It's miserable now in my local small Sainsbury's

[paddleboardingmum]

They have for some unknown reason moved absolutely everything. I think they got rid of the door security person and have put plastic sliders in front of everything even bars of chocolate so that it's hard to reach them. Coffee with security tags on, big screens in front of the tills like you're in a bank. I get that there are reasons but it has made shopping there quite miserable.

It's interesting that they can vary so much. Same with the small ones - one of the three local, erm, Locals is much better than the other two.

Great I won't be holding you up. I dont have any issues with self scan and don't buy alcohol so it's fine for me.

There are vulnerable people in all age groups and people who don't like self scan. I love it and have no problems using it.

I'm 62, but I still have functioning eyes and can see the age of people queueing at the cigarette counter with trolleys. Is reality ageism?

Point missed entirely. I don't use self scan.

You were complaining about people being ageist. I was saying plenty of younger people hate self scan for other reasons not because of complaints of people in front of them holding it up whether old or young.

My local Sainsbury’s is retry miserable too. I do self scan and the past 3 visits I’ve been held up by being stopped and re-scanned. So annoying. I’ve never ever had an incident during the re-scanning but each time it holds me up and makes me feel embarrassed. FFS Sainsbury’s- I am a (previously) loyal customer spending a lot at your stores but you treat me like a criminal. If you can’t trust me to use scan and pay then damn well abolish it and put staff back on the tills.

I agree shoplifting did happen but it was taken seriously.

Large store in a nice low crime area has suddenly installed barriers and cameras on the self check out which just feels as if they assume everyone is a criminal

That's exactly it, you're treated like you are presumed to be about to pinch a chocolate bar or can't be trusted with a jar of coffee. It really makes things miserable for customers.

Wrt shoplifting, mostly people won't steal from other people. But maybe a few would steal from a machine. Eg taking advantage of a busted parking machine or vending machine. These new person-less contactless bagless shops possibly occupy a similar moral space, thought-wise.

That's an interesting point @Emori I can imagine it being easier for people to justify it to themselves that way, hadn't thought of that

I dunno, it's just an idea. Seems a bit weird that we've all spontaneously become mad thieves out of the blue, apparently, at the same time as shops go staff-less.

I think also there is an element of feeling invisible to technology that you can't see/don't understand. And when they feel invisible, some people get sneaky. It's that whole "what do you do when no one's looking" issue.

I completely forgot to scan an item when using the handheld scanner at our local Sainsbury's. I tried to get a member of staff to rectify it for me and she told me not to bother, call it a free gift! She was not interested in helping me and was very dismissive.
I ended up going to another till and paying for it there. Good job I did as I got stopped at the door by the security guard. I was not impressed with her attitude.

I wish the "scumbags" were thriving 😂

I'll blame the lack of services, health care, housing, quality jobs, decent pay, state of the education system, previous and current governments and nasty, clueless individuals like you.

This is exactly how I would describe ours - in an expensive part of London, the staff say they don’t really have an issue with shoplifting.

It’s so strange.

When I was in my twenties I used to live in a really
dodgy area, and there was an off licence with a cage set up. We used to laugh at how awful it was. Cue 2026 and all the supermarkets are moving this way - cages, items on the shelves in security boxes, staff wearing cameras. Awful.

Some posts have mentioned living in nice areas and low crime areas - and their Sainsbury's have done this

I was just thinking I haven't been in there for a while.

Anyway, now I'm wondering if they're gonna do it there. You have to open a cabinet to get a chocolate bar? It all sounds pretty mad. I hope they're not doing it in every shop.

A cabinet won't stop people shoplifting anyway.

I'm not sure I know what people mean by cage set up. Maybe I'm really naive.

I'm not sure I know what people mean by cage set up. Maybe I'm really naive.

The staff are stuck in like a big giant perspex box, not just behind a screen but in a completely closed in thing with the booze and fags and tills inside. So you can only see them through the screen. Except the staff who are not in there because they are either blocking the aisles unloading stuff, or trying to override the self service tills for annoyed customers.

@paddleboardingmum thanks

Sounds horrible for staff

I wonder if it depends on the size of the store. Ours is quite small so that would be a horrible uncomfortable set up.

I was just pondering the decline of my local Sainsbury’s. Last Saturday it was absolutely packed and there was only one till open, half the self service trolley machines were out of order and they had one member of staff run ragged at the basket self-service area trying to help people with constant ‘computer says no’ stuff.

There were about 20 people queuing for self service but no space to queue, so they were blocking shoppers getting by, and almost every aisle had staff restocking (whatever happened to night stocking?), and abandoned cages and stools left mid aisle by the stockers. Carnage.

It used to be a well staffed and well laid out store, but it seems to have gone the way of WH Smith before it closed on our high street - completely disorganised, the lay out keeps changing in ever more badly thought out ways, stock everywhere in awful displays that block access at every turn and too few staff who seem stressed and miserable.

Something has gone very wrong.

Just the way it is these days, supermarkets (understandably) prioritising their profits. It’s the shoplifting scumbags who’re to blame.

Can you think of better ways Sainsbury’s should be deterring shoplifters?

I only shop in Waitrose in person, the others are a bad experience, fortunately Waitrose is one of our main large supermarkets. I don't think I could put myself through getting a big shop in the other main supermarkets

If my husband insists on going to Sainsbury's for the big shop I send him on his way. I Will happily shop in the big Tesco or Lidl here, but I cannot be faffed doing a full weekly shop on self service.

I was just thinking this - we don’t have this in Cheshire (and I live in the dodgy bit, not a posh bit!)

Haven't seen this yet so had to look it up - it will come to my area soon, no doubt. Looks so claustrophobic for anyone who works inside.
Shop crime is now so bad Sainsbury's staff have to work in glass and metal CAGE to protect them and their goods | Daily Mail Online

I truly don’t understand why shops even employ security guards. They have no more power than any member of the public and are purely meant to be a deterrent. They can confront people but can’t touch them and can’t recover anything they’ve stolen.
I work in a supermarket.

One of the big Sainsbury’s near me is run down and has a lack of staff , the ones they do have look miserable. The other one ( which is a bit of a drive away from me) was opened just prior to lockdown and has a completely different feel to it. I feel that the ones in charge do tend to prioritize certain stores over others.
Could be an area thing or maybe one makes more profit than the other does.