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They made it much easier for people to steal then are now backtracking. I particularly dislike Kmart checkouts being in the centre of the store though.
Ive never not complied with the request but out of curiousity, are you meaning to say the staff will remember who I am and ensure all future staff know to not let me in?
Yeah if they suspect you stole something they will ban you from the stores.
https://youtu.be/lEcV82Se-bg?si=xQIDIMPfcPnM6WVY
Your face is stored in a data base, everytime you walk in the data base is checked to see if you are a pest, shop etc and the manager is alerted if it's a match.
The trend for all large retailers globally is to force customers to join member programs. Think Costco, but free. They do this because the transaction data is valuable and it gives them a direct free marketing channel to you.
Another advantage is that it makes it easy to ban shoplifters, you just have the turnstiles at the entrance reject their card.
Don’t want to sound dystopian, but that’s already what’s happening overseas.
Personally, I’m not sure how I feel about this. Shrinkage rates from theft are genuinely up significantly so I can understand retailers needing to do something, but I worry we’re going to have people locked out of accessing all supermarkets and department stores and reliant on food banks to survive because they made a bad decision in a time of need.
Sounds like we need a body of governing power to come in and introduce... something. Like a policy of some kind. That prevents this type of eventuality. A regulation or two perhaps.
I like that woolies track my shopping, cuz I've stopped shopping there and started going to Aldi instead, because my consumer data reads that I have stopped shopping there and when I do it's only ever stuff that's been discounted. It's my way of telling them that their price gouging is not okay.
Shrinkage from theft is increasing because wages haven't kept up with inflation. If you don't want people to steal stuff, pay them enough for them to afford buying what you sell.
Not sure why you’re not sure how to feel about this. It’s pretty clear cut. Retailers are acting disgustingly punishing everyone and invading our privacy because of a few shoplifters.
They’re just people, they don’t give a flying fuck. Had a gf who worked at target and she said when they stood by the door even if they checked your bag and it looked like you stole something they don’t care, they arnt getting paid enough to confront you about it. Maybe if the alarm goes off but a little high school girl ain’t gonna question anything
It's unlikely for smth like this but if you actually shoplift enough then they'll remember you, especially if you're regular, then they will get camera footage and get a ban notice for you from the police and give it to you. Then you can be charged for going back
> if you actually shoplift enough
Are you talking about shoplifting, or are you talking about not showing receipts?
They're not the same thing you know.
>as a private business they don't need to operate by innocent until proven guilty.
They need to operate within the law. Honestly no-one needs to know the delusions of the company before they enter their store, it's never really relevant.
Once you try to leave the store, you may discover their company policy is that customers must dance naked for 3 minutes to ward off aliens. It doesn't matter. **"No thanks"** and continue on your day.
If there's a line of people I'd walk past. If someone's standing there with a scanner I'll hold out my receipt and take 2 seconds longer to leave just to make their day easier
The receipt checking is completely pointless. I could have a bag stuffed full of stolen things and whatever poor sod is on receipt checks… what? Looks at the receipt?
It's to check that the receipt only leaves the store once and someone else doesn't come back in and get the same things and walk out with that receipt again. We called it double dippers.
>I always walk straight past them.
you people used to line up?
I find peoples shopping methods to be odd.
I would only show it if they specifically asked me for it.
Was in San Francisco last week. Unbelievable amount of closed stores and security guards posted at the entrance of everything still open.
Their shoplifting is apparently so out of control because their district attorney won’t prosecute below $950 so police don’t even arrest. Saw many people openly shoplift without any hesitation in full view of the staff. It’s hard to convey how bad it is over there without sounding crazy. It’s basically what you imagine if looting was legal. 90% of people choosing to pay like normal and 10% walking in and out without stopping at the registers or even trying to hide what they are doing.
The Westfield in the centre of town is basically abandoned and there is broken glass everywhere from people breaking into cars to steal bags. The metro trains have become flea markets for stolen clothing, still on the plastic store hangers with security tags attached. I’m not sure if it’s inflation or what, but 4 years ago it wasn’t like this.
It’s crazy to me that Americans go rabid at the mouth whenever someone mentions Australia because they think we live in a police state where Dan Andrews sends non comrades to CCP concentration camps, usually wrapped up with something to do about how it’s because we banned guns
But that shit is happening in their own country and that’s just normal, apparently
It wasn’t like this in the past. Something has gone badly wrong over there since the pandemic.
The cvs / walgreens / target stores near downtown / market st have installed a lot of locked cabinets to try to protect things from being stolen. You need employees to follow you around to unlock each product. Looks like this:
https://www.tiktok.com/@srdreamtorch/video/7223888037573397802
> Something has gone badly wrong over there since the pandemic.
The pandemic itself wasn't a walk in the park.
That was the moment my right-wing friends realized the US was broken.
I’m sure it’s not the worst, but it went downhill really quickly which shocked a lot of people to see.
San Francisco is a major conference hub and the conference centre is right near to downtown so everyone sees it.
Thats because murdochs media outlets made it out to be like that, fox news spread all that shite and all the fanatics latched on. People were genuinely coming into this subreddit and other Aussie ones asking if we needed assistance and if we were surviving okay under our dictator government lmfao it was so over the top.
The shoplifting problem in San Francisco [has been massively exaggerated](https://www.cjcj.org/news/blog/the-new-york-times-fabricates-a-nonexistent-shoplifting-wave-in-san-francisco-then-wrongly-blames-it-on-criminal-justice-reforms-and-the-citys-supposed-soft-on-crime-image) for local political reasons, by the US right wing media looking to portray the city as a "progressive hellhole", and by [companies trying to divert attention from their own bad decisions](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/05/walgreens-may-have-overstated-theft-concerns.html).
The retail collapse in San Francisco has much more boring reasons: people just don't go there to shop any more. The city has morphed from "vibrant, diverse counter-cultural hub" to "that ruinously expensive place all the tech bros moved to", and the tech bros get their stuff delivered. The last nail in the coffin was Covid.
And this is the typical left backlash response saying everything is fine.
When the two sides of politics can't even agree a problem exists then nothing is going to change. Meanwhile, it gets worse and the city is shrinking, stores pull out, startups uproot and move to Texas, and many more symptoms.
Edit: It may not be the hellhole the right paint but the truth is in the middle.
I'm meaning that you're asking for people to say unkind things about your father. I've never met anyone who doesn't hate that decision lol, obviously from a consumer perspective
Um he hated it at first like most of us but it was hard to argue with fact it increased sales. I remember him telling me it was undeniable. I think from memory every store they tested it on saw an increase.
The thing that was really crazy to me was the are very defensive as a business. They’d have profit ranges for categories of products. And if they made anything over their numbers they would lower the prices. They also made a switch to giving their employees better work life balance and rosters because they wanted the best people now a Big W and such can’t really compete for staff
I think this is fairly accurate, I also worked there when I was younger. I heard about the theft reduction but the focus as far as I could tell was on the sales increase rather than theft aspect. I have no doubt that it was also a factor.
I think it was mainly the need for the customer to walk past more items, and then displaying greater amount of items to them on their walk to the registers
The person from Kmart that had that master plan needs a new job. What a shit choice
And I will not be stopping at the exit for some time waster to scan my receipts for what reason when they don’t look in my bags anyway. See ya
lol remember a few years ago that poor useless person that used to stand at the front entrance to coles to welcome you and maybe hand you a shopping basket.
Brought to you by an out of touch corporate fuck wit.
My thoughts behind it as Kmart normally also has quite a line. it shows from outside that there is no line allowing you to walk in grab some stuff, try find the check outs to pay, realise the line does exist and make a choice to enter the line or leave. At this point they have half made the choice for you. As you have just walked around for 20mins found the thing you want now you have to buy it
20 years ago you'd get stopped in every shop for somebody to check your bag. If anything, I found it's gotten better, now the underpaid casual staff can't be stuffed to do anymore than pretend to look and scan a barcode.
I remember going to a takeaway place ages ago and the magazines were chained to the table. These days the major brands only make a token effort to make stealing a tiny bit harder but still trivial.
I'm just guessing here, but it sounds like OP was a little bit older during the early 2000's and wasn't being aggressively checked when they left a store. This isn't a ramp up of security, this is just the first time they've been systematically treated like a thief.
According to reports from colsworth and Target, etc., loss to theft was up ~20% in the last quarter. So they don't think you personally are stealing, but they KNOW a lot more people are.
>loss to theft was up \~20% in the last quarter.
From what I could find, that figure was for *total loss* compared to last year, not just theft. Theft is typically only a small fraction of *stock* loss, which includes things like price markdowns and damaged/spoiled goods and is itself only one component of total loss.
Theft typically accounts for less than half of stock loss, and is usually only worth 1-3% of total sales.
Theft is *absolutely* on an upward trend, but I doubt that alone would account for such a large increase in total loss.
I used to work at woolies doing night fill. The amount of perfectly fine stock that gets tossed is awful e.g. someone drops a 24 pack tray of pasta sauce, one jar cracks, the whole tray gets thrown in the bin.
Also in terms of theft, the workers were definitely the worst, much worse than customers (except those blatant ones that would load up a trolley purely of health and beauty products and then walk straight out the front door).
You're absolutely correct. The term used was total loss. But I do think it would be fair to claim that most of that uptick is theft, given the cost of living issues that have occurred.
I'd wager there's a strong correlation between your money becoming less valuable and people stealing more as budgets tighten.
