Overlooked supermarket self checkout 'rule' that's leaving shoppers gobsmacked
You might think self-service checkouts allow you to scan and pack your shopping however you want - but it turns out there are rules in place that many of us don't know.
These days, most supermarkets have a handful of self-service checkouts that you can use to scan your own shopping, with the idea being that it saves you time, especially when you only want a few items. Alongside being faster than queuing up at a manned till, many would argue one of the benefits of the self checkout is the ability to scan your items in whatever order you like, which can make packing your bags easier.
But one woman has found that not all supermarkets let you do things exactly the way you want to, and some of them have overlooked rules that many of us were unaware existed.
Teya, from Australia, made the self-service checkout discovery when she was shopping at the Australian supermarket chain Coles, where she headed to the checkout with her shopping, including a bulk box of mineral water. She was baffled, however, when the employee monitoring the self checkout area demanded that she scan her mineral water first.
In a video posted to her @teya0466 account, she said: "I was using the self-service checkout, the one with the conveyor belt. I was going to purchase a box, or a carton, of mineral water, and the lady who was overseeing the area was very insistent on helping me. I was like, 'No it's fine, I'm in the self checkout, I'll just do it myself'.
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"She was like, 'Okay, but can you scan it [the water] first?'. I'm like, okay, that's a bit weird, I don't know why. But she was very adamant that I had to scan the carton first. Do you know why I had to do that? Can you let me know? If you work at Coles, what is the reason for having to scan your groceries in a certain order when you're using the self-service checkout, and why do they even care?"
Commenters were quick to give Teya the answers she was looking for, with several employees at Coles and other supermarkets telling her that the rule was put in place to stop the theft of bulk items. One person told her: "As an ex-Coles service employee, it's because bulk items are their highest stolen item. Even at the normal registers, they'll ask you if you have any bulk items first. It's hard on workers."
Someone else also wrote: "As a Woolies worker I don't often shop at Coles but to be honest bulk items are monitored due to theft. Not saying that all customers would thieve - but the loss of bulk items adds up daily. Same as fruit and vegetables."
The rule on bulk items at the checkout is not set in stone in UK supermarkets, but there are other ways they are clamping down on shoppers stealing items by scanning their shopping incorrectly. Last year, Tesco and Sainsbury's began trialling schemes in which shoppers would have to show their self checkout receipts before leaving the supermarket.
The scheme left many shoppers reeling, with some saying it "makes life harder" and is bad for the environment, as you now need to print a receipt instead of being able to opt out and go paperless. At the time of the scheme's launch in May, a Sainsbury's spokesperson said the introduction of the barriers "is one of a range of security measures in a small number of stores".
In Australia, a Coles spokesperson told Femail: "Our team members are always encouraged to help our customers where possible. Where a customer has certain items, which may include bulky or heavy items, our team will offer to assist them in scanning the items when checking out. This is all about providing great service to our customers and helping them get through the checkouts quickly and efficiently."
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