Possible checkout fraud at Sainsburies DKH

[ibilly99]

Not too bothered but went shopping at Sainsburies DKH last night and when we got back my eagle eyed missus checked off the bill for what reason I don't know and she spied an item we didn't want or get - Pot Hoops for the princely sum of 65p which was the last item on the bill. This got me thinking is this a potential route for checkout staff to make a little extra on the side - add a small item to customers bills as they probably won't notice and if they do put it down to a previous customer's item on the belt. More curious than angry and don't want to dobb the checkout asst to the company just wondered whether other folk had experienced anything similiar at Sainsburies or any other supermarket for that matter.

Just figured out how this would work you put a low value item on anumber of customer's bills and at the end of your shift you can take out the combined value of what you have over charged - quite clever if that is what is happening.

[benmorg]

ibilly99 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Just figured out how this would work you put a low

> value item on anumber of customer's bills and at

> the end of your shift you can take out the

> combined value of what you have over charged -

> quite clever if that is what is happening.

The till would be short if the item was scanned and paid for, so the checkout assistant would get caught.

If there's a mistake on your receipt, you can take it in for a refund.

[ibilly99]

You're quite right benmorg - if fraud more likely to be that they take the item to eat themselves as a 'perk'.

[Bellenden Belle]

Seriously....mistakes happen, and just as you suggest, it could well be that an item from the next person's shopping slipped in.

To suggest that someone working on a checkout is going to be adding 'Pot Hoops' to your bill and smuggling them out at the end of the day is quite extraordinary. And such suspicion perhaps reflects more on yourself than any poor shop assistant that you are so graciously refraining from "dobbing" in.

[ibilly99]

You're quite right bb - I will get off my high horse - what has my suspicions though was it used to go on a lot at the old Somerfields when advertised discounts didn't appear on the bill and they would quickly add them on if queried.

Though I don't have a problem per se if the checkout opertaor were having a few perks as it must be the dullest job ever at minimum wage and I would imagine some less than honest and inventive minds will find ways to game the system rather than being extraordinary. What staggers me more is why my wife bothered to go through the receipt with such thoroughness.

[katie1997]

Blimey when do you think the staff at the tills will have time to sneak off to eat their 'iill-gotten' gains such as a whopping great 'treat' as a carefully mastermnded plot, a 65p pack of potato hoops. You probably bought them by mistake anyway, check your grocery bags.

And I have to say ibilly, this makes the Papa John's trailer (fresh ingredients, better slice etc) whingers look tame!

Oh and shop local and independent next time ;)

[Jennys]

Like your wife, illybilly, I always check my receipts before leaving Sainsburys. There are often mistakes (sometimes mine if I have picked up the wrong items which make up a special offer, sometimes the checkout person's mistake). This way I have often saved several pounds - but even if it is only a small amount of money I always go to customer services, who refund me cheerfully.

[ibilly99]

katie1996 - I wasn't whingeing just observing - now light has been shed by some I am a wiser man - BTW my wife works in central London and she and her co-workers shop in a local Somerfields and this has happened a lot to them on a regular basis - hence her Sainsburies checking bill routine. She and her colleagues are convinced that this is a checkout perk /scam being done to them. I pass no judegment myself - don't shoot the messenger.

[katie1997]

Have you considered that your wife may be a secret potato-hoops addict and in an elaborate, machiavellian manner is trying to conceal it from you?

You have to wonder.

[iceicebaby]

I've heard of someone who apparently used to make discounts for customers he liked. 20p for a leg of lamb etc. Wasn't at the DKH Sainsbury's though. Before you ask, I didn't recieve any fraudulent goods nor do I know his name!

[benmorg]

ibilly99 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> katie1996 - I wasn't whingeing just observing -

> now light has been shed by some I am a wiser man -

> BTW my wife works in central London and she and

> her co-workers shop in a local Somerfields and

> this has happened a lot to them on a regular basis

> - hence her Sainsburies checking bill routine. She

> and her colleagues are convinced that this is a

> checkout perk /scam being done to them. I pass no

> judegment myself - don't shoot the messenger.