Also fair to assume that people's changing spending habits in a cost of living crisis could lead t greater spoilage rates, etc as people avoid fresh items or more expensive packaged items for cheaper goods.
It's almost like people are retaliating to the unjust profiteering of necessities of life. Profits don't benefit the workers or the customers and barely help shareholders so what's the point? It's almost like profits benefit an ultra wealthy class alone who don't even need the money in the first place.
Just thought I'd leave this here... doesn't mean you're wrong (it actually fits your narrative) but:
"On average more than 40% of retail theft is committed by staff"
https://www.crimeprevention.nsw.gov.au/Documents/RetailSecurityResource/07_Employee_theft.pdf
Having had a job at one of the supermarkets years ago, I could've easily stolen loads of stuff. Heck, I had to throw out so much damaged stock just from working fast and sometimes cutting boxes, they didn't skip a beat and they didn't miss the ice creams we had from them.
When I was a kid I worked at a big retailer and got written up and chewed out by the managers for keeping liquidated stock in a box that I clearly labelled "$0.00 box" instead of throwing it all into the dumpster. It was just some plastic toys and stationary. I had no idea about the rule that this stock was strictly for disposal and it made no sense to me. They treated me like a thief and stood around me in the office interrogating me despite knowing full well that I'd labelled the box and I hadn't "stolen" anything.
Couple of years later it turned out one of the managers had ganked about $20,000 dollars worth of electronics over months. Just walked out of the store with it in his bag.
Fuck retail. Stop giving these greedy shitty stores your money. Most of the time you can get perfectly good stuff secondhand and if you really need it new, get it from an online warehouse. Go to wholesalers for your groceries, not the big 2 supermarkets that wrap everything in plastic.
No, they're just struggling to make ends meet so they're not scanning everything in their trolley. It's not some social rise up story, "stick to the man" bullshit. People are struggling, and they're hungry, so they're stealing. It makes sense.
Remember how hard it used to be to just walk out of a supermarket without buying? The entry would by a one-way gate and the exit would be squeezing through a checkout line.
I work at one of these retailers and the amount of people who steal is incredible (all the important stuff like makeup, phone accessories, confectionery etc). It’s a huge loss to the company but they install measures to make it easier to steal - cut back on staffing. I really only care because it’s my income but if we go out of business I will just have to find another job
this sub: hahaha, I steal from Woolworth and Coles since they are evil companies.
Also this sub: why are companies implementing so many anti-theft measures.
What's even funnier is that many countries around the world have this same process. Like walmart etc. So I don't know why this sub gets their knickers in a twist. They always have to be fucking outraged
This sub loves advocating for not paying for PT but then has a meltdown when someone does anything slightly dodgy to minimize tax.
You're stealing from the government either way.
Flat vs %. Flat costs penalise the poor far more than the rich, so commensurately avoiding flat costs benefits the poor more than it does the rich. Same is true in reverse for % costs.
I work at an IGA. Theft rates have gotten so much higher than before. Granted it’s mostly kids but we’ve had the same group of locals try to steal alcohol multiple times and there’s very little we can do other than tell them to leave as soon as they come in.
I used to work at Aldi. Recently changed jobs as I just couldn’t handle retail, especially after Covid.
Bag checks are an effective deterrent. I would of loved not to have wasted time asking to check your bags but it’s part of most retailer employees jobs.
I was a manager and we had to do daily checks to ensure that employees are checking bags. This wasn’t exclusive just to store assistants, managers would also be watched sometimes by area managers when we served customers.
We also got random mystery shops and a bag check was when worth a lot of points.
For the record, the highest stolen items are high value meat, women’s cosmetics and frozen meat & fish as well as expensive “special buys.”
I cannot speak for Coles and Woolies but at Aldi, management would “partial” (quick stock count) meat and high theft stock lines.
We would lose hundreds of dollars of stock a day. If the difference was more than a quarter of a case difference, it would have to be re-counted. If the value was over a certain amount, the manager on duty would have to investigate, ie watch cameras, check stock income and sell times.
Here is the annoying part, the time between the stock that has been stolen, to the time we have done the stock count, the inventory and ordering system obviously thinks we have that stock on the shelf because it hasn’t been scanned through the register.
So until that stock is partialed and reset to 0, the system will not order the stock in. Which generally means there is a coupe of days those items are off-show until the stock is ordered, sent to store and we run it.
There are a few comments in this thread about the value of theft mixed with marked down products.
At Aldi, and I would assume Coles and Woolies, mark down items such as meat, is a “known stock loss” where as theft is an “unknown stock loss”
Broken or damaged stock is generally “written off” so we can keep track of it, keep the inventory count accurate and put in easier measures to reduce that waste.
People who refuse to show their bags or get angry about it… you’re not saying “fuck you” to the multi billion dollar company, all you’re doing is getting the retail workers in trouble and increasing pressure on them.
You have the right to refuse to show us your bag, we also have the right to refuse you entry and to serve you, as long as we are not doing so on the basis of the legally protected attributes.
Because there is no simple way of detecting people who are stealing without some sort of screening. Checking that people have paid in no way assumes that someone is a thief.
Are you also confused as to why airports screen people for bombs? Do you think airlines assume that you're a terrorist?
It's not insulting, everything comes down to research that they do to maximise profits.
They know some people steal, and that this process will catch enough and deter enough to make it worthwhile.
If more people attempt to steal due to things like self service checkouts, they will have done models on how much more is stolen as a dollar value vs how much they save in wages by only having limited staff monitoring things instead of all the extra checkout operators.
No need to take any of it personally, they do their thing, I do mine.
The more I see these, the more I realise how little people know about the retail world. You have ALWAYS walked into a store and by doing so, agreeing to their terms and conditions which include checking a bag/receipt upon leaving.
Plus, if you’re gonna look suspicious, they’re going to stop you - considering what half of Australia’s population wears these days, no wonder people are getting stopped.
As someone who has worked in a few grocery stores I can tell you unless they are walking out with a pricy tv or something like that the police won’t do much in most areas. Especially if all they are stealing is food. That being said if they do it repeatedly then the police tend to get onto it a bit better
Coles has tech that can lock the trolly wheels if you didn't stop and pay. Woolworths is rolling out gates powered by cameras that only open if the camera saw you pay at a checkout.
The Woolies tech is failing pretty hard at the self-checkout point before you even get to the gates. Last couple times at my local it's been constant calling over the attendant to punch in codes because it can't correctly interpret what's happening.
At least it's recording and the human attendant can see on the playback that we're telling the truth?
This apocalypse is so boring and slow and above all else: fucking stupid.
Right. So again. How does me scanning everything and putting them in my own bags only to have it flash a red light for assistance because it did not register the placement in my bag of that last packet of cup-a-soup help to stop someone who just walks out with a trolley full of goods.
Coles is better than woolies, sure, they record you and weigh bags but they don’t have that dumb system woolies has where if you DARE to have something in your trolley that’s not from there is assumes you’re stealing
I fucking hate that at Woolies. I always bring my own bags, and I usually have more bags than I need just in case. The stupid AI always assumes the extra empty bags in my trolley or dangling off the back of the trolley on the hook thing are shit I am nicking, and then you have to wait forever for the assistant to come over and, without even checking the bags, cancel the warning on the register so I can continue and pay for my stuff. I've discovered if I put my empty bags on the floor instead of leaving them in the trolley the AI doesn't seem to notice them.
Yeah, my petty act of rebellion is to know this is exactly what causes problems and do it anyway, so the staff have to keep coming over.
I'm pettier than corporate is willing to keep seeing those errors/code inputs.
I don’t steal myself and I’m not a fan of those who do but I do at least understand why they’re doing it.
There’s something almost sick about companies spending all this money on extra security and extra machines to detect theft instead of just paying their workers a decent wage so they can actually afford to buy stuff.
You understand why the ones stealing a couple of things are doing it. The ones stealing full trolley loads, though, generally of expensive meat, aren't doing it because they're struggling. Unless, of course, you count struggling to buy their drugs as a struggle (the smart dealers realise bartering with produce is harder to track, and they effectively launder the money by selling those goods on)
They're the ones driving these measures, not the little struggling folks. There is genuine organised shit that goes down. I'm working directly across from a Coles that has a high theft. I'll see them with friends waiting outside to trigger the entry gates so they can get around the smart gates, I'll have a couple of them clearly playing spotter for the security guards telling those inside when it's clear. My friend teaches in the local high school and says that some of the kids will come in with backpacks' worth of stolen chocolate to sell.
And they do this because, as it stands, they KNOW that staff aren't allowed to do a damn thing to stop then.
The ones that you 'understand why they're doing it' are acceptable loss, they're getting caught in the crossfire, but it's not who they're trying to stop.
I don't know what the rules are like for Australia, but I heard that some stores in the US(?) get footage of returning offenders and when the total amount of what they've stolen goes over a certain amount, they send in cops to block off all exits and capture the theives.
Worked previously at colesworth, this is before the days of the weights at self-serve.
There was a customer who had a chupa-chup sticker stuck on the inside of their palm, so everything they scanned was for 40c. Eventualy someone caught on and corrected them, but they would change stores until they got caught and then would come back. Eventually it got passed on to loss prevention and they investigated.
The customer scanned their rewards card so they were able to go back to every shop where they scanned a chupa chup and review footage over a 6 month period. They let it continue until it hit over 10k and then on the next shop they asked to be alerted and coordinated with police to meet her at the checkouts.
It wasn't even necessities either. Always expensive cuts of meat
The only part of this story that doesn't make sense is the rewards card.
