Sainsburys smartshop app "random" checks

[Dumdidums]

Hello
I just want some reassurance that this smart shop app and its policies are ethical.
Today my friend (a black male) went shopping in Sainburys Lee Green Supermaket in South East London and paid for his shopping using the smartshop app. As he was about to leave one of the members of staff said that he had to have his shopping cross checked with the receipt because the security guard at the door requested this. The check resulted in no discrepancies .

What we are wondering is whether it is normal for a security guard to request that your smart shop receipt is double checked with the items bought. The worry here is that there is some form of racial profiling going on at sainsburys as there was no good reason given why my friend was selected for this check and the worry is that the check was requested because he was black.

He asked the staff member why he had to have his shopping checked and got not explanation other than that the security guard told the staff member to do it. This took place today Sunday afternoon and the shop was quite busy but in the half hour or so that he was at the smart shop app counter, no other customers were requested to undergo this check .

Has anyone else had this happen ? Does anyone know what criteria the security guards use to ask that a smart shop app shopper is being checked and what training they undergo to avoid unconscious bias ??

Thanks

Absolutely not normal.
The tills randomly flag a basket of shopping and the team member who is working to support the smart shop will scan them, it's the same process as self scan.

I don't think the security guard doing this is sainsburys policy - although I don't know for sure

By 'scan them' I mean scan 5 or 10 items or whatever is asked for

This doesn’t sound normal. I used sainsburys smartshop on Friday and was selected for a random re scan but this popped up on my handset when I scanned the qr code on the till before I paid.

Same as other people. I am randomly stopped (via the app) and the member of staff selects around 5 items to check. Never had a security guard request this.

I've been using the app for 2 years now and have had several random checks at the actual till but never at the door by the security guard.

It can't be normal as you don't even have to print a receipt.

This is the worry it was not the app which requested this it was a security guard who requested another member of staff come over and do this . So the ethics of this are a worry ie what is the criteria that the security guard is using to decide whose smart shop basket to check after its all been paid for and the person is leaving the store

Not normal. The app does random spot checks where the staff scan 5 items of your shopping to make sure it all matches up.

The security guard requesting this is dodgy and could well be to do with racism. Either way I would be making a complaint to highlight how this made me feel and could potentially make others feel.

So the ethics of this are a worry ie what is the criteria that the security guard is using to decide whose smart shop basket to check after its all been paid for and the person is leaving the store

It will be no different to the criteria they use to stop anyone I guess and that is always subject to bias. All items have supposedly been paid for at that point.

The security guard can ask for anyone to be checked, doesn’t matter how they have paid, app, normal till or even not gone through a till at all.
The security guard could have to stop a particular number of people a day at random or they may have certain things they look out for eg bully coats, shifty behaviour etc
I very much doubt that sainsbury policy is that security guards stop all people of a certain group without seeing a bbq recording of this particular incident or having this particular guards stats checked to see how he is deciding who to stop then no-one especially on mumsnet is going to be able to answer this.
The odds are even in a completely unbiased world everyone will get stopped at least once. - I have and o am a white middle aged woman. Unfortunately we do not live in a completely unbiased world and even if the guard is not aware he will have unconscious bias.
You friend could ask the store for a more detailed explanation, or let this go in the optimistic hope that is was a random one off. If it happens again at the same store then that would be the time to ask for an investigation

@BrieAndChilli

The security guard can ask for anyone to be checked, doesn’t matter how they have paid, app, normal till or even not gone through a till at all. The security guard could have to stop a particular number of people a day at random or they may have certain things they look out for eg bully coats, shifty behaviour etc I very much doubt that sainsbury policy is that security guards stop all people of a certain group without seeing a bbq recording of this particular incident or having this particular guards stats checked to see how he is deciding who to stop then no-one especially on mumsnet is going to be able to answer this. The odds are even in a completely unbiased world everyone will get stopped at least once. - I have and o am a white middle aged woman. Unfortunately we do not live in a completely unbiased world and even if the guard is not aware he will have unconscious bias. You friend could ask the store for a more detailed explanation, or let this go in the optimistic hope that is was a random one off. If it happens again at the same store then that would be the time to ask for an investigation

I don't know if you shop at Sainsburys but as mentioned previously the self service and smart shop app tills do not insist that the buyer takes a printed receipt therefore i dont understand how they can do these checks on people who do not have a receipt.

