self-checkout does somewhat increase shrinkage. Many stores (Target, for one) combat this by having a screen right on the self-checkout machine that shows the

self-checkout does somewhat increase shrinkage. Many stores (Target, for one) combat this by having a screen right on the self-checkout machine that shows the camera footage of you checking out, to remind you that you're being watched even if there isn't a human right there doing the watching. But yeah, the increase in theft is probably a lot less than the savings from having to pay more checkers (since they typically can have one observer per 4-6 self-checkout kiosks)