Is it normal for staff to have their bag searched when leaving work these days?

[nicenewone1]

Dd just started working in a posh clothing store. She says that they all have their bags searched when leaving. Well that might be a slight exaggeration, the manager looks into them as they leave

She was also questioned as to why she was taking her coat to the toilet draped over her arm

Is this normal practice these days? I would be very offended if it were me, but she doesn't seem to mind up to now.

Maybe I am being over sensitive?

I was buying something in GAP the other day and as I was being served a staff memeber came over and said to the person serving me "right I'm off now" and opened their bag up
Seems pretty standard

When I was at New Look I worked with someone who managed to get around the bag and locker check policy by taking brand new clothes from the stock room into the toilet with her and putting them on underneath what she was wearing that day. This went on for months until she was finally caught. They alway suspected it was her, but couldn't prove it as you can't just strip search someone. She was sacked on the spot and then they discovered she'd been hiding stuff in the sanitary bins in the staff toilet.

I run an expensive clothes shop, it's been in my family for 40 years. Over that time we have consistently had issues with staff stealing from us. Most of these staff were otherwise good at their job, polite and appeared completely honest. Some of them worked for us for years. As a family business it's heartbreaking when a valued member of your team turns out to be stealing from you. It directly hits our bottom line, jeopardising all of our wages.

Some of them have gone to great lengths to steal. One even had a deal going on with our window cleaner of 20 years- we found a pile of clothing in his industrial buckets! Another had had a really hard year, we gave him an interest free loan to cover a family funeral- and a few months later he was spotted on camera putting tshirts down his trousers.

So yes, we do bag checks as standard. I wish we didn't have to- but the fact is that we do. Most of our staff have been with us for years and have know what we are up against, so they are happy to comply.

Part of my job role is to be a searcher

Can search personal (pockets etc),bag car or locker

Also deters drugs being brought in as we have a dangerous workplace h&s wise!

I think the bottom line for me is that I like to think that most people are as honest as the day is long

Most people who work in fraud/loss prevention reckon that 10% of the population would never commit a fraud/steal/break the law; 10% of the population are pretty much on the lookout for any opportunity and will take it if they see it. The other 80% so the vast majority of the world could go either way...

...that depends on the circumstances you need to have three factors present for people to steal/commit fraud (think about detective films where they are always on about 'motive, means and oppoortunity'):

• financial need - might be that they can't afford it but need can also include just 'wanting stuff'
• opportunity - ie they can get away with it
• rationalisation - justification 'the shop expects to lose some stock so why shouldn't I have it, I work really hard and always do more than they pay me for' or 'I covered for Lucy last week when she was ill but didn't get extra pay even though she gets an AM wage and I'm only an assistant'.

Bag checks remove a large part of the opportunity part of this. The easiest way to nick stuff is to walk out with it in your bag.

The common response when I've taught this on courses is 'but I'd never steal/break the law and don't know anyone who would'. We tend to then ask about speeding - 90% of people won't speed past eg a primary school at 3.30 on a weekday afternoon but a hell of a lot of them would at 3.30am on Thursday evening with an ill relative who needed to get to hospital.

That's the rationalisation and the 'need' part: 'the police will understand' and '111 told me she needed to get to hospital quickly and an ambulance would take too long'. The opportunity is that at 3.30am they assume no-one will catch them.

Omg fresh, that is so sad, you sound like such a lovely employer, and to betrayed like that is terrible

Last retail job I had, they searched you before your shift, in the middle of your shift when they checked your till, and again at the end. You were also expected in at 8.45 despite not being paid until 9 and you had to stay 15mins - half an hour unpaid after the store was shut to make sure it was tidy.

I worked for a well known biscuit manufacturer as a student on the evening shift. Iwas horrified as to how much stuff was nicked by the workers there. They all saw it as fair game.

I work in retail. This is common practice because, as others have said, staff theft is significant and a huge cost to businesses with a knock on effect to other consumers.

Sadly I have learned in my 20 years in retail that you can never predict who will be stealing. I've known all ages, backgrounds, personal circumstances, levels from shop floor workers right up to senior managers ... for some people temptation is just too much and it's a slippery slope that usually starts very small and escalates as they get away with it for a time. You want to trust everyone but equally experience tells you it could be anyone. Businesses have to protect themselves and searching staff is as much about being a deterrent as it is expecting to find anything. Where I work they're random and could be at any time during your shift. Equally much of the security measures e.g. Tags or security wrap are there to make it more inconvenient to steal that people won't bother. Retailers are trying to put off opportunistic theft and identity regular, well planned theft too.

We also invest a lot in technology which identifies suspicious transactions, refunds, potentially fraudulent activity etc so it's not just physical searching that goes on.

I suppose i have become desensitised to it, but I have too many examples of finding out that people who were believed to be completely trustworthy were actually stealing over a prolonged period - it's just a fact of life for me now.

We dont get checked

Probably should though

Doesnt appear to be much theft but I appreciate thats not the case all the time or in all shops

Again we have to work extra time for no pay and be available work any day of the year except easter sunday and Christmas day for minimum wage

I work on retail we have bag searches at end of shift too.. you can't be too trusting!

