Security Expert Reveals Why Those Self-Serve Checkout Cameras Are So Unflattering

We’ve all been there. You’re trying to scan something expensive as a brown onion to deal with the cost of living, and you catch a glimpse of yourself in the self-service checkout camera.

Woof!

It can make you wonder if it was ever worth leaving the house in the first place. But it makes sense - there’s no adequate lighting, it’s from a terrible angle and you’re at the shops, not on the red carpet at the Logies.

However, some shoppers online have started to form theories that the use of fish-eye lenses is a ‘psychological technique’ to discourage people from stealing.

Everyone knows ugly people don’t steal; they just make people grateful for the features they do have.

Leading retail and security expert Scott Taylor has debunked the theory on Reddit this week, explaining that the cameras aren’t there to make shoppers look ugly, instead they’re positioned at different angles for optimal coverage and to deal with the lighting challenges.

So remember, next time you’re at the supermarket and you think you look bad at the self-service checkout, it’s not because the supermarket is trying to stop you from stealing - that’s just what you look like…to a goldfish.

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