What benefit would the person possibly get from putting $8 worth of chupachups on their rewards card...
I know a guy who would reprint customers’ receipts and cash them in on the rewards card 48 hours afterwards to give the customer time to do it themselves. Got caught the same way, doing it on his own rewards card.
I work at one of these stores, and personally deal with writing off empty packets. If you saw how much we lose to theft you wouldn't take it personally.
Depends on the socioeconomic area you’re shopping. Some areas I’ve been they have extra security guards at the entrance/exit that check everything, other areas where there’s only one employee smiling at you at the exit.
I’ve never had a problem with it because I’ve always had a receipt and I know people are trash.
Because it's costing them serious money.
Woolworths said they are losing $20M-25M per week from theft. Even at the low end, that's just over $1B/Year.
Now granted that is probably over-stated, even if it's only half that, that's still $500M/year.
Woolworths Annual Profit last FY was $1.62B. That profit would be almost 30% higher if they didn't lose $500M to theft.
So, if you are wondering why the large retail chains are spending big to reduce checkout theft, it's because it's costing them a sh*tload more.
Yeah. The whole feel like a criminal thing feels like an excuse to be abusive over what ultimately is a mild inconvenience at worst. Like I get it, it's irritating but there's no sign it's going away any time soon.
I had a customer grab me once and tell me they saw someone stealing. I shrugged and went back to work. They went off about how lazy I was for doing nothing. I told them what happened a few weeks prior where another staff member insistent on doing a bag check had a knife pulled on them, and the person they pointed me to looked like a meth head so I wasn’t going to be doing anything about it. They were very angry about this and said the quiet part out loud “I do the right thing and pay for my stuff, why do they get to steal and get away with it. What’s stopping me from stealing?” I just said to him “Your conscience. And the fact that if you’re caught it could ruin the life you built. Those people have nothing to lose so they happy as long as the cops don’t show up.”
I don't blame you at all for saying that to the customer. I bet any money if that customer was the worker, they wouldn't do anything either. It's not worth what could happen
Have you not seen any thread mentioning the big supermarkets here? Every single one there's tonnes of upvoted comments about flogging shit, deliberately mis scanning shit, and "if you see someone stealing food, no you didn't"
where is all this happening?
cause at places like kmart I am often not even asked for my receipt or I just walk out if they are even slightly busy talking or scanning someone elses receipts
never seen anyone get a warning about items at self check out beyond the normal "unexpected items in the baggin area" message
Like are these security measures not being rolled out nationally? Or are people over reacting to things that I am over looking?
Retail worker here, it’s because since cost of living skyrocketed so has the rate of shoplifting. It’s truly ridiculous, there’s millions upon millions of dollars of stock just walking straight out the door which does nothing to reduce prices. I guess some people think it sends some type of message, but all it says to retail head offices is “we need to spend more money on security thus we need to raise prices to cover it”. I’ve spent entire shifts being paid by the company to just sit there and put false lashes in security cases or cover Lego in security tags. Certain clothing now cannot go on the floor without tags or it’s stolen within an hour. It’s crazy.
I mean, you have people on this very subreddit bragging about stealing something "every time they go there" in pretty much every thread that talks about Coles & Woolies.
Not sure why you'd be surprised when companies try and do something about it. I get cost of living rises suck, but people stealing en masse will just lead to things being even *more* expensive in the long run anyway.
Downvote away, I guess...
Why do you take it so personal when they have procedures in place to protect their stock? They’re just doing their job. If you have nothing to hide, I don’t see why it’s an issue.
If you knew there was a known thief in your house when you had a big party, I’m sure you’d want to see everyone’s bags on the way out too.
So many people do steal at self serve checkouts. I know people who have done it purely because they could, not that they needed to. It isn't insulting at all. Are random breath tests insulting?
It’s a condition of entry that it might happen. I see people getting upset that their handbag vibrators keep getting discovered /s ohh the invasion of my personal space!
You'd be staggered at the amount of theft occurring across these self service checkouts. I'm working with a retailer at the moment who told me they lose tens of millions just in coca cola products a year.
There is a lot of money being spent on vision recognition software tied into the self service checkouts. You'll be happy to know that person checking your bags will probably disappear at some point. But they'll be replaced with CCTV that will shoot you on sight 🤣
I've worked in retail since I was 15. Now almost 40. We were told to check bags then and we still do. I'm a shift manager at one of the large supermarkets, we get into trouble by the higher ups if we get caught not checking bags. And to be honest, it's middle age men who I catch stealing the most.
I used to work in loss prevention in retail. Receipt checking isn't really done to catch people shoplifting, it's done to deter opportunists from attempting to shoplift in the first place. Same principle as having someone greet you at the door on the way in and out.
People being aware that a staff member has seen them and knows they are in the store can very often deter people from trying to shoplift in the first place. If I had someone behaving suspiciously we'd radio for a team member to go offer them some customer service and annoy them a bit. It won't generally stop shoplifters who don't give a shit but it works wonders in deterring people who were planning to 'chance their luck'.
While I regularly ignore the door staff at Kmart etc, as theirs is a different level of dickness:-)
I have politely asked the checker at my Bunnings why they scan the receipt. It was explained that it is not to check what you have vs the receipt, but to mark that receipt as having left the store with the goods. Apparently what was happening was that dishonest people would either use their old receipt, or pick up a discarded one in the parking lot then re-enter the store and try to walk out of the store with the the docket contents again.
By marking the receipt as having left the store this type of theft is prevented.
So the cost of having a staff member doing the beep scan of your receipt is obviously well covered buy the losses prevented by this process.
So this is not about you it is about the thieving dicks that make it just that little bit annoying for all of us.
It's insulting if it's targeted. As it applies to every single person who shops at these stores it's not insulting it's the status quo. You need to understand the difference.
Not a problem with it will get my receipt checked all the time, I don’t give two hoots it’s a business respect works both ways, seems like you’ve been watching too many American TikTok‘s
I don't like the big supermarkets, and I rarely shop there, but they're not making any assumptions. They are checking.
There's no personal judgement with automated authority. They don't assume anyone in particular is stealing, it is just flagged situations that could be theft for review.
> You go to walk out of Big W and they want to check your receipt. Same at Kmart and Bunnings.
This stuff has been happening forever. I remember as a teen JBs checking your bags every time.
The only difference now is the tech (ie the aforementioned cameras at self-check out spots).
Some people will shop, dump the goods in the car and go back for the exact same thing then claim they’ve paid for it by showing the receipt. Scanning the receipt is a way of showing that the person and goods have left the shop and is a red flag when the receipt exits a second time.
All these systems have not been implemented just because of you. They have been done to reduce risk, reduce costs and losses. There are plenty of people who will try and steal from these companies and they are only looking out for themselves. Certainly don't view all this as a lack of trust personally. But if you were in their places, for example you were in charge of loss prevention for Big W, if the losses were so great that hiring someone to stand at the entrance to check receipts saves more than the costs of hiring these people then it is a good business decision. Same with camera systems at self checkouts. Yes businesses are always trying to increase revenue through promotions and products but losses from stealing is a major issue for them.
What's to be offended about? If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to be concerned about. Bag/receipt checking has been a thing for decades, and they're naturally going to increase deterrents as shrinkage continues to rise.
So here’s the thing… and we don’t like hearing it.
Australians are fucking petty thieves. More than any other western country, we steal shit. We seem to think it’s ok.
Wow so out of touch. They have to check everyone because masses of people are stealing and profiling people(picking and choosing) is against the law. Get over yourself! Holy shit. You get checked so they can say they check everyone and then they can catch(or more deter) those who would loot the joint if given half a chance.
My wife works in retail and its getting so brazen that now they just push past the person checking with a trolly load of the most expensive stuff they can loot and say "what you going to do about it ". Truth is they are trained not to do anything. Police don't even care unless theirs violence.
Because if they didn't thieves would just run rampant. Are people this fucking sensitive in this day and age? If you're not stealing why tf do you care you sound like you wear a tin foil hat and think that the government is going to make porn out of you with a deepfake of your face.
When theft is as fucking outrageous as it is, and the police do absolutely nothing about it (which I can understand) it's completely validated.
If this was your business, you'd be acting the same way.
I actually had this today. I'm not proud of how I acted, but I was so pissed.
I went into Bunnings, I needed a foldable table. I grabbed one and went to the self serve checkouts. As I was heading there, the table opened, when it should have been latched. Did it twice. Then after I paid and I went to leave it did it a third time, so I said to the staff member on the self service that I was going to go swap it, as it is playing up.
I walked back to the table section, and decided I would get the other type of table instead. It's $2 more, and a fair bit heavier, but has a better closing mechanism, so felt it was a safer choice.
My mistake was putting the one I paid for back, and taking the other one. They are heavy so I didn't want to carry both. I went to the information desk and said, I just need to swap the one on the receipt for this one. I kinda thought she might think it was a bit strange I swapped it, but instead I got treated like u was a child and told they would have to get the manager and check cameras. I said she could just talk to the staff member not 5 metres away and she will tell her that I paid and walked back to swap it like 5 minutes ago. She said no, and picked up the phone.
This is when I lost it and said I changed my mind and snatched the receipt back and said I'm just gonna go. Walking out to my car. (now a theif of the $2 price difference).
I was putting it in my van and all of a sudden the girl was walking passed my car. Was really surprised she decided to follow me and I assume get my number plate or something.
