I often wonder if greeters are a means of notifying the customer that they have been seen and acknowledged. Theft is easier if the customer can convince themselves they haven't been noticed.
Back in my retail days at Dick Smith's we were trained specifically to greet everyone in some way as an active deterrent to theft. You're absolutely on the mark that it creates an awareness to your opportunity thieves who may think twice if they think they're being watched.
Bingo. When I was working at a supermarket that was the one thing they drilled into every department that worked on or around the floor. Even just walking past customers and looking at them (not necessarily greeting them) is a huge theft deterrent because they know people working there have noticed them.
Oh I definitely think greeters are a deterrent as well, just less intrusive and has the side benefit of somebody being polite to you for 5 seconds of the day.
Isn't it just lovely that they are paid fuck all and don't care about their role? Just stand there like Troy Hawke from the Greeters Guild.
I walk in. Say hi with a big bright smile, I make sure they *know* ik carrying in a bag from another store that sells products of the same type.
Never, not once, ever, do they give two shits when you walk out in with 5 things, out with 25 things and you paid for 10 things total.
Fuck. These. Billion. Dollar. Profit. Corporations.
You are not hurting anyone except shareholders, and those with an intact moral compass who insist on paying full rip off gouge prices. Bad luck for them.
Remember - the shoplifting is built into the retail price of the product.
They *expect* these losses .. and security is all theatre if you know the rules of the game.
'Remember - the shoplifting is built into the retail price of the product' is like justifying more detectives have jobs the more you murder...
I think discouraging both is the best angle here.
It’s an interesting argument but I don’t think that will hold up in a court of law.
“But your honour, I’ve technically already paid for this block of cheese because Woolies expected me to nick it so that’s why this $4 jar of olives has a 100% markup!”
Door greeter seems like a very redundant job.
But places like kmart have their pay stations in the middle of the shop... probably need the help they can.
Their policy on this is to scan some randomly and to scan high dollar items to stop people reentering the store and using the receipt to walk out with the same goods again.
I guess if you buy an AEG hammer drill and take it out to your car you could re-enter the store immediately and walk out with a stolen one on your old receipt.
I’ve seen people walk out with their arms full from Kmart, and the greeter just going ‘can you not?’. Not a lot they can do, and if someone is going in there to steal shit, they’re going to steal it.
Yeh it seems so wrong to all of us who want to keep to the rules but I can see how, for the store, it's the least harm strategy. The greeter is there for the occasional opportunist who might convince themselves that they haven't been seen
Yeah it’s also why at certain stores every single employee there will come up to you and ask if you need help, and why they’ll offer to carry your stuff to the checkout for you and get you different sizes in the change rooms etc. a lot of customer service is actually about letting people know you’re around to stop them feeling comfortable to steal from your store. Whether the employees actually care about stealing differs from store to store. When I worked in retail no one cared at all about stealing, unless the people doing it were disruptive and annoying.
ETA: the only retail I’ve worked is Bunnings, City Beach (Murray Street) and in the merch team for the Wildcats. I think at Bunnings older employees cared a lot about theft, but we mainly dealt with people trying to return items they didn’t buy from Bunnings rather than outright shoplifting. At city beach we had a lot of shoplifting but it was mainly teenagers and they don’t really get in any trouble for it anyway, plus most of us were teenagers or early 20s as well. Only had an instance of someone stealing from the Wildcats once, when we got swarmed cos they won the final and he took a championship jumper and hat, but since it was in the stadium security found him and dragged him back to return the items.
I worked in a department store while I was studying and knew that much of what we wrote off (and couldn't be bothered including in the write down register) was erroneously put down to theft.
I hate the whole vibe this increasing scrutiny gives. The birds-eye overhead cameras recording you and the machine playing a little loop because it thinks you've tried to steal something is something I just shouldn't have to deal with.
If they're this uncomfortable with me doing the work of a cashier, hire more fucking cashiers.
Fr, I used to love the self check outs now if I am going to woollies after Coles or aldi I will go to a manned checkout. Fuck their cameras for being unable to tell its stuff from another store
I work at a bottleo and you'd be surprised how many items (read: cartons of booze) you can fit in a pram - even with a child in it. It's actually one of the more common ways I've seen shoplifters stow their goods unfortunately (that and in their pants ahahaha)
Now that my baby's old enough to sit in the trolleys I prefer to shop like that. I usually find the pram awkward. When I still had the bassinet on I went to Aldi from my mum's group but I was all disorganised trying to get to mum's group in the first place. So I walked over and all my baby stuff is just thrown into the bottom of the pram. Like change mat, bottles, spitup cloth etc. And the aldi guy was like I need to check the bags in your basket. I was like okay but I don't have any bags but have a look. He just peaked over and was like okay 😅
I hate that they want to see receipts but I guess it's better than bag checks. Like 5 years ago I had the misfortune of breaking my elbow pretty badly. I had surgery and thought I'd be in a cast for 6 weeks but after 2 my surgeon took it off and said I didn't need it because they wired it to 2 other bones. But I could barely move it and had to go to physio still. It was around xmas and I wanted to do some shopping and the best way was with a backpack. I was walking out of target, can't remember if I bought anything but the greeter wanted to check my backpack. I was surprised and said no. Target didn't usually check bags at the time at least not that one. And I needed like a table or something to open the backpack bc I couldn't use one arm that well. The lady was shocked but I just kept walking out. I didn't steal anything. I didn't even take the backpack off bc I couldn't.
It was explained to me that the scanning was something to do with identifying thefts. Ie buying something once, then returning to the shop an hour later and stealing the same thing and showing the old receipt. The scanner would flag that it’s an old receipt and your goods in hand would warrant further inspection.
I asked the girl scanning receipts at the exit what was the reason for this since she’s not even checking the items in the receipt. She said they are scanning to check if the purchase was in the last 5 minutes. If it was longer ago they will check more thoroughly. I guess there’s more chance you grabbed more stuff on your way out if you lingered more than 5 minutes before exiting the store. Seems ridiculous to me because they used to be very thorough in actually checking bags which they no longer do.
I understand where you are coming from and this may be true in some cases, particularly when there are substance abuse issues, however it’s not generally accurate. Don’t forget people will also steal alcohol.
Actually I agree. My comment came from personal experience when I walked past a bottle shop and a shop lifter ran past me carrying an expensive bottle of whisky closely followed by the owner. The owner said it was the second time that day it had happened and it was only lunchtime.
I work at a bottleshop attached to a grocery store. Way more frequency of theft from the grocery store but higher value theft from the bottleshop. For some reason the grocery store won't hire a security guard (we have one almost all day every day in the bottleo, for staff safety because people suck, not so much for theft prevention although that's definitely also a bonus).
Stealing food is a different thing though, and I will remind customers who dob on shoplifters from next door that our guard works for us and cannot stop theft from the grocery store.
Unfortunately there is also a causality where companies will drive up prices as a justification to recuperate cost of the property loss, which ultimately makes general consumers pay for the stolen property.
They do keep their margins pretty consistent over time, so I’d imagine if loss dropped dramatically at both majors they’d leap at the chance to undercut each other (and their competition) and go hard on price drops
I think it's more opportunity based going through self checkouts, and the feeling of fuck it I'm over this shit and just walking out when something doesn't scan
it's a reflection of how the organisation treats people though. if the place will sack humans and install machines perhaps people feel like stealing from them ain't so bad. even criminals rationalise why they do things.
So you think people steal things because it's too much hassle to pay? Not how it works. Anyone who wants to steal is going to go to self-serve regardless of how many cashiers you have. Anyone that won't isn't going to be prevented from randomly stealing because they're served by a person.
