to object to this dreadful Primark changing room policy?

[Jonbb]

I needed some shorts and Manchester Primark is handy, however at the fitting room the staff were searching every item. So they took the items off people at the entrance, and item by item the staff shook them and felt inside them, then counted them out loud to another staff member who checked and you then had a ticket with the number of items on and could enter. I was gobsmacked. The queue was horrendous. On the way out I'm afraid I didn't want to play so just dumped the items on the member of staff who shouted at me 'wait a moment I haven't checked these'. Aibu to just walking out vowing to never return? They made me feel like a thief and there are other value shops who don't treat their customers this way. Apparently it's a new policy introduced 3 weeks ago . . ..

This policy, draconian though it seems, unfortunately does nothing to address the 'hidden' problem of stock shrinkage -- i.e. the stuff that walks out of the store with staff/friends of staff. (Another major problem for clothing retailers. and one they don't like to talk about.)

Primark has always had looong queues !

I never use the changing rooms there as I find it quicker to try it on at home. I haven't shopped there for about 6 years though but seems nothing's changed in that respect.

M&S count items in and out too

You have to be a special kind of skank to steal from Primark.

Can't see anything wrong with what they are doing tbh.

Don't believe a WORD of it that 60% of customers shoplift from there. Utter bollocks.

Isn’t it obvious OP

The staff probably get searched as well.
Years ago I worked in a large city centre night club (bar work) and the club used to randomly bring in security with sniffer dogs before the shift. Staff had to line up, while the dogs sniffed at your clothes and bags. It was for drugs/drug dealing and as far as I know no one was ever found to have anything untoward on them

If it’s easy to steal from Primark due to lack of security, that’s why they are targeted! It’s hardly their premium range fashion is it?

Why do people shop there anyway? We all know they are made by sweat shop workers paid a pittance in India and third world countries. Cheap but not cheerful! We should have more dignity than support that.

There was a thread not so long ago about a woman who swopped her bra in the changing room for a primark one

Seemed mightily excessive to me

Why don't security tags? Surely it costs them more in lost stock than to provide them?

^ they have

Primark has a well documented issue with chronic persistent shoplifting - particularly with people shoplifting entire outfits simply by changing in the changing rooms

I'm not surprised they are trying a new approach. What might work is doing away with CR altogether and people having to return if they don't fit

I used to have to do it as a Saturday girl in a clothes shop, take it from me I felt worse than you

This used to be standard in clothes shops, I remember places like Etam and C&A counting and giving you a plastic tag with a number on.

Google Primark shoplifting and you will get a load of results some of people who fully admit to having done it.
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/city-centre-primark-tops-table-6862250

I'm afraid I didn't want to play so just dumped the items on the member of staff this just makes you sound unpleasant also. It wasn't the staff members fault. They are people, not inanimate objects for "dumping" stuff on. You should treat people with respect. The staff are not beneath you.

This used to very common everywhere when I was teen (in the 80s). You queued up, handed your picks over, the assistant counted them and then handed them back to you with a tag with the number of garments on (or, in the case of M&S a particular shape on it that related to the number of items!). Then you handed it all back at the end. I once managed to lose my numbered tag between getting it and returning the clothes (I have no idea how) and they just shrugged. They weren't allowed to search me or anything so it was more of a deterrent than an attempt to catch thieves.

I work in primark and this is something we do have to do . We get numerous training sessions . Spent over a year working on fitting rooms every day . On a average 8 hour day you would have at least 3/4 people that would enter the fitting rooms , tell you they have 4 items but forget to mention the extra vest top inside the jacket , the makeup hidden in the folded jeans and the jewellery hidden In jacket pockets.

I’ve said it to management that people don’t like the way we’ve to search the items but we have no choice

I have always been amazed at people's willingness to queue in the UK. There is no way I would either wait in a queue to try something on or wait in a queue for it to be checked on exit. OP YANBU and I don't believe all these posters who apparently find their time being wasted acceptable. Shops need to find other ways to deal with theft (security tags, more cameras, more store detectives etc). I would think that most people who shop at Primark are happy to pay the good-value-for-money prices and to annoy those customers in order to hinder the few who steal is crazy.

But there's a big difference between:

1. counting items in and out - a lot of places still do that

and

2. checking the pockets, legs, sleeves and hems of each item IN ADDITION to counting in and out.

The latter being what OP has said they were doing. I'd have thought security tags would be less of a hassle for the shop?

But surely loads of shops give you a tag with the number of items on? They were just doing their jobs.

As PP’s have pointed out, primark don’t use security tags so I’d imagine they’re a prime target for shoplifting and it’s incredibly easy to do in the changing rooms.

YABU for even bothering to go to the fitting room. Primark queues are notoriously long so most people I know just buy the item, in more than one size if necessary and return the one/s that don't fit.

Most shops do this, maybe not always to the extent of checking the legs of jeans etc but the level of shoplifting on the high street is pretty shocking and the staff are just doing their job.

Just don't shop at primark

I’m so shocked at the 6/10!!! Assuming majority are repeat offenders.

I’m sure that growing up, in most shops you got your items counted and think given a desk witgthat printer number in so the items could be counted back out again. And most shops had a maximum of 4 or 5 items.

I’m a police officer in Manchester. I definitely believe the 6/10 stat.