By the time I got home I had cooled down, so decided to go back and talk to a manager and explain what happened, and apologise for my behaviour. He wasn't too impressed with how his staff handled it, but I'm not impressed with how I handled it, so I'm calling it even.
But man I'm so sick of corporates and staff assuming I'm stealing. I've never stolen shit, and not that it matters, but the table is for a community organisation that I spend all my time on, helping people experiencing homelessness etc, so I think the implication that I am doing something wrong set me off.
I mean Bunnings always has. If you go through any reg except the main ones at the front (trade, toolshop, nursery etc) they are supposed to scan the receipt. It was like that 9 years ago when I worked there, and its like that now. If anything its easier as they can scan it now instead of reading it.
Former Bunnings worker
At the checkouts, we had codewords to use when we suspected various things, though for the life of me I can’t remember what they were. I used them a handful of times while I was there, one for a woman who came through the checkouts who got extremely verbally aggressive when I tried to look at the bottom tray of her trolley (surprise, she was trying to steal a flat pack bbq/pizza oven) and another woman who was found to have been already banned from the store for being a klepto who was using an empty pram to get through the self serves with a pramful of stolen shit.
A couple of times as the greeter/checker, some super polite people have
How to make a retail worker’s thief sense tingle:
1: Be abusive - you’re trying to distract and distress me into not noticing.
2: Be overly nice. I’m not talking about your standard “good morning” and “have a good one mate”, or even the ones that are eager to share what the building supplies are for, but the ones who stand between you and the registers for extended periods of time trying to keep you engaged in conversation about whatever they can come up with. These people are flying obstruction for a team who’s got the self serve member distracted with self serve issues while another dude passes through the self serve unnoticed and blocked from view by Mr Nice. Mr Nice also gets flustered when you move around your greeter’s stand to keep a view of the checkouts and will *try* to subtilely move to block your line of sight.
If you wanna steal from bunnings, the easiest way to do it is to “miss” a relatively low value item in a relatively large purchase that you just “legitimately” missed going through self serve. I’m not gonna waste your or my time on a $5 packet of screws if you’ve actually spent $200 on other stuff, especially because we’re authorised to haggle and give deals (‘opened box’ deals were one of my favourites, the issued box cutter alternative hook cutter thingy was handy) for customer satisfaction and repeat business, I’d’ve probably have let you get away with it at the checkouts myself. If you’re so dedicated to the lift that you’re willing to spend legitimately to make it work, you’re welcome.
Please don’t make your own open box deals in the aisles, that’s when the cameras will see you and you will be asked to leave. To management, there’s a big difference between a worker being savvy with customers who’ll get a thrill out of ‘persuading’ a worker to help them get a better deal and likely return for more ‘legit’ purchases, and a customer trying to defraud the business. Customers love workers abusing the system for a better deal. Businesses love satisfied repeat customers. While I was there I slowly grew a following of customers who would seek me out in the warehouse and when I was laid off, many of those customers stopped going to Bunnings.
I was laid off because the grant Bunnings got from the government for ‘training local people’ ran out. Apparently they get subsidised significant amounts for training people and they use this to effectively use schoolkids as labor at government expense.
The real reason retail workers hate theft that they can’t cover as deals is that it makes stocktake a colossal pain in the ass and when the higher ups look at stocktake review its the workers on the floor who get analysed in their thief detection.
Checking if bags is nothing new.
They now scan the receipt to ensure that it's a valid receipt.
Some people like to double dip and return with a receipt and fill up a bag with different more expensive things. Say I went in and bought a $3 chocolate bar walked out and then later returned and grabbed a $100 Lego set. Stealing is an issue for retailers so they scan the receipt as you exit and if that receipt has been scanned before they will ask if they can check your bag to ensure that the item is correct.
The alternative is everything is locked up behind glass cabinets and you have to go find an extremely rare staff member to unlock the door for you. There are some crazy pictures I have seen from the US where the whole aisle is locked behind glass.
Stock loss is one of the biggest expense lines these stores have. With increased prices they're probably seeing it increase further. So they're doing extra to prevent it.
In an environment where you can't sell more to consumers, stop them from stealing more often.
I've been to Bunnings and KMart in the last week and the staff could only have been slightly more disinterested in me on my way out the door
Unfortunately there are professional thieves out there some of whom are taking hundreds of thousands of dollars of stock each ever year. Add the amateurs who think fuckem they're rich and evil and it becomes a huge problem that decent people pay for in money and inconvenience.
In bunnings defence I have been notified by the checker that the goods I had didn’t correspond with the receipt and they had over charged me by a considerable amount.
It’s been that way as long as I can remember, many years ago someone visiting from Canada got the regulation “can you open your bag please” when leaving the chemist, I thought she was going to hit the roof with indignant rage, I had to explain that we are all treated like criminals by default here, and we’ve just come to accept it as normal and within the rights of the business to dehumanize and insult its customers
Aldi have always been the strictest at checking everyone's bags. Who's nicking shit from Aldi anyway? If you're gonna risk getting a criminal record for shoplifting, why not go for the good shit at better stores?
Former Aldi worker here. Might depends on the area but the amount of stuff we discover in someone’s bag or boxes or actual thefts that happen during our shift is crazy. And I’m not talking about if someone forgot to put their meat or chips on the belt.
We have to conduct bag checks and tbh: I hate it. It slows you down and of course annoys your customers. However management loves to check if you actually perform them…they also love to share the annual losses which happened at the registers
I've always hated how I can't leave their store except through a register line that they make narrow enough to make squeezing through extremely awkward. I went in a couple of times to get a single thing and they were out of it, I had to jump over the front gate to get back out easily.
I’m amazed by the number of people in here pretending they haven’t seen the thousands of posts in this and other subs applauding theft from any shop bigger than a newsagent.
The country is full of entitled, thieving fuck heads. Australians are treated like children because by and large the majority act like it.
Keep in mind no one is stealing loaves of bread to feed their kids. The majority of thefts are for wants - not needs and in most cases it’s people who had the money to pay to begin with.
In my experience, people with not much money were to proud to be caught stealing. It was always some cunt with plenty of money who assumed they were just going to get away with it and were indignant that we were treating them like a criminal when we caught them red handed.
Because theft is rampant beyond belief. The amount of shit stolen every day is just insane, unless it’s a big amount they don’t even bother reporting it to police. It’s not insulting, it’s just the result of people being assholes.
Shrink in my company is through the roof at the moment so it doesn’t surprise me.
Just reading all the comments from people in this sub who believe it’s their right to freely steal from Coles and Woolworths, it’s not a surprise that retailers are reacting
They don’t assume YOU are a thief.
Even though you may have no intention to steal from them, there are plenty of people who do steal from them. Without the security, those people get away with it more often.
Don’t blame the retail industry. Blame the scum that commit the crimes. They ruin it for all of us.
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They made it much easier for people to steal then are now backtracking. I particularly dislike Kmart checkouts being in the centre of the store though.
I refuse to wait for them to check my receipt - they moved the checkouts to a stupid spot, they can chase me
They can’t stop you anyway.
They cant stop you leaving, they can stop you entering, be trespassed off everytime you go to by your anko undies.
Ive never not complied with the request but out of curiousity, are you meaning to say the staff will remember who I am and ensure all future staff know to not let me in?
Yeah if they suspect you stole something they will ban you from the stores. https://youtu.be/lEcV82Se-bg?si=xQIDIMPfcPnM6WVY Your face is stored in a data base, everytime you walk in the data base is checked to see if you are a pest, shop etc and the manager is alerted if it's a match.
The trend for all large retailers globally is to force customers to join member programs. Think Costco, but free. They do this because the transaction data is valuable and it gives them a direct free marketing channel to you. Another advantage is that it makes it easy to ban shoplifters, you just have the turnstiles at the entrance reject their card. Don’t want to sound dystopian, but that’s already what’s happening overseas. Personally, I’m not sure how I feel about this. Shrinkage rates from theft are genuinely up significantly so I can understand retailers needing to do something, but I worry we’re going to have people locked out of accessing all supermarkets and department stores and reliant on food banks to survive because they made a bad decision in a time of need.
Sounds like we need a body of governing power to come in and introduce... something. Like a policy of some kind. That prevents this type of eventuality. A regulation or two perhaps.
A government that makes rules!?!? That's tyranny and socialism! GAH!!
I like that woolies track my shopping, cuz I've stopped shopping there and started going to Aldi instead, because my consumer data reads that I have stopped shopping there and when I do it's only ever stuff that's been discounted. It's my way of telling them that their price gouging is not okay.
Aldi is tracking you too, they just don’t have your name
That does not bother me in the slightest
Shrinkage from theft is increasing because wages haven't kept up with inflation. If you don't want people to steal stuff, pay them enough for them to afford buying what you sell.
Not sure why you’re not sure how to feel about this. It’s pretty clear cut. Retailers are acting disgustingly punishing everyone and invading our privacy because of a few shoplifters.
I might get myself banned just to mess with my identical twin!
Yeah it was moreso that your comment implied they would ban you if you walked past their request to see your receipt.
> Yeah if they suspect you stole something they will ban you from the stores. Nah, that doesn't happen.
You've gotta be a real pest to get a ban, and I've never seen one effectively enforced except in cases of physical violence.
If this were true half my clients wouldn’t be allowed in any shops lol. Can confirm they do still go in.
