Is daily searches a thing for retail staff?

[Wibblewobble88]

I was in B&M yesterday and a burly security guard was loudly explaining to a female member of staff about searches.
she could either be searched in the warehouse in front of the cctv cameras but it’s cold or she’d need to bring another female member of staff in the office with her since there’s two men to conduct searches.

Another Member of staff asked what it was about and he said it happens to all staff daily but was missed by the security guard working yesterday.

The lady was in a tight t shirt and leggings and didn’t look like she was hiding stuff amongst her person.
I felt outraged and googled if that’s their policy but couldn’t find anything.
So my question is whether this is now the normal for retail staff to have daily searches? It feels so wrong not to trust staff and have mutual respect. Please enlighten me. Thanks.

When I worked in retail we had daily bag searches before we left the store at the end of our shift & random locker searches. It wasn't uncommon for some staff to steal.

We had spot bag searches when I worked in retail 25 years ago

Over 30 years ago it was a policy of a well loved UK high street shop.

In fact they quoted law that allowed it, unfortunately they quoted English law in Ireland!

Yea, it's part of our contract that we submit to being searched whenever. Although daily sounds a lot! There's probably a suspicion of someone so everyone has to be searched so not to draw attention to any one person. It's a pain but 100s of people are sacked for stealing every year.

I worked in retail early 2000s and always had a bag search at the end of every shift - commonplace, quick glance down into your bag by the supervisor as you walked out the door. This was in a range of different types of shops.

When I worked for big W many many moons ago we had a red light green light set up. You pressed the button of it was red you had a search. Green off you pop.

Retail's biggest losses are from staff unfortunately.

Random bag and locker searches are standard practice. Never heard of body searches though.

25 years ago I had my handbag checked at the end of the day when I worked in retail. In winter if we had giant bulky coats on they might also ask us to open the coat. We were being patted down though, and (by chance) it was an all female staff so never done by a bloke.

We WEREN'T being patted down. Christ. Can we have the edit function in the app please?

Theft was rife when I worked in my Saturday job at a West End clothing store

There was one member of staff who used to work in the stock room. He would get to work at 8am steal clothing ( including expensive puffa jackets) and give it to his friends. He was eventually caught
After this all staff were checked when we left work

Yes random where they searched though, shoes, pocket, bag, even your car!!

Yes I worked in retail over 30 years ago in many different shops, it was standard practice.

I work in a supermarket and we have searches. It’s fairly recent after a stock take funnily enough.
we now have the red light green light thing. It’s by the door. You press it if it’s red you have to find a manager and empty out your pockets etc and if it’s green you can leave.
however staff at close don’t have to do this so there are quite a few flaws in the system.

When I was a teen I worked in Primark.

I was told that we would be searched as we left because head office demanded it.

I assumed this meant my bag as none of my uniform (not supplied by them, all part time staff had to get their own) had pockets and as a part timer I wasn't given a Tabard like the full time staff had back in the late 90s.

No it meant a pat down, by the male security guard who spent more time chatting up teenage girls on the shop floor than patrolling anywhere.

I thought it normal as it was my first job. It was only because my dad came to pick me up one evening when I did an extra shift and it was dark that I found out it wasn't.

We would be lined up as we left the front door after closing and one after another he would, well, feel us up.

My dad hit the roof! Security guard started stuttering and Dad demanded to speak to my boss- boss (who was lovely) knew nothing about it (this is before CCTV) and immediately sacked the guard.

It doesn't surprise me that you still have guards try it on. I would contact head office as a concerned customer.

It was standard when I worked for Debenhams in 1994. Not daily though, it was random days/times as you were leaving after your shift and you'd have your bag and coat searched leaving through the staff exit.

Staff theft in retail can be a huge problem.

I work in retail . We have to have our bags checked by a manager and aren't allowed to put our coats on until we've been checked every time we leave the building. Pocket and locker checks are done at random times at least once a month.
In my previous company there were alot of people sacked for stealing but I've been in my current store 10+ years and no one has!

Your dad sounds fantastic

Yes I used to work in retail and our bags were scanned every time we left the building. We also had random unannounced locker searches.
Never searched our person though - friend of mine stole some jewellery 🙄

Bags, coats and lockers at end of shift. NOT patted down. And it was random, not daily.

Either she had been caught slipping something into her pocket at that moment or the guards were overstepping. Please write to their head office as a concerned customer. I would be worried the poor woman was being sexually assaulted under the guise of HQ told him to or be sacked.

EDIT - Another Member of staff asked what it was about and he said it happens to all staff daily but was missed by the security guard working yesterday.
Hang on...another member of staff didn't know???

Well thank you for all your comments as it’s been playing on my mind.
Bag and locker searches make sense. This wasn’t that I’m sure. Also the colleague querying it seemed quite senior and all miked up etc.
The guard was very loud and burly. I’d be concerned he was overstepping.

The lady didn’t appear to have immediately stashed anything. She had very tight black clothes on without pockets.
Im slightly more reassured so thank you for responding.

This was a while ago as it was when I was in 6th form but the supermarket I worked at put in place bag searches after one of the managers was caught stealing a lot of cigarettes over a period of months.
Weirdly it was only done if you finished after the shop shut. If your shift finished and the shop was open, you were free to go.

So he had to explain to 2 members of staff something which happens to the daily? Seems very odd to me, why would they not know?

Where I used to work we had the red/green light system. Press a button on your way out - red light meant a manager would glance into your bag, green meant you could leave without a search. Management were able to adjust the frequency of the red light appearing to stop it always going off at the same time each day, but I still had five red lights in a row once! It's fairly random though usually and I would mostly get green lights.

Random searches are very common and theft is a huge issue.
HB used to have a quarterly lockdown when I worked there and stock for the entire site was counted bean by bean

I worked at Center Parcs over 20 years ago and our cars were searched as we drove out of the Parc.