Thanks nicene, we are a small independent- I think are pretty good to our team and it's hard to see us banded together with less caring employees on the basis that we carry out bag checks.

As another poster said, it's sadly true that a surprisingly highly proportion of people will steal under some circumstances. It does have a massive impact on a business like ours though- times are hard enough without loosing precious stock!

Sadly I have learned in my 20 years in retail that you can never predict who will be stealing

This is very true, and applies to far more than just retail. Years ago I ran the local community centre, where the level of theft was phenomenal. Our OAP group were especially loud about protecting their kit and insisted on their cupboards being heavily padlocked and chained - it looked like Marley's ghost in there

They were also very reluctant to allow me, as centre manager, to have a key, and the real reason became clear later ... their cupboards were absolutely stuffed with other folks' equipment, which they were found to be gradually shifting at car boot sales

As a teen I worked in a Fenwick's department store, we had lockers and weren't allowed possessions on the shop floor bar a clear pouch for lip balm, tissues etc. Our bags were checked on the way out.

I have also worked in New Look and Quba Sails who didn't check, but Fat Face did.

I'm sure that it was just a look, they were t allowed to touch or put their hands in bags.

I am more and and as this thread goes on

I must have led a very sheltered life.

I had my bag searched 17 years ago when working for a distinctly not-posh clothing shop.

Staff were also not allowed to buy items from the regular tills, we had to go to the customer services till and have our purchases written down in a book.

I worked in a supermarket whilst at sixth form. We were subjected to bag checks about once a month. You also had to make sure you didn't have anything store branded in your bag, or you had to get it logged with the manager before the shift started. Bloody annoying if you kept a small lip balm in your bag etc.

The store were also super strict on the staff discount policy. You could not use your discount for another person...even if you were paying for the goods. One staff member got a disciplinary and lost their pay increment for buying two tubes of sweets (using the discount) and then passing one to a friend on the way out!

The wastage policy was also crazy. For instance, if a multi pack of crisps split open then all went in the bin. Barely anything got put in the staff discount section to discourage deliberate wastage by staff. If you ate any of the food it was instant dismissal.

You also had to be on the shop floor before your shift started. If you started at 9am, then you had to be in front of your manager by 8:59. I once arrived at 8:59 and my manager had the cheek to say "oh there you are! I was wondering when you would get here".

Don't miss those days...

I used to work in a shop part time a few years ago.

We were always searched at the end of our shift. We had to sign in and list what money/items we had with us and our bags were locked away. Then we'd sign out and be checked against our signing in list - if we bought a drink or something on shift we had to keep receipts, etc.

I used to just take a bank card and my front door key in my pocket to save all the rigmarole

I used to work in HMV and they didn't check bags there.

I must have led a very sheltered life

Not necessarily, OP - I think many of the honest don't tend to go round looking for dishonesty and probably don't even notice it until it's thrust in our faces

Which is, of course, precisely how the dishonest get away with it so much

“We weren't searched but you were only on the shop floor in the uniform dress which had no pockets.”

When I had a Saturday job at BHS our nylon work overalls had no pockets for the same reason.

“I know it's a case of nothing to worry about if nothing to hide, but it's not the point is it”

But the point is, judging from the many posts stating that stealing is so prevalent, it becomes very necessary to have staff bag searches, so you just have to accept that it comes with the territory. There is no point in bleating on about it. Just as there is no point in complaining about bag searches at airports.

“If you ever read threads on here about shoplifting you will see that stealing from big shops is seen as fair game by a surprising number of posters.”

This ^^ and hotels/cafes/restaurants. What is wrong with these people who think that it is OK to steal?

I led a very sheltered life until I had kids and gave up on a nice civil service career (24 hour on call did not fit with my personal circumstances.)

When I decided to return to work I went into retail and OMG it is an eye opener. I am one of the 10% who would not steal, would not speed, would not "get the self righteous stick out of my arse and live a little" as I have been told...

My first retail job - a well known nationwide craft store - had bag checks. They also had random money drop checks - drop a fiver in front of one of the security cameras in the till region and see if it gets picked up by staff and handed in. I did not know they did this until I got told off for "being too bloody on it" and handing in before they had the chance to check out the staff they had worries about! But my reputation going before me helped - MY manager tried stealing over £1000 of stock and blaming me - the boss laughed at her.

Also had to write every purchase in "the book", only purchase when a senior manager was present, have no money on the shop floor, no pockets etc..

My current job is soooooooooo different. Was told explicitly I was trusted, that you can buy what you want without needing to involve ANYONE, that the cashing up at the end of the day just needs to be about right. Staff have been there for over 20 years, their only jobs come up on retirement or relocation. I still ask about stuff all the time - it got ingrained.

So not all retail employers are like that - generally the big ones.

I worked for a big retail company and had my bag searched every day at the end of the shift at the front door to the store whether customers where there or not. I also had to take my shoes off. So you can imagine when I started working for a bank how embarrassing it was on my first day at the end of the shift when I took my shoes off and opened my bag for the manager to search and all the staff pissed themselves laughing at me.

then they discovered she'd been hiding stuff in the sanitary bins in the staff toilet

Grim!