing concern.
The carrot trick
Sometimes customers make honest mistakes at self-checkout, such as accidentally failing to scan an item. Beck said that can embolden thieves to steal, because they feel they have a good excuse if they get caught.
“I can simply say, ‘You know what, I’m sorry, I’ve obviously made a mistake. The machine was difficult to use,'” he said. “The real issue that retailers have is they find it very difficult to prove that I am a thief as opposed to a poor scanner.”
Beck said there are various methods thieves use to steal at self-checkouts, such as inputting the code for carrots when scanning pricier produce without barcodes, such as grapes, for example.
“They’re misrepresenting what they’re actually purchasing because they know carrots are a lot cheaper than grapes.”
Loblaw customers angry about receipt checks
Loblaw customers are disgusted by signs posted in stores that say customers must be prepared to show their receipts to validate their purchases. Some say it adds insult to injury with inflated prices and call the search of bags an invasion of privacy.
Another trick is called “skip scanning,” where thieves scan only some of their items. Tom Doyle, a plain-clothes investigator who patrols Ontario retail stores, said he frequently catches people doing this at self-checkouts.
“They’ll scan the oranges there, but they’ll put the steak [directly] in the bag,” said Doyle, with Corporate Protection & Investigative Services in Toronto. “If there’s $200 worth of groceries, they might pay $50.”
Doyle said in his experience, self-checkout thieves tend to be average shoppers looking to cut down their bill.
“Prices are going up on everything,” he said. “They say, ‘That’s too expensive. I can use that $20 for something else.'”
Are receipt checks a good solution?
Beck said retailers are using various techniques to combat self-checkout losses, such as training attendants to watch over customers, incorporating technology like surveillance cameras and doing random receipt checks.
But receipt checks can be a turnoff for customers. Romina Moazami said, several times earlier this year, she was asked to show her receipt after using self-checkout at a Canadian Tire in Burnaby, B.C. Moazami says she’s now boycotting the store.
“Why are you profiling me as a suspect?” she said. “I’m willing to pay more or drive farther, just so I don’t condone this behaviour.”
Toronto Canadian Tire customer Simpson said stores grappling with self-checkout theft should consider pulling their machines. “Maybe you need to rethink whether or not self-checkout is right for your location.”
John McCracken, a customer at a Loblaw-owned Superstore just outside Halifax, saw this sign last month warning about receipt checks. He said the sign was removed shortly after he complained to the store’s manager. (Submitted by John McCracken)
But Beck suggests retailers will keep offering self-checkout, as long as the money they save from reduced labour costs is higher than what they lose due to theft and scanning mistakes.
“The amount of self-checkout is only ever going to grow, particularly in grocery where we see it is very dominant now,” he said.
Receipt checks may also be here to stay. Despite the backlash, Canadian Tire, Loblaw and Walmart gave no indication that they’re reconsidering the practice.
According to legal experts, retailers can’t enforce receipt checks unless they witnessed a shopper stealing, or their customers have signed up for a store membership, such as at Costco, where they agreed to the checks.
Our associates are trained to check receipts to make sure unbagged items, and those at the bottom of the basket, have been scanned. As more of our stores are equipped with self-checkout machines, our associates will check receipts to make sure the transaction went smoothly.
OTTAWA – The New Democrats confirmed Thursday they won’t help Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives topple the government next week, and intend to join the Bloc Québécois in blocking the Tories’ non-confidence motion.
The planned votes from the Bloc and the New Democrats eliminate the possibility of a snap election, buying the Liberals more time to govern after a raucous start to the fall sitting of Parliament.
Poilievre issued a challenge to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh earlier this week when he announced he will put forward a motion that simply states that the House has no confidence in the government or the prime minister.
If it were to pass, it would likely mean Canadians would be heading to the polls, but Singh said Thursday he’s not going to let Poilievre tell him what to do.
Voting against the Conservative motion doesn’t mean the NDP support the Liberals, said Singh, who pulled out of his political pact with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a few weeks ago.
“I stand by my words, Trudeau has let you down,” Singh said in the foyer outside of the House of Commons Thursday.
“Trudeau has let you down and does not deserve another chance.”
Canadians will have to make that choice at the ballot box, Singh said, but he will make a decision about whether to help trigger that election on a vote-by-vote basis in the House.
The Conservatives mocked the NDP during Question Period for saying they had “ripped up” the deal to support the Liberals, despite plans to vote to keep them in power.
