Waitrose incident.

[SensitiveSallySue]

I am not sure if I am being sensitive or if I should complain.

Every Sunday morning I go out for a coffee and read my book, then do the weekly shop without the children. I like to be back before midday so I can spend the rest of the time with my children, including 9 month old baby. We have every supermarket local to us, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, M&S, Asda, Tesco, and I always use the ‘scan and shop’ to make the shopping as quick and easy as possible. I’ve never had an issue until today in Waitrose. I’ve only used it a couple of times in Waitrose and never for a big shop.

After scanning my entire shop, strategically packing it so it’s easy to unload at home, I went to pay. When I beeped the scanner, it flagged up as needing to be checked. I thought that was fair enough, it happens sometimes, and I haven’t done a weekly shop in Waitrose before using the ‘scan and shop’ option. The worker came over and said she needed to rescan 30/58 items. I thought that was ridiculous, in every other shop they scan a random selection of a few items, not over half your shop. It seemed pointless to me to have even used the option in the first place, but I didn’t say anything and the worker started to empty shopping bags full to rescan items. This was taking ages, but I just stood patiently waiting for her to finish.

Then, she came across one that I apparently hadn’t scanned. I know I did, but it was a yellow sticker packet so I can only assume that it hadn’t registered properly. She repeatedly asked me if I had scanned it, and I repeatedly told her I had but it clearly hadn’t registered.

She told me she would need to rescan my entire shopping trolley, then took me over to a till, and I stood on the end whilst she unpacked every single one of my bags and scanned every item individually. It was completely unsubtle, in front of all of the other customers, and obvious that they were rescanning the entire shop in case I was attempting to steal things. I felt like an idiot and a thief. To make matters worse, I am a small business owner working with children, and had already bumped into several of my clients in the shop. I was absolutely mortified thinking that they may think I am a thief.

I was thoroughly embarrassed and teary eyed, and hastily shoved everything back into bags whilst the Waitrose worker apologised. Half of my shopping is crushed as I was shoving things back into the bags indiscriminately. I promptly paid and left but it has really upset me. By that point, I’d spent around 20 minutes having everything rescanned.

AIBU to think that if Waitrose are going to have a system that is open to abuse, they need to have a solution that doesn’t involve treating customers like thieves? I have never had an experience like this in any other store and whilst I realise they have to protect themselves from theft, surely this is not the correct way to go about. It’s not the Waitrose workers fault, it just seems like a very poor system and they shouldn’t offer ‘scan and shop’ if this is the way they treat customers.

Wow you're rude.

I had similar in Sainsbury's but they made me unpack everything so they could rescan and the woman was very stroppy with me like I had inconvenienced her. I too had a missing scan but the total in the end once scanned was less than my original total - it appeared some things had double scanned which was odd. I made a point that they had done them out of a few pounds! Just don't scan now and go to a check out with a lovely cashier - I also fail miserably at self scan checkouts!

I work in a supermarket. That's not how it would be dealt with if you had been suspected of theft.
If you had been suspected of theft you would likely be stopped at the door by a manager and/or security or your account would be monitored or blocked. That's not something a checkout assistant would do.
Mis -scanning is common which is why there are checks. Customers scan items twice, mix handsets up with other customers, their kids get hold of them & scan god knows what etc just as much as they fail to scan.

The self scan assistant prob took you to an empty till rather than asking you to queue at a main till to avoid the wait & inconvenience. Most customers prefer that rather than be asked to queue. There isn't enough space at self scan & I always prefer to use a main till for a rescan. If the checkout assistant makes a mistake while they are rescanning that can also affect your security level & cause rescans so it's best not to distract them while they are doing it. They can't over ride a full rescan if you complain etc it just ends up taking longer. We do many rescans every day & often open an empty till for people who are elderly, disabled, have screaming kids etc to help them out. It's definitely not because we think you're shop lifting its genuinely trying to help.

Feeling pretty sorry for cashiers reading some of this thread. People demanding new tills be opened and likening choosing to self scan as being made to work like a member of staff.

I personally would rather risk the chance of needing things to be rescanned that have to queue at the checkout or make small talk. Everyone has different preferences! If people don’t like the self scanners, tills are still around.

Small talk at the till? Try Aldi, they’re so fast there’s no time to talk. German efficiency.

*Sorry that should not read "am obliged to do a supermarket shop" - I meant obliged to do scanning which I consider the role of the employees of the shop

That is a great point! But I’m not dexterous enough to pack as fast as they scan!

🤣🤣🤣

What a mad overreaction!

