to complain about a supermarket banning all school children??

[JW12345]

My 14 year old son and his friend went to buy a few items from our local Morrisons supermarket, which is something they have done many times before, however this time they were turned away at the entrance and told that any child under 16 was not allowed in without an adult.

When I rang to ask why I was told that school children steal from the shop and are abusive to staff. When questioning the store duty manager further it turned out that they knew the children concerned but had decided to ban all children as it was easier to maintain the ban.

My son and his friend are good kids and would not do this.

There are no signs up about this new policy, just the embarrassment for the children being turned away.

To me this is a very sweeping generalisation of what a generation of people are like.

We live in a small town so the local supermarket is also the same as your local shop.

This now means that children can no longer run errands for parents/grandparents, this will also affect those parents who have a disability/illness and rely on older children to help out.

I pointed out that in the local paper it was usually middle aged women or drunken 30ish men that were reported on for causing problems in the store, were they going to ban them too??

I have no problem with the store suggesting that children can't use the store just before school or for say the first hour after school, when you would probably get large numbers descending on the store but a complete blanket ban seems ridiculous and unfair to me, especially when there are no notices up.

What do you think??

flanbase.

If a branch of a national supermarket is in such a precarious financial position that theft by a few children could cause it to go under, well it doesn't sound very well managed at all and the banning is just another symptom of the failure in management.

I should think HO would be glad of the chance to get in there and sort the place out.

flanbase you think that under 16s who need access to their only local shop should have to go and petition management for access?

Dear lord.

We're talking fucking MORRISONS here not a small local business!

Some people are weird.

What morrisons has to say (2012 results):

"Results
Profit before tax was £947m, an increase of £73m (8%) when compared with £874m last year. Underlying profit before tax, which we regard as the true measure of business performance, was up 8% to £935m. Statutory basic earnings per share increased by 11% over the previous year to 26.7p, with underlying basic earnings per share up by 11% to 25.6p."

Struggling? Well they say not and I am inclined to believe them.

YANBU
I once noticed a sign saying no unaccompanied children on the Boots in my old school town.

How I wished I was 14 again. By God I would have gone in and given the manager a piece of my mind.

I absolutely hated the idea that people assumed all children were shop lifters. All my friends were honest to the point of handing untraceable cash in to the police. If act the police told us to keep it, they said no one ever came in for cash that fell out their back pockets as they assumed it taken.

Nicetabard - I don't care for your language.

Ooh look at this:

"Community and the environment

It is a source of pride that our colleagues and customers always go out of their way to support our charitable activities, and I am delighted that Save the Children was selected by our colleagues, for the second successive year, as our charity partner. Specifically, we have helped fund its award-winning Families and Schools Together (FAST) programme across the UK, which is designed to give the most disadvantaged children a chance of a better future. With an array of fundraising activities, we have raised £2.3m for FAST this year, successfully funding 24 programmes, as well as Save the Children's emergency appeals in Japan and East Africa."

But they are happy to turn away young customers, who want to buy essentials, and have no other shops! Interesting

OP that might be something to raise in your call. Linked in with young carers, young parents and vulnerable teens.

And i dont care for you attitude.

So I guess we're even

No we're not "even" as I don't use the swear words you do

It's an interesting discussion and I can deal with different opinions with out using the f word.

OK

In that case,

I win.

As morrisons are not a hard pressed local organisation
And it is totally unreasonable of them to refuse access to all unaccompanied under 16s, irrespective of their situation

Better?

So I agree with the supermarket on banning under 16yr olds as it must have been a hard time for them having abuse ad stock being stolen. They are making sure their shop makes a profit and their jobs stay.

hahahahaha

are you serious?

The idea of people being unable to buy food and essential supplies in the only shop in the town doesn't bother you

But someone using "the f word" does?

Well....................... fuck.

Mind-boggling.

Yy to NiceTabard if only for your nickname.
You do realise there is no such thing as a nice tabard, don't you?
Come the revolution...

Im willing to bet that a lot of these stores banning teenagers tend to have a very quick change of mind when they are offered teenagers to do "work experience in their stores when they are in the final year of school.

flanbase a lot of supermarkets make profits hand over fist and as for the jobs.... well a lot of these supermarkets use workfare. I dont think Morrisons does but Tesco certainly do and they were mentioned upthread.

Couple of years back my DS was turned away from a store when he was just into High school.

I had a new baby in the car after collecting him from after school activity and intended to pop in shop to buy Nappies on way home. All usual dramas ensued including baby crying,breasts leaking (typical new-ish born,unorganised,unplanned ,alleged short journey) so sent DS to go in shop for me after finding parking space round corner.

Refused entry as in school uniform!

This was good couple of hours after school and he explained he just needed nappies.

I was so annoyed and he was so embarrassed. I really wish I had done something at the time.

JW12345 I'd fire off a letter to head office as well as speaking to the Manager as I'll bet it isn't the only store that has this policy.

OP

I have an invite to the share holder's meeting 13/06/13.

Would you like to go as my proxy?

I'm astounded by the attitude, which if I'm reading it correctly is: large business can afford shoplifters.

I fail to see why MY shopping bill should go up to cover losses incurred by thieves, pilferers and the light fingered - because it does. The cost is passed on.

Where I live, there's a lot of loud, obnoxious teenagers milling about in shops around the school run time. They make it difficult for, in particular, mothers of young children to get through the supermarket and collect their older children at the school gates. They run through the aisles, fuck this and fuck that, throwing things to each other like a football, etc. It's really cringe-inducing.

Perhaps if stores had the ability to ban some kids who are poorly behaved, they wouldn't have to ban all kids outright.

This is what I've been saying & I've been very surprised at the support for yobs. The staff as well need to be supported in this

Saski where we live there aren't a lot of loud, obnoxious teenagers milling about in shops swearing.

My original point was that our branch of Morrisons knew who these children causing the problem were, and we're only talking about a very small handful (about 5), but chose to ban all children including primary school age children not just teenagers whether in school uniform or not.

So yes I agree with you ban those children causing the problem but not all.

A man aged in his 30s was reported on in our local paper as having stole some items and the security guard gave chase. They didn't ban all men in their 30s. There was another story of a 50 year old lady stealing a few items, they haven't banned 50 year old ladies.

I have never seen in our local paper any stories of children causing chaos in our local Morrisons.

Flanbase staff do need to be supported and should never have to put up with abuse but they are not being abused by every under 16 year old entering the shop and I have witnessed several adults at the customer services desk getting upset with something that has happened to them in this particular store.

But not all under 16's are 'yobs' or shoplifters.

I would have been fucked while I was pregnant with DD - I was 15. I had my own home and nobody to go shopping for me. If I had lived in this town, where the hell would I have bought my food and supplies for my new baby?!

If lots of men in their 30's shoplifted, would the store ban all men in their 30's, as being potential shoplifters?

If lots of Polish people shoplifted, would the store ban all Polish people, as being potential shoplifters?!

My 11yo DS1 and my 15yo DD are Young Carers, and often pop to the local supermarket to buy things I need, especially over the weekend, as it's our closest shop despite being 2 miles away.

How would I get my shopping if they weren't allowed in?!

This is a stupid rule.