Poilievre accused Singh of pretending to pull out of the deal to sway voters in a federal byelection in Winnipeg, where the NDP was defending its long-held seat against the Conservatives.
“Once the votes were counted, he betrayed them again. He’s a fake, a phoney and fraud. How can anyone ever believe what the sellout NDP leader says in the future?” Poilievre said during Question Period Thursday afternoon.
At some point after those comments, Singh stepped out from behind his desk in the House and a two-minute shouting match ensued between the two leaders and their MPs before the Speaker intervened.
Outside the House, Poilievre said he plans to put forward another non-confidence motion at the next opportunity.
“We want a carbon-tax election as soon as possible, so that we can axe Trudeau’s tax before he quadruples it to 61 cents a litre,” he said.
Liberal House leader Karina Gould says there is much work the government still needs to do, and that Singh has realized the consequences of potentially bringing down the government. She refused to take questions about whether her government will negotiate with opposition parties to ensure their support in future confidence motions.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet hasn’t ruled out voting no-confidence in the government the next time a motion is tabled.
“I never support Liberals. Help me God, I go against the Conservatives on a vote that is only about Pierre Poilievre and his huge ambition for himself,” Blanchet said Thursday.
“I support the interests of Quebecers, if those interests are also good for Canadians.”
A Bloc bill to increase pension cheques for seniors aged 65 to 74 is now at “the very centre of the survival of this government,” he said.
The Bloc needs a recommendation from a government minister to OK the cost and get the bill through the House.
The Bloc also wants to see more protections for supply management in the food sector in Canada and Quebec.
If the Liberals can’t deliver on those two things, they will fall, Blanchet said.
“This is what we call power,” he said.
Treasury Board President Anita Anand wouldn’t say whether the government would be willing to swallow the financial implications of the Bloc’s demands.
“We are focused at Treasury Board on ensuring prudent fiscal management,” she said Thursday.
“And at this time, our immediate focus is implementing the measures in budget 2024 that were announced earlier this year.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
OTTAWA – Treasury Board President Anita Anand has been sworn in as federal transport minister at a ceremony at Rideau Hall, taking over a portfolio left vacant after Pablo Rodriguez resigned from cabinet and the Liberal caucus on Thursday.
Anand thanked Rodriguez for his contributions to the government and the country, saying she’s grateful for his guidance and friendship.
She sidestepped a question about the message it sends to have him leave the federal Liberal fold.
“That is a decision that he made independently, and I wish him well,” she said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not present for the swearing-in ceremony, nor were any other members of the Liberal government.
The shakeup in cabinet comes just days after the Liberals lost a key seat in a Montreal byelection to the Bloc Québécois and amid renewed calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down and make way for a new leader.
Anand said she is not actively seeking leadership of the party, saying she is focused on her roles as minister and as MP.
“My view is that we are a team, and we are a team that has to keep delivering for our country,” she said.
The minority Liberal government is in a more challenging position in the House of Commons after the NDP ended a supply-and-confidence deal that provided parliamentary stability for more than two years.
Non-confidence votes are guaranteed to come from the Opposition Conservatives, who are eager to bring the government down.
On Thursday morning, Rodriguez made a symbolic walk over the Alexandra Bridge from Parliament Hill to Gatineau, Que., where he formally announced his plans to run for the Quebec Liberal party leadership.
He said he will now sit as an Independent member of Parliament, which will allow him to focus on his own priorities.
“I was defending the priorities of the government, and I did it in a very loyal way,” he said.
“It’s normal and it’s what I had to do. But now it’s more about my vision, the vision of the team that I’m building.”
Rodriguez said he will stay on as an MP until the Quebec Liberal leadership campaign officially launches in January.
He said that will “avoid a costly byelection a few weeks, or months, before a general election.”
The next federal election must be held by October 2025.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he will try to topple the government sooner than that, beginning with a non-confidence motion that is set to be debated Sept. 24 and voted on Sept. 25.
Poilievre has called on the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to support him, but both Jagmeet Singh and Yves-François Blanchet have said they will not support the Conservatives.
Rodriguez said he doesn’t want a federal election right away and will vote against the non-confidence motion.
As for how he would vote on other matters before the House of Commons, “it would depend on the votes.”
Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will become the government’s new Quebec lieutenant, a non-cabinet role Rodriguez held since 2019.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
— With files from Nojoud Al Mallees and Dylan Robertson
