Accused of stealing

heyhello

Hi there, there are some incorrect assumptions in this thread that I wanted to address as I am a manager for Tesco.

Firstly you all seem to assume the OP is a checkout worker. In Superstores and Metro there are many staff who never work on a checkout and don't really know the self scans well. So perhaps give him/her a break from what could have been an honest mistake.

You all seem to be quite familiar with the old-style self scans which have a scale. NCR has lost the contract with Tesco and all Express stores plus most in larger stores have been removed. The newer machines have no scale because you don't weigh your purchases; you're on CCTV and trusted to do the right thing and can be checked at random. Also, the beep noise can be disabled (by customers, or by staff) and if it's very beepy all around you, you might not hear that a product wasn't scanned. If you don't deal with these machines daily, you might not know to check the screen carefully to see if it scanned, especially if you have 3 of a product and one didn't go through, you can miss it easily.

On old-style scale machines, many of them have terrible scales that trigger a false alarm All.Day.Long and staff can get "lazy" and just clear it without checking what is on the scale. If this happened, then the supervisor or checkout operator looking after that scale is equally to blame. But if multiple items were missed then the OP is going to have to explain how that happened.

OP if you are in the union get in touch with USDAW. I presume this has already been a Let's Talk and is going to investigation, you have a right to have someone with you when this happens. The process can be escalated if there is question of gross misconduct but there is still a set of procedures they will follow. Have a look at Colleague Help under the Disciplinary Process and make sure you understand your rights.

General_Grant

AskAsk said:

annabanana82 said:

AskAsk said:

annabanana82 said:

I try not to use them as they always go wrong.
In Asda once queuing for the cashier, the family in front of me fed up of waiting said they were going to the self scan as it was cheaper! 
I did make a member of staff aware, but I assume that it's a common occurrence, but thinking about it I wonder (as an aside) if the reduced staff costs on self service offset a possible uplift in shoplifting losses?

But I think it would be hard to get away with, Sainsbury's and Asda now seem to have visible cameras and you can see yourself, I would have thought Tesco would have some form of surveillance too?

i always use the self service now and only ever go to the till if i have a trolley or need to use vouchers that the self service tills won't accept.  i prefer to scan my own items and skip out the personal interaction altogether.

the machine can scan and you hear a 'beep' noise without it actually registering.  the price does not come up on the machine.  i have had to call the assistant over to say that the machine won't register and they had to manually add the item into the shopping.  so you do have to pay attention.  however, there is a safeguard for this as the machine will ask you to remove the item if you put it down and it had not been added to your shopping.

i read that shops lose a lot of money from theft since they introduced the self service tills but the machines are getting better at security so it is harder to steal using the self service machines.

I do like the scan as you shop, I don't have an issue with those, just the ones where you weigh your bags and all your shopping. 
The scan as you shop do have regular checks, whenever I get one I always panic that I've not scanned something.

i have never used scan while you shop and wonder how they make sure people don't steal as you don't put the items on the till so they can't weigh it.

If the till area doesn't have a weighing function then you will find that items requiring weighing (generally fresh fruit and vegetables) then there are scales near the produce which produce a bar code label which is scanned.  That would be used for the scan as you shop method too.

marlene1967

Thanks for your advice. I’m not a member of the union, I’m having to do this on my own. Don’t want to burden a colleague with this
The scanning issues were after a very long shift (driver). In your opinion do you think I could lose my job, as it was an honest mistake
very stressed out and upset. Really enjoy this job and felt very proud to help out with deliveries during the pandemic 

GHolmesAdmin

As an aside when I worked in shops including supermarkets years ago I made a point of never shopping where I worked, it was too problematic, and you were closely watched which made it uncomfortable. Also I found it was too easy to convince yourself you needed something if you stared at it all day, hence the stupid number of handbags I had by the time I left my job at a well known shoe repair and bag shop.

Barny1979

OP how many items were scanned and how many were not, what was the value of the items?

Savvy_Sue

heyhello said:

Also, the beep noise can be disabled 

Tell me more! Please! 

