Would you have unpacked your shopping and repacked?

[SweeetFemaleAttitude]

Just did a huge weekly shop at Tesco and as I was leaving I was asked for my receipt, that was fine. Then after a pause the shop assistant and security explained they were doing random trolley checks, and asked to check the receipt against the shipping.

I wasn’t impressed, but calmly stood back and said ‘please ensure everything goes back in the correct bags, I’ve sorted it for a reason’.

They then said they expected ME to unpack items as they ticked it off the receipt.

I just laughed a bit inside at the idea. I’d just done a big shop and pissed around with a self service machine wasting a lot of time compared to a human scanner. Red lights for no reason, waiting for tag removal, waiting for another random fault, waiting to weigh my own bags and check them before I started. The idea of then standing there and unpacking for their pleasure was not something I was prepared to do! I’m talking a big trolley load of stuff, and a big job to stand there bending over it lifting. Not like a Costco check for the big items, loads and loads of tiny bits and cans.

I just calmly said ‘no’. I was told it was a policy to do random checks and I wasn’t suspected of theft. I said they may have a policy, but I didn’t work for Tesco and therefore they were unable to direct me to complete any tasks. I’d fulfilled my contract, paying for goods. If they had reason for concern then I’d wait for them to check it themselves, or go through cctv but I expected it to not delay me unreasonably or my shopping to be left unpacked or manhandled.

Ended up with ‘permission’ from a grumpy manager to leave, who had been watching from a distance and came over. I was honestly calm and kept my tone polite, I was quite annoyed by the self check out already and was making an effort to remain calm knowing I was a bit irate. Never been to this store before, not planning to go again! My usual store always has a open checkout to use with a person.

aibu- you’d have stood there and unpacked, it’s policy

yanbu- nope, you don’t work there and it’s not your job to facilitate their security checks.

How do those Amazon shops work? Perhaps that's the future, and do away with the security checking. Do you just pick stuff up and you're scanned as you leave? A mate described it to me, not sure if it's right.

I see the majority wouldn’t have unpacked.

Regarding the clapping-no. A bit of side eye and slowing down to see if there was a bit of thief drama coming from others, but not much interest. Actually it’s partly why I asked, I got a tut from one woman, was unsupported by staff and others were giving looks. Maybe just grateful it wasn’t them on reflection.

To confirm: the store has huge trolley self service machines, they’ve taken out most the tills for two big sets of machines. One for trollies and another for baskets. No till open. The stop was near the door, not at the till. I presume they knew I’d used self service only because it was the only option open. The store was huge, a bit of a walk along to the exit.

I’m not writing letters or anything, partly it’s just effort and partly these things can be highly frustrating. I have no proof at all of something that didn’t actually even end up happening. The twitter team could simply say ‘oh, you must have misheard- we never would do that’. It’s horrible when that happens and you feel minimised/ held up like a liar. I’ve seen it before. Even if they do take it seriously it’s unlikely to be the policy maker who is spoken to, it’ll be the poor sods told to do it then told off like they did it wrong.

The Amazon ones have loads of cameras, you can walk around driving stuff into a rucksack and they never miss an item.

No one minds a random spot check, I was subject to a 14 item one last weekend. A whole trolley? Nah.

I was slightly that they didn't stop the man that barged through after I had scanned my receipt and set all the alarms off though...

If the retailers are suffering that much with shoplifting then go hire more staff and man the tills.
I used to shop in our local Morrisons every week for 4 adults. They recently made most of the till self service. And they don’t have self scan. Even at the weekend they have very few maned tills open. The queues for these are horrifying. The self service area is massive and poorly manned so the staff can’t physically see who needs help and and end up running around frazzled. It’s a shoplifter’s paradise.
As a result I now spend at least £500 less in there a month. They probably think they are loosing customers to the new Lidl rather than them making the store unusable.

It’s extremely poor store management to expect a customer to unpack a trolley after she scanned it all.

I would complain to HQ.

But it doesn't just happen at scan as you go. I saw it happening to a couple of students at the self service. It goes beyond a couple of checks if you have put it through on self service then have to unpack it all and prove you have scanned everything. I simply don't have time for that, that is why I have used self service to begin with. I would just ask for a refund if this happened to me.

OP, I love you and want to be you.

I am unlikely to have handled that situation with as much composure as you managed.

