To be really sick of supermarkets treating paying customers like scum

I've been scan-and-shopping at tesco for 7/8 years and buy alcohol almost every week. Never had my receipt checked or anything of the sort.

Weirdly aggressive OP.

Interestingly, Booths in Windermere and Keswick haven't. Equally interestingly, they are the only Booths stores I know of with a noticeable security presence.

I don’t understand it either. If I was going to steal anything then I’d be taking my chances by running out the front door not going through the self scan.

I do wonder about the health and safety aspect of all of these gates, especially where it is also gated to get into the store, for example if the store needed to be evacuated in an emergency.

Experience tells me that needing a receipt to exit (or to ask to be let out without buying anything) is problematic if you need to rush out.....morning sickness was so much fun!

This can’t be a serious post?

Illegal detention!?!

Are you nuts? Oh actually you are... sorry.

I'm guessing you have no actual idea of the legalities around any of this at all.

I mean, it's pretty obvious you don't.

Personally, I have no issue with the odd measure to help keep shoplifting down. Who do you think covers the cost of all the stuff nicked?

Hint: it's not the shareholders and it's not coming of profit.

Presumably the same as the rest of us? The drama! 🎭

The receipt scanner barriers and the physical blocking could amount to illegal detention. 😂😂

Oh please please go to a human rights or criminal lawyer and claim the barrier was illegally detaining you and film it please.

Of course. That's why I used the word HYPOTHETICAL

I'm asking that poster hypothetically what they would be willing to put up with in order to stop theft

The receipt scanner barriers and the physical blocking could amount to illegal detention
No.
No, it couldn't.

None of that stuff happens in shops, nor has anyone suggested it should.
Why the hype?

I think it does vary depending on where you live. Talking with my family about this (all over the country) many of their supermarkets are more relaxed than those where I live - shopping has now become very tiresome due to security.

Care to provide legal text where shops are not private property?

Many shops are private property. Store that are on private property, have an implied invitation for customers to come in and shop, they are also fully entitled to ban someone from entering the premises. There does not have to be a reason, but customers are usually banned because of theft, intimidation, disruption, drunkenness or drugs.

What laws are you claiming they are breaking in an event to prevent theft from you or others, no where have you said they are illegally detaining or imprisoning you?

What else would you be happy with? So let's say hypothetically, instead of just a random check, would you be happy to be checked every single time? Bags searched every time you go shopping? What about being patted down and searched? Strip searched? Questioned and interrogated? Ok, these are extreme examples obviously. I'm just wondering how much intrusion you are willing to go through to protect the profits of a company?

I don’t understand the objection. We all know people are stealing; I’m more than happy to have a random check, as I don’t steal and people stealing adds costs to all of us. So as far as I’m concerned they can crack on.

if it was my business you can be damn sure I’d be checking and not letting people rob me blind.

bit that kind of rationale is not good customer service as the default is everyone is guilty! This is what people are objecting to, the premise that you are guilty of shoplifting despite never having shop lifted

But it is loads worse in the current age, even on our local news it had an article on this today and it is up 50%! I worked in retail in the mid 90s both supermarkets and fashion shops and I don’t remember it being as bad as this and the end of the day it is down to greed as it about the bottom line and more money for the share holders - good customer service used to be a thing but now it is taken for granted that customers will do the work for them. Of course people are going to exploit that weakness with self service if they are that way inclined, the supermarkets want the best of both worlds, the customers doing the work but having the same profits - of course that is going to be problematic!

I get they have to do it, but most thieves aren't buying and scanning their weekly shop, they're in and out with holdalls and backpacks within a minute

I think there is a lot of people opportunistic thieving. Scanning most of their shopping, slipping through an few items. Claiming it was a scanning error when caught. And that’s why they do random checks, as they know people are doing it. The random checks designed to be a detterant rather than they think they will catch everyone.

@Goldenbear I started working in retail in the 90s.
No self service tills.
Yes shoplifting was bad even back then.
It's been bad since the Romans had market stalls.

I think theft has gone up so much because of the self scan and automated tills. There's so many staff monitoring these things that it takes more off the shop floor.

I always use the normal tills anyway in the supermarket but when I was last in ALDI I saw a man with a backpack loading it up with meats and cheese without a care in the world in front of everyone. No member of staff anywhere near the isles so went to the till to let them know, he was long gone by the time the security guard came out from the back.

Now if I had used a self check out/self scan and been stopped that day and inspected I reckon I'd have been pissed off.

I get they have to do it, but most thieves aren't buying and scanning their weekly shop, they're in and out with holdalls and backpacks within a minute.

Sorry terrible grammar and spelling throughout this.

Ha ha this made me laugh

Bang on.