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 – Statistics Canada says wholesale sales, excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain, rose 0.4 per cent to $82.7 billion in July.
The increase came as sales in the miscellaneous subsector gained three per cent to reach $10.5 billion in July, helped by strength in the agriculture supplies industry group, which rose 9.2 per cent.
The food, beverage and tobacco subsector added 1.7 per cent to total $15 billion in July.
The personal and household goods subsector fell 2.5 per cent to $12.1 billion.
In volume terms, overall wholesale sales rose 0.5 per cent in July.
Statistics Canada started including oilseed and grain as well as the petroleum and petroleum products subsector as part of wholesale trade last year, but is excluding the data from monthly analysis until there is enough historical data.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained a concussion for the third time in his NFL career, leaving his team’s game Thursday night against Buffalo after running into defensive back Damar Hamlin and hitting the back of his head against the turf.
Tagovailoa remained down for about two minutes before getting to his feet and walking to the sideline after the play in the third quarter. He made his way to the tunnel not long afterward, looking into the stands before smiling and departing toward the locker room.
The Dolphins needed almost no time before announcing it was a concussion. The team said he had two during the 2022 season, and Tagovailoa was diagnosed with another concussion when he was a college player at Alabama.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa would get “proper procedural evaluation” and “appropriate care” on Friday.
“The furthest thing from my mind is, ‘What is the timeline?’ We just need to evaluate and just worry about my teammate, like the rest of the guys are,” McDaniel said. “We’ll get more information tomorrow and take it day by day from here.”
Some players saw Tagovailoa in the locker room after the game and said they were encouraged. Tagovailoa spoke with some players and then went home after the game, McDaniel said.
“I have a lot of love for Tua, built a great relationship with him,” said quarterback Skylar Thompson, who replaced Tagovailoa after the injury. “You care about the person more than the player and everybody in the organization would say the same thing. Just really praying for Tua and hopefully everything will come out all right.”
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212 million extension before this season — a deal that makes him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL — and was the NFL’s leading passer in Week 1 this season. Tagovailoa left with the Dolphins trailing 31-10, and that was the final score.
“If you know Tua outside of football, you can’t help but feel for him,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen said on Amazon following the game. “He’s a great football player but he’s an even greater human being. He’s one of the best humans on the planet. I’ve got a lot of love for him and I’m just praying for him and his family, hoping everything’s OK. But it’s tough, man. This game of football that we play, it’s got its highs and it’s got its lows — and this is one of the lows.”
Tagovailoa’s college years and first three NFL seasons were marred by injury, though he positioned himself for a big pay bump with an injury-free and productive 2023 as he led the Dolphins into the playoffs. He threw for 29 touchdowns and a league-best 4,624 yards last year.
When, or if, he can come back this season is anyone’s guess. Tagovailoa said in April 2023 that the concussions he had in the 2022 season left him contemplating his playing future. “I think I considered it for a time,” he said then, when asked if he considered stepping away from the game to protect himself.
McDaniel said it’s not his place to say if Tagovailoa should return to football. “He’ll be evaluated and we’ll have conversations and progress as appropriate,” McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa was hurt Thursday on a fourth-down keeper with about 4:30 left in the third. He went straight ahead into Hamlin and did not slide, leading with his right shoulder instead.
Hamlin was the player who suffered a cardiac arrest after making a tackle during a Monday night game in January 2023 at Cincinnati, causing the NFL to suspend a pivotal game that quickly lost significance in the aftermath of a scary scene that unfolded in front of a national television audience.
Tagovailoa wound up on his back, both his hands in the air and Bills players immediately pointed at him as if to suggest there was an injury. Dolphins center Aaron Brewer quickly did the same, waving to the sideline.
Tagovailoa appeared to be making a fist with his right hand as he lay on the ground. It was movement consistent with something that is referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury.
Tagovailoa eventually got to his feet. McDaniel grabbed the side of his quarterback’s head and gave him a kiss on the cheek as Tagovailoa departed. Thompson came into the game to take Tagovailoa’s spot.
