20 Minutes reports on frequent bag searches in Aldi and Lidl shops. Have you seen this in real life? Feels pretty outrageous.
In Coop, I often use the self checkout counters and I have been subjected to a “random spot check” (where they scan random items from your basket for having been scanned) three times in the last 6 weeks or so. Very annoying.
I’ve seen the cashiers ask to look in (empty) shopping bags that customers have brought to put their shopping in occasionally in the Aldi near us to check that they are indeed empty but never seen them actually search bags.
I only shop in Migros, sometimes in Coop, so I never experienced this. But I noticed that security measures have increased recently. We have two self check-out counters for customers who only buy food from the snacks/fresh meals department near the entrance. I’ve noticed that during the lunchtime there are two security persons watching closely. They have to make sure that customers scan and pay for their goods.
If shoplifters are rife, then what can we expect? Doing nothing would mean the consumer would have to pay more to finance losses, or the consumer looses choice as a store closes.
It’s a sad reflection of our times…
I find it hilarious that the shops installed these self checkout counters - obviously to save cost - and now have to man them with security or other personnel checking the customers. And if someone wanted to take a look in my pockets or backpack, I would tell them to go f themselves.
Sounds hilarious indeed albeit my introvert self appreciates self-checkout counters =)
Yes, it’s funny indeed. I wonder why do they allow anonymous self check-out? Scanning with handheld scanners is only allowed after you scan your customer card. If you have to scan your customer card before you start scanning your products at self check-out there would be much less people, who scan items and then leave without paying.
BTW, I saw that in the French part at least some Migros branches have gates which open only after you scan the receipt (like in Ikea). I had to ask Migros employee how to leave if I didn’t get a receipt because of the settings in my Cumulus account. It appears, that in this case you can scan your Cumulus card instead.
The Migros in Neuchâtel town centre has that system now, the only place I’d seen it before was in a Lidl in canton Bern.
I guess it works to a certain extent as you have to have scanned some items in order to get out but it won’t stop hardcore shoplifters who will just scan a few cheaper items and ‘forget’ to scan the more expensive stuff. They’ll be able to get out by scanning their till receipt and unless anyone was watching them doing their scanning nobody will know that they’ve stolen items.
Many years ago in Lausanne I was asked by a security guard at COOP to check my rucksack and I refused. Unless he had cause or evidence that I had shoplifted, he wasn’t making me look like a petty criminal in front of other shoppers.
I politely explained to him I would be happy for a police officer to check my bags, that way he’s responsible for wasting their time. He then just waved me off.
Stand up to this nonsense!
Migros and other supermarkets allow anonymous self-checkout but require a store card to access handheld scanners for several practical reasons. With handheld scanners, which are portable devices, it’s relatively easy for someone to walk out of the store with one, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
Requiring a store card acts as a safeguard, making it easier to track and discourage misuse or theft. On the other hand, self-checkout terminals are stationary, and I doubt anyone has ever removed them from the store, especially the Migros ones that don’t even accept cash.
Also not everyone wants or has a store card (or wants to carry an extra card), and requiring one would alienate a significant portion of shoppers. This would especially be an issue for tourists, who make up a noticeable percentage of customers in Switzerland. Additionally, forcing all customers to use a store card for self-checkout would likely lead to longer lines at the manned checkouts, frustrating those who are in a hurry.
I always avoid the Migros self-checkouts at airports like Zurich or Geneva. As you’ve noticed, foreign tourists often find these systems confusing enough (languages) without having to worry about store card requirements!
One interesting thing is that at French Migros hypermarkets (France voisine) in places like Étrembières or Thoiry, you need to register your Swiss Cumulus card one more time at the customer service desk (accueil) before you can use a handheld scanner (just another small quirk of cross-border shopping). However, your Cumulus card still works at the manned checkouts to collect points without the need to re-register.
The Coop at signy no longer allows self scanning for chariots at the machines. If you have a chariot they want you to have used the hand-held scanner. A basket is still OK.
The big coop at Maladière has that policy but seemingly only at busy times.
I can’t imagine why anyone would want to scan a trolley full of stuff at those things anyway, much easier to use a hand held self scanning machine or go to a checkout in my opinion.
Damn Romans spoiling it for everyone else!
Ooooohh, I’ve lived out of the UK for so long that I’ve forgotten the word for Trolley!!!
I was stopped when leaving a supermarket, when an alarm went off, I had spent €350 euros for 1 trolly load of food with no Alchol with a cashier doing the checkout. The security guard grabbed my receipt & started rummaging in the trolly. I told him to stop & he should either let me leave or refund the entire trolly load. He let me leave, I made an online complaint & they never came back to me.
At least in Migros Wiedikon, the Self checkout doesn’t require any form of authentication.
You can pay via Apple Pay, which doesn’t disclose your identity to the merchant.
Of course, it’s only meant for small purchases, as there’s almost no space to put stuff.
An article here.
That’s the French version of the article in German in the original post.
Nope I haven’t but I hardly ever shop at Lidl and never at Aldi. The Swiss will not easily accept that, it invades one’s privacy. In Switzerland it can also be refused, there needs to be a specific suspicion and it should be done by a security person, in fact by the police. It’s no wonder that it is the German super markets which apply this, they still have to learn.
Coop scan-checking randomly I guess I could accept. This self check-outs have become a great place to nick things apparently, I know Migros personnel keeps a close eye on teen-agers checking out.
The reason I could accept Coop’s system is that they only seem to go through the bag of goods that belonged to them 5 minutes earlier, so it’s no private thing.
Since covid19 surfaced, I have been greatly in favour of self-checkouts. I don’t know if anyone read the article here, but at the very beginning of the pandemic, there was a case, the centre of which was some chairs in a church. The research at the time suggested COVID had spread via touch, that it was not really airborne at all.
So I am more than happy not to have some checkout person handle the goods I have purchased; I am sure COVID isn’t the only nasty bug that people literally pass to each other as we all touch the same surfaces. And yes I was also very careful about the checkout screen, which iI have never seen anybody wipe.