To be really sick of supermarkets treating paying customers like scum

[OptimismvsRealism]

Sainsbury's traps you in the self service pen of shame until you scan your receipt like a good little girl

Tesco won't take the security tags off your wine until you've not only paid but they've examined your receipt in detail to make sure your wine is paid for - sort of a performance so you remember your place

Waitrose makes a bit song and dance about doing the rescan of self scanning shops (I don't do self scanning because why would I sign up for this extra work?)

Just in Lidl and my wine set off the security alarm even though I've had the tags taken off and the security guard chased me out the door to try to get me to show him inside my bags (er no fuck off pal)

Aldi staff try to look in your shopping bags as you queue

Does anywhere NOT get a kick out of treating their profit drivers like filth any more?

I will probably just have to live off UHPs from the local Greggs at this rate

Not everyone is able to do that. Some people may feel anxious about looking like they are jumping a queue to even walk out the self checkout without a barrier. I am ND and all these new barriers and things put me off supermarket shopping. If they insist on one way gates at the entrance then there should be at least one exit gate that isn't blocked by a display that you can just leave through if you need to quickly.

Hmm blame the thieves/the government for low pay etc.

Personally I'd settle for them just having more tills with staff open - I don't mind the DIY if just popping in for a couple of bits, but for a full shop I'm not going to pay Sainsburys prices to do their job for them

Aldi have just opened a huge new branch locally, and yes there are self-scan checkouts, but also at least 3 staffed ones open (and they open more if it's especially busy)

No queues, no hassle, no pain ... and no wonder the traditional "majors" are losing out to them

This is really common. Happens all the time in our local Tesco. I don't blame the staff, and don't expect them to risk their safety challenging it. But, it does annoy me hugely that we're all paying the price for this

Please, Miss....I'm people planning to buy stuff, and I haven't found it makes the shopping experience shit.

Christ people, it's just shopping. Do it, scan your receipt and get on with life.

I’m not talking about market share, I’m talking about profit.

2023
Tesco £2.7 billion profit
sainsburys £277 million profit
Asda £180 million Profit
Aldi UK £177 million profit (record for them)

Lidl made a £70million loss

Yes retailers have to work hard to adapt to the cost of living but the majority of them are still making big profits. Tesco’s are making insane profits.

It's just this though, then just that, then just one more thing. Yet it costs more and more to do a basic food shop even when we are searching badly stacked shelves, scanning it ourselves, waiting around for security devices to be removed from items and machines to be reset when they keep going wrong, then 'just' scanning a receipt. How about they use their millions or billions in profit to put more actual staff on and lower food prices.

I wouldn't want armed security guards either! I mentioned France only because the system seems to be working well there (with guns or just burly guards!) And accepted because it serves a purpose.
But I agree, the self-service tills turns me into a screaming harpy, especially when it can't feel the weight of a pack of coriander...andcthen you have to wait for a week until a store assistant assists!

I assume that's removing the tag after the event.

Generally they will remove it at the till, or at the self-serve checkout at the point you pay.

The point is, having a receipt does not prevent shoplifting. All it proves is that you paid for something. It's just an annoying process with no value.

Does anywhere NOT get a kick out of treating their profit drivers like filth any more

M&S

Do men get a free pass at the Sainsburys barrier?

You appear to be stalking me across threads. I'm flattened.

Me too. A visit to a supermarket has never caused me this amount of fury. It’s just - a supermarket…

I completely agree all this security theatre is really annoying. I suppose it must work on the lower end of criminality, but not the organised steal to order gangs operating.

These shops are making massive profits whilst making their customers do the work of the staff they go rid of. What’s next - stacking your own shelves? They introduced self check out to save money, but when did prices go down? OP is right - a lot of people on this thread are acting like sheeple, and just accepting a bad deal.

The other thing they do is then have the audacity to ask for a charity donation, when a lot of their staff are having to top up their wages with benefits like Universal Credit and others. We as tax payers are effectively subsidising these monsters and yet they ask for more money so their bosses can get OBEs? GTFO.

I’ve returned £500 of stuff to IKEA before when their security guard physically blocked me from leaving, and followed me out of the shop.

So I shop online. It has the added bonus of costing most companies a huge amount of money. I think Ocado is the only profitable one.

These shops are making massive profits whilst making their customers do the work of the staff they go rid of. What’s next - stacking your own shelves? They introduced self check out to save money, but when did prices go down? OP is right - a lot of people on this thread are acting like sheeple, and just accepting a bad deal.

I'm wondering at what point people on this thread will say 'enough'? Surely there will be a point?

@S0livagant surely the "enough" is doing home delivery.
If you don't like the way staff in shops do their jobs - then don't go in the shop.
Quite frankly with the amount of shopping lifting and aggressive behaviour towards retail staff I think in a few years physical shops won't be the norm - everything will have to be ordered.
Pretty much like "the old days" when you stood at the counter, asked for what you wanted and they handed it to you. You didn't pick it off the shelf and place it in a trolley.
We (society) have gone in a circle of how we purchase products.

You’re being obtuse. I’ve just been abroad and you have to scan your receipt to get out of the supermarket- great idea!

It's not a full circle, though. If I'm there at a market stall or butcher or baker (closest thing to 'the old days'), then I can see what I'm buying, that it's fresh and of good quality, make my own substitutions if things are not available (may mean switching other things to match a change). That's more what I have gone to over home delivery, as much as I can afford to.

It is disappointing to see how much it has gone downhill in supermarkets since I worked in one 20+ years ago. I would never have treated customers the way they are treated now.

@S0livagant ok it's semi-full circle. For fresh foods you could see what's on the stall and pick what you want.
For longer life products (tins of things, flour, tea, coffee,packets of rice/pasta etc) you basically got what the shop assistant picked off their shelf - not you the customer.
You say you wouldn't have treated customers the way some staff do now when you worked 20 years ago. I was in retail 20 years ago and I think customers have got a lot worse (aggressive, demanding, messy, impatient) but also (I agree with you) customer service has got bad too.
It's a chicken and egg thing really....which bad human behaviour came first?

It's a chicken and egg thing really....which bad human behaviour came first?

I think customers tend to reflect how they are treated. There has always been theft but customers weren't all treated like potential criminals back when I was working there.