Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Asda and being treated like a shoplifter!

129 replies

Lhddujvf · 25/03/2022 03:10

AIBU to think it's off for Asda to come and age verify me for a bottle of Baileys but not remove the tag until I've actually paid, meaning you have to then wait for someone to come over again for a second time). I was checking out around £200 of stuff, some of those gifts including an afternoon tea voucher worth £34. Surely if they think I'm going to shoplift, it wouldn't be the bottle of Baileys! Have never shoplifted in my life, was smartly dressed (not that that should matter) and didn't even have a handbag with me. I just thought the attitude of two of the staff was 'off' in their manner (" oh no, we won't remove that until you've paid!").

FWIW, I'm not going to overthink this, just wanted to do a quick AIBU!!

OP posts:
Original poster
Lhddujvf · 25/03/2022 07:15

@RustyShackleford3

I did end up saying.. look I'm not going to shoplift your bottle of Baileys

I don't think shoplifting risk assessments are based on the honour system. You telling them you aren't going to steal from them isn't enough for them to relax their security procedures. Surely you can understand this?

Haha 😂😂😂 that's me told!!
OP posts:
Heatherjayne1972 · 25/03/2022 07:21

I think that’s standard procedure with anything that’s got a security tag

In Tesco if you pay (for clothes in my case) at the self service till you pay then ask them to remove the tag they check your receipt and then remove the tag.

And yes that was after she’d been back and forth to swipe the machine because it didn’t recognise several light items

More worrying that a pp got outside the shop with a security tag attached and the alarm didn’t go off - presumably
( not accusing pp but not a great deterrent again theft)

Original poster
Lhddujvf · 25/03/2022 07:22

@ILoveYou3000

It's relevant because if people are going to shoplift, surely, this was more than double the amount and would be easy to steal!!!

Erm, no. You have to actually scan the vouchers for them to become active. Otherwise everyone would be stealing them and they'd cost the company too much money, so would be kept secured.

Why do you feel you're above company policy?

The best shoplifters, the ones who are hardest to catch, are the ones who 'blend', smartly dressed, doing a full shop, looking like every other customer, they don't stand out.

She wouldn't remove the tag after the Baileys was scanned. Instead I had to wait forever for someone to come back again after I had paid. Some of those vouchers are £100 so I'm surprised to see a big tag on a bottle of Baileys (£15) and yet say a £100 Amazon voucher that's small and would be ease to conceal dies not have any security attached to it.
OP posts:
Skyeheather · 25/03/2022 07:23

It's not just ASDA, Tesco won't take the tag off anything until you've paid and show your receipt. It's just policy.

How did you get a gift card though the self service checkout? Usually you have to go to a "human" till to get it validated. I would check it's got money on it...

SartresSoul · 25/03/2022 07:26

Go to a regular human run checkout with that much stuff. Self serve is supposed to be for people with a small basket of stuff, not £200 worth of shit.

They weren’t targeting you specifically as others have said. If they removed the tag first, it would set the scales off.

SoupDragon · 25/03/2022 07:26

was smartly dressed

If it were that simple, all shoplifters would just go dressed smartly so as to avoid suspicion 😂

Original poster
Lhddujvf · 25/03/2022 07:26

@Skyeheather

It's not just ASDA, Tesco won't take the tag off anything until you've paid and show your receipt. It's just policy.

How did you get a gift card though the self service checkout? Usually you have to go to a "human" till to get it validated. I would check it's got money on it...

I have bought them before and not had to do that!! Worried now as it a gift!!!!
OP posts:
TitoMojito · 25/03/2022 07:28

YABU. They didn’t remove the tag because you hadn't actually bought the item yet.

SoupDragon · 25/03/2022 07:29

Self serve is supposed to be for people with a small basket of stuff, not £200 worth of shit.

That's not necessarily true any more. My local Sainsbury's has trolley sized self check out bays. I'm not sure I could be arsed to scan a trolley load of ordinary shopping though (I use scan and you go)

dementedpixie · 25/03/2022 07:29

Depends on the shop as I know in Tesco I need to go to a manned till to get gift cards activated. Not sure of policies in other stores. Check your receipt as it should say on there.

My tesco checks your receipt before removing tags from items

gettingolderandgrumpy · 25/03/2022 07:29

Don’t be a twit op just scan the Baileys last next time . Tbh I honestly thought you scanned everything then at the end they approved it then took any tags off well they do at my asda so it’s never been a issue .

LadyPenelope68 · 25/03/2022 07:29

@Lhddujvfre are you always so dramatic about everything?? Stop making a fuss about nothing. Just because you’d spent a lot doesn’t mean you wouldn’t shoplift.

dementedpixie · 25/03/2022 07:30

@SartresSoul

Go to a regular human run checkout with that much stuff. Self serve is supposed to be for people with a small basket of stuff, not £200 worth of shit.