My Waitrose scan and shop got flagged the other week, it was one item. It's not personal, just how the system works

warning brutal.
absolutely NOBODY cares.it stole a moment of your day. Let it go

Here in Australia, the checkout staff deftly pack our bags for us (except at Aldi) and will even put it into the trolley on occasion. I much prefer manned check outs if I can get one, as you can have a face to face chat as well. My view is that supermarkets have introduced self scan primarily to reduce wages costs by getting customers to do the work. I think they are fine for small shops but it is making shopping a sterile and lonely experience.

I am also quite sympathetic to @SensitiveSallySue unlike many posters, as I could imagine feeling that way too over a large shop that requires a lot of time standing aside waiting to have it all rescanned. She is also a mother to young children and Sundays are her time off, with coffee and book reading. It’s not a great experience and I totally understand why she was upset.

Didnt have a tantrum.
Dont give a shit if 'most' who are ina rush or on the rob. Im not. I do not have time for a rescan of 250 quid , thats why im doing a self service in the first place.
Im not obliged to go along with their policys so yes id leave my groceries there in a heartbeat.
I run a company and if any employeee lost their shit because i, as their superior, overrid them, they wld be in trouble.

This

This!

To your point:

It was obvious they were rescanning my shopping as a suspected thief, as they didn’t take me back through the checkout in a traditional way

they dont take customers on a rescan back through the normal till, because the normal till is not programmed to do what they need with the rescan. They are looking for errors and the till won't help with that.

did you notice she was using a handheld scanner when she was doing your rescan? This is because it is programmed to do a match between your scanner data and the actual items in your trolly. Where there is a discrepancy between your actual trolley of shopping and your scanner data, it flags it as a discrepancy/non match on their scanner.

Yes, YABU and over-sensitive. That’s what Waitrose do. They weren’t just picking on you. I’ve had total rescans several times and it doesn’t bother me at all. It’s always done by a separate assistant, with a hand-held scanner. No other customers will have thought twice about it.

Unfortunately, some customers cheat. Anyone who doesn’t want to use a scanner and get their shopping rescanned very occasionally can just use one of the ordinary checkouts!

Assuming she did not intend to miss-scan the item, just carelessly didn't read the display, then she is simply not guilty of attempting to shop lift - never mind whether anyone wanted to take her to court or not. If she had got away with it and taken the item home it still wouldn't have been shop lifting. The fact that actual thieves make similar excuses is irrelevant.

NO-ONE not me, not you, not the shop workers can stop doing something they aren't doing or start doing something they are doing. It's like now, as you are reading this, me telling you to stop sleeping and start reading. You can't because you are awake and reading.

1. the shop can't stop treating you like a shoplifter because they never were
2. They can't give you the benefit of the doubt - because they never suspected you of anything.
3. They can't stop treating you with suspicion - because never did treat you with suspicion.

They are NOT checking whether you are shoplifting. They are literally checking that the machine has picked up the right codes. They will pick a sample of shoppers at range of times and check their shop. If the machine has registered say:

1. one bag containing 500g of strawberries
2. 2 2 litre bottles of full fat coke

and you have

1. one bag containing 250 g of strawberries

2. 1 2 litre bottle of diet coke

3. the weighing scales are wrongly calibrated

4. it's double scanned one item and got the code wrong
   They now know they need to check the programming of the different codes for coke and the weighing scales.

The staff are checking the machines. I mean I guess it would catch you if you did happen to be shoplifting, but that isn't what they are expecting! They aren't suspicious of YOU, if anything they are suspicious of their equipment!

I use the scan and shop at Asda and once I had to have the whole lot checked. I sat down in the cafe while they did it,

No one else will care.

If you didn't scan something of course they need to check

I think this is the key part which is getting a bit lost: they are partly doing this to calibrate the machines.

Totally not unreasonable and the awful digital world we now live in. Bring back people at the till.

YABU

And it's happened to me too. Had a re-scan, and apparently a pack of sausages hadn't registered, so the whole bloody lot had to be rescanned. It was a genuine mistake. If I hadn't had the re-scan I would have picked up that they weren't on my list and scanned them in. But you have to press the button agreeing that you scanned everything before the re-scan comes up without giving you the opportunity to check your list first.

So I had to stand there with two small kids and then repack my entire shop. I can't drive, and it's my most local supermarket, so I go there a lot and exchange a friendly hello with some of the staff who recognise me. But they have to do what their system tells them to do, and I accepted that.

Just let it go. They don't care, no-one around you cared, and neither should you.

Let's not 'throw the baby out with the bathwater.' If you're in a rush and competent at doing your own scanning, self-service is very useful to get in and out. More people than not don't enjoy the drudgery of supermarket shopping, but for certain simple transactions, having the choice is a good thing.

if you prefer to use the conveyor belt and a cashier, that option is available and many people do go with the till, especially if you're not in a rush and quite like the social interaction.