I have had lots of rescans at checkout but they appear on the handset before you pay.

I think Sainsbury's should just scrap the smart shop app. If they think that it would encourage shoplifting, then why on earth develop such an app. I think it is very rude, how do they decide whom to check, is it by their look, or race, 🤔

I'm a white female and this has happened to be several times. No discrepancies on the receipts obviously. I don't think I was being profiled

I have had random rescans come up
on the machine before paying. We also have to take a receipt and scan it before leaving the self scan area. Never seen the security guard interact with anyone unless the alarm goes off. Sounds fishy to me

I did ask a manager at my local store about the smart shop app and how they would stop dishonest people. He said random checks.

Unless they are keeping an eye on every single person shopping, which is not possible. How does the security decide between, a well-dressed man or lady, and a scruffily dressed person on whom to do a random check on? My guess is as good as yours. Besides, people may innocently make a mistake and not scan an item. I think Sainsbury should rethink the app, or be tactful when approaching people.

tesco flag up at the till, I'd say every 10 shops or so.

I've been stopped before. The security guard backed off when I pointed out that the machine wasn't printing receipts

Today, I was stopped at Sainsburys and they did a recheck with the scan and go, 3 days prior, I was stopped and they did a re-check at the same Sainsburys in Basingstoke, wallop drive with the scan and go. I asked to speak to a manager who told me several different reasons as to why I was stopped. I knew that there would be a possibility that I would be stopped being a black woman but I said, if they stop me today then I will call the manager, meanwhile the lady scanning was going through my shopping as if desperately trying to find a discrepancy, and once again, there was none. Not at any time did I see anyone else’s shopping being rechecked. I walked away with that feeling, you know, when something just is not right and it is my belief that Sainsburys are racial profiling, this is to stop black people from partaking in scan and go. You see the story gets deeper. Prior to doing scan and go, I would see, people (not black) scanning their shopping, I did notice a few looks from them but did not understand it, a kind of snobbism and a knowing. I won’t get stopped but you will!!! But, I genuinely did not understand what was going on until I signed up to it and only because a lovely lady at the checkout suggested scan and go because I was saying that I didn’t like the packing as I seem to get in a tizz. The lady explained scan and go and said don’t worry, they sometimes do a re-check but only once it’s not often. Well, I have to say 3 times out of 3 in 3 days is all of the time. The manager said it was the system and not them and perhaps because I had visited the store twice in one day, the system!!! Is saying “What’s going on!!!!” It’s intolerable and Sainsburys tends to be one of the worst. It is racial profiling, call a spade a spade and stop trying to justify Sainsburys unacceptable treatment. To the management, get proper training and do understand one of the basics, black skin does not mean Shoplifter. It is ignorance on another level and beneath me.
signed. Truly had enough of your ignorance.

random stops by security guards do happen, it has happened to me a few times, and also both black and white friends that I know of, when we have talked about it. It doesn't happen often though.

It doesn't matter if you dont have a receipt, you just go back to the till you were on, and one gets printed out retrospectively

I stopped doing scan and shop as I was so sick of having all my shopping checked. That was Tesco though pre covid. I can well believe it was racial profiling so I’m going to agree with your suspicions.

I haven't been stopped using the Sainsbury’s app but I have had a few checks in Asda but that flags up at the till prepayment

I don't know whether it's racial profiling or not in the OPs case but it seems more likely than the checks by the app which does seem random. I'll go through phases of not being checked for ages and then checked a few times in a row.

Have had this 3 times when I was shopping with my 10 year old. 10 year old was very keen to use the hand held scanner, but it was spoilt by checks being demanded, I assume it was because my clothes are a bit scruffy but it didn't feel great.

At our local Sainsburys, you pass through metal gates right after the smartshop/scan & go area, and sometimes an alarm goes off, in which case the security guard comes over to check. Could the alarm have gone off and your friend didn't notice/didn't think it was his shopping? A percentage of clothing items, high-value drinks and premium meats, among other things, often have hidden security tags that nobody including store staff know are there, until they activate the alarm as you go out. This has happened to me several times and, while some security guards will go through every item searching for the alarm, others will wave you through if you have the receipt and can show you've paid for your clothes/champagne/sirloin steak.

I've had this today! It was so embarrassing

The security guard was so rude. I'm 5ft 2, white and female.