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?

It's a sad attempt to make people feel.like criminals rather than tackling criminals.
The shoplifters take out stuff by the armful.

Many stores do bag checks, Aldi and often Lidl as standard due to the rate of theft.

Everyone is treated the same because guess what thieves don't have a uniform.

They aren't singling you out.

They've done extensive research and the cost of items hidden in bags was extreme.

As someone who had people hide stuff all the time when younger in another store constantly getting abuse when pointing this out, I am glad about this policy. It protects staff from confrontation for those who definitely have it as they know what is happening as everyone is treated the same. Our local lidl said abuse has drastically dropped as everyone knows they're going to be checked. Those that don't like it they politely say shop elsewhere.

Some will then try other places to hide, they always will. But bags were extremely common.

I'm sure that the just above minimum wage shop staff enjoy people like you questioning a national store policy they have no control over. Don't like it, don't shop there.

Do you let any randomer off the street come to your parties, and do you lose a percentage of your cutlery to thieves during every party you hold?

If not, it isn't really an apt comparison.

I didn't know about this policy at Aldi, and I guess it is a bit sad. But the sadness is the huge rise in shoplifting, not the shop's attempt to minimise the losses they are suffering.

Also, an in-person check by the cashier isn't really worse than being stared at by CCTV.

I would (and do) feel fine about it! It’s been happening where we are for a little while - it’s no problem at all.

It doesn't bother me. They are just doing their job and it's not just you singled out for a check it's most people.

It's quicker to wave your bags through if they ask, than create an unnecessary fuss over it.

I have no objection at all. The only bags I take with me are shopping bags, in my local store they tend to ask if the bag is under the shopping in the trolley.

I haven’t been asked at Aldi but they always check our handbags at the theatre etc. Never occurred to me to be offended. Also not offended by RyanAir. They’ve banned children from my daughter’s high school from going to Aldi (it’s almost next door) as hordes of them would run in at break times and steal anything not nailed down. I wasn’t offended by that either.

CCTV will show you a past event, you can’t actually do anything with the information as the police won’t care and you aren’t going to go personally track anyone down. There’s a huge shoplifting problem in my city so time to try anything to calm it down really.

And absolutely agree that it’s better to do this to everyone than to somehow pick and choose as we all know exactly who they will pick.

I wouldn't check people bags out my house because someone in the past stole something from me. I would stop inviting people in my house. But I don't make parties for business in my property. So this example you made means nothing.
Aldi must allow people in in order to make business. I don't in my house.

I wouldn't like them to check my bags and I don't like ryanair passive aggressive shits, but you know what? Only ryanair flights to my family town so either I tolerate it or spend double the money and the four times the time travelling to visit them.

Your title is a bit misleading as your OP suggests it was an empty carrier/shopping bag they checked rather than your personal handbag which is how the title reads to me. So I wouldn’t mind if they glanced inside an empty carrier bag.

Genuinely I don't care if the retail staff ask to glance in my bag?

The fact is people nick stuff all the fucking time and it's costing us all a fortune because shops factor stock losses into the prices they charge the rest of us.
Its disgusting and if asking to glance in my carrier bag helps them cut down on that then so be it, I've nothing to hide?

Yep , I agree with this .
I have seen all types of people steal in all sorts of shops .
People stealing puts the price up for all of us so any deterrent is fine by me.

It’s not nice for the staff to have to ask to see bags. I try to make it a bit easier for them by bringing pleasant and accommodating about it.

@vruskin you seem to now be directing your anger at people on here simply because some people have a different opinion to you.

i am a real stickler for customer service and absolutely recognise that standards seem to be slipping everywhere and it is something I find quite sad and annoying. I suppose it also comes down to how you were asked to show your bag and whether or not the cashier was pleasant about it. For me, I had no concerns about being asked and I didn’t consider it to be poor customer service because they asked simply and politely and explained that it was policy to check. I have every right to shop elsewhere if I don’t like this particular shop for any reason. As it happens I do tend to avoid Aldi because I don’t like the ‘Chuck your food at you and pack your bags elsewhere approach’ but I know that’s their set-up and so when I do go in, I know what to expect.

I’m with you - if they check every customer on the presumption they are all thieves it would not be a shop I return to. What kind of area is it that the shoplifting is so rife that they have had to do this - never had my bags searched in any of the local supermarkets (we have five different well known ones, but no Aldi).

One of the most sensible replies on here

rather than the default be an arsehole with the staff

You have invited those people to your party so it's quite different.
Aldi are not treating everyone as thieves but need to take action against shoplifting and staff absolutely must not base their choice of which customers to check on their own prejudices about who is dishonest.

Absolutely agree.
All over Europe I had to comply with things like leaving my bag in a locker before entering the shop and it never offended me.
I am all for tighter security measures to stop the pandemic of thieving in supermarkets as it is the fully paying customer who is most harmed at the end by all the stealing.

It’s so Mumsnet to have threads about how outrageous it is that shops do nothing about shoplifting and other threads about how outrageous it is that shops do something about shoplifting!

I wouldn’t take it so personally, they have probably had a lot of people putting things in their own carrier bag and then putting the bag on to be weighed with the stuff inside on the self checkouts to steal.

Why should they check other peoples and not yours ?

Aldi have checked mine a few times and I just presumed it was because of this and then got on with my life.

CCTV is pretty shit for catching theives. Yes, you can watch people steal. But they're gone from the store. They might look like 25 other people and are unlikely to have a record so the police can't do anything.

If you are too offended to shop at Lidl or fly Ryanair (I'd love to know your reasons), that's your prerogative.

When you go through security at an airport they treat everyone as a threat..does that concern you?

It's not comfortable but a reflection of society that shops need deterrents. I think if it eventually lowers thefts then it's a good policy.

I take a large "bag for life" to Aldi, show them it is empty then pack my shopping.

Possibly the most unbothering thing in the world.

Is it any better to be thought of as a potential bomber or hijacker than a potential thief?

No i wouldn't object . But I would expect a loud apology when they found nothing