A furious shopper has exploded at supermarket staff for trying to check her receipt on the way out after forcing her to use a self-checkout machine.
The shopper penned an open letter on the popular Facebook group ‘Meanwhile in Australia’ to complain how she and several customers were forced to stop at a supermarket exit to have their receipts inspected.
She said a female worker stopped every customer who had used a self-checkout machine and made them line-up to have their receipts looked at.
The furious shopper skipped the line and left, before venting her anger on social media.
Customers from across Australia rallied in support of the woman, with several sharing stories of their own struggles with self-checkout services and asking why more and more major stores expect customers to do their own packing.
Meanwhile, photos from a Kmart on Thursday showed a worker forcing several customers to stop on their way out as he checked their receipts.
Pictured: A worker checking customer receipts in a Kmart store. A shopper took to the popular Facebook group ‘Meanwhile in Australia’ to reveal how she and several customers were forced to stop at a supermarket exit to have their receipts checked
She said a female worker stopped every customer who had used a self-checkout machine and looked over their receipt
In their viral rant, the angry shopper questioned the lack of human cashiers in stores across Australia.
‘Dear Kmart, Coles, Woolworths etc etc and all other stores that have self checkout. You are almost exclusively self-checkout now.
‘You can either trust me to do self-checkout, or you can put your cashiers back in place like it used to be.
‘I’m not interested in proving that I did your job for you. You want me to be a cashier with no training then that’s your problem not mine.
‘Don’t audit me for a position you refuse to employ any longer.’
A Kmart spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: ‘At Kmart, we strive to deliver an enjoyable and convenient shopping experience to all our customers whether they choose to shop with us in-store or online.
‘Since late 2015, we began introducing self-service registers to our stores as part of our commitment to customers in allowing them to access a more efficient service, especially during peak trading periods.
‘The conversion of our manned registers to self-serve helps to aid the speed of transactions, but we will always have a Kmart team member available to support customers putting through transactions if they would like.
‘Like many retailers it is also a condition of entry across all our stores that if requested, customers present any bags and receipt for checking before leaving the store.
‘We look forward to continuing to service all our customers in the many different ways they like to shop.’
However, Aussies expressed their support for the angry shopper online.
One wrote: ‘I hate them and refused to use them for the longest time, but it’s gotten so there’s sometimes no staffed checkout open that you have to use them. Then there’s the errors and waiting for someone to fix it.
A Kmart employee gestures at a shopper after stopping her from leaving the store to look at her receipt
Several Kmart shoppers, who had used the self-checkout service, were stopped before they could leave
‘Bring back staffed checkouts. Or at least more open for those that can’t or don’t want to use them. Keep people in work and help those not able to physically use or perhaps understand using the stupid things.’
Another said: ‘Self service stresses me out. Half the time I place item in bagging area and it doesn’t compute.
‘The other annoyance is no space to pack your trolley. And I I feel rushed because it’s always a huge line up. I’ll stick to having a human serve me thanks.’
A third said: ‘I only use self checkouts when no other registers are open. I hate them with a passion – every time I use one, something always goes wrong with the machine and has to be unlocked by a staff member.’
While a fourth added: ‘Yes! Give me a discount for checking out my own items/groceries.
‘I don’t work for these companies so I shouldn’t have to work to purchase goods.’
A Woolworths spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: ‘We’re focused on providing our customers with multiple ways to shop with us, given their ever-changing needs.
‘Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many customers opted for safer and more convenient ways to complete their shop which include self service checkouts.
‘However, if customers prefer to be served by a team member that option is always available via our service desk or other manned checkouts.
‘We’ve seen a big uptake in customers using Direct to Boot and home delivery, while others decided to streamline their in-store experience through the use of Scan&Go and self-service.’
A source insisted that Coles does not have a policy of checking the receipt of a customer when they leave the self-checkout area.
Furious shoppers online claimed they are being forced to use self-checkouts before being stopped and having their receipts scanned
Checking receipts is not the only method that supermarkets use to monitor self-checkout customers.
Last month, Woolies shoppers threatened to boycott the supermarket after it introduced camera technology at self-check-outs.
Woolworths said the devices ‘records you and the transaction detecting when items aren’t scanned correctly’.
It is trialling new camera technology in some stores to ‘help reduce mis-scans and improve speed for customers through the checkout’.
The technology uses overhead cameras and artificial intelligence to detect when items aren’t scanned correctly.
‘If a mis-scan occurs, a short video highlights the affected product and customers then have the opportunity to re-scan it,’ a Woolworths spokesman said.
Woolworths is rolling out surveillance cameras at self-serve and operator-assisted checkouts to reduce incidents of fake swiping
On social media Australians reacted to in-store signs warning customers they could be filmed with a mix of anger and concern
However, some customers say the new tech makes them feel like thieves.
Coles has also introduced surveillance cameras and high-tech scanning systems that can detect product detail down to what type of apple a shopper is weighing.
The supermarket loses an estimated $891million per year in theft and Woolworths loses up to $1billion per year, the Global Retail Theft Barometer previously reported.
In August, it was also revealed that cost-of-living pressures are causing Aussies to thieve at supermarket self-serve checkouts.
The research showed 3.8million people or one in five Australians admitted to stealing items.
That figure included nine per cent of shoppers who had pilfered via the self-serve checkouts and 10 per cent who lied about what they had scanned.
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