Scanning error in supermarket - conundrum

[Scannerscammer]

Just idly wondering about people's opinions on something that happened the other day...

Lately every bloody time I've been to the supermarket there has been an annoying time-wasting issue such as discounts advertised on the shelf not registering at the checkout (so I had to go and check, and take picture of the ticket price), the self-service machine playing up and objecting to every item I tried to scan (so I kept having to call over the assistant) - the usual irritating nonsense.

The last time I went, a few days ago, I just had a couple of items to pick up and did self-scan on my phone. One of the items (a bottle of orange juice) scanned as a totally different item (a bottle of washing liquid) even though I had been nowhere near the aisle with laundry products.

I'm afraid I thought, fuck this, I am not wasting yet more of my time because the supermarket wants to save money by getting its customers to take on the job of scanning and checking out products but can't get it to work properly. So I paid for the two items which I had scanned and went on my merry way, having saved about a pound.

Am I a terrible thief who deserves to burn in hell and eat out-of-date value pork pies for the rest of eternity, or would you have done the same thing?

I’ve had this a few times, if supermarkets can’t be bothered to price their items correctly then I’m not wasting my time while they rectify their own mistakes. If they lose too much money then they’ll learn the hard way, won’t they?

I feel VERY strongly about this.

The supermarkets are saving money by implementing self service checkouts. It is therefore their responsibility to ensure the bloody things work correctly. If you happen to save money because they don't work correctly, that is an error on their part which will be set against the money saved. You do not have the responsibility to waste your time trying to get them to sort out their errors. You can of course choose to do so if the error is in their own favour.

If you choose to report the error and save them from their own stupidity, you are also contributing to a tax on intelligence, since most people wouldn't notice.

Incidentally, I scan hundreds of prices every week on my phone as part of an audit exercise. At least 20% need scanning more than once, and I regularly get a scan that defaults to 'fusilli corn' irrespective of what the actual item is. (For the avoidance of doubt, none of my scans is related to actual payment, my phone just records the item).

Their IT issue, their problem.

I wouldn’t have stolen it. No.

Is the misleading pricing more or less unethical than what I did, I wonder?

OP is morally questionable at best.
Crook / tea leaf etc use your imagination.

I had a similar frustration just now and personally I would never steal from a shop, no, not even a pesky packet of crisps that fails to scan after twenty attempts. I don’t think it’s that I’m especially morally good though, more some kind of fastidious streak in my personality where I just couldn’t do it. I did think by attempt twenty or so, “I bet most people would have just given up and taken this by now.”

OP is not a thief in the slightest. The onus is on the supermarket to have their scanning service working as it should. OP doesn’t do charity work for them for free, taking time out to flag and fix an issue that isn’t her fault in the slightest.

Just wondering-if it was a lot of money instead of a pound would posters feel differently?

Hypothetically a very expensive bottle of champagne that is £100.00 and when scanned it rang up as 10 pence.

Would you get help then or fill your trolley?

Are you still stealing if you don't realise a mistake has been made? I don't check every item I scan. I honestly have no clue if over the years my grapefruit has been scanned as a pair of washing up gloves, or my breadsticks came up as rice pudding. I pretty much buy the same thing week in week out and would check if something look awry.

The money they lose on mistakes like this is more than made up by the saving on having 10 self checkouts with one member of staff supervising than having 10 staff scanning items…

I would have done exactly the same as you. It was not your intention to defraud or whatever and you did pay
I'll probably be shot down but there are only 2 checkouts open at any time in my local big Sainsbury's and I use a Walker
I have to wait ages when there is an issue then almost always set off the alarm scanning my receipt to get out
It's exhausting and I feel the same about having to do staffs job for them

It's their job to serve the customer if the machine malfunctions.

Exactly why I made the point that reporting it leads to it becoming a tax on intelligence (actually awareness rather than intelligence, but I do feel strongly that customers should not provide this sort of quality control for big business supermarkets).

Re the £100/10p bottle of champagne:

• I would DEFINITELY report this in a small shop
• I would PROBABLY report it in a massive supermarket
• I would DEFINITELY not go back and clear the shelves, buying every bottle available.
• I would DEFINITELY be cross with myself for not doing this.....
• But if I was with a friend, I would definitely draw her attention to the pricing error as well, and discuss the moralities with her (and wouldn't blame her if she decided to buy every last bottle in the shop).

It's wayyyyy less unethical to fleece customers wholesale by using dubious pricing structures.

As has been said by numerous people upthread, you are a black-hearted thief and what you did was outrageous. 😂

The supermarket I usuallybuse has got to the point that most of the time [I go in there] only self scan tills are open or there is one personal till with a huge queue and self scan.

Who wants to self scan a huge trolley full of shopping?
It takes at least twice as long and that's before you factor in the number of times you have to call the assistant over for something that won't scan/scans incorrectly etc etc.
Irrespective of how long the queues are I will not rush & I will pack properly so things don't get squashed, all the frozen is together etc

It drives me mad & I'm trying out various other supermarkets now because (newsflash!) I don't like the lack of staff & self scanning - no-one I know does, Irrespective of their age.
This will be the downfall of some supermarkets if they're not careful.

Why didn’t you just leave the item, if you couldn’t be bothered with the faff, instead of stealing it ?

She didn’t steal it, she paid the price that it scanned as on her phone.

I refuse to use self scan checkouts and so do all my family. We don't work for the store so why should we scan our items?

As you say, something inevitably goes wrong and you're kept waiting.

We always use a manned till.

Because, oddly enough, I wanted the item that I had gone to the supermarket to buy.

And, as I suggested earlier, it's not my idea of a fun day out to collect a basket of assorted grocery items, attempt to pay for them, and then leave them all in the supermarket and go home.

I'd prefer to use a manned till, but there are so few that I think it's best I leave them for the people who are actually unable to use the self scan rather than the pissed off!

The OP did not steal anything. She paid the price the supermarket allocated to the item.

@Attelina Maybe the supermarkets I use are different, but the queues are always far shorter for the self scan checkouts than the manned ones, and I begrudge waiting in a long queue when I could be scanning. But all of the supermarkets I go to now have self scan, and I find it so much easier to scan my items and pack my bags as I go round the shop.

😂 yes that's what I meant.

You scanned the item and paid the price set by the supermarket. Not your problem.