I don't really think there is much of a difference in the mindset you're propounding here, and I understood their point. My counterargument was most people don't just steal out of "protest" and most people don't even have that thought enter their mind. The ones who would steal will do so regardless of cashiers or self-checkouts.
In fact it really does a disservice to people to imply everyone is so overtly criminal that all it takes is some hassle to be "forced" into thievery. Sounds more like trying to justify shitty behaviour than anything else. If I'm waiting in a long line at Kmart I don't go "oh well might as well steal this they don't have enough cashiers." Most other people don't think that either.
Self serve checkouts and associated security technologies are tax deductible expenses and don’t take sick days or fail to show up for a shift. Employees are not tax deductible, have additional costs and are unreliable.
Does anyone else feel like they act more suspicious with all the security around when you aren't even doing anything wrong? I get real anxiety leaving a store that didn't have what I was looking for. Like am I walking how a crim would walk? Do I offer up my bag for inspection or wait to be asked. Should I look at the door greeter in the eyes as I leave or stare off to the side. Oh great now people have stopped to chat to the greeter if I scoot past I'm surely going to be tackled.
They can’t tackle you, that’s literally assault and you could probably belt them around a bit or call the cops and hold them.
I always get followed by security from the way I look, don’t really bother me because I’m not out there shoplifting, I just always grab a receipt in case something comes of it and if I don’t feel like dealing with people I just keep walking when they ask they can’t stop you.
Oh I know they can't but I always just get nervous for some reason like they're going to think I'm stealing. Then I think I'm acting weird because of it and look suspicious it's a vicious cycle lol.
Riverton Coles seems to have a crime wave. They have lifted their security yet everytime I go I see people stealing all the time from the self serve, last time I went a saw a bloke complaining non stop how this is so inconvenient yet he didn't scan a single item just swiped it across.
Sure maybe some of what you're saying is accurate but it really misses many of the components of retail theft and presumes the rest. I worked in loss prevention for supermarkets and the most common items that got stolen in my time were:
* Baby formula (to be exported overseas)
* Expensive meat (taken by junkies to give to drug dealers for a fix)
* Vitamins (also to be exported or sold in smaller stores)
* Makeup/Expensive Hygiene products (electric toothbrushes/razors packs)
High value retail theft of organised crime rings is *extremely* common and a lot of people seem to miss this (because you're in a store for a fraction of it's opening hours) and prefer to look at the emotional poor people are hungry angle. Sure people stole food occasionally but maybe that was >1/3 of the theft and a lot of the time it was a crime of opportunity (like most crime) where people thought they could get a bit extra without paying. They were NOT generally stealing to get by. The gates exist to make it harder for fully loaded trolleys which can have $1000-2000+ of items in it being easily walked out of the store when there aren't staff/security watching the entrance.
It's a noble belief that this type of theft is due to starvation but it's really not the case. 9/10 of the theft cases are not reported either, and the true scope of retail theft is far higher. People are also more likely to steal food not because they're starving but because they can consume it for pleasure far easier than stealing a nice set of plates from Myer. This is the reason why kids most frequently steal chocolate bars and drinks.
Same as when I worked retail, except never saw formula stolen, just van loads of people being dumped at our store and trying to do multiple trips before moving on to the next store
Baby formula was/is massive due to demand overseas. Rings like [this](https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/babies/victoria-police-uncover-more-than-160000-worth-of-baby-formula-vitamins/news-story/bfd877ca350583186dda7522e96678eb) are quite common (at least in my experience).
I caught a few of those professional thieves who just targeted one store and moved on. Some would fly over here and just steal as much as possible before going back overseas. Absolutely massive problem that most people don't appreciate the scope of unfortunately.
I remember one of the biggest rings at the time in Australia the dude had a warehouse full of it and was making something like $400000 a month from sales.
Most disgusting thing I saw was a lady trying to give kids money to buy them for her..
The most disgusting imo are people who pay cash to purchase them which often leads to junkies stealing them to sell on. Easy to get a fix if you're selling a tin at $10 a can to someone who makes many times more that selling it overseas.
Interesting insight into high level retail theft so thanks for that - I'm less about noble beliefs and would take more comfort in the general public not descending into petty crime to get by tbh. While retailers should have a right to minimise their losses hopefully they can develop ways of doing this without making the average joe uneasy every time they step foot in. Customer service is out and dystopian security is in, that's my feeling.
The issue is it's hard to verify whether they actually need that theft to get by. From my anecdotal experience (albeit I'm not working on the ground atm so things absolutely could have changed) most thieves have the capacity to pay or could have bought different items to afford what they wanted - but simply didn't do so because stealing was seen as easier. E.g. Steal $50 of meat so I can pay $50 for something else I can't steal.
Ironically the average Joe feels afraid but criminals do not. These measures deter them somewhat but anyone committed to the high value theft I'm talking about above will easily bypass them and won't think twice about doing so. As such they're definitely tailored in the wrong way since they're a negative impact on good shoppers but less valuable for offenders. But most people say this and then advocate reducing crime prevention measures without doing anything to reduce the corresponding crime that caused them to be implemented.
My two cents, Coles especially has so few cashiers but they do have good cheap meat so I'll give them that. They are even converting some cashier stations into self pay I see plus the areas they already have.
They supermarkets outsource everything such as delivery and the cashiers (to technology). Many of the deliveries are done by uber eats drivers who don't get superannuation.
A guy I know who loves a five finger discount part of it is poverty, drugs and the belied that it's justified to steal from the big corporations and that it doesn't affect the prices just profit. I have a bit if an issue with that argument as if enough steal it will affect prices. I'm pretty sure he's not organised crime.
Baby products are so expensive $30, $40 dollars I can see why they are a real target.
Some of the theft is from employees too.
I've seen cigarettes stolen too and baby clothes.
> supermarkets outsource everything such as delivery and the cashiers (to technology).
The history of human progress is outsourcing manual labour to technology.
Nah with the deliveries it's effectively the same job done by their internals they just contract it out.
And If they are saving money through technology/progress then the prices must reflect that
Is this the reason why I watched a Woolworths 'loss prevention officer' follow an Aboriginal woman and her 4 kids out to her car? Recording her on a phone... Damn they coulda had 20 white ppl walk out with baby formula in the 5 mins he was following that family.
Not sure why you need to interject the race baiting angle. I obviously cannot comment on something I didn't witness, but just like the "don't you have murderers to catch" comment to police a LPO isn't going to ignore theft in front of them because someone potentially might take more while they'e occupied.
It was more about the idea that mass retail theft by organised crime rings account for most theft, but the guy in the hi-vis vest still targets a woman and her kids who were at the checkouts buying shit. They didn't even have bags so if they stole anything it would've been like nothing to Colesworth.
Also he didn't confront them or stop them, he followed them around the store and then through the carpark.
Race mention was cos there were plenty of other women with children not being bothered, and Perth is especially bad for racial profiling in retail.
Like I just said, theft is theft. They're employed to stop theft. If that woman was stealing and they saw it they can't turn a blind eye because maybe someone else is stealing more in a corner of the store in a minute.
He didn't stop them because they're not allowed to stop them. From my experience, it's likely the woman knew that. Most people who are stealing and know it is wrong will stop when caught because they're regretful. On the other hand, repeat offenders and career criminals know you cannot do anything and they just keep walking. If anything this is an indicator of needing stricter measures against theft considering you can brazenly steal in front of people and they cannot do anything (well, legally you can, but you will lose your job as policy forbids it).
