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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
Sunshineandpool · 27/07/2024 20:48

Needmorelego · 26/07/2024 23:38

@Sunshineandpool many average medium sized towns don't have anything as fancy as an actual bakery to buy a nicer loaf of bread from.
It's the supermarket or convenience/corner shops as the only options.
Although Morrisons do some really nice fresh bread.

Edited

Really? I didn't know that. No bakery at all? What about Greggs do they sell loaves of bread?

Sunshineandpool · 27/07/2024 20:46

Needmorelego · 26/07/2024 23:35

@Sunshineandpool what do you mean by supermarkets don't make money on deliveries?
I order £50 of food from Iceland to be delivered that's the same £50 as if I had paid in store.
(I have to pay a bit more to cover the picking, bags and delivery but the £50 on food is £50 regardless of how I purchase it)
I actually buy more by doing home delivery because the reason I do it is because I can't physically carry £50 worth of shopping home.
If I go in store I buy a lot less because I can only buy what I can carry.

The actual cost of the whole delivery process is more than you pay.

whichfan · 27/07/2024 20:45

S0livagant · 27/07/2024 20:42

They aren't 'views'. It's about how things make me feel. I've had enough of trying to explain how I feel. I'm ND, so I'm used to not being understood. It's not a problem.

I agree with the OP that the supermarket experience has gone downhill, and customers are treated like shit. My solution is to avoid and go elsewhere. Vote with your wallet. Stepping away from this thread now.

so to be clear

cool with ticket inspectors
loathe ticket barriers

S0livagant · 27/07/2024 20:42

whichfan · 27/07/2024 20:30

curious about how you square ticket inspectors requiring you to show your ticket or be kicked off at next station (and fined) on trains with your views on train ticket barriers

They aren't 'views'. It's about how things make me feel. I've had enough of trying to explain how I feel. I'm ND, so I'm used to not being understood. It's not a problem.

I agree with the OP that the supermarket experience has gone downhill, and customers are treated like shit. My solution is to avoid and go elsewhere. Vote with your wallet. Stepping away from this thread now.

lemonmeringueno3 · 27/07/2024 20:38

I lock my door to stop people wandering in and robbing stuff so I support businesses who take steps to protect themselves from crime too.

Luckily it's not compulsory and customers who don't like it are free to go elsewhere. I doubt there'll be enough objections to make a dent in their profits, otherwise they wouldn't do it in the first place.

macaroniandcheeze · 27/07/2024 20:35

OptimismvsRealism · 25/07/2024 15:38

So any suggestions aside from Marks for places I can spend my money?

Ocado

whichfan · 27/07/2024 20:35

Whenthesilenceisntquiet · 27/07/2024 20:34

This!

brace yourself for a thread from the OP bitching about delivery drivers

Whenthesilenceisntquiet · 27/07/2024 20:34

vodkaredbullgirl · 25/07/2024 14:36

Online shopping

This!

lemonmeringueno3 · 27/07/2024 20:30

They are trying to protect themselves from the sort of audacious theft that is all over sm, at a time when the news is full of how the police aren't always able to support them when they're called. I don't mind any of the measures you've mentioned - they're not for me, they're a deterrent to shoplifting scum.

To me it's no different to traffic cameras treating everyone like speeding, dangerous drivers or cctv treating everyone like antisocial petty criminals.

whichfan · 27/07/2024 20:30

S0livagant · 27/07/2024 20:25

What? Why does it matter to you what I feel uncomfortable with? It doesn't matter to me if it doesn't make sense to you.

curious about how you square ticket inspectors requiring you to show your ticket or be kicked off at next station (and fined) on trains with your views on train ticket barriers

harmfulsweeties · 27/07/2024 20:26

S0livagant · 25/07/2024 14:40

I wonder why? The price of food has spiraled.

Sure, but people shoplifting is hardly going to help the cost of food for the rest of us who pay, is it?

S0livagant · 27/07/2024 20:25

whichfan · 27/07/2024 20:16

well you’re hardly likely to admit to it are you

What? Why does it matter to you what I feel uncomfortable with? It doesn't matter to me if it doesn't make sense to you.

whichfan · 27/07/2024 20:16

S0livagant · 27/07/2024 20:08

I don't 'kick off'. There are things I don't like. If I'm able to I just take my custom elsewhere. I put up with what I need to.

