Walmart Hopes to Curb Theft in Oklahoma With New Tech

Ever since retailers started trending towards self-checkout to save a few bucks on labor costs each year, consumers have made out like bandits with a simple and effective theft technique.

The infamous barcode swap.

You know how this works... Someone pretends to scan the barcode of something pricey, but they're covering the real barcode with that of a much cheaper product... Ringing up a new huge TV as an apple - that sort of seedy type of behavior.

It sounds stupid, but Walmart's yearly losses are in the hundreds of billions due to this little trick, so they're getting rid of barcodes.

Instead of barcodes, Walmart is investing in packaging with unique designs on them. You remember those "stare at the picture to see the art" posters? This is a subtle design similar to that printed all over packaging of some items. So if the scanner sees any portion of the item, it will correctly identify and properly ring up the true price.

For now, it's limited to Great Value products, but if it's the theft-killing silver bullet, it could soon be across all goods on store shelves.

Are barcodes going away?

No. Well, probably not. Barcodes do a lot more than just ring up an item. They're used for tons of stuff like shipping, ordering, inventory, etc... so they'll likely stay the same, the packaging will change and cause thieves to think of another way to rip off the biggest retailer in the world.

This isn't the only way retailers are trying to fight theft in stores. Take a look at Sam's Club and Costco. The exit interview shakedown has escalated to practical cavity searches just to get out of the store. Other retailers have invested in RFID technology, but it's understandably more expensive than just printing a unique pattern on goods.