Major retailers like Walmart, Target, Dollar General, and many major supermarket chains have increasingly relied on self-checkout to help speed checkout and save on labor costs. It turns out that reliance on self-checkout has caused a substantial increase in losses resulting from retail theft.  U.S. retailers reportedly lose over $3 billion per year from self-checkout theft.

 Not having a cashier makes it much easier and more tempting to steal. Techniques employed to steal from stores relying on self-checkout include not scanning all items, switching barcodes, and the so called "banana trick," which involves keying in a cheaper item, like bananas, while actually weighing an expensive item, like a steak. 

Does all of this mean that retailers will be permanently going back to human cashiers? Not likely. Security experts will enhance the security features of self-checkout so that it eventually becomes the primary way that people purchase groceries or other goods from retail stores.The cat and mouse game between retailers and shoplifters has been going on for as long as there have been retail stores and shoplifting continues to be a poor choice. Security cameras, facial recognition software, anti-theft devices, and better trained security personnel have made stealing from retailers extremely difficult.