(Beeps do my head in, as does that annoying voice telling me to take my shopping etc. My hearing is slightly shot, and the acoustics in some stores make me feel quite ill.)

NaughtiusMaximus

AskAsk said:

annabanana82 said:

AskAsk said:

annabanana82 said:

I try not to use them as they always go wrong.
In Asda once queuing for the cashier, the family in front of me fed up of waiting said they were going to the self scan as it was cheaper! 
I did make a member of staff aware, but I assume that it's a common occurrence, but thinking about it I wonder (as an aside) if the reduced staff costs on self service offset a possible uplift in shoplifting losses?

But I think it would be hard to get away with, Sainsbury's and Asda now seem to have visible cameras and you can see yourself, I would have thought Tesco would have some form of surveillance too?

i always use the self service now and only ever go to the till if i have a trolley or need to use vouchers that the self service tills won't accept.  i prefer to scan my own items and skip out the personal interaction altogether.

the machine can scan and you hear a 'beep' noise without it actually registering.  the price does not come up on the machine.  i have had to call the assistant over to say that the machine won't register and they had to manually add the item into the shopping.  so you do have to pay attention.  however, there is a safeguard for this as the machine will ask you to remove the item if you put it down and it had not been added to your shopping.

i read that shops lose a lot of money from theft since they introduced the self service tills but the machines are getting better at security so it is harder to steal using the self service machines.

I do like the scan as you shop, I don't have an issue with those, just the ones where you weigh your bags and all your shopping. 
The scan as you shop do have regular checks, whenever I get one I always panic that I've not scanned something.

i have never used scan while you shop and wonder how they make sure people don't steal as you don't put the items on the till so they can't weigh it.

We used it once, after we'd paid a member of staff rumaged through our bags randomly checking individual items against the receipt. Add that to the time it took to scan them in the first place and it actually resulted in a slower than normal shop.

Oddly enough we decided not to bother after that.

coffeehound

M&S now have some tills with no scales at all, so you just scan stuff straight into your bags with no cross-checking.  If you need to weigh produce, there's a separate scales+printer nearby.

AskAsk

NaughtiusMaximus said:

AskAsk said:

annabanana82 said:

AskAsk said:

annabanana82 said:

I try not to use them as they always go wrong.
In Asda once queuing for the cashier, the family in front of me fed up of waiting said they were going to the self scan as it was cheaper! 
I did make a member of staff aware, but I assume that it's a common occurrence, but thinking about it I wonder (as an aside) if the reduced staff costs on self service offset a possible uplift in shoplifting losses?

But I think it would be hard to get away with, Sainsbury's and Asda now seem to have visible cameras and you can see yourself, I would have thought Tesco would have some form of surveillance too?

i always use the self service now and only ever go to the till if i have a trolley or need to use vouchers that the self service tills won't accept.  i prefer to scan my own items and skip out the personal interaction altogether.

the machine can scan and you hear a 'beep' noise without it actually registering.  the price does not come up on the machine.  i have had to call the assistant over to say that the machine won't register and they had to manually add the item into the shopping.  so you do have to pay attention.  however, there is a safeguard for this as the machine will ask you to remove the item if you put it down and it had not been added to your shopping.

i read that shops lose a lot of money from theft since they introduced the self service tills but the machines are getting better at security so it is harder to steal using the self service machines.

I do like the scan as you shop, I don't have an issue with those, just the ones where you weigh your bags and all your shopping. 
The scan as you shop do have regular checks, whenever I get one I always panic that I've not scanned something.

i have never used scan while you shop and wonder how they make sure people don't steal as you don't put the items on the till so they can't weigh it.

We used it once, after we'd paid a member of staff rumaged through our bags randomly checking individual items against the receipt. Add that to the time it took to scan them in the first place and it actually resulted in a slower than normal shop.

Oddly enough we decided not to bother after that.

i wouldn't like people going through my bags every time i shop as it would make me feel like i was being searched.  would not make for a pleasant shopping experience.  the whole point for me with these self service payout is the lack of human contact so this would totally defeat the whole purpose.

Barny1979

Yeah, not sure they can do that as there is no proof you've tried to not pay for something, as you haven't left the store as yet.