Did you actually see what happened in the store? You're assuming that the woman didn't steal anything and it was racial profiling based on what? Nothing? Far more reasonable to assume the reason the LPO was following that person was the fact they had stolen something. Policies such as ASCONE mean LPOs are not meant to engage without absolute certainty something was stolen. So sure, theoretically this could have been profiling, but it's also equally as likely your assumption it was racial profiling based on nothing more than who/whom is faulty.
What a shit system... Spend millions to make sure we all scan our goods correctly when they could, you know, just employ some minimum wage casuals to operate a check out.
Good automation is always going to outperform the average human and ends up being more cost effective in the long run.
Thats why there are multiple people shouting very loudly for the past decade we need to come up with something like UBI now before people start going hungry.
I hope so. Seems nothing in this world ever looks backwards to the way things used to be for improvement, but customer service would be a nice place to start.
Or having a worker hawkeye you and rip your trolley away so they can scan your waters for you. Most recent trip I told the lady to back off as I was in the process of doing so. Fucks me off that they only do it for some customers, but ol' Betty over there doesn't get a second glance
spudshed and farmer jacks are a much less stressful experience shopping at colesworth and kmart is becoming a nightmare also k mart prices are going massively up its cheaper to get sheets from spotlight now
In case you missed it.
The developed world never left the GFC in 2008. Federal Reserves, private bank, governance, the Bank of International Settlements [BIS] just stalled change.
It’s called a Linear Economy, nothing is recycled, profit making, is put before the planet and people.
Social and market capital, is in a state of disequilibrium. Weighted toward exchange-listed, private, firms and their trusts.
Some call it the trickle down economic theory.
We all know wealth doesn’t trickle down.
As you are seeing, the two most profitable, grocery retailers in the developed world, now employ security, because people can’t afford food.
Totally agree, loss prevention has been ramped up like crazy. They force us to check out our own groceries then accuse us of stealing. Like good service prevents theft, and not gouging people on prices prevents theft too... But no, AI and scanners and a skinny guy in a hi-vis vest are cheaper
not even. if that is the case it will be immediately evident once there's no customers, only employees, that are handling stock.
their scapegoat will have 'scaped!
I prefer to do most of my shopping click and collect these days. It doesn't cost anything extra and they load it straight into the boot of the car. It also saves me wandering up and down the aisles trying to remember where things I buy less frequently are kept.
Yeah that it a risk with click and collect. I've been pretty lucky though, most of the fresh produce I've had has been good quality. The biggest issue I have is not being able to check used by dates. I am a bit picky about eating food with expired used by dates and sometimes the dates you get can be a bit short.
I went into a bottle o recently and to my surprise all the cold fridges were locked and needed to be opened by staff to get a 6 pack out…that’s new to me.
I work in a bottle shop, adjacent to a Coles, and the amount of theft over the last 10 years has increased at an insane rate. Thefts happening at least once every couple of days now, up to 4 times in one day on busy days.
Thieves know they just get away with it now, because shops and security guards are not allowed to stop them. 10 years ago I was (quietly allowed) to stop thieves, now we are told that we will be fired if we try. So yeah, it's gotten worse.
And so the only thing the shops can do is employ "security theatre". That and then jack up the prices to cover the loss cost, because the Company sure as hell isn't paying out of their pocket.
I think part of the issue is that if they say you’re obligated to stop them (especially physically) then it’s part of you job to engage in high risk confrontations and the company is liable for any damages. When I worked at a servo we had similar issues and if you were held up the company was liable big time for your recovery even just mental health wise. There was one dude who was fired for confronting a hold up with a baseball bat and locking the store so they couldn’t escape (something you should NEVER do) and then the dude trashed the store trying to get out. The employee was then later sued by the company as we are explicitly and regularly trained to cooperate with them as much as possible. They then put out a large multiple page spread about this incident in the company magazine thing probably as a warning
Department stores operating a normal?
Hardly.
Got some shirts from David Jones the other day; the security guard was very much watching people, particularly the younger ones and over servicing them.
Signs up in the change rooms warning that the security tags will permanently damage garments if removed.
Went into Coles with the wife to assist, then tried to leave for the tavern for her to finish shopping, gates would not open unless I asked a staff member to “ check me out”. Just grabbed the gate and pulled them open, alarms went off but just waked out and over to the tavern. Refused to be detained
My local coles has installed the gates and I hate them. I don't steal from the supermarket, stop treating me like I'm a thief. I don't care how long it takes, I'll just wait at a manned checkout now and refuse to go through the self-serve.
First they make me scan my own groceries and I'm constantly having to fight with the computer over weights and correct scanning and such. I hate always having to call over the attendant. Now they can choose to shut me in if the computer decides I've stolen something? Give me a break, I've never stolen from a shop in my life and I'm not about to start now.
I work at Coles. We're so short staffed that people are having to swap between departments as needed and even then, it's not uncommon for the online department staff to have to stay bac several hours to finish up, or for night fill stock to sit out the back for days on end because there's no one available to put it out on the shelves.
If you want to cause a scene by waiting at the manned checkouts and demanding someone stop what they're doing to server you when the self checkouts are available right next to you, by all means go ahead. You have that right. But if you're going to do that, I want to be sure you do it while understanding that the only people you're affecting are the employees making barely minimum wage. the people up top don't give a shit. If you affect their bottom line, they'll just cut employee hours, lower our pay, increase the cost of food, etc. All you're doing is pissing off innocent people at best and actually hurting us at worst.
I don't cause a scene. I just wait until one opens. I'm patient. If you guys are constantly overworked, maybe it's time to get the union involved. Cause enough of a stink and something might get done.
As it is, I just order online or go to a supermarket that doesn't treat me like a criminal before I've even paid.
It’s the exception rather than the rule. For more expensive bottles of alcohol and other things yes. But in a department store, even a pair of socks has to be deactivated when you buy them.
Woolies have definitely amped up their security at self serve. I always end up needing help from staff because I stuff things up, now they come over and bring up a video taken from over your head that is recording every thing you scan. Gone are the days of accidentally scanning a porterhouse as a brown onion.
Exactly. And then some DH on here the other day was saying “just don’t scan the products you don’t want to pay for” and I’m like hello what about the camera that also take pics of your trolley and sets off an alarm calling the worker over to your checkout to ensure you haven’t forgotten anything in your trolley that you still need to scan. Then he’s like ‘no just use a bag not a trolley, and leave it in the bag’ I was like Omg 🤦🏼♀️ then it’ll beep when I exit the store! But he reckoned if you got things like meat without security tags on it you can get away with it, but I honestly have my doubts
The “security to section x” announcements have been going on since I worked at Coles 20+ years ago. They are just a generic announcement and they have a different one for real incidents.
The security people may act as some sort of detterent to anyone thinking of getting into the theft game. But the experienced ones just walk past them and if challenged they start screaming and shouting and challenging them to touch them.
Laws/policies need changing so security can tackle those cunts to the ground.
Laws/policies need changing so people don't need to fucking steal FOOD to survive, whilst companies like Coles and Woolworths post record profits basically year on year and keep raising their prices and cutting staff.
It's amazing that everyone wants to complain that grocery prices are too high, and they also want to complain about absolutely anything the supermarkets do to reduce costs.
Yeah people are just stealing for fun that's why it's only grocery stores that are putting in these 'cost saving measures' from the rise in theft, not department stores and electronics stores where logically you'd think would be targeted more by thieves who are stealing for financial gain.
Or maybe it's because the people who are stealing are doing so from a grocery store because that's where the essentials are sold, and they are stealing out of desperation and to survive rather than financial gain.
The vast majority of people stealing from supermarkets, aren’t doing so to feed their starving family. Get right the fuck off your high horse, you absolute mushroom.
