Common Sense: High income Americans are more likely to steal from self-checkouts: report

Sunday, December 07, 2025

High income Americans are more likely to steal from self-checkouts: report

Are high income earners just more honest than middle and lower income earners?

Bad news for retailers! Are they doing enough to prevent this checkout theft? Or are retailers actually accepting these losses as cost of doing business?

20% of self checkout customers think they are doing free work for the retailer. What a delusion!

46% of self checkout thieves admit they were caught.

P.S. The official news release by LendingTree does not seem to mention the differences of self checkout theft by income group.

"... A sizable 40% of six-figure earners admitted to deliberately not scanning an item at a store, according to a recent LendingTree report — more than double the 17% of people making $30,000 and under who say they have done the same thing.

Meanwhile, 27% of people in households earning between $50,000 and $99,999 reported that they had purposefully taken something without scanning it. ..."

"Key findings

Self-checkout registers remain popular. While 55% of Americans like self-checkouts for their speed and convenience, 69% of people who use them believe they make it easier to steal. ...
Many self-checkout users admit to theft, whether intentionally or unintentionally. 27% have purposefully taken an item without scanning — a massive 12 percentage point increase from 15% in 2023. Millennial (41%) and Gen Z (37%) self-checkout users are the most likely age groups to have stolen purposefully at least once. Additionally, 36% of users admit they’ve accidentally left with an unscanned item, including 22% in the past year. 61% who’ve accidentally taken something say they kept it the last time.
Sticky fingers are dealing with tighter systems. 42% of self-checkout users who’ve purposefully stolen something say it’s become more difficult in the past year, citing more employee monitoring (61%), cameras or AI‑assisted monitoring near kiosks (49%) and weight/scale verifications being more sensitive (42%).
Sticker shock is driving theft. Self-checkout users who’ve purposefully stolen an item are often motivated by the current financial climate making essentials unaffordable (47%), price increases tied to tariffs (46%) and prices feeling unfair or too high (39%). Those who think they’ll steal again say they’re most likely to take essentials like food, water and health care products (60%).
Remorse is mixed, but repeat intent is real. 46% of self-checkout users who’ve purposefully taken an item say they’ve been caught, yet 31% don’t feel remorseful. In fact, 55% of those who’ve deliberately stolen at self-checkout say they think they’ll do it again.