ANYONE who has shopped at one of this country’s major retail outlets will have suffered the indignity of being stopped at the exit and forced to present their bags.
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Some security guards merely tick off on the receipt, while the more officious – even power-hungry – are prone to having a good fossick around in search of stolen goods.
Although most people accept this as the cost of doing business with these stores, it is not the most comfortable of experiences – even for those who have nothing to hide.
Retail giant Kmart has come under fire this week over “aggressive” and “discriminatory” bag-checking policies at its Bendigo store.
One particularly affronted customer, Tom Farrell, got in touch recently to express his dismay at the store’s security processes.
He claimed the Bendigo outlet was far more draconian in its approach than any other Kmart he had shopped at around the state.
Mr Farrell is far from alone.
Of the 1600 respondents to a poll on The Addy’s website, 51 per cent of people agreed that the Bendigo store’s approach was too strict, while 39 per cent considered it justified.
The sad reality is, though, that all retailers must protect themselves from a minority of sticky-fingered thieves – and, as always, it is the majority who do the right thing that get punished.
Shoplifting is rife in Bendigo and retailers – both large and small – simply cannot allow their already paper-thin profits to simply walk out the door.
Even supermarket behemoth Coles, for so long content with its porous self-service checkouts as long as the losses from theft were offset by the reduction in staff, has now had enough.
It is set to trial a 12-item limit at the self-service checkouts of select stores.
Shopkeepers install CCTV cameras, theft detection devices and even security guards, in some instances, to stop the flow of unpaid for goods from their stores.
All this costs money – considerable money – and either must be worn by the business, or passed onto consumers in the form of price rises. So not only do the law-abiding among us have to endure the invasive bag checks, but also have to pay more for the goods we properly purchase.
Now that is something worth getting angry about.
- Ross Tyson, deputy editor
