Some Walmart employees say customers are getting hostile at self-checkout — and they blame anti-theft tech (2024)

The confrontations can sometimes get heated, with customers acting confused, defensive, or at times aggressive, employees said.

Mendy, a 10-year employee of a Walmart store in Arkansas, said customers had become so hostile at the registers that some had thrown merchandise at her.

"As with other retailers, theft is always a challenge, and we're always looking for better ways to tackle this issue. This includes enhanced technology at our checkouts," Joe Pennington, a Walmart spokesperson, said in a statement to Insider.

Retailers broadly are facing increasing theft and have responded by locking up merchandise, warning investors of major losses, and implementing new technology to help combat the issue.

Walmart declined to say how many stores used the technology at self-checkouts or what guidance employees received for missed-scan interactions. The spokesperson said associates were trained so that "our customers have a safe and enjoyable shopping experience."

The seven former and current Walmart employees Insider interviewed had direct experience with the company's anti-theft self-checkout technology. Some current employees were granted anonymity or identified by their first name only for fear of professional repercussions. Insider verified their identities and employment.

How Walmart detects theft at store registers

In 2019, Walmart introduced computer-vision technology at its registers to reduce inventory shrink, a term retailers use to describe merchandise losses from theft, fraud, error, and other causes.

The technology uses cameras to monitor registers for items that have not been scanned and notifies employees of the missed item.

Employees overseeing the self-checkout stations can monitor the registers from mobile phones and, in the case of issues, pause the machines to prevent customers from checking out.

Athenia Camacho, a former Walmart employee, detailed the process in a recent TikTok video.

"They can see everything you're purchasing and everything you're scanning, so I highly recommend not stealing from Walmart," she said.

Walmart prohibits employees from accusing customers of stealing, even if theft is suspected, the seven people who spoke with Insider said.

Instead, workers must alert a store manager, who will notify store security, they said.

Camacho told Insider that at her store in Florida, an asset-protection team dealt with suspected theft. She added that employees were discouraged from approaching or stopping people who might be stealing.

"It was an official rule," Camacho said of her store. "It is not our job to stop them."

The self-checkout technology 'feels more confrontational'

A Walmart employee in Illinois told Insider that customers could become defensive when approached over a missed scan.

"It's really uncomfortable, and it becomes, like, a safety issue," she said.

Another Walmart employee in Missouri said she was told to approach customer confrontations with the mindset: "Don't blame the customer. Blame the machine."

She said: "The policy is to take the item away from them and tell them something like, 'Oh, I think the machine didn't scan it.' And if they don't want it, then we take it away. If they do want it, we scan it."

The employee, who has worked at Walmart locations for over two years, said the self-checkout technology caught many customers off guard — particularly when they saw that the registers flagged them and then played back a video on the machine's screen showing them scanning items.

The self-checkout technology "feels more confrontational than it was before because it's right there — the evidence is right there," the employee said, referring to the video, which is visible to customers.

When she approaches customers flagged by the self-checkout machines, she said, they often act defensive or confused. She added that Walmart didn't train her on "de-escalation tactics."

Walmart employees say they weren't trained to handle tense confrontations at self-checkout lanes

Employees told Insider the technology was effective at flagging missed scans and potential cases of theft at self-checkouts. But they said Walmart should provide more training for handling challenging confrontations.

"It was personally uncomfortable for me to notice somebody purposefully not scanning an item," said Dominick Haar, 20, a recent newly former Walmart employee who worked self-checkout in a store in Southern Illinois. "I just personally felt weird going up and trying to find the right words to put together."

He said Walmart should provide employees scripts for various confrontations they might encounter. Patti Leroy, 58, said Walmart customers complained to her about the machines when she worked at a store in Kentucky from 2016 to 2022.

"I think it created a lot more stress for the employees, not to mention customers that just want one-on-one personal conversation when they go to the store," Leroy told Insider, referring to the self-checkout machines.

"With the right training on how to approach it positively with the customer, they get better results," he said. "The honest-mistake customers usually are fine as long as the SCO host is friendly and not accusatory in the interaction. Mostly those who are trying to scam the registers are the ones who get upset the most."

If you are a Walmart worker or shopper who would like to share your perspective, please get in touch with Dominick via email. Insider strongly recommends using a personal email and a non-work device when reaching out.