“I love Tua on and off the football field,” Bills edge Von Miller said. “I’m a huge fan of him. I can empathize and sympathize with him because I’ve been there. I wish him the best.”
Tagovailoa’s history with concussions — and how he has since worked to avoid them — is a huge part of the story of his career, and now comes to the forefront once again.
He had at least two concussions during the 2022 season. He was hurt in a Week 3 game against Buffalo and cleared concussion protocol, though he appeared disoriented on that play but returned to the game.
The NFL later changed its concussion protocol to mandate that if a player shows possible concussion symptoms — including a lack of balance or stability — he must sit out the rest of the game.
Less than a week later, in a Thursday night game at Cincinnati, Tagovailoa was concussed on a scary hit that briefly knocked him unconscious and led to him being taken off the field on a stretcher.
His second known concussion of that season came in a December game against Green Bay, and he didn’t play for the rest of the 2022 season. After that, Tagovailoa began studying ways where he may be able to fall more safely and protect himself against further injury — including studying jiu-jitsu.
“I’m not worried about anything that’s out of my hands,” McDaniel said. “I’m just worried about the human being.”
TORSBY, Sweden (AP) — David Beckham and former England coach Roy Hodgson were among the soccer dignitaries who attended the funeral of Sven-Goran Eriksson on Friday in the Swedish manager’s small hometown of Torsby.
Eriksson’s wooden coffin was covered in white flowers and surrounded by six tall candles and other floral wreaths as the ceremony began inside the 600-seat Fryksande church.
“It is a day of grief but also a day of thankfulness,” the priest, Ingela Älvskog, told those in attendance.
Beckham, who arrived by private jet on Thursday, greeted Eriksson’s 95-year-old father Sven and other family members with hugs inside the church before the funeral started.
Eriksson became England’s first foreign-born coach when he led the national team from 2001-06, and made Beckham his captain.
Eriksson, who also won trophies at club level in Italy, Portugal and Sweden, died on Aug. 26 at the age of 76, eight months after he revealed he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had at most one year to live.
Some 200 seats in the neo-Gothic church from 1898 were reserved for his family, friends and players from his career in the football world, according to his agent. The remaining seats were open for the public, according to Eriksson’s wish, with a big screen set up outside the church where hundreds more gathered to watch the ceremony. The funeral was also broadcast live on some Swedish media websites.
The wooden coffin was wheeled in by pallbearers at the church Friday morning as fog wrapped Torsby — a town of about 4,000 people located about 310 kilometers (193 miles) west of Stockholm. Next to the casket was a photo of Eriksson on a small table. The floral wreaths included ones sent by FIFA and Lazio, the Italian team that Eriksson led to the Serie A title in 2000.
The ceremony began with somber piano and organ music, but later took on a more upbeat note with Swedish singer Charlotta Birgersson performing Elton John’s song “Candle In The Wind” and then “My Way” in a duet with Johan Birgersson, who later intoned the popular Italian song “Volare” after the family had gathered around the casket to lay flowers.
Beckham also visited Eriksson in Sweden in June to say goodbye. Others attending the funeral included the Swedish coach’s longtime partner Nancy Dell’Olio. Eriksson’s agent had said that guests from England, Italy and Spain were expected.
After the funeral, the casket was carried out of the church by eight men to the hearse. The guests then walked in a procession accompanying the coffin to a nearby museum where speeches and eulogies to the coach fondly known as “Svennis” were planned on an outdoor stage. A brass band played during the procession through Torsby, including the tune “You never walk alone” from the musical “Carousel” which has become the anthem of Liverpool, the club Eriksson supported since childhood.
The local soccer club Torsby IF, where Eriksson started his career in the 1960s, wrote on its webpage that “you also showed your greatness by always being yourself, the caring Svennis who talked to everyone and took the time, for big and small, asking how things were and how the football was going. We will miss you.”
