Big Y Installing Checkout Mirrors to Spot BOB items

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — In an effort to curb bottom-of-the-basket (BOB) loss, Big Y here is installing a small mirror on a light pole above each checkout lane that allows cashiers to see the bottom of the basket.

The mirrors, which cost about $600 in total per store, reduced BOB loss in a test store, and Big Y is in the process of installing them chainwide, said Mark Gaudette, Big Y's director of loss prevention.

The decision to install mirrors followed the installation last year of a service from StopLift Checkout Vision Systems, Cambridge, Mass., that analyzes video feeds from overhead cameras to determine whether BOB as well as middle-of-the-basket (MOB) items are not being scanned.

The system, in 47 of the chain's 57 stores, is also designed to detect movements by cashiers that indicate inadvertent miscans or deliberate attempts to avoid scanning items, also known as sweethearting.

Since the installation of StopLift, the chain has experienced a 52% reduction in BOB events "and the trend line is still presently heading steeply down," said Gaudette.

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