To think retailers should t charge staff for shop lifters

[Cecillie]

Dd just started a temporary job in a Morrison's local. Training was non existent and it's minimum wage . She has been worried about people using tap and pay and walking off before transaction approved as the system is really slow but there were no systems in place.
Today a guy bought £10 of beer, tapped and power walked off, transaction was declined.
She immediately told her supervisor and was made to pay for the beer on her debit card. So basically an hour and a half pay for her .
Surely this isn't legal ? They can claim it back as lost stock ?
Supervisor said oh that's nothing , someone had to pay £200 once

Either she reports this to store manager/head office or you do. I work in retail, that is shocking!

Thanks
Really useful info
She is over 18, doing this between graduating uni and starting a masters but very shy, not one to make a fuss.
She is off tomorrow and then on holiday for ten days but think she will hand in her notice tomorrow with a letter explaining why and I think I will encourage her to contact head office as this does sound dodgy .

This is not Morrison’s policy. As an aside, staff discount doesn’t apply to alcohol purchases so would have made no difference to price. Regardless, she should but have paid. Raise with Store Manager/HR.

*not have paid

It’s a Morrison’s local so I think head office And policy is Mac colls , so as not to diss Morrison’s on here !
Though suspect this is not official policy

@Micemakingclothes

I haven’t worked retail in ages, but we very specifically we’re not allowed to stop shoplifters. We would be fired if we tried. 1. It puts us in danger and 2. It makes it harder for the store to prosecute if they want to pursue. If this is what retail work has become, it’s worthy of a strike. That is ludicrous.

This.

The way she's been treated is disgusting.

Don't they have security guards for that type of incident?

That's terrible, OP.
I remember it happening to a friend that was a waitress who couldn't catch a table full of people who walked/ran out.

Years ago my son worked in a supermarket where the policy was to stop shoplifters from running away with goods. One guy ran after a shoplifter who turned around and punched him in the mouth knocking teeth out before getting away.

The store would not pay the dental bill.

After that my son turned a blind eye when he saw anything.

No security guards, it’s just a village shop, though a big one.
Have emailed mc Coll’s head office asking for a response on this policy from HR.
Will update
Thanks again, never worked in retail so didn’t know if this was the norm.

@Backhills

I'm sure that can't be official Morrisons policy. Either a colleague is running a scam or that's some sort of weird "joke"/initiation. DD should speak to the store manager or HO if she gets no joy there.

Yes I think the store manager is trying to recover their loses illegally so that when they have their next stock audit the deficit is Minimal.

Or Possibly to make sure That they hit their sales targets as any losses will be deducted from their sales figures.

Definitely contact head office

That's appalling. Bet it's some Billy big balls manager where the power has gone to his head.
There is some archaic law where cashiers had to make up shortages in the till but this is a stretch even for that.

I am sure stores allow for this when they price their goods. They call it retail shrinkage or similar

I feel sorry for your daughter - this is an appalling practice; she is an adult however, certainly help her with the wording, but any complaints to management/head office etc. should really be from her, rather than you?

I would have refused to pay and, if they sacked me, I would go straight to the Daily fucking Mail with story.

@Powertothepetal

Tbh this sounds too unbelievable to be true but I’ll comment anyway.

I assume the protocol is the same in a small local store as in a big one.
The declined receipt needs to be signed by the checkout team leader then all receipts go to the cash office at the end of the day.

Getting staff to pay for shoplifted goods is 100% illegal and may well be a sackable offence.
Your DD needs to get the union involved immediately.
Even if she isn’t a member herself.

Check my posting history, why would I make this up ! Am enraged precisely because it’s so ridiculous a policy.

But thank you for the advice , very concise and informative.

Dd can just leave , there’s plenty of other parttime jobs locally where they don’t treat you like this .it’s the principle that bothers me.some of the other staff are young mums with a family and that would be a significant loss.

That is shocking. I worked in retail for years and never had to do that. It wouldn’t have been worth my while nicking stuff of it had…….

Anyway. My guess is that the policy is to stop people from telling their mates to come in and put stuff through on the self check out and get away with not paying. Still bollocks though.

OP, please take that bitch down! How dare she? The supermarkets take shoplifting into account when pricing goods.

@quizqueen

I would have refused to pay and, if they sacked me, I would go straight to the Daily fucking Mail with story.

Me too, but dd hasn’t got the assertiveness life skills yet ! The phrase, tell them to stick their job up their ...., may have been said 😜

No , they made her scan another pack and pay with her card
She was especially annoyed that she bought some other things and wasn't allowed to use her staff discount card because the beers were part of it

This just wouldn’t happen OP.

That's disgraceful.
I would encourage her to join a union going forward ( obviously they can't help with this situation)
I think she should formally write and challenge what happened.

What happened to the pack she bought? Put back on a shelf?

If she has been paid less than minimum wage for the hours worked (by nature of the forced deduction / payment for beers) then that is also illegal

Never encountered this in retail but when I was growing up it was a known ‘policy’ in local restaurants that staff had to pay if their tables did a runner.

It’s awful that the lowest paid are punished for the actions of other people that are totally out of their control.

I agree with pp that it could be about minimising loss in an audit - not that that is your dd’s problem.