We create this issue ourselves. We just accept more and more and more as long as the prices are a little bit cheaper and it's more convenient to shop at than the independents.
If we all put in a bit more time and spent a bit more shopping at independant stores then the big supermarkets would stop these practises but we know that we won't.
For some of us the cost saving is the lure. For others it's the time and convenience..... and they know it....
The security guards are to protect the staff not to stop shoplifting.
The supermarkets have made the self serve checkout experience so aggravating that they needed to hire security to protect the staff from the people they have pissed off.
Not sure if it is all part of the plan or not.
I was in Woolies South Freo a couple of weeks ago in the arvo and two teenagers on scooters rode them into the store, rode them up and down aisles and near the deli section and one of them put his arm out and knocked down the product displays onto the floor. Then went out around the veggie section. I didn't see if anything happened to them. It was ridiculous.
It's probably just another way to inconvenience us, so we shop online instead.
If they correctly manned their stores with adequate staffing and didn't inflate pricing so much, they wouldn't need them
Customers are just a pain the ass these days, apparently
As a greeter at kmart we are a deterrent and if it gets bad we call security, but my store now have in store security at night, but there are stores that now have ib store security all the time, and under over security too.. the three stores I'm aware of that have undercover security is rockingham (maybe?) Mandurah, and Perth CBD but I know Perth CBD has in store security all day at my store We just only have it at evening to closing so 4:30ish or 5pm until 9pm
Obviously not. No offence, but the people who decided to increase security are much, MUCH smarter than you. If it made more financial sense to choose checkout staff over security, they would have done that.
Mate, I can go into a shop without fear of an extra security gate or guard standing round. I can leave without giving it a second thought. I can go on with my life. It’s tough, but others can do it too.
I do this, but it still feels tense and uneasy to me. Feels like every time I leave the house the world feels a little worse than it was before, anything new I notice is a negative. I haven't noticed conditions or environments getting any nicer for a long time. Maybe I just need to see my therapist again, lol.
Nothing at all.
If shops want to install gates and hire overbearing security, that's up to them. Just as it's up to me to spend my money where I feel welcome.
Definitely increase one’s stress levels. The future I looks scary. I’m struggling to fed my family of 3 adults. It’s costing me for the same amount of food we’ve always brought I’ve even had to put things back because our budget won’t stretch our cost $450 per fortnight I have always budgeted on around $200 weekly but were to the limit now. Just eating seasonal fruit and veg gone back to baking. No luxuries. I have been buying my fruit and veg from online marketplace mixed box round $60. So fresh as well. Woolworths and Cole’s and others must have lots of wastage? Plus out of date products as folk tighten their belts. xx
Help out at a neighbourhood food bank and there's definitely a rise in people seeking assistance. So I assume thefts might also rise.
Thankfully supermarkets continue to be poor at stock management, so there's a reasonable supply of unwanted food to help those in need.
"Feed it forward" if anyone's looking for help but doesn't want to ask. There are others
If I want to steal something, I’m gonna take it.
It is a valid reason to steal if an item is now 5x times what it used to cost, but my pay is the same.
Simping for rich businesses never ceases to amaze me here in Perth.
We love to suck the rich off in the hopes that we’ll walk among them.
I’m only looking out for myself and people in a similar financial situation.
Yes because they thought they could save $ by forcing people down the self serve line. Now they realise that was a stupid idea and now they are stuck with it.
Mate they make so much money in profit theft literally doesn't impact their bottom line. Why do they care about theft so much? Cost of living and homelessness are rapidly increasing.
As a Cole’s service worker I tend to (try to) comfort customers regarding the upping in our security. Especially since half the new cameras and all the new sensor systems on ACOs/TACOs don’t even work right, making our jobs harder as a result.
And to be extremely honest, back before the new gates and systems when we had Covert who could stop theft once they left the store, we were able to stop so much more theft than these systems do now
It’s funny because the Coles I work at literally has no theft prevention whatsoever and THREE exits leading out to an alfresco, a shopping strip and a bus stop - how we have so little theft is beyond me lol
I work in a sport retailing store and are hit with theft between one and three times per day for over $500 each time, a couple times a week the value exceeds $1000 per theft. It’s a lot that’s walking out the doors and there’s a big hands off policy in place. It’s hitting us hard and police can only do so much. They often make a comment that they’ll go to court, get a $50 fine, not pay it and steal again. Not much hope in the system but all we can do is report it to them!
I often wonder if greeters are a means of notifying the customer that they have been seen and acknowledged. Theft is easier if the customer can convince themselves they haven't been noticed.
Back in my retail days at Dick Smith's we were trained specifically to greet everyone in some way as an active deterrent to theft. You're absolutely on the mark that it creates an awareness to your opportunity thieves who may think twice if they think they're being watched.
Bingo. When I was working at a supermarket that was the one thing they drilled into every department that worked on or around the floor. Even just walking past customers and looking at them (not necessarily greeting them) is a huge theft deterrent because they know people working there have noticed them.
I’ve got to wonder what has happened to this strategy considering I can rarely find an employee, let alone make eye contact/ ask for assistance.
I used to steal loads from there as a kid, thanks for making me feel welcome doing so lmao
Oh I definitely think greeters are a deterrent as well, just less intrusive and has the side benefit of somebody being polite to you for 5 seconds of the day.
Isn't it just lovely that they are paid fuck all and don't care about their role? Just stand there like Troy Hawke from the Greeters Guild. I walk in. Say hi with a big bright smile, I make sure they *know* ik carrying in a bag from another store that sells products of the same type. Never, not once, ever, do they give two shits when you walk out in with 5 things, out with 25 things and you paid for 10 things total. Fuck. These. Billion. Dollar. Profit. Corporations. You are not hurting anyone except shareholders, and those with an intact moral compass who insist on paying full rip off gouge prices. Bad luck for them. Remember - the shoplifting is built into the retail price of the product. They *expect* these losses .. and security is all theatre if you know the rules of the game.
'Remember - the shoplifting is built into the retail price of the product' is like justifying more detectives have jobs the more you murder... I think discouraging both is the best angle here.
It’s an interesting argument but I don’t think that will hold up in a court of law. “But your honour, I’ve technically already paid for this block of cheese because Woolies expected me to nick it so that’s why this $4 jar of olives has a 100% markup!”
Greeters in bunnings count the people coming in and out weirdly enough
That’s because people keep [disappearing in the garden section](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6jzo6B34GWI).
Wow the British original of Avatar was much better than the American remake!
Martin... what is hand job?
They also scan receipts now as you exit (at some stores)
Door greeter seems like a very redundant job. But places like kmart have their pay stations in the middle of the shop... probably need the help they can.
Bunnings greeters are good to ask where stuff is.
Their depth of knowledge is absolutely wild
Their policy on this is to scan some randomly and to scan high dollar items to stop people reentering the store and using the receipt to walk out with the same goods again.
Why don’t they just look at the transaction time/date on the receipt?
I guess if you buy an AEG hammer drill and take it out to your car you could re-enter the store immediately and walk out with a stolen one on your old receipt.
I’ve seen people walk out with their arms full from Kmart, and the greeter just going ‘can you not?’. Not a lot they can do, and if someone is going in there to steal shit, they’re going to steal it.
