To be really annoyed by this at Sainsbury's

[dcsp]

I was at a large branch of Sainsbury's yesterday evening. None of the staffed checkouts were open, so I went to the self-checkouts. On the way out of them they have fitted gates which don't open until you scan your receipt.

If there was a person barring my exit from a shop until I showed them my receipt, I'd feel insulted by what was effectively an accusation of theft. Having a machine perform the same role felt similarly insulting.

I appreciate that retail theft has increased, but treating every one of your customers as if they're a thief until they prove otherwise is not the right thing to do! (also I expect most theft at self-checkouts happens by people who do still check something out therefore have a receipt).

I agree but I think this is becoming old fashioned thinking (deal with the actual problem/perpetrators rather than affect everyone) sadly.

I can confirm that Costco still have two people stood at exit checking everyone's receipt. And that there are still queue for this at peak times

My peeve is that they give you the option to not have a receipt, and then need you to scan it to get out.

I’ve had this happen a couple of times and naively thought that someone had just changed their mind!

@OP, you’re taking this really personally. I’m not a thief and therefore do not object to measures designed to prevent theft, barely registers tbh.

I’m sure that if these measures make zero difference to stock loss something else will replace them. As it is I don’t think supermarket shopping is for you. Have you considered a market or home delivery?

Happened to me a few days ago.

I don't shop in Sainsburys very often, as we don't have one locally, so I was unaware of this new irritation. I can't remember if I declined a receipt, like I do in Tesco, but I certainly didn't wait for the till to churn one out.

I had to wait for an assistant to let me out of the barrier, he asked me how much my shopping had come to (which of course, I didn't know exactly, so could only give an approximate idea) and checked a handheld terminal thingy to find the relevant payment.

It seemed to take a good couple of minutes, and was a bit of a pain in the arse, as I was in a hurry. It had already taken longer than using one of the (very few) staffed checkouts, because the staff are so much quicker at scanning than I am and I can pack while they scan.

It's a complete pain in the arse imo. I've decided I want to go back to the days when my mum queued at a counter and the shop assistant went and got whatever she wanted.

My local Sainsbury's don't do this, but I went to another branch elsewhere and was totally confused as to why I couldn't get out!

I never get a receipt but had to do the walk of shame back to the checkout to collect it so I could get out.

I understand why, but it put me off and I'll not go back there. I felt like they were assuming I was a shoplifter.

YANBU

I agree with you, I went to a Sainsbury's recently after a ten hour drive, two young children in tow, all knackered and just wanted to get to our accommodation to sleep. Ran in for a pint of milk. No checkouts open, so had to go to self-scan, paid for my milk, went to leave and couldn't get out. Looked for a member of staff, no one around. The self-scanner hadn't given out a receipt. I was stuck there for ages and so pissed off.

I wasn't offended by it, but I was totally pissed off.

It's not ok to physically stop you from leaving the store and not even have a staff member there to help.

Are you annoyed that this has put paid to your surreptitious shoplifting career?

Costco has always had a guy checking every reciept before leaving.

They don't need 'reasonable suspicion' they're not the police. You can choose to not shop there.

That's ridiculous. So by your logic, anyone who doesn't like these is a shoplifter?

That's a ridiculous assumption to leap to.

It's perfectly ok to be a law-abiding citizen and not like being physically stopped from leaving a shop 🙄

That does seem exceptionally stupid of them.

What is the difference between producing your receipt to exit a supermarket and producing a ticket to exit a train station?

This is why I had to do my walk of shame, I chose no receipt, got to the barrier, the security bloke said the receipt I needed was at the till, and so it was. It printed anyway.

That's the automated equivalent of having a security guard who won't let anyone leave until they've shown their receipt. Pretty sure that wouldn't be legal, as they need some kind of reasonable suspicion to check.

There are already barriers that check for security protected items.

They either bring back majority manned checkouts as standard, or they trust that the customer is doing the checkout properly. They are making more money from us, whilst giving us less service and it's us who are presumed guilty, unless we prove our innocence with a receipt.
I'm not offended by the staff having to do the checks, but I am pissed off with certain supermarkets having the monopoly in some towns and doing/charging whatever they like.

It pisses me off too OP. Maybe if supermarkets went back to actually employing people maybe they wouldn't need to film everyone scanning their shopping or have barriers to get out or whatever desperate measures they'll resort to next.

Not something I could get worked up over personally.

How does it work though? If someone didn't pay for an item, what would scanning the receipt for what they did pay for actually do? It's not like the machine x-rays your shopping to make sure it matches up.

Why could you not have left the self service area the way you came in, back into the shop floor, and then exited via the closed till lanes. Even if they'd put the extending barrier ribbon across, you can just undo it yourself. Or are Sainsbury's shops being refitted so that there is one single exit from the whole shop floor, which is locked unless you scan your receipt?

Items in the baggage area are weighed. The receipt should match.

I suppose it is a judgment Sainsbury's have made about the area & their customers in that area. We just had our Sainsbury's switch to self-checkout and there are no barriers. You also choose if you want a receipt or not, so I usually say no to one. I agree with you, OP, I'd not care for this set-up.

It's not to stop people who pay but hide items in their bags. It's to stop people who don't pay at all for any of the shop.

The random spot checks by staff are there to catch people who hide items, or really, to deter people from hiding items in case they get spot checked.

I am sure you are right - Sainsburys are certainly making it abundantly clear they don't want "my type" of customer cluttering up their shops any longer.

Why should they trust the customer? Shoplifitng has gone through the roof.

I much prefer self scan with a handset and paying myself. Unloading al your food then packing it all over again is a waste of time.

Also please stop thinking of profit as a dirty word. The profit they make pays salaries and share holders. Without share holders there would be no supermarkets. And they do not make shedloads. The mark up is about 5% on wholesale costs.

They are cutting staff to save costs so we don't have to pay more for food.

My local shop (not uk) has the receipt barrier and does random checks so sure they will be introduced soon