I went through a phase of random checks at Tesco for every self scan shop I did - generally weekly. In each case 5-10 items were scanned. It got old. Not once had I missed anything. The Assistant gave me a number to call and ask whether they had details against my card which suggested I was a risk. If they did they didn’t say. Whatever flag they had was turned off and I have not been stopped since.

Op I am very impressed that you maintained your composure and stood your ground.
Some of the other responses on this thread have been really useful.

I understand that there has been a huge increase in shop lifting, but most of us are just honest customers.

Me too! well done !

and not going mid-check to help other customers.

THis is the bit that bugs me. Last time this happened in the self scan check and the assistant was about to go off for the third time in a ten item check I did say quite loudly to her (so that everyone else in the area could hear) that she was currently assisting me on a matter that was already inconveniencing me as it was and that she therefore needed to finish serving me before going to serve another customer. Her reply was that she didn't want to keep the others waiting - I said that I didn't want to be kept waiting either and the way to rectify the position was to have more staff on the check out not to further delay a customer they were already delaying. She somewhat grudgingly stayed to finish my check.

I felt a bit sorry for her but when you start to check someone's bags you do need to see that through before attending another customer. The stores need more staff really and a button to call someone over quickly when a check is needed.

Frankly, people that are nicking gear from a supermarket aren't going to queue anywhere. They're just strolling out with it.

As would I. This is unreal!

Exactly. Staff are spending a lot of time checking people’s bags on the off chance that they’ve missed scanning something. Meanwhile the real shoplifters are just walking out with things. Someone on another thread said that in their local store a couple of men regularly walk out with bottles of alcohol, and the staff just say they can’t do anything.
It’s much easier to target ordinary women innocently doing their weekly shop and say they’re doing something to prevent crime, than it is to challenge the real thieves.

Good for you!

I visited a large Sainsbury’s the other day, and they said they would soon be installing some kind of barrier where you have to scan your receipt to exit.

In a Primark near to me, you have to scan your receipt in order to leave the self service tills.

Why therefore do the tills ask if you want a receipt?

I’m utterly sick and tired of it all. It was not our idea for the stupid self service tills that are replacing humans everywhere. Did these large companies not envisage that some would use the opportunity created by them to shoplift?

If you don’t trust us this much, bring back the normal tills with their associated human beings working at them.

I detest self service tills with a passion, including the fact that if you’ve forgotten your bag, you have to try and catch the attention of one of the workers to obtain a bag, and they now come and scan it for you - there’s no trust anymore. They used to be left by the side and you’d scan one yourself, but now more delays are created as you wait for a worker to be available to give one to you. I’d never be rude to the staff as I know it’s not their fault, but I always feel like saying, ‘can you please just scan my shopping too?’

I don’t care which one of the ‘big 4’ did it, but if one of them said they were bringing back the workers and getting rid of those awful machines, I’d give them all my custom.

I went through a phase of random checks at Tesco for every self scan shop I did - generally weekly.

It's almost as if they aren't random ... (they aren't)

https://lifehacker.com/the-reason-spotify-shuffles-aren-t-really-random-and-h-1849756947

Same. My temper would have been comprehensively lost.

I don’t care which one of the ‘big 4’ did it, but if one of them said they were bringing back the workers and getting rid of those awful machines, I’d give them all my custom.

I can't speak for your area but none of my local supermarkets have only self service and no manned tills. I like having the choice to use scan as you go handsets as do many other customers.

If people don't like self service, whether scan as you go or scan at the till, they can choose to go through a till with a cashier. You don't need to get rid of something altogether that others prefer, surely?

Exactly this.

I like self tills as I'm picky about how bags are packed but if that makes us suspected thieves they can get more cameras or more staff, not pester me after I've paid.

Good for you, I am going to remember this if they ever ask me, as an aside I hate self service and try to always use the till

Well done indeed, I had the experience with Waitrose self-scanning (ironically called "Quick Check") and had to unpack and repack the pushchair! It was a massive pain, promised myself that next time I'd ask for a refund and leave them the shopping they had rescanned.

They don't even check every item so if I had really wanted to steal, all I had to do was select the right items for the rescan 🙄

Totally right.

I bought a laptop in Currys once. I had to wait for ages to be seen - i knew what I wanted to buy; then waited for ages for them to retrieve it from the stock room.

Paid. then asked for my receipt on the way out. i was so ferocious he didnt even check it!

Kudos OP.

OP, you are my hero. Bravo

Yeap. But then I prefer to buy anywhere other than a supermarket

Sorry if I am being a bit thick @SerendipityJane do you mean people have flags up against their club cards?