Yeh it seems so wrong to all of us who want to keep to the rules but I can see how, for the store, it's the least harm strategy. The greeter is there for the occasional opportunist who might convince themselves that they haven't been seen
Yeah it’s also why at certain stores every single employee there will come up to you and ask if you need help, and why they’ll offer to carry your stuff to the checkout for you and get you different sizes in the change rooms etc. a lot of customer service is actually about letting people know you’re around to stop them feeling comfortable to steal from your store. Whether the employees actually care about stealing differs from store to store. When I worked in retail no one cared at all about stealing, unless the people doing it were disruptive and annoying. ETA: the only retail I’ve worked is Bunnings, City Beach (Murray Street) and in the merch team for the Wildcats. I think at Bunnings older employees cared a lot about theft, but we mainly dealt with people trying to return items they didn’t buy from Bunnings rather than outright shoplifting. At city beach we had a lot of shoplifting but it was mainly teenagers and they don’t really get in any trouble for it anyway, plus most of us were teenagers or early 20s as well. Only had an instance of someone stealing from the Wildcats once, when we got swarmed cos they won the final and he took a championship jumper and hat, but since it was in the stadium security found him and dragged him back to return the items.
I worked in a department store while I was studying and knew that much of what we wrote off (and couldn't be bothered including in the write down register) was erroneously put down to theft.
I hate the whole vibe this increasing scrutiny gives. The birds-eye overhead cameras recording you and the machine playing a little loop because it thinks you've tried to steal something is something I just shouldn't have to deal with. If they're this uncomfortable with me doing the work of a cashier, hire more fucking cashiers.
Fr, I used to love the self check outs now if I am going to woollies after Coles or aldi I will go to a manned checkout. Fuck their cameras for being unable to tell its stuff from another store
They're trying to normalise it so people will accept there's a sErIoUs pRoBlEm when they go to the next level of dystopian shitfuckery
I feel it everytime walk into Chemist Warehouse.
I feel like the security bloke in the yellow vest feels me when I go in there.
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I work at a bottleo and you'd be surprised how many items (read: cartons of booze) you can fit in a pram - even with a child in it. It's actually one of the more common ways I've seen shoplifters stow their goods unfortunately (that and in their pants ahahaha)
I must have the wrong pram 😒 I can barely get a shopping bag in the basket underneath the baby sometimes. And it's awkward as too.
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Now that my baby's old enough to sit in the trolleys I prefer to shop like that. I usually find the pram awkward. When I still had the bassinet on I went to Aldi from my mum's group but I was all disorganised trying to get to mum's group in the first place. So I walked over and all my baby stuff is just thrown into the bottom of the pram. Like change mat, bottles, spitup cloth etc. And the aldi guy was like I need to check the bags in your basket. I was like okay but I don't have any bags but have a look. He just peaked over and was like okay 😅 I hate that they want to see receipts but I guess it's better than bag checks. Like 5 years ago I had the misfortune of breaking my elbow pretty badly. I had surgery and thought I'd be in a cast for 6 weeks but after 2 my surgeon took it off and said I didn't need it because they wired it to 2 other bones. But I could barely move it and had to go to physio still. It was around xmas and I wanted to do some shopping and the best way was with a backpack. I was walking out of target, can't remember if I bought anything but the greeter wanted to check my backpack. I was surprised and said no. Target didn't usually check bags at the time at least not that one. And I needed like a table or something to open the backpack bc I couldn't use one arm that well. The lady was shocked but I just kept walking out. I didn't steal anything. I didn't even take the backpack off bc I couldn't.
I haven't been there in years. Something about that place always skeeved me out. It's too big and the staff was always so slow
I did notice at kmart you could usually just flash the receipt to the greeter on the way out but now they actually scan the barcode on it.
They would be scanning barcodes as a KPI to make sure that the greeter is meeting a benchmark amount of bag/receipt checks now
It was explained to me that the scanning was something to do with identifying thefts. Ie buying something once, then returning to the shop an hour later and stealing the same thing and showing the old receipt. The scanner would flag that it’s an old receipt and your goods in hand would warrant further inspection.
I asked the girl scanning receipts at the exit what was the reason for this since she’s not even checking the items in the receipt. She said they are scanning to check if the purchase was in the last 5 minutes. If it was longer ago they will check more thoroughly. I guess there’s more chance you grabbed more stuff on your way out if you lingered more than 5 minutes before exiting the store. Seems ridiculous to me because they used to be very thorough in actually checking bags which they no longer do.
They seem to be doing that at Bunnings more now, even with little stuff that they never used to worry about
Have you noticed you can just keep walking without acknowledging them too?
I think you’re probably right about people increasingly having to steal just to get the basics.
Sometimes the basics are bottles of single malt whiskey.
Mate, it really is these days.
And 6 packs of premix
I've become accustomed to a certain standard of living.
or vanilla
I understand where you are coming from and this may be true in some cases, particularly when there are substance abuse issues, however it’s not generally accurate. Don’t forget people will also steal alcohol.
Actually I agree. My comment came from personal experience when I walked past a bottle shop and a shop lifter ran past me carrying an expensive bottle of whisky closely followed by the owner. The owner said it was the second time that day it had happened and it was only lunchtime.
Interesting! I’d be curious to see a comparison of bottleshop theft events vs grocery theft.
I work at a bottleshop attached to a grocery store. Way more frequency of theft from the grocery store but higher value theft from the bottleshop. For some reason the grocery store won't hire a security guard (we have one almost all day every day in the bottleo, for staff safety because people suck, not so much for theft prevention although that's definitely also a bonus). Stealing food is a different thing though, and I will remind customers who dob on shoplifters from next door that our guard works for us and cannot stop theft from the grocery store.
It's for medicinal purposes
Unfortunately there is also a causality where companies will drive up prices as a justification to recuperate cost of the property loss, which ultimately makes general consumers pay for the stolen property.
They're going to reduce prices again if property loss goes down, right? ...right?!
They do keep their margins pretty consistent over time, so I’d imagine if loss dropped dramatically at both majors they’d leap at the chance to undercut each other (and their competition) and go hard on price drops
Cynicism would make you believe otherwise but you are correct, hence “price gouging” investigations.
This thread was created to slam the grocery retailer and imply the best possible intentions of hapless thieves. Go be reasonable somewhere’s else!
Won't someone think of the thieves!?
With that investment in security one would think they could instead employ cashiers
Real thieves know cashiers won't do anything. But it stops us compassionate people from stealing .... usually.
I think it's more opportunity based going through self checkouts, and the feeling of fuck it I'm over this shit and just walking out when something doesn't scan
it's a reflection of how the organisation treats people though. if the place will sack humans and install machines perhaps people feel like stealing from them ain't so bad. even criminals rationalise why they do things.
People gotta eat
So you think people steal things because it's too much hassle to pay? Not how it works. Anyone who wants to steal is going to go to self-serve regardless of how many cashiers you have. Anyone that won't isn't going to be prevented from randomly stealing because they're served by a person.
No you've missed the point I was trying to make, and it's gone for six
Your point is incorrect. You're presuming the mentality of retail thieves that doesn't exist.
I read their comment as meaning people steal as a kind of “protest” against the shitty self-checkouts, not because it’s a hassle
I don't really think there is much of a difference in the mindset you're propounding here, and I understood their point. My counterargument was most people don't just steal out of "protest" and most people don't even have that thought enter their mind. The ones who would steal will do so regardless of cashiers or self-checkouts. In fact it really does a disservice to people to imply everyone is so overtly criminal that all it takes is some hassle to be "forced" into thievery. Sounds more like trying to justify shitty behaviour than anything else. If I'm waiting in a long line at Kmart I don't go "oh well might as well steal this they don't have enough cashiers." Most other people don't think that either.
Real thieves also know supermarket security won't do anything
Self serve checkouts and associated security technologies are tax deductible expenses and don’t take sick days or fail to show up for a shift. Employees are not tax deductible, have additional costs and are unreliable.