They weren’t targeting you specifically as others have said. If they removed the tag first, it would set the scales off.

We have trolley self service tills in some of the asda stores near us so not just for a basket of shopping
ILoveYou3000 · 25/03/2022 07:32

She wouldn't remove the tag after the Baileys was scanned. Instead I had to wait forever for someone to come back again after I had paid.
Some of those vouchers are £100 so I'm surprised to see a big tag on a bottle of Baileys (£15) and yet say a £100 Amazon voucher that's small and would be ease to conceal dies not have any security attached to it.

As I just explained: vouchers/gift cards do not become active until they are scanned and the transaction completed (payment made), thus no need for it to be secured.

Yes that's correct, until payment is made tags are to remain on the product. She could have removed it and despite you scanning you could have walked off. That happens, a lot. People wait until the colleague is distracted then scarper without payment. Shoplifters are skilled at what they do, they even go so far as placing a card into the machine then pulling it out just before the transaction goes through. If they're then caught they play dumb, make the payment and try again next time.

Original poster
Lhddujvf · 25/03/2022 07:32

17eldora

mogsrus

Afternoon tea voucher, why was that item relevant to the rest of the ridiculous post

I think it’s meant to add to the ‘but I’m a LADY’ picture she’s cultivating.
----------

Sadly, apart from the crumpets, jam and shower gel, tnone of it was for me... the rest of the items were gifts for X2 mother's day, gift for estate agent and gifts for my aunties 70th!

OP posts:
ILoveYou3000 · 25/03/2022 07:33

@SoupDragon

was smartly dressed

If it were that simple, all shoplifters would just go dressed smartly so as to avoid suspicion 😂

The good ones do. Because security are too busy watching the scruffs, who are obviously up to no good.
Original poster
Lhddujvf · 25/03/2022 07:34

@ILoveYou3000

*She wouldn't remove the tag after the Baileys was scanned. Instead I had to wait forever for someone to come back again after I had paid. Some of those vouchers are £100 so I'm surprised to see a big tag on a bottle of Baileys (£15) and yet say a £100 Amazon voucher that's small and would be ease to conceal dies not have any security attached to it.*

As I just explained: vouchers/gift cards do not become active until they are scanned and the transaction completed (payment made), thus no need for it to be secured.

Yes that's correct, until payment is made tags are to remain on the product. She could have removed it and despite you scanning you could have walked off. That happens, a lot. People wait until the colleague is distracted then scarper without payment. Shoplifters are skilled at what they do, they even go so far as placing a card into the machine then pulling it out just before the transaction goes through. If they're then caught they play dumb, make the payment and try again next time.

Thank you for explaining this. I am perhaps to naive to how prevalent shoplifting is and the type of tactics used.
OP posts:
alaksaaassdd · 25/03/2022 07:35

"Some of those vouchers are £100 so I'm surprised to see a big tag on a bottle of Baileys (£15) and yet say a £100 Amazon voucher that's small and would be ease to conceal dies not have any security attached to it."

The voucher is just a bit of cardboard/plastic, It's not worth anything until you've paid for it OP 😂

Original poster
Lhddujvf · 25/03/2022 07:38

13MacaroniBaloney

Carrotten

If you've got 200 quid of shopping including alcohol just go through the normal checkouts!

That's what I thought! Self scanning £200 of items including tagged items would have sent me over the edge!!!

-----------

There are only about 5 tills with assistants now in my local Asda.. they've heavily invested in trolley and basket self serve check outs.

OP posts:
goingtotown · 25/03/2022 07:40

Scanning £200 worth of items at a self checkout is ridiculous.

UsernameInTheTown · 25/03/2022 07:41

YABU shopping in Asda. It is minging.

Original poster
Lhddujvf · 25/03/2022 07:42

@goingtotown

Scanning £200 worth of items at a self checkout is ridiculous.
It's a trolley self serve checkout.
OP posts:
Georgeskitchen · 25/03/2022 07:42

Its company practice at all supermarkets. People have been known to scan all.the items then take the goods without paying. Many shoplifters are smartly dressed. They do it for a living!
Final point theres nothing more irritating than waiting at selfsame with a few items to find one annoying fucker scanning a massive trolley full!!

dementedpixie · 25/03/2022 07:43

@UsernameInTheTown

YABU shopping in Asda. It is minging.
Stupid pointless comment
dementedpixie · 25/03/2022 07:43

@Georgeskitchen

Its company practice at all supermarkets. People have been known to scan all.the items then take the goods without paying. Many shoplifters are smartly dressed. They do it for a living! Final point theres nothing more irritating than waiting at selfsame with a few items to find one annoying fucker scanning a massive trolley full!!
Asda have both trolley and basket self service tills