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AIBU?

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Original poster

To be really sick of supermarkets treating paying customers like scum

416 replies

OptimismvsRealism · 25/07/2024 14:34

Sainsbury's traps you in the self service pen of shame until you scan your receipt like a good little girl

Tesco won't take the security tags off your wine until you've not only paid but they've examined your receipt in detail to make sure your wine is paid for - sort of a performance so you remember your place

Waitrose makes a bit song and dance about doing the rescan of self scanning shops (I don't do self scanning because why would I sign up for this extra work?)

Just in Lidl and my wine set off the security alarm even though I've had the tags taken off and the security guard chased me out the door to try to get me to show him inside my bags (er no fuck off pal)

Aldi staff try to look in your shopping bags as you queue

Does anywhere NOT get a kick out of treating their profit drivers like filth any more?

I will probably just have to live off UHPs from the local Greggs at this rate

OP posts:
zzar45 · 25/07/2024 14:54

OptimismvsRealism · 25/07/2024 14:43

It's usually men who ignore them.

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You either need to scan a receipt to exit or you don’t, the same with having an item that has a security tag. A pair of balls is irrelevant.

Magnastorm · 25/07/2024 14:53

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

No, but you seem to be rudely enhanced.

SummerSnowstorm · 25/07/2024 14:53

S0livagant · 25/07/2024 14:47

Why is it happening now then if not for the CoL? Our local Tesco didn't use to have the one way gates to get in. It used to be all open at the entrance. It's going backwards to like when I was a child and the supermarket had a gate you pushed the empty trolley through next to a turnstile for people.

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It's partly culture changing over time, more awareness that police won't do anything unless there's excessive violence, and some of it seems to be organised crime. Again likely worsened by the state of the police and how stretched they are, which is again worsened by societal changes.
CoL will contribute to some cases, and gives them more customers, but it's far from the only cause otherwise it would be widespread across young families rather than primarily being groups of 18-30 males.

S1lverCandle · 25/07/2024 14:53

God, you sound exhausting, op. I bet you think you're being all edgy and sticking it to the Man. You just sound like a not very bright teenager pissed off at their mum.

Tagyoureit · 25/07/2024 14:53

OptimismvsRealism · 25/07/2024 14:40

Really. How do you think scanning your little receipt like a good girl good girl can I have a biscuit stops theft?

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Do they let the men shopping just walk through, then?

You overly angry about this and why would you not show your receipt to prove you've paid for something if the alarm went off?

Very bizarre.

DoIWantTo · 25/07/2024 14:52

Only do online shopping now, I’ll quite happily never set foot in another supermarket

OptimismvsRealism · 25/07/2024 14:52

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Bjorkdidit · 25/07/2024 14:52

I've never experienced this in the UK and I live in a place that always comes up on the list of MN places to avoid when someone is asking for recommendations about where to live, because <whisper> poor people live there .

They did however have 'the pen of shame' in Eroski in Ibiza (but not the Mercadona down the road) but we found it amusing rather than annoying.

The first time we shopped there, DP was just about to drop the receipt straight in the bin until I noticed we needed to scan it to exit the store. And it played an alarm for the 10s that the gate was open to alert staff that someone was attempting to leave the shop.

Original poster
OptimismvsRealism · 25/07/2024 14:52

SonicTheHodgeheg · 25/07/2024 14:50

I’ve worked in a supermarket and it’s not just the addicts who are stealing high value items. You’d be surprised how many respectable looking people are fleecing supermarkets using the handheld scanners and self scan.

I understand that it feels shit to be double checked but it’s worth trying different stores and different times of day because I don’t recognise some of your observations in my local stores. Your attitude towards the security guard who tried to stop you when you set off the alarm is shitty because that’s literally his job.

It's not his job to look in my bag and he doesn't get to. I just spent a fortune (for Lidl) so he can ram it. I didn't tell him to fuck off I just completely ignored him but he certainly can fuck off.

OP posts:
Magnastorm · 25/07/2024 14:51

OptimismvsRealism · 25/07/2024 14:40

Really. How do you think scanning your little receipt like a good girl good girl can I have a biscuit stops theft?

