Would you object if Aldi staff checked your personal bag?

[vruskin]

Are you aware that ALDI has a policy of treating cuztomers like thieves.
I was at ALDI Caterham yesterday.
The cashier checked my empty plastic bag inside even though it was very obvious that there was nothing in it.
I then complained to a manager who didn’t even apologise and said that it is their policy to treat every customer like they were thieves.
Would you object to it? I felt disrespected and humiliated. How would you feel?

When you go to a gig or a football match or the theatre or something like that, do you object to them searching your bag on the way in? Because the principle is exactly the same.

Do you think that's 'treating you like a terrorist', or do you just think it's a reasonable precaution against crime? What about airports? Do you think they shouldn't ever check your hand luggage or put your bags through an x-ray or search you, just because you feel it implies you're a smuggler or a hijacker?

Or do you, like a sane person would, understand that it is simply a standard crime prevention measure and not a personal accusation that you are about to import a kilo of smack in your carry-on bag and/or start attacking the pilot with a box-cutter?

If you're able to understand that principle, you should understand why it's necessary for stores to check people's bags occasionally. Same with self-scan checks at self-checkouts.

But the security guard is literally watching the cctv and also the items don’t even be sold in bloody Aldi 🤷‍♀️

not really up to me to prove I haven’t stolen really - it’s up to them to prove I have

"Aldi staff" have zero rights to do this, unless Police is present, and it's still not always the case.
Of course I would refuse.

😂

‘Personal’ bag is misleading. It sounds as if you meant a handbag, rather than a plastic shopping bag.

There is so much shoplifting nowadays - and so little ever done about it. It would seem that the law usually just shrugs its shoulders. So I can’t say I blame the shop.

I shop in Aldi all the time and have never been treated like this

If some of the items are sold there, staff have no way of knowing what’s been paid for without a receipt, especially when things are under a buggy, which can look suspicious, and CCTV won’t clearly show individual items.

You’re right that it’s not technically on you to prove anything, but in practice a receipt is the quickest way to clear it up. It’s nothing personal, they’re just doing their job based on what they can reasonably verify.

It wouldn’t bother me in fact I’d think crikey you are bad at profiling as there’s people in this store who are definitely on the dodgy side! But I know it doesn’t work like that.

no one can make you feel humiliated, you create the feeling yourself so having an intense reaction suggests a need to do some work on that. Things are very rarely personal, they check one in ten for example and that’s you how can it be personal.

I was chatting with a lady at our yard who owns a convenience shop. She told me that she regularly gets groups of two or three people coming in to steal alcohol and there isn’t anything she can do about it because you can’t touch these people.

She left me with the impression that these people couldn’t care less who is watching them. What do you do about people like that?

But people have a right to go about their business without an assumption that we are doing something wrong (until you do do something wrong).

Fair enough on the receipt but I don’t agree otherwise. They were checking. You weren’t being treated like a shoplifter.

The shoplifting is ridiculous and they employ people to prevent it and to check. Thats it.

I’m not offended to help someone do their job and I know what is legal and not.

But to be fair the OP did have items in the bottom of her buggy that could have been found at Aldi. Fair dues to security.

I don't think an empty plastic carrier bag is the same as a "personal bag". You made it sound like your handbag.

Shoplifting is a massive problem and costs paying customers a fortune. Anything they do to reduce it is a good thing in my book.

I don't think checking your bags is assuming you're a thief, any more than checking your bags on entry to a museum assumes you've got a weapon.

Doesn’t bother me at all. Aldi checked a few times but I’m a regular and never get bag checks now

Nothing gets done to the real shoplifters though - that is the problem.

That's not the shop's fault though, and they do find people who have "forgotten" to pay for things like this. They're not doing it for fun. You think the staff enjoy it?

Retailers are working really hard with the new(ish) government and are finally starting to see some action after a decade or more of shoplifting being treated as a non crime.

They’ve been doing it in my local library Aldi for a couple of years, it doesn’t bother me.

They started doing that here. It didn't last long.

Exactly.
I wouldn't let them look in my bag, empty or not.
What if I have multiple bags containing things from multiple other shops ? Do they want to rummage through all of my stuff ?
I would leave my shopping on the till belt and leave the shop

No, I wouldn’t object.

Several year ago a staff member in Aldi asked if they could check my bag, which of course I was perfectly happy to let them do. I once had the same thing happen in Tesco. I've no idea why it's a big deal.

Aldi do what they can to keep costs down and. Taking a harder line over preventing shoplifting is one of them.

If you dont like it, pay the prices at one of the stores that doesn't.

Exactly this! I also live somewhere where checking your shopping bag is empty is absolutely standard practice.

My Aldi started randomly doing this for all customers several months ago, but it only lasted a few weeks then tapered off and they do it any more. So if they are checking all bags then no, I wouldn't be offended.