{{Short description|Retail theft prevention system}} '''StopLift''' is a checkout vision system designed to prevent shoplifting and employee theft in retail businesses. '''StopLift, Inc.''', also known as '''StopLift Checkout Vision Systems''', is the company which developed the system. StopLift, Inc. is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
StopLift is stated to be first such system capable of successfully detecting sweethearting between cashiers and customers.<ref name="WSJ1">{{cite web |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121322091260765769 |title=Stop That Thief |first=Raymund |last=Flandez |date=12 June 2008 |work=Wall Street Journal |accessdate=20 December 2009}}</ref><ref name="Globe1">{{cite web |url=http://archive.boston.com/business/articles/2008/01/27/software_casts_eye_on_cashier_theft/ |title=Software casts eye on cashier theft |last=Abelson |first=Jenn |date=27 January 2008 |work=The Boston Globe |access-date=20 December 2009}}</ref><ref name="Reuters1">{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE56957N20090710 |title=U.S. retailers continue struggle with employee theft |last=Sherr |first=Ian |date=10 July 2009 |publisher=Reuters |accessdate=20 December 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/chris-dannen/techwatch/grocery-cameras-identify-sweethearting |title=StopLift's Grocery Cameras Peg "Sweethearting" Cashiers |last=Dannen |first=Chris |date=1 May 2009 |publisher=AP |accessdate=20 December 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2009/03/16/weekly4-StopLift-sees-a-way-to-end-retail-inside-theft.html |title=StopLift sees a way to end retail inside theft |last=Moore |first=Galen |date= 20 March 2009|work=MHT: The Journal of New England Technology |accessdate=20 December 2009}}</ref> ("Sweethearting" is when cashiers pretend to scan or ring up some items for favored customers, usually family or friends, while actually not charging the customer.<ref name="WSJ1" /><ref name="Globe1" />)
Video surveillance of checkouts is common, but reviewing the resulting tapes manually is often prohibitively expensive. The new system attempts to detect unusual and possibly fraudulent behavior on the part of the cashier, such as blocking the bar code, stacking items up and just scanning the bottom item, and directly bagging the merchandise without ever scanning it. The system then highlights the place on the video where the possible theft had occurred, so that a human need only review a short segment.<ref name="WSJ1" />
In practice, many of the problems the software catches seem to be employee errors rather than intentional fraud. Some customers are using it to train or reassign employees who prove more prone to such errors.<ref name="WSJ1" /><ref name="Reuters1" />
Several grocery chains are now using the system, and others are testing it and may install it.<ref name="WSJ1" /><ref name="Globe1" /><ref name="Reuters1" /> The system is being offered on a subscription rather than a purchase basis, reducing up-front costs.<ref name="WSJ1" />
Malay Kundu, founder of StopLift Inc, began researching theft from retailers while attending Harvard Business School.<ref name="Globe1" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Official website|https://www.stoplift.com/}}
Category:Shoplifting