Edited

well you’re hardly likely to admit to it are you

whichfan · 27/07/2024 20:15

zzar45 · 27/07/2024 20:03

Well your whole argument is taking issue with being presumed to be a thief, so surely a ticket inspector asking to see proof that you thought a ticket is doubting your innocence?

exactly

simply doesn’t make sense

S0livagant · 27/07/2024 20:08

zzar45 · 27/07/2024 20:03

Well your whole argument is taking issue with being presumed to be a thief, so surely a ticket inspector asking to see proof that you thought a ticket is doubting your innocence?

I don't 'kick off'. There are things I don't like. If I'm able to I just take my custom elsewhere. I put up with what I need to.

zzar45 · 27/07/2024 20:03

S0livagant · 27/07/2024 19:55

No, why? I'm not the kind of person who 'kicks off' at all. I'm just ND and might feel anxious.

Well your whole argument is taking issue with being presumed to be a thief, so surely a ticket inspector asking to see proof that you thought a ticket is doubting your innocence?

S0livagant · 27/07/2024 19:58

whichfan · 27/07/2024 19:44

but you’ve been back despite the “barriers”

We all do things we don't like, we just avoid them where possible. They get much less of my custom than they did before. I was doing my weekly shop there at the time.

S0livagant · 27/07/2024 19:55

whichfan · 27/07/2024 19:45

When you’re asked on a train whether you have a. ticket and you’re required to show it… do you kick off?

No, why? I'm not the kind of person who 'kicks off' at all. I'm just ND and might feel anxious.

whichfan · 27/07/2024 19:45

S0livagant · 27/07/2024 18:44

It doesn't matter if you don't understand. It's not a problem for me. I just preferentially shop in friendly places. If a supermarket openly acts like they don't trust me then i feel unwelcome and avoid that place where possible. There are plenty of places I can buy food where I live that are friendly.

If there was a campaign against installing ticket barriers at my local station I'd support that too. They change the look and feel of a place.

When you’re asked on a train whether you have a. ticket and you’re required to show it… do you kick off?

whichfan · 27/07/2024 19:44

S0livagant · 27/07/2024 17:21

I go there much less often and spend much less there overall.

but you’ve been back despite the “barriers”

whichfan · 27/07/2024 19:43

Needmorelego · 27/07/2024 16:58

@S0livagant Anerley might not have barriers but it still have the Oyster thingys to beep in and out.
Not really massively different 🤣

yup

S0livagant · 27/07/2024 18:44

Needmorelego · 27/07/2024 18:16

@S0livagant well I'm not you and don't really understand your feelings but I really can't see how a barrier is hostile.
They also aren't exactly a new concept.
I remember as a child going to the local pool and you paid and then went through a turnstile.
Those turnstiles were from the 1930s.

It doesn't matter if you don't understand. It's not a problem for me. I just preferentially shop in friendly places. If a supermarket openly acts like they don't trust me then i feel unwelcome and avoid that place where possible. There are plenty of places I can buy food where I live that are friendly.

If there was a campaign against installing ticket barriers at my local station I'd support that too. They change the look and feel of a place.

notprincehamlet · 27/07/2024 18:22

YANBU - the in-store shopping experience at most uk supermarkets has all the joy and glamour of a prison visit. It's only a matter of time before they introduce cavity searches before you're allowed to pay over the odds for their ultra processed bread and flavourless tomatoes.

Needmorelego · 27/07/2024 18:16

@S0livagant well I'm not you and don't really understand your feelings but I really can't see how a barrier is hostile.
They also aren't exactly a new concept.
I remember as a child going to the local pool and you paid and then went through a turnstile.
Those turnstiles were from the 1930s.

S0livagant · 27/07/2024 18:08

Needmorelego · 27/07/2024 17:51

@S0livagant yes but the way modern payments are you often have to beep/scan something to be charged correctly.
So you have to have a machine there. If you have a ticket or payment card how does that make it hostile or unfriendly?
Is it hostile or unfriendly to have an inspector on the train or station who asks to see your ticket?
That's to prove you've paid. Automatic ticket barriers are just the same thing.

Edited

I don't mind a machine to beep on and off, or a person, as long as the person is friendly and polite of course. I find barriers hostile. I'm glad I live in a small town where the station is just two open platforms.