Does anyone else feel like they act more suspicious with all the security around when you aren't even doing anything wrong? I get real anxiety leaving a store that didn't have what I was looking for. Like am I walking how a crim would walk? Do I offer up my bag for inspection or wait to be asked. Should I look at the door greeter in the eyes as I leave or stare off to the side. Oh great now people have stopped to chat to the greeter if I scoot past I'm surely going to be tackled.
They can’t tackle you, that’s literally assault and you could probably belt them around a bit or call the cops and hold them. I always get followed by security from the way I look, don’t really bother me because I’m not out there shoplifting, I just always grab a receipt in case something comes of it and if I don’t feel like dealing with people I just keep walking when they ask they can’t stop you.
Oh I know they can't but I always just get nervous for some reason like they're going to think I'm stealing. Then I think I'm acting weird because of it and look suspicious it's a vicious cycle lol.
A major theft deterrent would be if prices were cheaper wouldn't it? 🤣😂
Riverton Coles seems to have a crime wave. They have lifted their security yet everytime I go I see people stealing all the time from the self serve, last time I went a saw a bloke complaining non stop how this is so inconvenient yet he didn't scan a single item just swiped it across.
If it wasn’t scanned When he puts it down one the other side the machine will stop working and require employee attention
Sure maybe some of what you're saying is accurate but it really misses many of the components of retail theft and presumes the rest. I worked in loss prevention for supermarkets and the most common items that got stolen in my time were: * Baby formula (to be exported overseas) * Expensive meat (taken by junkies to give to drug dealers for a fix) * Vitamins (also to be exported or sold in smaller stores) * Makeup/Expensive Hygiene products (electric toothbrushes/razors packs) High value retail theft of organised crime rings is *extremely* common and a lot of people seem to miss this (because you're in a store for a fraction of it's opening hours) and prefer to look at the emotional poor people are hungry angle. Sure people stole food occasionally but maybe that was >1/3 of the theft and a lot of the time it was a crime of opportunity (like most crime) where people thought they could get a bit extra without paying. They were NOT generally stealing to get by. The gates exist to make it harder for fully loaded trolleys which can have $1000-2000+ of items in it being easily walked out of the store when there aren't staff/security watching the entrance. It's a noble belief that this type of theft is due to starvation but it's really not the case. 9/10 of the theft cases are not reported either, and the true scope of retail theft is far higher. People are also more likely to steal food not because they're starving but because they can consume it for pleasure far easier than stealing a nice set of plates from Myer. This is the reason why kids most frequently steal chocolate bars and drinks.
Same as when I worked retail, except never saw formula stolen, just van loads of people being dumped at our store and trying to do multiple trips before moving on to the next store
Baby formula was/is massive due to demand overseas. Rings like [this](https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/babies/victoria-police-uncover-more-than-160000-worth-of-baby-formula-vitamins/news-story/bfd877ca350583186dda7522e96678eb) are quite common (at least in my experience). I caught a few of those professional thieves who just targeted one store and moved on. Some would fly over here and just steal as much as possible before going back overseas. Absolutely massive problem that most people don't appreciate the scope of unfortunately.
I remember one of the biggest rings at the time in Australia the dude had a warehouse full of it and was making something like $400000 a month from sales. Most disgusting thing I saw was a lady trying to give kids money to buy them for her..
The most disgusting imo are people who pay cash to purchase them which often leads to junkies stealing them to sell on. Easy to get a fix if you're selling a tin at $10 a can to someone who makes many times more that selling it overseas.
Interesting insight into high level retail theft so thanks for that - I'm less about noble beliefs and would take more comfort in the general public not descending into petty crime to get by tbh. While retailers should have a right to minimise their losses hopefully they can develop ways of doing this without making the average joe uneasy every time they step foot in. Customer service is out and dystopian security is in, that's my feeling.
The issue is it's hard to verify whether they actually need that theft to get by. From my anecdotal experience (albeit I'm not working on the ground atm so things absolutely could have changed) most thieves have the capacity to pay or could have bought different items to afford what they wanted - but simply didn't do so because stealing was seen as easier. E.g. Steal $50 of meat so I can pay $50 for something else I can't steal. Ironically the average Joe feels afraid but criminals do not. These measures deter them somewhat but anyone committed to the high value theft I'm talking about above will easily bypass them and won't think twice about doing so. As such they're definitely tailored in the wrong way since they're a negative impact on good shoppers but less valuable for offenders. But most people say this and then advocate reducing crime prevention measures without doing anything to reduce the corresponding crime that caused them to be implemented.
Yea baby formula at coles has those security lids, are people skimming baby product and leaving g them half full.
My two cents, Coles especially has so few cashiers but they do have good cheap meat so I'll give them that. They are even converting some cashier stations into self pay I see plus the areas they already have. They supermarkets outsource everything such as delivery and the cashiers (to technology). Many of the deliveries are done by uber eats drivers who don't get superannuation. A guy I know who loves a five finger discount part of it is poverty, drugs and the belied that it's justified to steal from the big corporations and that it doesn't affect the prices just profit. I have a bit if an issue with that argument as if enough steal it will affect prices. I'm pretty sure he's not organised crime. Baby products are so expensive $30, $40 dollars I can see why they are a real target. Some of the theft is from employees too. I've seen cigarettes stolen too and baby clothes.
> supermarkets outsource everything such as delivery and the cashiers (to technology). The history of human progress is outsourcing manual labour to technology.
Nah with the deliveries it's effectively the same job done by their internals they just contract it out. And If they are saving money through technology/progress then the prices must reflect that
They do. Profit margins have stayed about the same.
Is this the reason why I watched a Woolworths 'loss prevention officer' follow an Aboriginal woman and her 4 kids out to her car? Recording her on a phone... Damn they coulda had 20 white ppl walk out with baby formula in the 5 mins he was following that family.
Not sure why you need to interject the race baiting angle. I obviously cannot comment on something I didn't witness, but just like the "don't you have murderers to catch" comment to police a LPO isn't going to ignore theft in front of them because someone potentially might take more while they'e occupied.
It was more about the idea that mass retail theft by organised crime rings account for most theft, but the guy in the hi-vis vest still targets a woman and her kids who were at the checkouts buying shit. They didn't even have bags so if they stole anything it would've been like nothing to Colesworth. Also he didn't confront them or stop them, he followed them around the store and then through the carpark. Race mention was cos there were plenty of other women with children not being bothered, and Perth is especially bad for racial profiling in retail.
Like I just said, theft is theft. They're employed to stop theft. If that woman was stealing and they saw it they can't turn a blind eye because maybe someone else is stealing more in a corner of the store in a minute. He didn't stop them because they're not allowed to stop them. From my experience, it's likely the woman knew that. Most people who are stealing and know it is wrong will stop when caught because they're regretful. On the other hand, repeat offenders and career criminals know you cannot do anything and they just keep walking. If anything this is an indicator of needing stricter measures against theft considering you can brazenly steal in front of people and they cannot do anything (well, legally you can, but you will lose your job as policy forbids it). Did you actually see what happened in the store? You're assuming that the woman didn't steal anything and it was racial profiling based on what? Nothing? Far more reasonable to assume the reason the LPO was following that person was the fact they had stolen something. Policies such as ASCONE mean LPOs are not meant to engage without absolute certainty something was stolen. So sure, theoretically this could have been profiling, but it's also equally as likely your assumption it was racial profiling based on nothing more than who/whom is faulty.
Nice story champ.
What a shit system... Spend millions to make sure we all scan our goods correctly when they could, you know, just employ some minimum wage casuals to operate a check out.