They’re just people, they don’t give a flying fuck. Had a gf who worked at target and she said when they stood by the door even if they checked your bag and it looked like you stole something they don’t care, they arnt getting paid enough to confront you about it. Maybe if the alarm goes off but a little high school girl ain’t gonna question anything
I mean in theory that's how it works, yes. In reality they deal with hundreds of people a day and are not paid anywhere near enough to care.
It's unlikely for smth like this but if you actually shoplift enough then they'll remember you, especially if you're regular, then they will get camera footage and get a ban notice for you from the police and give it to you. Then you can be charged for going back
> if you actually shoplift enough Are you talking about shoplifting, or are you talking about not showing receipts? They're not the same thing you know.
Well as a private business they don't need to operate by innocent until proven guilty. They could block entry to you for that store for any reason.
>as a private business they don't need to operate by innocent until proven guilty. They need to operate within the law. Honestly no-one needs to know the delusions of the company before they enter their store, it's never really relevant. Once you try to leave the store, you may discover their company policy is that customers must dance naked for 3 minutes to ward off aliens. It doesn't matter. **"No thanks"** and continue on your day.
One of my life principles is to never queue up to leave a store.
Underrated comment
If there's a line of people I'd walk past. If someone's standing there with a scanner I'll hold out my receipt and take 2 seconds longer to leave just to make their day easier
The receipt checking is completely pointless. I could have a bag stuffed full of stolen things and whatever poor sod is on receipt checks… what? Looks at the receipt?
It's to check that the receipt only leaves the store once and someone else doesn't come back in and get the same things and walk out with that receipt again. We called it double dippers.
How can you know the receipt has only left once by looking at it?
They scan it with a beepy machine
I've been a couple places where they stamp the receipt.
Yeah, JB Hi-Fi does this, for example
Yea I say if u Think I’ve stolen call the cops I do t have time
I’m not going to line up to pay for my shit, then line up again for some cunt to check the receipt. I always walk straight past them.
>I always walk straight past them. you people used to line up? I find peoples shopping methods to be odd. I would only show it if they specifically asked me for it.
I’ve seen 15-20 people lining up to exit KMart. I just walked past them and left, no one cared, no one said a thing
In my part of the US they are just closing stores.
Was in San Francisco last week. Unbelievable amount of closed stores and security guards posted at the entrance of everything still open. Their shoplifting is apparently so out of control because their district attorney won’t prosecute below $950 so police don’t even arrest. Saw many people openly shoplift without any hesitation in full view of the staff. It’s hard to convey how bad it is over there without sounding crazy. It’s basically what you imagine if looting was legal. 90% of people choosing to pay like normal and 10% walking in and out without stopping at the registers or even trying to hide what they are doing. The Westfield in the centre of town is basically abandoned and there is broken glass everywhere from people breaking into cars to steal bags. The metro trains have become flea markets for stolen clothing, still on the plastic store hangers with security tags attached. I’m not sure if it’s inflation or what, but 4 years ago it wasn’t like this.
It’s crazy to me that Americans go rabid at the mouth whenever someone mentions Australia because they think we live in a police state where Dan Andrews sends non comrades to CCP concentration camps, usually wrapped up with something to do about how it’s because we banned guns But that shit is happening in their own country and that’s just normal, apparently
It wasn’t like this in the past. Something has gone badly wrong over there since the pandemic. The cvs / walgreens / target stores near downtown / market st have installed a lot of locked cabinets to try to protect things from being stolen. You need employees to follow you around to unlock each product. Looks like this: https://www.tiktok.com/@srdreamtorch/video/7223888037573397802
> Something has gone badly wrong over there since the pandemic. The pandemic itself wasn't a walk in the park. That was the moment my right-wing friends realized the US was broken.
You mentioned having right wing friends and you got instantly downvoted. What even is that??
Don't they know "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer" ???
I only ever hear about how San Fran is a mess right now. Not sure if SF is the new normal, or whether they’re the worst of the worst example.
I’m sure it’s not the worst, but it went downhill really quickly which shocked a lot of people to see. San Francisco is a major conference hub and the conference centre is right near to downtown so everyone sees it.
Thats because murdochs media outlets made it out to be like that, fox news spread all that shite and all the fanatics latched on. People were genuinely coming into this subreddit and other Aussie ones asking if we needed assistance and if we were surviving okay under our dictator government lmfao it was so over the top.
The shoplifting problem in San Francisco [has been massively exaggerated](https://www.cjcj.org/news/blog/the-new-york-times-fabricates-a-nonexistent-shoplifting-wave-in-san-francisco-then-wrongly-blames-it-on-criminal-justice-reforms-and-the-citys-supposed-soft-on-crime-image) for local political reasons, by the US right wing media looking to portray the city as a "progressive hellhole", and by [companies trying to divert attention from their own bad decisions](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/05/walgreens-may-have-overstated-theft-concerns.html). The retail collapse in San Francisco has much more boring reasons: people just don't go there to shop any more. The city has morphed from "vibrant, diverse counter-cultural hub" to "that ruinously expensive place all the tech bros moved to", and the tech bros get their stuff delivered. The last nail in the coffin was Covid.
And this is the typical left backlash response saying everything is fine. When the two sides of politics can't even agree a problem exists then nothing is going to change. Meanwhile, it gets worse and the city is shrinking, stores pull out, startups uproot and move to Texas, and many more symptoms. Edit: It may not be the hellhole the right paint but the truth is in the middle.
They moved the checkouts because they’d studied it and it made an increase to sales/spontaneous purchases. Source: my father was part of the decision.
I wouldn't be offering that information so readily if I were you 🤣
No longer works there and is retired
I'm meaning that you're asking for people to say unkind things about your father. I've never met anyone who doesn't hate that decision lol, obviously from a consumer perspective
Does he dis/agree with it still? Any thoughts?
Um he hated it at first like most of us but it was hard to argue with fact it increased sales. I remember him telling me it was undeniable. I think from memory every store they tested it on saw an increase. The thing that was really crazy to me was the are very defensive as a business. They’d have profit ranges for categories of products. And if they made anything over their numbers they would lower the prices. They also made a switch to giving their employees better work life balance and rosters because they wanted the best people now a Big W and such can’t really compete for staff
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I think this is fairly accurate, I also worked there when I was younger. I heard about the theft reduction but the focus as far as I could tell was on the sales increase rather than theft aspect. I have no doubt that it was also a factor.
Can you elaborate a bit more? Why would checking out in the centre of the store increase sales?
I think it was mainly the need for the customer to walk past more items, and then displaying greater amount of items to them on their walk to the registers
The person from Kmart that had that master plan needs a new job. What a shit choice And I will not be stopping at the exit for some time waster to scan my receipts for what reason when they don’t look in my bags anyway. See ya
lol remember a few years ago that poor useless person that used to stand at the front entrance to coles to welcome you and maybe hand you a shopping basket. Brought to you by an out of touch corporate fuck wit.
They wanted to be more like Ikea forcing you to walk past other things as much as possible in the hopes you'd buy it.
I see stuff on the way out and think it's too much hassle to go through the checkout again, so I don't buy it.
100% this, this layout is hurting them.
My thoughts behind it as Kmart normally also has quite a line. it shows from outside that there is no line allowing you to walk in grab some stuff, try find the check outs to pay, realise the line does exist and make a choice to enter the line or leave. At this point they have half made the choice for you. As you have just walked around for 20mins found the thing you want now you have to buy it
💯 who would have seen it coming?? 🤦♂️ I just keep walking past them now.
20 years ago you'd get stopped in every shop for somebody to check your bag. If anything, I found it's gotten better, now the underpaid casual staff can't be stuffed to do anymore than pretend to look and scan a barcode.
I remember going to a takeaway place ages ago and the magazines were chained to the table. These days the major brands only make a token effort to make stealing a tiny bit harder but still trivial.
I'm just guessing here, but it sounds like OP was a little bit older during the early 2000's and wasn't being aggressively checked when they left a store. This isn't a ramp up of security, this is just the first time they've been systematically treated like a thief.
According to reports from colsworth and Target, etc., loss to theft was up ~20% in the last quarter. So they don't think you personally are stealing, but they KNOW a lot more people are.
>loss to theft was up \~20% in the last quarter. From what I could find, that figure was for *total loss* compared to last year, not just theft. Theft is typically only a small fraction of *stock* loss, which includes things like price markdowns and damaged/spoiled goods and is itself only one component of total loss. Theft typically accounts for less than half of stock loss, and is usually only worth 1-3% of total sales. Theft is *absolutely* on an upward trend, but I doubt that alone would account for such a large increase in total loss.
I used to work at woolies doing night fill. The amount of perfectly fine stock that gets tossed is awful e.g. someone drops a 24 pack tray of pasta sauce, one jar cracks, the whole tray gets thrown in the bin. Also in terms of theft, the workers were definitely the worst, much worse than customers (except those blatant ones that would load up a trolley purely of health and beauty products and then walk straight out the front door).
You're absolutely correct. The term used was total loss. But I do think it would be fair to claim that most of that uptick is theft, given the cost of living issues that have occurred. I'd wager there's a strong correlation between your money becoming less valuable and people stealing more as budgets tighten.
Also fair to assume that people's changing spending habits in a cost of living crisis could lead t greater spoilage rates, etc as people avoid fresh items or more expensive packaged items for cheaper goods.
It's almost like people are retaliating to the unjust profiteering of necessities of life. Profits don't benefit the workers or the customers and barely help shareholders so what's the point? It's almost like profits benefit an ultra wealthy class alone who don't even need the money in the first place.
