There's a view from a retail boss that Countdown trialling cameras in the self checkout area is to catch thieves rather than people who make mistakes.

The chain is trialling the method in five stores which records the customer and transaction, seeing what items are scanned as the wrong thing.

Retail NZ Chief Executive, Carolyn Young, told Mike Hosking crime and theft is a massive issue, and retailers have seen an uptick on the back of Covid.

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