Systems and methods for returning unwanted items

A method for returning unwanted items at a facility, the method comprising:

• receiving, at a receptacle of a drop zone repository unit, one or more unwanted items from a user acquiring items at the facility;
• detecting, by a sensor proximate the receptacle of the drop zone repository unit, the one or more unwanted items placed into the receptacle by the user;
• capturing, by a digital camera of the drop zone repository unit, an image of the user proximate the drop zone repository unit;
• analyzing, by a control circuit executing computer program code, the image to attempt to identify a presence of the user and/or one or more items;
• determining, by the control circuit executing computer program code, that the user has returned the one or more unwanted items based on a determination, using the image analysis, that the user is depicted in the image and a detection of the one or more unwanted items received at the receptacle;
• creating, by the control circuit executing the computer program code, a drop zone virtual acquisition list based on using the image analysis determining that the user returned the one or more unwanted items;
• associating, by the control circuit executing the computer program code, the one or more unwanted items with the drop zone virtual acquisition list and an identifier associated with the user;
• and
• providing, by the control circuit executing the computer program code, the drop zone virtual acquisition list and the identifier to an item acquisition system such that at acquisition completion, the drop zone virtual acquisition list is processed and aggregated with one or more collected virtual acquisition lists to remove the one or more unwanted items in the drop zone virtual acquisition list from an acquisition transaction.

A non-transitory machine readable medium storing instructions for returning unwanted items at a facility that, when executed by a control circuit, cause the control circuit to:

• receive, at a receptacle of a drop zone repository unit, one or more unwanted items from a user acquiring items at the facility;
• detect, by a sensor proximate the receptacle of the drop zone repository unit, the one or more unwanted items placed into the receptacle by the user;
• capture, by a digital camera of the drop zone repository unit, an image of the user proximate the drop zone repository unit;
• analyze the image to attempt to identify a presence of the user and/or one or more items;
• determine that the user has returned the one or more unwanted items based on a determination, using the image analysis, that the user is depicted in the image and a detection of the one or more unwanted items received at the receptacle;
• create a drop zone virtual acquisition list based on determining using the image analysis that the user returned the one or more unwanted items;
• associate the one or more unwanted items with the drop zone virtual acquisition list and an identifier associated with the user;
• and
• provide the drop zone virtual acquisition list and the identifier to an item acquisition system such that at acquisition completion, the drop zone virtual acquisition list is processed and aggregated with one or more collected virtual acquisition lists to remove the one or more unwanted items in the drop zone virtual acquisition list from an acquisition transaction.