Chapter 1
“Locks are the central element of your home or business security. Traditional locks, based on inventions from 1800s, involved a lock cylinder and simple key, but now there are so many more options and technologically advanced designs available that forego the need to hand out too many copies of those keys.
Keyless locks allow for so many advantages. Access can be give without risk of copying or unapproved duplicating, because codes or credentials can be change or deleted without physically changing locks and keys. They can be used for temporary access, for instance for a contractor. They allow for immediate security when employees leave or in unfortunate situations where previously trusted friends, family, colleagues or clients betray your confidence. And, do not forget, unlike when you or someone else loses a key, you can change a code or disable a credential, and you are immediately secure again.
You often see keyless systems in the commercial sector but you do not have to have a full-featured, high-end access control system for all cases. For a home or small business, there are a several options available, with a variety of features.” (Keyless Entry, 2018)
The growth of customers in supermarkets throughout urban areas has drastically increased throughout the years; Stats SA reviles that "In January the CPI for goods increased by 3.7% year-on-year (down from 4.1% in December), and the CPI for services increased by 5.1% year-on-year (down from 5.3% in December)." (Consumer Price Index - Key Findings, 2018), consequently with falling prices this creates the need for satisfactory and secure parcel storage space in supermarkets; known as parcel counters - that will be helpful to the customers and the supermarket.
A persistent problem exists throughout the supermarkets around communities related to the insufficient security around the parcel storage system. Most supermarkets use a number of open view locker as their parcel storage space, the procedure for storing parcels is as follow, customers that place their parcels in the supermarkets’ Parcel Counter, are given tags that are used to identify their storage space, the tags are numbered; used as a proof that the customer has actually kept their belongings in at the parcel counter kiosk. Hence these storage spaces do not have a locking system but instead there’s an employee placed to handle and secure the parcels.
The parcel counter kiosk space are prone to:
• “Theft which may come from an employee and other shoppers.” (penmof, 2017) International Perspective: What Deters Shoplifters? Gill, Billy, and Turbin (1999:29-39) Interviewed 38 experienced shoplifters in England to assess the effectiveness of anti-shoplifting strategies. Their research is summarized here: Retail staff: while nine out of 38 respondents suggested that retail staff would sometimes deter them, 24 answered “never”, “They argued that salespeople were too busy or uninterested in shoplifting. (Purpura, 2002)
• Tags that are used to identify the parcel(s) get lost, and they are not printed well to identify the customer’s parcel.
• Mishandling of parcels may lead to damage of items that the retail must replenish. “For each retailer, if the prosecution of shoplifters becomes expensive and time consuming, repeat offenders are not deterred, cases are not successful, and brand is harmed, then anti-shoplifting strategies must be changed.” from (Security And Loss Prevention 4th Edition, 2002) .Presently some supermarkets are trying to solve the problem of parcel storage, by using the locking storage system that uses a physical key, which is handed to individuals who place their items in the parcel storage, but this implementation does not proved sufficient security to the parcel counter, because this keys given to the individuals may be misplaced, lost , broken, or copied, thereby giving other individuals access and increasing the level of insecurity of the storage unit.
The keyless storage system utilizing raspberry pi will be a storage system that will be designed to store customers’ parcel(s) in a more secure way in supermarket as it will be automatically locking without a physical key and would not open unless the parcel’s owner enters a password in the user-friendly interface(s). This system will create a more secured parcel storage space in supermarkets, thereby decreasing the level of theft and damages of the shoppers’ parcels.