Academic

Sweethearting

By Gordon Smith, Christine, Hurt, Vic Fleischer, Fred Tung, Lisa Fairfax, David Zaring

Have you ever heard of "sweethearting"? I worked at a grocery store as a high school student, but this is a new concept to me.

sweethearting  n. the unauthorized giving away of merchandise without charge to a ?sweetheart? customer (friend, family, fellow employee) by the fake scan or ring up of merchandise by the cashier.

Marketplace has the story of a new software called StopLift that monitors checker body motions through a video technology to detect sweethearting. Take a look at StopLift's site, which has a fascinating video of actual checkers engaged in sweethearting. StopLift claims that 30% of checkers engage in the practice! And the company has even named all of the different strategies with titles like "Two at a Time" and "Up & Over." Fascinating stuff.

Full post as published by Conglomerate on May 20, 2009 (boomark / email).