In recent years K-Mart changed store designs and layout to “in the words of Kmart” to reduce congestion and bottlenecks at store doors. My humble opinion is this facilitated fewer staff manning registers and thus fewer staff wages to pay!
Several weeks ago, I chose to buy the ANKO coffee machine after reading about the review in CHOICE. I went to the store, selected my product, and proceeded to the register area. There were ONLY self-service registers in operation @ 10.20 AM in the store! NOT A SINGLE STAFFED register was open! I waited patiently and paid for my item. As it was the only item I purchased, I chose to save the cost of a bag and carry the item out of the store, and I proceeded to the store entry/ exit point, and there were people lining up at the staff /greeter checkpoint. I proceeded out the door with my receipt fully visible along with my purchase. AT THE TOP OF THE GREETERS LUNGS, she yells at me to come back here, so I can scan your item. I looked back and continued walking! She once again screams to come back here and let me scan your item.
This person has no jurisdiction over me. I have completed the requirements of entry, and paid for my item with a valid receipt on exit!
I wrote to KMART and told them that I was not impressed, and their reply is that I could request a staffed register to be opened". The issue is that I “do not” have to stop once I have exited a store if I have a receipt that is valid in my hand. The “door person” is not a registered loss prevention officer, and was not displaying ANY security identification.
I will NOT RETURN to Kmart as I stated to them in my complaint! - I did not personally steal from their store, and I understand their problem is theft/ loss prevention! But now they can detain you if you refuse, under suspicion that you ARE A SHOPLIFTER… This is madness!
I observe since passing the store that there is NO SIGNAGE clearly advising the conditions at the store entry!
My next question is will a court hear my case of a civil matter bought against a retailer who detained me for NOT PRODUCING the receipt for scanning, and how much -would a court award in payment for such a breach? ( or jail a person for what amount to false imprisonment)
And if they just returned the checkouts to the front of the store, you would be exiting immediately after paying, and there would be no need for all this sighting of receipts palaver…
What’s worse is they have conditioned people to “perform the work of a staff member” and now treat you like a criminal (or naughty child - if you do it wrong)…
So now, where does the “duty of care” exist? - Blurs the lines significantly!
When I moved back to Sydney after a decade in the UK one of the first things I really noticed (and was annoyed by) was the obsession with getting staff to check your bags as you exited a store. The scanning of the receipt adds another layer of completely unnecessary stress to the whole experience, not just for the shopper but to the employees who I assume get in trouble if they aren’t seen to have scanned the same amount of receipts that were generated during their shift. If someone is going to steal a thing, there won’t be a receipt to show for it!
The same thing happens at Bunnings, and I don’t understand the purpose of scanning my receipt. It’s not as though they check that what I’m leaving with matches the receipt. Is it purely to show that I have one? What if I chose the receipt-to-mobile option?
I share your frustrations, especially since Kmart has “made it a condition of entry that all customers’ receipts must be digitally scanned by a Kmart worker before they are able to leave the store.” If you shop at Kmart, you need to agree to these terms.
I asked senior staff member why they now scan every receipt. They said to stop theft as they found that some ‘customers’ were leaving the store with their purchases, then returning shortly thereafter to collect the same item(s) from the shelves to only then leave again with ‘stolen’ items (using the same receipt as proof of purchase when leaving for the second time). I was also told that some were even brazen enough to return to store with the purchases and use Kmart’s change of mind policy to get a refund for the purchases (meaning they weren’t out of pocket but still kept the stolen items).
The scanning proves the purchased items have left store and the receipt can’t be used again to steal another lot of purchases.
Unfortunately a few have spoiled it for everyone. Also it is hard to know what a criminal looks like - unfortunately a stereotypical thief wearing a balaclava doesn’t exist.
Even with front of store checkouts, it wouldn’t stop such criminals as they would try the same through the general access aisles which existed in the past.
In my instance, the lady at the door was over 60…and, as I said, did not display security accreditation. So let’s say a weapon is produced. I think an urgent intervention by the government/police should be “mandated” so that the stores cannot impose such danger or onerous conditions on shoppers who are trying to abide by accepted standards of society
As previously stated, I believe the store design etc was to ensure floor space and reduced staffing levels.
That equates to an unacceptable level of ‘danger’ instore due to less staff “on the floor”.
LOSS prevention and stealing is a self made imposition…I have stated very emphatically. I will NOT shop at BUNNINGS ( coincidentally owned by the same parent co)or K-MART…I visited Bunnings recently, and the request was not made. 2 hours later I went to buy some paint. And it was, so I placed the container of paint on the counter and requested the store manager attend and requested a full refund. ( he said we don’t refund custom-coloured paint. To which I retorted, I don’t tolerate being selectively questioned about a receipt) and BTW - you have no signage advising of the same. He chose to refund me after taking all of my details from driver’s licence. Then 2 days later, they send a letter of apology with a gift voucher for $50, which I promptly shredded…
It annoys me, too, to be treated like a shoplifter. The problem has been created by the stores themselves going self-service in order to reduce staff costs. Now they lose a lot of money through some dishonest people who take advantage of the situation. But the fact is that shoplifting translates in higher costs for us, the consumers. I find that it makes my life, and that of the store assistants who are just doing a job, a lot less stressful when I consent to a check of my tote-bag or of my receipt at the exits of those store which require it.
