“Dear PoPville,
The Hechinger Mall Safeway has installed an elaborate system meant to stop some of the medium to large theft that has been troublesome for many retail stores in the District. It must be something that Safeway is rolling out to deal with loss prevention. It features an electronic swing gate at the entrance and heavy metal gates around the checkout areas. To get out from the self-checkout, you need to scan your receipt before the exit gate will open. I have seen this type of system at the Navy Yard Safeway.
Again, this isn’t a perfect system just like the new Metrorail fare-gates are not perfect at 100-percent prevention of fare evasion, but this is a reasonable step, and a helpful guide to security when they see someone with groceries and no receipt hoping the gate, it might be a good to verify payment. How imperfect is the new system at Safeway? I saw a guy scan a candy bar at a busy self-checkout, pocket it, and left the transaction unpaid for, and then piggy-back on the exit of the paying customer ahead of them. You aren’t going to stop the small BBQ meal or candy bar, but this should curb some of the larger attempts or at least slow things down enough for security to get off their phone to react. Less loss means that stores don’t have to contemplate staffing cuts or store closures that can hurt a community.”