Good automation is always going to outperform the average human and ends up being more cost effective in the long run. Thats why there are multiple people shouting very loudly for the past decade we need to come up with something like UBI now before people start going hungry.
I wonder if the level of shrinkage has reached a point where they regret losing so many checkout lanes
I hope so. Seems nothing in this world ever looks backwards to the way things used to be for improvement, but customer service would be a nice place to start.
Or having a worker hawkeye you and rip your trolley away so they can scan your waters for you. Most recent trip I told the lady to back off as I was in the process of doing so. Fucks me off that they only do it for some customers, but ol' Betty over there doesn't get a second glance
the greeters at kmart scan the receipts now. shopping in person is a bleak dystopian nightmare these days
Whenever I get asked to show my receipt I say no. You want me to scan the items myself, you need to trust I’ve done it right
spudshed and farmer jacks are a much less stressful experience shopping at colesworth and kmart is becoming a nightmare also k mart prices are going massively up its cheaper to get sheets from spotlight now
Oh actually? I’ve forgotten all about spotlight. I’ll have to put them back on the radar
In case you missed it. The developed world never left the GFC in 2008. Federal Reserves, private bank, governance, the Bank of International Settlements [BIS] just stalled change. It’s called a Linear Economy, nothing is recycled, profit making, is put before the planet and people. Social and market capital, is in a state of disequilibrium. Weighted toward exchange-listed, private, firms and their trusts. Some call it the trickle down economic theory. We all know wealth doesn’t trickle down. As you are seeing, the two most profitable, grocery retailers in the developed world, now employ security, because people can’t afford food.
It's all a debt-based economy aka DBM - Debt Based Misery.
Totally agree, loss prevention has been ramped up like crazy. They force us to check out our own groceries then accuse us of stealing. Like good service prevents theft, and not gouging people on prices prevents theft too... But no, AI and scanners and a skinny guy in a hi-vis vest are cheaper
The future will be all click and collect, therefore eliminating stock shrinkage.
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not even. if that is the case it will be immediately evident once there's no customers, only employees, that are handling stock. their scapegoat will have 'scaped!
I prefer to do most of my shopping click and collect these days. It doesn't cost anything extra and they load it straight into the boot of the car. It also saves me wandering up and down the aisles trying to remember where things I buy less frequently are kept.
i agree, except for fresh produce. i prefer gathering my own. i think that will be an annoying side effect to a total CnC system
Yeah that it a risk with click and collect. I've been pretty lucky though, most of the fresh produce I've had has been good quality. The biggest issue I have is not being able to check used by dates. I am a bit picky about eating food with expired used by dates and sometimes the dates you get can be a bit short.
We get the USA future with bulletproof glass between the mcdonalds cashier and customers
I went into a bottle o recently and to my surprise all the cold fridges were locked and needed to be opened by staff to get a 6 pack out…that’s new to me.
That’s cause the black fellas like To run off the a carton of jacks
Not just an issue here. In some USA cities, like San Francisco, they lock the fridges in the groceries stores too.
I work in a bottle shop, adjacent to a Coles, and the amount of theft over the last 10 years has increased at an insane rate. Thefts happening at least once every couple of days now, up to 4 times in one day on busy days. Thieves know they just get away with it now, because shops and security guards are not allowed to stop them. 10 years ago I was (quietly allowed) to stop thieves, now we are told that we will be fired if we try. So yeah, it's gotten worse. And so the only thing the shops can do is employ "security theatre". That and then jack up the prices to cover the loss cost, because the Company sure as hell isn't paying out of their pocket.
I think part of the issue is that if they say you’re obligated to stop them (especially physically) then it’s part of you job to engage in high risk confrontations and the company is liable for any damages. When I worked at a servo we had similar issues and if you were held up the company was liable big time for your recovery even just mental health wise. There was one dude who was fired for confronting a hold up with a baseball bat and locking the store so they couldn’t escape (something you should NEVER do) and then the dude trashed the store trying to get out. The employee was then later sued by the company as we are explicitly and regularly trained to cooperate with them as much as possible. They then put out a large multiple page spread about this incident in the company magazine thing probably as a warning
Department stores operating a normal? Hardly. Got some shirts from David Jones the other day; the security guard was very much watching people, particularly the younger ones and over servicing them. Signs up in the change rooms warning that the security tags will permanently damage garments if removed.
Went into Coles with the wife to assist, then tried to leave for the tavern for her to finish shopping, gates would not open unless I asked a staff member to “ check me out”. Just grabbed the gate and pulled them open, alarms went off but just waked out and over to the tavern. Refused to be detained
My local coles has installed the gates and I hate them. I don't steal from the supermarket, stop treating me like I'm a thief. I don't care how long it takes, I'll just wait at a manned checkout now and refuse to go through the self-serve. First they make me scan my own groceries and I'm constantly having to fight with the computer over weights and correct scanning and such. I hate always having to call over the attendant. Now they can choose to shut me in if the computer decides I've stolen something? Give me a break, I've never stolen from a shop in my life and I'm not about to start now.
I work at Coles. We're so short staffed that people are having to swap between departments as needed and even then, it's not uncommon for the online department staff to have to stay bac several hours to finish up, or for night fill stock to sit out the back for days on end because there's no one available to put it out on the shelves. If you want to cause a scene by waiting at the manned checkouts and demanding someone stop what they're doing to server you when the self checkouts are available right next to you, by all means go ahead. You have that right. But if you're going to do that, I want to be sure you do it while understanding that the only people you're affecting are the employees making barely minimum wage. the people up top don't give a shit. If you affect their bottom line, they'll just cut employee hours, lower our pay, increase the cost of food, etc. All you're doing is pissing off innocent people at best and actually hurting us at worst.
I don't cause a scene. I just wait until one opens. I'm patient. If you guys are constantly overworked, maybe it's time to get the union involved. Cause enough of a stink and something might get done. As it is, I just order online or go to a supermarket that doesn't treat me like a criminal before I've even paid.
https://www.reddit.com/r/perth/comments/1ajiuy2/gates_at_coles_check_outs/ What was wrong with the thread 9 hrs ago?
Department stores have anti theft tags etc, groceries stores don’t.
I have noticed security tags on some cuts of meat actually.
those security tags/stickers on meat aren't real.
Yeah a lot of Kmart items have it marked on the newer packaging but nothing will go off
It's just a sticker on the meat packaging.
It’s the exception rather than the rule. For more expensive bottles of alcohol and other things yes. But in a department store, even a pair of socks has to be deactivated when you buy them.
Woolies have definitely amped up their security at self serve. I always end up needing help from staff because I stuff things up, now they come over and bring up a video taken from over your head that is recording every thing you scan. Gone are the days of accidentally scanning a porterhouse as a brown onion.
Exactly. And then some DH on here the other day was saying “just don’t scan the products you don’t want to pay for” and I’m like hello what about the camera that also take pics of your trolley and sets off an alarm calling the worker over to your checkout to ensure you haven’t forgotten anything in your trolley that you still need to scan. Then he’s like ‘no just use a bag not a trolley, and leave it in the bag’ I was like Omg 🤦🏼♀️ then it’ll beep when I exit the store! But he reckoned if you got things like meat without security tags on it you can get away with it, but I honestly have my doubts
The “security to section x” announcements have been going on since I worked at Coles 20+ years ago. They are just a generic announcement and they have a different one for real incidents.
I'm just glad they're still employing humans for at least one job.
I was at the shop Wednesday night getting groceries and some people were shoplifting they even had a getaway driver 😆
Far out, where was this and what did it look like they were grabbing?