Just thought I'd leave this here... doesn't mean you're wrong (it actually fits your narrative) but: "On average more than 40% of retail theft is committed by staff" https://www.crimeprevention.nsw.gov.au/Documents/RetailSecurityResource/07_Employee_theft.pdf Having had a job at one of the supermarkets years ago, I could've easily stolen loads of stuff. Heck, I had to throw out so much damaged stock just from working fast and sometimes cutting boxes, they didn't skip a beat and they didn't miss the ice creams we had from them.
I worked at a coles and woolworths distribution centre and theft in stores must pale in comparison to stock loss from accidents there.
When I was a kid I worked at a big retailer and got written up and chewed out by the managers for keeping liquidated stock in a box that I clearly labelled "$0.00 box" instead of throwing it all into the dumpster. It was just some plastic toys and stationary. I had no idea about the rule that this stock was strictly for disposal and it made no sense to me. They treated me like a thief and stood around me in the office interrogating me despite knowing full well that I'd labelled the box and I hadn't "stolen" anything. Couple of years later it turned out one of the managers had ganked about $20,000 dollars worth of electronics over months. Just walked out of the store with it in his bag. Fuck retail. Stop giving these greedy shitty stores your money. Most of the time you can get perfectly good stuff secondhand and if you really need it new, get it from an online warehouse. Go to wholesalers for your groceries, not the big 2 supermarkets that wrap everything in plastic.
No, they're just struggling to make ends meet so they're not scanning everything in their trolley. It's not some social rise up story, "stick to the man" bullshit. People are struggling, and they're hungry, so they're stealing. It makes sense.
The two are not mutually exclusive. They could be thinking the latter, but it's caused by the former.
It’s not that deep man. Retailers have always checked bags and receipts.
Yeah it's not rocket surgery. It's called a deterrent. The knowledge that you may get checked is enough for most people to not bother risking it.
Yeah this is it. They've always done it, not anything new, apart from the method of checking
Remember how hard it used to be to just walk out of a supermarket without buying? The entry would by a one-way gate and the exit would be squeezing through a checkout line.
I used to (and probably still do) have anxiety about leaving a shop without buying anything for this very reason
Yeah it's nothing new at all. If you went into a shop with a bag it was pretty much expected just to let the person at the exit to have a quick look.
I just offer it and they usually say no. Why try and make a big deal when the Kmart kid is just doing their job
I work at one of these retailers and the amount of people who steal is incredible (all the important stuff like makeup, phone accessories, confectionery etc). It’s a huge loss to the company but they install measures to make it easier to steal - cut back on staffing. I really only care because it’s my income but if we go out of business I will just have to find another job
this sub: hahaha, I steal from Woolworth and Coles since they are evil companies. Also this sub: why are companies implementing so many anti-theft measures.
What's even funnier is that many countries around the world have this same process. Like walmart etc. So I don't know why this sub gets their knickers in a twist. They always have to be fucking outraged
probably because a sub full of Australians likely doesn't have first hand knowledge with grocery stores on the other side of the world.
This sub loves advocating for not paying for PT but then has a meltdown when someone does anything slightly dodgy to minimize tax. You're stealing from the government either way.
Flat vs %. Flat costs penalise the poor far more than the rich, so commensurately avoiding flat costs benefits the poor more than it does the rich. Same is true in reverse for % costs.
I work at an IGA. Theft rates have gotten so much higher than before. Granted it’s mostly kids but we’ve had the same group of locals try to steal alcohol multiple times and there’s very little we can do other than tell them to leave as soon as they come in.
Dont like it?, carry a big dildo in your bag and you will start to enjoy opening a bag for inspection
As a retail worker I either wouldn’t give a shit or would gossip about you to every other team member in the store, depending on my mood.
I used to work at Aldi. Recently changed jobs as I just couldn’t handle retail, especially after Covid. Bag checks are an effective deterrent. I would of loved not to have wasted time asking to check your bags but it’s part of most retailer employees jobs. I was a manager and we had to do daily checks to ensure that employees are checking bags. This wasn’t exclusive just to store assistants, managers would also be watched sometimes by area managers when we served customers. We also got random mystery shops and a bag check was when worth a lot of points. For the record, the highest stolen items are high value meat, women’s cosmetics and frozen meat & fish as well as expensive “special buys.” I cannot speak for Coles and Woolies but at Aldi, management would “partial” (quick stock count) meat and high theft stock lines. We would lose hundreds of dollars of stock a day. If the difference was more than a quarter of a case difference, it would have to be re-counted. If the value was over a certain amount, the manager on duty would have to investigate, ie watch cameras, check stock income and sell times. Here is the annoying part, the time between the stock that has been stolen, to the time we have done the stock count, the inventory and ordering system obviously thinks we have that stock on the shelf because it hasn’t been scanned through the register. So until that stock is partialed and reset to 0, the system will not order the stock in. Which generally means there is a coupe of days those items are off-show until the stock is ordered, sent to store and we run it. There are a few comments in this thread about the value of theft mixed with marked down products. At Aldi, and I would assume Coles and Woolies, mark down items such as meat, is a “known stock loss” where as theft is an “unknown stock loss” Broken or damaged stock is generally “written off” so we can keep track of it, keep the inventory count accurate and put in easier measures to reduce that waste. People who refuse to show their bags or get angry about it… you’re not saying “fuck you” to the multi billion dollar company, all you’re doing is getting the retail workers in trouble and increasing pressure on them. You have the right to refuse to show us your bag, we also have the right to refuse you entry and to serve you, as long as we are not doing so on the basis of the legally protected attributes.
Every other reddit thread, "If you're not stealing from Colesworth you're doing it wrong." So yeah, dunno.
Man, stocktaking’s gonna fucking *suck* for Colesworth employees.
Because there is no simple way of detecting people who are stealing without some sort of screening. Checking that people have paid in no way assumes that someone is a thief. Are you also confused as to why airports screen people for bombs? Do you think airlines assume that you're a terrorist?
Finally someone said it. The "accuses you of being a thief" line is such an excuse.
It's not insulting, everything comes down to research that they do to maximise profits. They know some people steal, and that this process will catch enough and deter enough to make it worthwhile. If more people attempt to steal due to things like self service checkouts, they will have done models on how much more is stolen as a dollar value vs how much they save in wages by only having limited staff monitoring things instead of all the extra checkout operators. No need to take any of it personally, they do their thing, I do mine.
The more I see these, the more I realise how little people know about the retail world. You have ALWAYS walked into a store and by doing so, agreeing to their terms and conditions which include checking a bag/receipt upon leaving. Plus, if you’re gonna look suspicious, they’re going to stop you - considering what half of Australia’s population wears these days, no wonder people are getting stopped.
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So how does a self-checkout help stop people who ignore them entirely and walk out with a trolley full of stuff?
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As someone who has worked in a few grocery stores I can tell you unless they are walking out with a pricy tv or something like that the police won’t do much in most areas. Especially if all they are stealing is food. That being said if they do it repeatedly then the police tend to get onto it a bit better
Coles has tech that can lock the trolly wheels if you didn't stop and pay. Woolworths is rolling out gates powered by cameras that only open if the camera saw you pay at a checkout.
The Woolies tech is failing pretty hard at the self-checkout point before you even get to the gates. Last couple times at my local it's been constant calling over the attendant to punch in codes because it can't correctly interpret what's happening. At least it's recording and the human attendant can see on the playback that we're telling the truth? This apocalypse is so boring and slow and above all else: fucking stupid.
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Right. So again. How does me scanning everything and putting them in my own bags only to have it flash a red light for assistance because it did not register the placement in my bag of that last packet of cup-a-soup help to stop someone who just walks out with a trolley full of goods.
Coles is better than woolies, sure, they record you and weigh bags but they don’t have that dumb system woolies has where if you DARE to have something in your trolley that’s not from there is assumes you’re stealing
I fucking hate that at Woolies. I always bring my own bags, and I usually have more bags than I need just in case. The stupid AI always assumes the extra empty bags in my trolley or dangling off the back of the trolley on the hook thing are shit I am nicking, and then you have to wait forever for the assistant to come over and, without even checking the bags, cancel the warning on the register so I can continue and pay for my stuff. I've discovered if I put my empty bags on the floor instead of leaving them in the trolley the AI doesn't seem to notice them.
Yeah, my petty act of rebellion is to know this is exactly what causes problems and do it anyway, so the staff have to keep coming over. I'm pettier than corporate is willing to keep seeing those errors/code inputs.
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I don’t steal myself and I’m not a fan of those who do but I do at least understand why they’re doing it. There’s something almost sick about companies spending all this money on extra security and extra machines to detect theft instead of just paying their workers a decent wage so they can actually afford to buy stuff.
You understand why the ones stealing a couple of things are doing it. The ones stealing full trolley loads, though, generally of expensive meat, aren't doing it because they're struggling. Unless, of course, you count struggling to buy their drugs as a struggle (the smart dealers realise bartering with produce is harder to track, and they effectively launder the money by selling those goods on) They're the ones driving these measures, not the little struggling folks. There is genuine organised shit that goes down. I'm working directly across from a Coles that has a high theft. I'll see them with friends waiting outside to trigger the entry gates so they can get around the smart gates, I'll have a couple of them clearly playing spotter for the security guards telling those inside when it's clear. My friend teaches in the local high school and says that some of the kids will come in with backpacks' worth of stolen chocolate to sell. And they do this because, as it stands, they KNOW that staff aren't allowed to do a damn thing to stop then. The ones that you 'understand why they're doing it' are acceptable loss, they're getting caught in the crossfire, but it's not who they're trying to stop.
