Customers love it, marketers hate it: Banana trick spreads faster than expected

Recently, there has been a lot of talk about the so-called banana trick in relation to retailers. Some customers use it at self-service checkouts to pay less money than they actually have. While this is a clever move from the shoppers’ point of view, retailers are obviously not so keen. And unfortunately, the phenomenon is spreading very quickly, thanks in part to social sharing. What does this scam actually consist of?

The banana trick usually involves a customer scanning (or manually entering) a very cheap product, such as a banana, at a self-service checkout. But they add a more expensive item to their basket or bag, which they scan or enter under the code of the cheap product. Unfortunately, this is commonly what people get away with because there is not as much checking at self-service checkouts.

The path to cheaper goods

According to loss control experts, the banana trick is used because self-service checkouts often don’t pay enough attention to weight or visual inspection. This is especially true for lighter pieces of fruit or vegetables.

This makes the checkout system believe that the customer is only buying cheap product. According to loss control experts, this trick is used because self-service checkouts often do not pay enough attention to weight or visual inspection, especially if the customer claims to be scanning a light piece of fruit.

The Agilence blog reports that self-service checkouts provide an avenue for thieves to make significant savings. Although the amounts involved are small, if people repeat the trick multiple times, the money adds up. In practice, it can look like a customer has 200 worth of goods in their bag but has only paid 20 crowns.

The trick spreads very quickly

The banana trick is being talked about quite a lot on social media. That’s why it is spreading so quickly among young people, but it is also increasingly common among pensioners who think they can save a few crowns this way. While older people actually use the trick only to a lesser extent and mainly because prices are rising, for the younger generation it is more about trying to make a point.

It’s not uncommon for teenagers to film themselves at the thefts and share on social media how much they actually managed to save. They do it in large numbers more for fun, the merchants are not amused however. They are trying to combat it, but most stores simply don’t have enough people to stand at every self-service checkout.

In some countries, for example, stores are introducing the option to have only customers who have a customer card use these checkouts. While this reduces the problems, it does not completely solve them. There are also cash registers that can better distinguish the weight of goods and their type. However, this is a complication that is likely to trouble shops for a long time to come.