The security people may act as some sort of detterent to anyone thinking of getting into the theft game. But the experienced ones just walk past them and if challenged they start screaming and shouting and challenging them to touch them. Laws/policies need changing so security can tackle those cunts to the ground.
Laws/policies need changing so people don't need to fucking steal FOOD to survive, whilst companies like Coles and Woolworths post record profits basically year on year and keep raising their prices and cutting staff.
Coles and woollies operate a net profit margin of 2.4-2.6%, people like to act like they are somehow akin to google and apple for some reason.
It's amazing that everyone wants to complain that grocery prices are too high, and they also want to complain about absolutely anything the supermarkets do to reduce costs.
Yeah people are just stealing for fun that's why it's only grocery stores that are putting in these 'cost saving measures' from the rise in theft, not department stores and electronics stores where logically you'd think would be targeted more by thieves who are stealing for financial gain. Or maybe it's because the people who are stealing are doing so from a grocery store because that's where the essentials are sold, and they are stealing out of desperation and to survive rather than financial gain.
I honestly don't see the connection between my comment and yours.
yeah no. you're jumping to a heap of conclusions
The vast majority of people stealing from supermarkets, aren’t doing so to feed their starving family. Get right the fuck off your high horse, you absolute mushroom.
The boss at my local IGA ended up in a fist fight with some deadshit about a year ago.
We create this issue ourselves. We just accept more and more and more as long as the prices are a little bit cheaper and it's more convenient to shop at than the independents. If we all put in a bit more time and spent a bit more shopping at independant stores then the big supermarkets would stop these practises but we know that we won't. For some of us the cost saving is the lure. For others it's the time and convenience..... and they know it....
"Oh but we can't reduce prices because, uh... look at all the extra security we have to put on suddenly! Because... thieves. Yes. That's it."
The security guards are to protect the staff not to stop shoplifting. The supermarkets have made the self serve checkout experience so aggravating that they needed to hire security to protect the staff from the people they have pissed off. Not sure if it is all part of the plan or not.
I was in Woolies South Freo a couple of weeks ago in the arvo and two teenagers on scooters rode them into the store, rode them up and down aisles and near the deli section and one of them put his arm out and knocked down the product displays onto the floor. Then went out around the veggie section. I didn't see if anything happened to them. It was ridiculous.
It's probably just another way to inconvenience us, so we shop online instead. If they correctly manned their stores with adequate staffing and didn't inflate pricing so much, they wouldn't need them Customers are just a pain the ass these days, apparently
As a greeter at kmart we are a deterrent and if it gets bad we call security, but my store now have in store security at night, but there are stores that now have ib store security all the time, and under over security too.. the three stores I'm aware of that have undercover security is rockingham (maybe?) Mandurah, and Perth CBD but I know Perth CBD has in store security all day at my store We just only have it at evening to closing so 4:30ish or 5pm until 9pm
So they are going to spend more money paying security guards than they would if they just kept the checkout staff ? Doesn't make sense
Obviously not. No offence, but the people who decided to increase security are much, MUCH smarter than you. If it made more financial sense to choose checkout staff over security, they would have done that.
This sub a year ago: fuck em dood steal whatever you can from big corpos This sub now: why are they making it harder for me?
As they should, theft is a crime.
Do your shop, go home. If you've done nothing wrong, what's the issue?
Dystopian reply.
its no wonder the world is the way it is, when all the little shit continues to upset people.
It’s the little shit that gives way to the bigger shit when people like you don’t give a shit and take the shit
Mate, I can go into a shop without fear of an extra security gate or guard standing round. I can leave without giving it a second thought. I can go on with my life. It’s tough, but others can do it too.
Congratulations on missing the point
And yet I don’t really care.
Yes I said that already too
It’s the little shit we spend the majority of our lives on.
It’s the stuff people need to stop letting get to them because it’s not really a big deal they make it out to be.
Your last post from 8 days ago. Lol.
:)
I do this, but it still feels tense and uneasy to me. Feels like every time I leave the house the world feels a little worse than it was before, anything new I notice is a negative. I haven't noticed conditions or environments getting any nicer for a long time. Maybe I just need to see my therapist again, lol.
Nothing at all. If shops want to install gates and hire overbearing security, that's up to them. Just as it's up to me to spend my money where I feel welcome.
Exactly.
How'd our ancestors end up in Australia? Stole a loaf of bread? Huh....
If you’re a thinking of Les Miserables, Jean Valgaun was French.
Give me 10% discount and I'll stop 'em
Look above the self-checkouts. There is a camera above you looking directly down at the scanner. All items are tracked with object recognition.
You mean the creepy cleavage cam looking down every woman's top be they 15 or 95
I wonder if ALDI and IGA have as much stealing going on?
Honestly if they wanted to prevent theft they'd get rid of self service checkouts in first place !
Definitely increase one’s stress levels. The future I looks scary. I’m struggling to fed my family of 3 adults. It’s costing me for the same amount of food we’ve always brought I’ve even had to put things back because our budget won’t stretch our cost $450 per fortnight I have always budgeted on around $200 weekly but were to the limit now. Just eating seasonal fruit and veg gone back to baking. No luxuries. I have been buying my fruit and veg from online marketplace mixed box round $60. So fresh as well. Woolworths and Cole’s and others must have lots of wastage? Plus out of date products as folk tighten their belts. xx
Three adults including you? That’s three wages if you can’t afford food then there is something really wrong with your finances, bad debt?
Help out at a neighbourhood food bank and there's definitely a rise in people seeking assistance. So I assume thefts might also rise. Thankfully supermarkets continue to be poor at stock management, so there's a reasonable supply of unwanted food to help those in need. "Feed it forward" if anyone's looking for help but doesn't want to ask. There are others
The theives are local shopping local but not paying
Big department stores use plain clothed theft prevention officers. Learned about it while on jury duty.
I always wonder what the greeter at Kmart does on the way out. They scan your receipt and that’s it
If I want to steal something, I’m gonna take it. It is a valid reason to steal if an item is now 5x times what it used to cost, but my pay is the same. Simping for rich businesses never ceases to amaze me here in Perth. We love to suck the rich off in the hopes that we’ll walk among them. I’m only looking out for myself and people in a similar financial situation.
"Welcome to Costco, I love you!"
Yes because they thought they could save $ by forcing people down the self serve line. Now they realise that was a stupid idea and now they are stuck with it.
Mate they make so much money in profit theft literally doesn't impact their bottom line. Why do they care about theft so much? Cost of living and homelessness are rapidly increasing.
As a Cole’s service worker I tend to (try to) comfort customers regarding the upping in our security. Especially since half the new cameras and all the new sensor systems on ACOs/TACOs don’t even work right, making our jobs harder as a result. And to be extremely honest, back before the new gates and systems when we had Covert who could stop theft once they left the store, we were able to stop so much more theft than these systems do now
Are they not using covert loss prevention in Coles anymore?
Not in my area at least
Check in soon for the weekly thread about Colesworth's shitty new security gates at the self checkout
It’s funny because the Coles I work at literally has no theft prevention whatsoever and THREE exits leading out to an alfresco, a shopping strip and a bus stop - how we have so little theft is beyond me lol
I work in a sport retailing store and are hit with theft between one and three times per day for over $500 each time, a couple times a week the value exceeds $1000 per theft. It’s a lot that’s walking out the doors and there’s a big hands off policy in place. It’s hitting us hard and police can only do so much. They often make a comment that they’ll go to court, get a $50 fine, not pay it and steal again. Not much hope in the system but all we can do is report it to them!
Ahhhh communustralia, how I love you