US EditionMore than 1 in 4 self-checkout shoppers admit they’ve stolen: Survey
The LendingTree survey found 27% of U.S. self-checkout users admitted theft, with millennials and men more likely to steal due to financial strain and high prices.
- In a LendingTree survey of 2,050 consumers, more than one in four Americans who use self-checkouts admitted intentionally taking an item without scanning it.
- Respondents cited the current financial climate making essentials unaffordable and price increases tied to tariffs as top reasons for stealing.
- About one in three people who admitted stealing said they were not remorseful and more than half would likely steal again, while 42 percent said stealing has become more difficult and 10 percent less difficult.
- Survey respondents said 41 percent of millennials and 2 percent of baby boomers admitted to not scanning items, with men twice as likely as women to steal, according to LendingTree.
18 Articles
18 Articles
Wealthy Americans are more likely to steal from self-serve checkouts: report
Americans who live in households making upwards of $100,000 a year are twice as likely as poverty-stricken shoppers to steal from self-serve checkouts, a new survey has found. 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.
More people admit to stealing at self-checkouts. The reason may surprise you
More than one in four Americans who have used self-checkouts said they have intentionally taken an item without scanning it, according to a LendingTree survey of 2,050 consumers.The share of Americans who admitted stealing from self-checkouts rose sharply from 2023, when 15 percent said they had done so.In the 2025 survey, men were twice as likely as women to steal using self-checkouts. Just 2 percent of baby boomers admitted to intentionally no…
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