Columbia County Dollar General Shoplifters Sought

The Columbia County Sheriff's Office is asking for help in identifying three shoplifters at Dollar General at 210 Baston Road in Martinez.

The first incident was reported January 5 and involved two women.

"The pictured subject in the white jacket shoplifted from Dollar General.  She was accompanied by the pictured female in the black-and-white striped sweater,"  according to the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.  They were seen leaving in a white Cadillac SUV.

"The pictured suspect with a black jacket and red-and-green stocking cap shoplifted from Dollar General.  The female filled up a plastic tote of various items and pushed it out of the store," according to the news release.  The woman was last seen fleeing the area in a blue Nissan SUV on Riverwatch Parkway headed into Richmond County.

Call the Columbia County Sheriff's Office at (706) 541-2800.

As theft continues to climb higher at some retail stores across the country, some stores like Dollar General have decided to eliminate self-checkout lanes.

"We plan to increase the employee presence of the front end of our stores and in particular, the checkout area.  It's important to have a friendly, helpful employee who is there to greet customers and assist while the checkout process is happening," said Dollar General CEO Jeff Owen.

Self-checkout machines were first introduced in stores in the 1980s as a way of lowering labor expenses.  Now, many retailers are rethinking that process, due to higher merchandise theft, and losses from customer errors.

Costco announced last year it was adding more staff to its self-checkout areas after discovering more non-members trying to use membership cards that didn't belong to them.

Some stores have tried to limit losses by tightening self-checkout security features, such as adding weight sensors.