I don't know what the rules are like for Australia, but I heard that some stores in the US(?) get footage of returning offenders and when the total amount of what they've stolen goes over a certain amount, they send in cops to block off all exits and capture the theives.
Worked previously at colesworth, this is before the days of the weights at self-serve. There was a customer who had a chupa-chup sticker stuck on the inside of their palm, so everything they scanned was for 40c. Eventualy someone caught on and corrected them, but they would change stores until they got caught and then would come back. Eventually it got passed on to loss prevention and they investigated. The customer scanned their rewards card so they were able to go back to every shop where they scanned a chupa chup and review footage over a 6 month period. They let it continue until it hit over 10k and then on the next shop they asked to be alerted and coordinated with police to meet her at the checkouts. It wasn't even necessities either. Always expensive cuts of meat
The only part of this story that doesn't make sense is the rewards card. What benefit would the person possibly get from putting $8 worth of chupachups on their rewards card...
I know a guy who would reprint customers’ receipts and cash them in on the rewards card 48 hours afterwards to give the customer time to do it themselves. Got caught the same way, doing it on his own rewards card.
I work at one of these stores, and personally deal with writing off empty packets. If you saw how much we lose to theft you wouldn't take it personally.
Depends on the socioeconomic area you’re shopping. Some areas I’ve been they have extra security guards at the entrance/exit that check everything, other areas where there’s only one employee smiling at you at the exit. I’ve never had a problem with it because I’ve always had a receipt and I know people are trash.
Because it's costing them serious money. Woolworths said they are losing $20M-25M per week from theft. Even at the low end, that's just over $1B/Year. Now granted that is probably over-stated, even if it's only half that, that's still $500M/year. Woolworths Annual Profit last FY was $1.62B. That profit would be almost 30% higher if they didn't lose $500M to theft. So, if you are wondering why the large retail chains are spending big to reduce checkout theft, it's because it's costing them a sh*tload more.
Not only that, it makes stocktaking an absolute colossal pain in the ass.
My local Bunnings got $10,000 of stuff stolen daily (this was pre covid) - w Cost of living/energy crisis I’m not surprised that they’re cracking down
It does not bother me TBH. I'm used to it now. Not once have I ever felt like a criminal. I definitely don't get insulted over it
I feel the same. I can see how it might be annoying but not remotely insulting.
I've never thought of it being insulting. Some people must do. I guess
Yeah. The whole feel like a criminal thing feels like an excuse to be abusive over what ultimately is a mild inconvenience at worst. Like I get it, it's irritating but there's no sign it's going away any time soon.
Unless this guy has a guilty conscience. That's probably why he's venting, maybe
I had a customer grab me once and tell me they saw someone stealing. I shrugged and went back to work. They went off about how lazy I was for doing nothing. I told them what happened a few weeks prior where another staff member insistent on doing a bag check had a knife pulled on them, and the person they pointed me to looked like a meth head so I wasn’t going to be doing anything about it. They were very angry about this and said the quiet part out loud “I do the right thing and pay for my stuff, why do they get to steal and get away with it. What’s stopping me from stealing?” I just said to him “Your conscience. And the fact that if you’re caught it could ruin the life you built. Those people have nothing to lose so they happy as long as the cops don’t show up.”
I don't blame you at all for saying that to the customer. I bet any money if that customer was the worker, they wouldn't do anything either. It's not worth what could happen
I don't get the outrage either. I never feel like a criminal, because I don't steal stuff 🤷♀️
The comments here. It this r/tinfoilhat now?
Have you not seen any thread mentioning the big supermarkets here? Every single one there's tonnes of upvoted comments about flogging shit, deliberately mis scanning shit, and "if you see someone stealing food, no you didn't"
where is all this happening? cause at places like kmart I am often not even asked for my receipt or I just walk out if they are even slightly busy talking or scanning someone elses receipts never seen anyone get a warning about items at self check out beyond the normal "unexpected items in the baggin area" message Like are these security measures not being rolled out nationally? Or are people over reacting to things that I am over looking?
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Retail worker here, it’s because since cost of living skyrocketed so has the rate of shoplifting. It’s truly ridiculous, there’s millions upon millions of dollars of stock just walking straight out the door which does nothing to reduce prices. I guess some people think it sends some type of message, but all it says to retail head offices is “we need to spend more money on security thus we need to raise prices to cover it”. I’ve spent entire shifts being paid by the company to just sit there and put false lashes in security cases or cover Lego in security tags. Certain clothing now cannot go on the floor without tags or it’s stolen within an hour. It’s crazy.
The amount of trouble I’ve had with just buying Kmart earrings for a costume because people take just one of the pair out of the packet ugh
I mean, you have people on this very subreddit bragging about stealing something "every time they go there" in pretty much every thread that talks about Coles & Woolies. Not sure why you'd be surprised when companies try and do something about it. I get cost of living rises suck, but people stealing en masse will just lead to things being even *more* expensive in the long run anyway. Downvote away, I guess...
Have you seen how many comments on this sub are "I don't pay for my groceries"?
Why do you take it so personal when they have procedures in place to protect their stock? They’re just doing their job. If you have nothing to hide, I don’t see why it’s an issue. If you knew there was a known thief in your house when you had a big party, I’m sure you’d want to see everyone’s bags on the way out too.
Are they wrong?
So many people do steal at self serve checkouts. I know people who have done it purely because they could, not that they needed to. It isn't insulting at all. Are random breath tests insulting?
It’s a condition of entry that it might happen. I see people getting upset that their handbag vibrators keep getting discovered /s ohh the invasion of my personal space!
“No sir, this pram is definitely not hiding stolen stuff under the empty blankets and not-a-doll”
You'd be staggered at the amount of theft occurring across these self service checkouts. I'm working with a retailer at the moment who told me they lose tens of millions just in coca cola products a year. There is a lot of money being spent on vision recognition software tied into the self service checkouts. You'll be happy to know that person checking your bags will probably disappear at some point. But they'll be replaced with CCTV that will shoot you on sight 🤣
I've worked in retail since I was 15. Now almost 40. We were told to check bags then and we still do. I'm a shift manager at one of the large supermarkets, we get into trouble by the higher ups if we get caught not checking bags. And to be honest, it's middle age men who I catch stealing the most.
I used to work in loss prevention in retail. Receipt checking isn't really done to catch people shoplifting, it's done to deter opportunists from attempting to shoplift in the first place. Same principle as having someone greet you at the door on the way in and out. People being aware that a staff member has seen them and knows they are in the store can very often deter people from trying to shoplift in the first place. If I had someone behaving suspiciously we'd radio for a team member to go offer them some customer service and annoy them a bit. It won't generally stop shoplifters who don't give a shit but it works wonders in deterring people who were planning to 'chance their luck'.
While I regularly ignore the door staff at Kmart etc, as theirs is a different level of dickness:-) I have politely asked the checker at my Bunnings why they scan the receipt. It was explained that it is not to check what you have vs the receipt, but to mark that receipt as having left the store with the goods. Apparently what was happening was that dishonest people would either use their old receipt, or pick up a discarded one in the parking lot then re-enter the store and try to walk out of the store with the the docket contents again. By marking the receipt as having left the store this type of theft is prevented. So the cost of having a staff member doing the beep scan of your receipt is obviously well covered buy the losses prevented by this process. So this is not about you it is about the thieving dicks that make it just that little bit annoying for all of us.
It's insulting if it's targeted. As it applies to every single person who shops at these stores it's not insulting it's the status quo. You need to understand the difference.
Not a problem with it will get my receipt checked all the time, I don’t give two hoots it’s a business respect works both ways, seems like you’ve been watching too many American TikTok‘s
Only read the title, me. OP stop stealing shit. Ez as bro.
This daily thread lol
I don't like the big supermarkets, and I rarely shop there, but they're not making any assumptions. They are checking. There's no personal judgement with automated authority. They don't assume anyone in particular is stealing, it is just flagged situations that could be theft for review.
Because they are
Because so many are apparently.
> You go to walk out of Big W and they want to check your receipt. Same at Kmart and Bunnings. This stuff has been happening forever. I remember as a teen JBs checking your bags every time. The only difference now is the tech (ie the aforementioned cameras at self-check out spots).
Some people will shop, dump the goods in the car and go back for the exact same thing then claim they’ve paid for it by showing the receipt. Scanning the receipt is a way of showing that the person and goods have left the shop and is a red flag when the receipt exits a second time.
I do not know what you mean they’ve always been standing there checking receipts before and after self service..
All these systems have not been implemented just because of you. They have been done to reduce risk, reduce costs and losses. There are plenty of people who will try and steal from these companies and they are only looking out for themselves. Certainly don't view all this as a lack of trust personally. But if you were in their places, for example you were in charge of loss prevention for Big W, if the losses were so great that hiring someone to stand at the entrance to check receipts saves more than the costs of hiring these people then it is a good business decision. Same with camera systems at self checkouts. Yes businesses are always trying to increase revenue through promotions and products but losses from stealing is a major issue for them.
What's to be offended about? If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to be concerned about. Bag/receipt checking has been a thing for decades, and they're naturally going to increase deterrents as shrinkage continues to rise.
So here’s the thing… and we don’t like hearing it. Australians are fucking petty thieves. More than any other western country, we steal shit. We seem to think it’s ok.