IMHO A better way to use my indignation and my energy is to make complaints to managements and to participate in representations like the one by Choice Campaigns which has just recently been successful against facial recognition cameras when entering a store.
And I expect it to be rolled out further than Kmart and Bunnings. I have been asked for receipt to prove purchases also at Officeworks, Big W (when collecting an online purchase at the internal service counter) and JB Hifi.
If scanning of dockets is proven to be successful in reducing theft, other large stores such as JB HiFi, Harvey Norman, Target, Big W, Myers, David Jones etc etc which have staff manning entry/exists are likely to follow suit. Usually if a new measure is successful, it becomes more standardised across the retail industry.
While the additional interaction on exiting is somewhat annoying, if it reduces theft it is in every consumers interests as theft increases prices of all product to covers losses from theft.
Bunnings do check the receipt once scanned with your purhased items. Receipt is only scanned if coming from an internal register not from the front registers
I have ABSOLUTELY no problem justifying that I have legitimately purchased an item!
IF CHOICE is campaigning, I would love to participate. The fact that we become “pseudo” staff, conducting our own scanning, and the “time-saving” line that was/is being peddled does NOT exist is where I believe that stores should be focussing their efforts! It is bad enough to be corralled to the payment counters etc…But I refuse to even give the people who are at the door the time of day. When I shop, I want to be in, get what I want and out! NOT waiting in line helping stores who cannot see that the majority will do the right thing.
IF the campaigning of an organisation like Choice were available, I would be advocating having more staff, I would take the time, like I have done in the past, to advise staff if I see people shoplifting. I have even followed people to their cars and reported the registration to the police. I believe this is a making of the retail giants trying to pacify shareholders etc…
JB- HIFI have had a manual system in place for many years. I NOW choose to shop where I can do my shopping and be in quickly and out!
I wrote to the KMART management (as I outlined in my post) and their response was “I can request a register to be opened”, which still doesn’t resolve the scanning problem at the door.
I AM VOTING AT THIS POINT OF TIME WITH MY WALLET…I hope many others will too, and the fools at the upper echelons of these stores see the decreased sales and decide to come to their senses.
ADDED as a post thought -SO if at high seasonal times these, stores are going to be overrun by crowds and a whole lot more are going to do more than just shoplift!
JBHiFi stores have the same thing. The checkout counters are seemingly as far away from the entry/exit as they could put them.
So there is a security guard checking your receipt on exit. I really don’t understand the logic of this store layout, but some boffins must have done studies and convinced retailers that this had some benefit for their bottom line.
I’m all with you @KW3180 It’s just that recently I’ve talked to a service assistant at a supermarket and I was surprised to hear what goes on with shoplifting, and it made me think that maybe I had underestimated that problem:
they mentioned that they catch nice looking, well dressed people you would never take for shoplifters;
and that they sometimes discover that half a shelf has been shoplifted of products;
and they caught school-age children shoplifting 35 (yes) little bottles of vanilla extract because of the alcohol content.
They couldn’t go on as others needed assistance but it was a bit of an eye opener for me, and brought home the scale of the problem which, of course, it’s not only the unpaid goods disappearing but also the technology needed for security, in the end it all adds up to the high prices we are paying for our shopping.
You are telling me nothing new! I am an ex-public servant (injured now) prison officer. I have seen and am well aware of the lengths and breadth that crooks will go to.
IN my time I have seen items “banked internally” that would surprise even the sickest of warped wierdo’s…I’ll just say that some of the terms for banking and the content discovered are beyond comprehension.
The manner of theft and the “criminal mind” work are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Maybe it would open people’s eyes. ( Maybe not as copycat crimes are big these days).
Assuming everyone is a crook is a sleight on our society!! The big stores made this problem, and shouldn’t be up to the consumer to fix!
How very interesting, thank you for sharing! Can understand your deep knowledge, although I was just thinking aloud about the issue of shoplifting and not meaning to instruct anyone.
I think it’s a problem without an easy solution, involving trying to stop theft and preserving privacy and limiting the high costs caused….
A US drug store is experimenting with a ‘treatment’ regardless of how they frame it. Is this heralding a new standard that will roll into retail in full or part? It is essentially everything becomes click and collect.
If someone has a product in their hand they probably paid at ‘ordering’. Whether any Aussie shop including KMart will try it remains TBD. ‘We’ react differently to Americans.
Going back to the older days of everything behind the counter and served by the shopping assistant/robot and paid for before it is in hand and taken out the store…what is old is new again… like many things about fashion as well.
