Inflation, Shrinkflation, Skimpflation, Fraud

How do corporations ‘beat the consumers’ out of what they are paying for, expecting to get but are not receiving?

And is there a way to beat them at their own game?

That’s not all.

Reportedly, there are issues with WalMart’s self-serve checkout — some of which have caused nightmare scenarios with little opportunity for retribution.

So much so that attorneys are warning people that they might avoid self checkout options to protect themselves from accusations or worse, charges against them.

The scanners aren’t perfect. They frequently misread and flag transactions where nothing untoward has occurred — but customers have reported issues and the stores themselves are depending on AI that is anything but perfect.

All of these issues are compounding the shopping experience and making it easier to wind up with an accusation in which the accuser is far more powerful [and likely to be believed] than the lowly consumer, who may be justified in their expressions of innocence but can and often will be charged and prosecuted in spite of it.

And to make matters even worse? Newer stores are offering fewer manned cash registers and some of them provide NONE AT ALL.

Home Depot recently had to pay a $2 Million dollar judgment for having different prices on their items than they were actually charging people when they paid. This is a common occurrence with WalMart with some of details clearly showing intent: see the first video on this page.

If you catch these issues, you have a reason to pursue them — just as they are allowed to pursue you in a court of law if they believe you have intentionally robbed them of an item from their store.

Ask them how or why something was priced wrong only to discover you’ve been charged more at checkout and they will, most often, tell you it was a mistake.

Reportedly, consumers are routinely mocked for declarations of innocence and charged as though they intended to steal — no matter the circumstances.

The takeaway: Think twice before risking your reputation to use self check-out. If you must do so — ask a floor walker to handle the scanning. Customer Service desks have representatives who can perform check-out tasks. Don’t hesitate to use them.

At a point in time when everything uses RFID, the scanning kiosks seem almost antiquated. If these scanners are going to be used to accuse people of committing crimes against the corporations that use them, those same corporations should have to provide ready alternatives to those who do not want the risk associated with their technology. It is faulty. It does fail.

Virtually all consumers have experienced pricing issues with the stores they use and the ‘discrepancies’ rarely benefit the consumer — the ‘mistakes’ are almost always in favor of the retailer.

If all consumers banded together not only to expose these ‘errors’ but to hold the retailers accountable, these issues would virtually disappear.

If you need assistance in discovering how to report price discrepancies, first document the issue showing clearly how, when and where the discrepancy was discovered — using photographs to show the details of the incident.

Be sure to reliably prove what retailer and what location was involved and provide clear documentation of all dates, times, employees and registers involved.

Then call us to discover how to proceed. Our services are free of charge.