Some Czech stores have been overly benevolent towards their customers and may now very well regret it. One example is the famous Kaufland store chain, which launched a big news some time ago. It introduced the possibility of self-scanning of goods and subsequent payment, without any intervention by an order or even the weight of a self-service cash register.
Shopping more pleasant
The so-called K-Scan is a relatively interesting innovation that is also used by some competing chains, such as Globus or Tesco. However, Kaufland is betting a lot on it and trying to promote it everywhere. It has also installed special check-in terminals, so people using this feature don’t have to stand in line.
Unfortunately, it has been found that Czechs often abuse this trick for their own benefit. Many have noticed that the control here is absolutely minimal, so unfortunately they try what they can. Especially in today’s difficult times, when they can justify this illegal behavior to themselves in some way, for example by saying that if it wasn’t that expensive, they don’t have to.
But what exactly is it about? The joke is that if you sign up for the program, you can always grab your scanner at the start of the store (or use the scan in the mobile application) and scan all the merchandise yourself and then put it straight into the bag. You don’t have to do anything else at the cashier other than pull out your card or cash and pay.
People understood this in their own way
However, a number of Czechs have taken it their own way and, at best, some products “forget” to scan before putting them in the bag. Others can therefore be quite forgetful, so they might leave with full bags as a result, but only pay for a few small things.
Of course there is some control, but it is just random. That’s about every fifth or tenth purchase, with the frequency decreasing after passing a few checks.
The problem is that nothing happens even when the inspection catches you. The saleswoman will simply verify that you have scanned everything. If it detects discrepancies, it does not handle them further and sends you to the standard checkout. The person in question can then say, for example, that it is a system error or that he has forgotten about it. Will try again next time and it will pass.
The author of this article witnessed a similar situation in Kaufland a few days ago. A woman showed up at the payment terminal with a trolley full of baggage already full. However, a random check had just picked her up, and as it turned out, this time it was a success. The person in question had almost nothing scanned and she was still arguing brazenly with the saleswoman she controlled. When she was sent to the standard checkout, she left in anger, leaving the shopping cart in place of the poor clerk. It is entirely possible that she tried her luck again later, perhaps in another store, and it has already worked for her.
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