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How does proving you've paid for something prove that you aren't shop lifting?

I wonder.

Boopbeepbeepboop · 25/07/2024 14:51

Where do you live? I haven't experienced any of this and local Sainsbury's certainly doesn't have a scanner for your receipt.

SonicTheHodgeheg · 25/07/2024 14:50

I’ve worked in a supermarket and it’s not just the addicts who are stealing high value items. You’d be surprised how many respectable looking people are fleecing supermarkets using the handheld scanners and self scan.

I understand that it feels shit to be double checked but it’s worth trying different stores and different times of day because I don’t recognise some of your observations in my local stores. Your attitude towards the security guard who tried to stop you when you set off the alarm is shitty because that’s literally his job.

Needmorelego · 25/07/2024 14:50

@Kitkatfiend31 I worked in retail before self service checkouts were invented.
Shoplifting was unbelievably high even then.
The company I worked for went bust......

Original poster
OptimismvsRealism · 25/07/2024 14:50

S1lverCandle · 25/07/2024 14:49

You're just arguing like a 4 year old now, op. Of course they stop theft.

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Then why is theft going up and up despite most supermarkets acting like low security prisons?

OP posts:
Original poster
OptimismvsRealism · 25/07/2024 14:50

SemperIdem · 25/07/2024 14:49

my god, you’ve got a chip on your shoulder haven’t you!

I want to be treated not even with respect just a neutral absence of contempt.

OP posts:
S1lverCandle · 25/07/2024 14:49

OptimismvsRealism · 25/07/2024 14:40

None of these measures stop theft. They just make the shopping experience shit for people who were planning to buy stuff.

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You're just arguing like a 4 year old now, op. Of course they stop theft.

Borgonzola · 25/07/2024 14:49

None of those things happen where I live?

SemperIdem · 25/07/2024 14:49

my god, you’ve got a chip on your shoulder haven’t you!

Kitkatfiend31 · 25/07/2024 14:48

Needmorelego · 25/07/2024 14:38

Well unfortunately so much is stolen from supermarkets they either have to do this or they will have to put up their prices.
Want to pay £10 for a loaf of bread? I doubt it.
You would not believe how much retailers lose in theft.

Edited

The increase in theft is due to the increase in self scan checkouts. Employ more staff and theft will lessen. These companies are only looking to increase profit not customer service.

Needmorelego · 25/07/2024 14:48

@OptimismvsRealism go and have a lie down.
You sound cranky and might need a nap.

S0livagant · 25/07/2024 14:47

SummerSnowstorm · 25/07/2024 14:43

As has the price of everything. We're paying the cost of many different factors there, largely lockdowns. However wages and universal credit have also increased and food banks are generally well ran.

The vast majority of shoplifting is things like laundry pods, expensive meat or baby formula to sell on. Its career theft not people stealing some bread.

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Why is it happening now then if not for the CoL? Our local Tesco didn't use to have the one way gates to get in. It used to be all open at the entrance. It's going backwards to like when I was a child and the supermarket had a gate you pushed the empty trolley through next to a turnstile for people.

Original poster
OptimismvsRealism · 25/07/2024 14:47

I forget how many Rules Shaggers there are on Mumsnet.

"Government guidance says!"

OP posts:
SunQueen24 · 25/07/2024 14:46

Are you an optimist or a realist OP? I’m not clear…

Soontobe60 · 25/07/2024 14:46

OptimismvsRealism · 25/07/2024 14:42

You just like performing goodgirlism. Bet you loved SIX FEET AWAY PLEASE culture too. Meanwhile professional thieves continue to fill their holdalls and stroll out the door while you're asking if the staff are SURE they don't need to do a strip search this time.

Edited
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You’ve got a huge chip on your shoulder OP, maybe you need to get some therapy. Don’t be so patronising FFS. I’m not a girl. And no, I hated the six feet away culture. There are more important things to get worked up about than having your receipt checked.

SummerSnowstorm · 25/07/2024 14:46

SoupDragon · 25/07/2024 14:44

yeah, this explains a lot about you, OP.

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She probably puts on such a show that they stop her for entertainment 😂