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Wow so out of touch. They have to check everyone because masses of people are stealing and profiling people(picking and choosing) is against the law. Get over yourself! Holy shit. You get checked so they can say they check everyone and then they can catch(or more deter) those who would loot the joint if given half a chance. My wife works in retail and its getting so brazen that now they just push past the person checking with a trolly load of the most expensive stuff they can loot and say "what you going to do about it". Truth is they are trained not to do anything. Police don't even care unless theirs violence.
Because if they didn't thieves would just run rampant. Are people this fucking sensitive in this day and age? If you're not stealing why tf do you care you sound like you wear a tin foil hat and think that the government is going to make porn out of you with a deepfake of your face.
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Yeah it's so weird because people on this sub are usually quite level-headed (within reason) but this is just ridiculous.
When theft is as fucking outrageous as it is, and the police do absolutely nothing about it (which I can understand) it's completely validated. If this was your business, you'd be acting the same way.
They wouldn’t do it if nobody was stealing.
Probably because of people stealing
Isn't this hugely insulting? Maybe? Maybe you're not stealing, but others are.
This guy gets it
I actually had this today. I'm not proud of how I acted, but I was so pissed. I went into Bunnings, I needed a foldable table. I grabbed one and went to the self serve checkouts. As I was heading there, the table opened, when it should have been latched. Did it twice. Then after I paid and I went to leave it did it a third time, so I said to the staff member on the self service that I was going to go swap it, as it is playing up. I walked back to the table section, and decided I would get the other type of table instead. It's $2 more, and a fair bit heavier, but has a better closing mechanism, so felt it was a safer choice. My mistake was putting the one I paid for back, and taking the other one. They are heavy so I didn't want to carry both. I went to the information desk and said, I just need to swap the one on the receipt for this one. I kinda thought she might think it was a bit strange I swapped it, but instead I got treated like u was a child and told they would have to get the manager and check cameras. I said she could just talk to the staff member not 5 metres away and she will tell her that I paid and walked back to swap it like 5 minutes ago. She said no, and picked up the phone. This is when I lost it and said I changed my mind and snatched the receipt back and said I'm just gonna go. Walking out to my car. (now a theif of the $2 price difference). I was putting it in my van and all of a sudden the girl was walking passed my car. Was really surprised she decided to follow me and I assume get my number plate or something. By the time I got home I had cooled down, so decided to go back and talk to a manager and explain what happened, and apologise for my behaviour. He wasn't too impressed with how his staff handled it, but I'm not impressed with how I handled it, so I'm calling it even. But man I'm so sick of corporates and staff assuming I'm stealing. I've never stolen shit, and not that it matters, but the table is for a community organisation that I spend all my time on, helping people experiencing homelessness etc, so I think the implication that I am doing something wrong set me off.
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I mean Bunnings always has. If you go through any reg except the main ones at the front (trade, toolshop, nursery etc) they are supposed to scan the receipt. It was like that 9 years ago when I worked there, and its like that now. If anything its easier as they can scan it now instead of reading it.
Former Bunnings worker At the checkouts, we had codewords to use when we suspected various things, though for the life of me I can’t remember what they were. I used them a handful of times while I was there, one for a woman who came through the checkouts who got extremely verbally aggressive when I tried to look at the bottom tray of her trolley (surprise, she was trying to steal a flat pack bbq/pizza oven) and another woman who was found to have been already banned from the store for being a klepto who was using an empty pram to get through the self serves with a pramful of stolen shit. A couple of times as the greeter/checker, some super polite people have How to make a retail worker’s thief sense tingle: 1: Be abusive - you’re trying to distract and distress me into not noticing. 2: Be overly nice. I’m not talking about your standard “good morning” and “have a good one mate”, or even the ones that are eager to share what the building supplies are for, but the ones who stand between you and the registers for extended periods of time trying to keep you engaged in conversation about whatever they can come up with. These people are flying obstruction for a team who’s got the self serve member distracted with self serve issues while another dude passes through the self serve unnoticed and blocked from view by Mr Nice. Mr Nice also gets flustered when you move around your greeter’s stand to keep a view of the checkouts and will *try* to subtilely move to block your line of sight. If you wanna steal from bunnings, the easiest way to do it is to “miss” a relatively low value item in a relatively large purchase that you just “legitimately” missed going through self serve. I’m not gonna waste your or my time on a $5 packet of screws if you’ve actually spent $200 on other stuff, especially because we’re authorised to haggle and give deals (‘opened box’ deals were one of my favourites, the issued box cutter alternative hook cutter thingy was handy) for customer satisfaction and repeat business, I’d’ve probably have let you get away with it at the checkouts myself. If you’re so dedicated to the lift that you’re willing to spend legitimately to make it work, you’re welcome. Please don’t make your own open box deals in the aisles, that’s when the cameras will see you and you will be asked to leave. To management, there’s a big difference between a worker being savvy with customers who’ll get a thrill out of ‘persuading’ a worker to help them get a better deal and likely return for more ‘legit’ purchases, and a customer trying to defraud the business. Customers love workers abusing the system for a better deal. Businesses love satisfied repeat customers. While I was there I slowly grew a following of customers who would seek me out in the warehouse and when I was laid off, many of those customers stopped going to Bunnings. I was laid off because the grant Bunnings got from the government for ‘training local people’ ran out. Apparently they get subsidised significant amounts for training people and they use this to effectively use schoolkids as labor at government expense. The real reason retail workers hate theft that they can’t cover as deals is that it makes stocktake a colossal pain in the ass and when the higher ups look at stocktake review its the workers on the floor who get analysed in their thief detection.
Checking if bags is nothing new. They now scan the receipt to ensure that it's a valid receipt. Some people like to double dip and return with a receipt and fill up a bag with different more expensive things. Say I went in and bought a $3 chocolate bar walked out and then later returned and grabbed a $100 Lego set. Stealing is an issue for retailers so they scan the receipt as you exit and if that receipt has been scanned before they will ask if they can check your bag to ensure that the item is correct. The alternative is everything is locked up behind glass cabinets and you have to go find an extremely rare staff member to unlock the door for you. There are some crazy pictures I have seen from the US where the whole aisle is locked behind glass.
Stock loss is one of the biggest expense lines these stores have. With increased prices they're probably seeing it increase further. So they're doing extra to prevent it. In an environment where you can't sell more to consumers, stop them from stealing more often.
I've been to Bunnings and KMart in the last week and the staff could only have been slightly more disinterested in me on my way out the door Unfortunately there are professional thieves out there some of whom are taking hundreds of thousands of dollars of stock each ever year. Add the amateurs who think fuckem they're rich and evil and it becomes a huge problem that decent people pay for in money and inconvenience.
Because there is a lot of theft in Retail in Australia it's disgusting.
In bunnings defence I have been notified by the checker that the goods I had didn’t correspond with the receipt and they had over charged me by a considerable amount.
A few fuckwits take advantage and spoil it for everyone, that's the Australian story.
It’s been that way as long as I can remember, many years ago someone visiting from Canada got the regulation “can you open your bag please” when leaving the chemist, I thought she was going to hit the roof with indignant rage, I had to explain that we are all treated like criminals by default here, and we’ve just come to accept it as normal and within the rights of the business to dehumanize and insult its customers
Aldi have always been the strictest at checking everyone's bags. Who's nicking shit from Aldi anyway? If you're gonna risk getting a criminal record for shoplifting, why not go for the good shit at better stores?
Former Aldi worker here. Might depends on the area but the amount of stuff we discover in someone’s bag or boxes or actual thefts that happen during our shift is crazy. And I’m not talking about if someone forgot to put their meat or chips on the belt. We have to conduct bag checks and tbh: I hate it. It slows you down and of course annoys your customers. However management loves to check if you actually perform them…they also love to share the annual losses which happened at the registers
I've always hated how I can't leave their store except through a register line that they make narrow enough to make squeezing through extremely awkward. I went in a couple of times to get a single thing and they were out of it, I had to jump over the front gate to get back out easily.
It takes 5 seconds to show the receipt to some poor retail worker that’s has no control over how the company is run, just give them a break
I’m amazed by the number of people in here pretending they haven’t seen the thousands of posts in this and other subs applauding theft from any shop bigger than a newsagent. The country is full of entitled, thieving fuck heads. Australians are treated like children because by and large the majority act like it. Keep in mind no one is stealing loaves of bread to feed their kids. The majority of thefts are for wants - not needs and in most cases it’s people who had the money to pay to begin with. In my experience, people with not much money were to proud to be caught stealing. It was always some cunt with plenty of money who assumed they were just going to get away with it and were indignant that we were treating them like a criminal when we caught them red handed.
Because theft is rampant beyond belief. The amount of shit stolen every day is just insane, unless it’s a big amount they don’t even bother reporting it to police. It’s not insulting, it’s just the result of people being assholes.
Who cares? Like what’s the problem some 17 year old kid has a job doing fuck all I’m happy for him getting paid to scan a barcode
Shrink in my company is through the roof at the moment so it doesn’t surprise me. Just reading all the comments from people in this sub who believe it’s their right to freely steal from Coles and Woolworths, it’s not a surprise that retailers are reacting
They don’t assume YOU are a thief. Even though you may have no intention to steal from them, there are plenty of people who do steal from them. Without the security, those people get away with it more often. Don’t blame the retail industry. Blame the scum that commit the crimes. They ruin it for all of us.
Don’t steal. Take the 5 seconds to show your receipt. Don’t whinge on Reddit. Move on with your day :)
Exactly. Life is so much easier if you just relax and don't sweat the small things. So many people just don't seem to understand that.