It doesn't make sense as a scam, and if staff wanted to steal potato hoops they would just take them and wouldn't go to the trouble of secretly scanning them with people's shopping. All paranoia and no substance, I'm afaid to say.

[ibilly99]

Discounts to mates were a regular occurence when I was a student at the student bar.And Katie my wife wouldn't be seen dead with em... they're Heinz btw

[binary_star]

If the checkout operator wanted to steal potato hoops why on earth would they run them through the till? Surely this would make it harder to steal as they would have to explain to customers why they've paid for items that aren't in their shopping...? Stealing at the checkout would be a lot easier if you DIDN'T run the items through the checkout and either gave them to your customer mate or stashed them for yourself. It makes no sense.

[katie1997]

ibilly99 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> And Katie my wife

> wouldn't be seen dead with em... they're Heinz btw

So she says. It's all part of the plot, stage one. Have you checked your recycling bin(s) lately. Or does she insist on taking the rubbish out lately?. That's stage two.

PS I think you should change the thread title for the sake of accuracy 'Highly improbable check-out fraud at sainsbos DKH etc' :))

[pommie]

it was probably a mistake as a lot of times the shopping from the customer afterwards does sometimes slip onto the shopping at the front so the cashier just scans it presuming its yours. I doubt very much that the cashier was trying some sort of scam, more like a geniune mistake.

[ibilly99]

All these great minds are wiser than me bs you're right it wouldn't make sense putting them through the till as it's not a total stock balance against the tills - the checkout operator would be in possession of unreceipted goods as others have sais most likely to be a mistake which I now humbly accept unless some greater sleuth can come up with a convincing theory.

[maxxi]

ibilly99 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Discounts to mates were a regular occurence when I

> was a student

On student discounts - I remember a girl on the meat counter at Liptons who - after a smile and a flirt - used to sort out the leanest morsels whenever I bought a half a pound of bacon bits. That's living.

[ibilly99]

-- moved topic --

[HAL9000]

...unless some greater sleuth can come up with a convincing theory.

Suppose a supermarket chain programmed it's checkout system to add a random low-cost item to every nth customer's bill across the entire country. The system would not overcharge the same customer again for a specified interval and exclude those who complain.

If N number of customers were overcharged by, on average, X pence during every period of D days then the scam could rake in an annual revenue of:

(N * X) * (365 / D) = Annual Revenue

Substituting numbers gives the following figures:

(250,000 * 0.50) * (365/30) = ?1,520,833.33

(100,000 * 0.65) * (365/10) = ?2,372,500.00

(5,000,000 * 0.65) * (365/90) = ?13,180,555.56

This is entirely hypothetical - I am NOT suggesting that anyone is actually doing this.

[ibilly99]

Wow HAL9000 what a wheeze - we may have stumbled upon a dark secret behind the UK's supermarkets massive profitablity.

http://cltampa.com/binary/a815/1318957162-halblog.jpg

[intexasatthe moment]

I've sometimes put an article in the wrong trolley as I'm going round in a daze .

Sometimes I even realise my mistake and retrieve it .

[computedshorty]

I wonder how many people have used a tin of peas then cut the Bar code from the lable and used with the aid of two sided adhesive tape to cover the Barcode when purchasing a Television, not a bad purchase for 21 pence, of course the Pea Bar code had long been swolled on leaving, any mistake must have been a fault with the Till.

The purchaser had put all the items on the conveyor.

This message was read and any item relating to security have been removed by editing.

HMPS Wormwood Scrubs.

[Townleygreen]

Wow, that's quite a thought, now HAL9000

[HAL9000]

After a little more thought on the practicalities of a checkout scam, it is apparent that a better version could be perpetrated simply by adding X pence to the price of an item actually purchased.

This version of the scam would probably be much harder to detect, as there's no missing rogue item. It would be easier to explain away as a pricing mistake or barcode error, too.

The tills could be programmed to overcharge only bills that exceed a certain amount, say, ?30-?50 - to catch only 'big' shoppers.

Who remembers the exact price of every item purchased during a weekly or monthly 'big' shop? I don't.

Again ? just the idle, hypothetical musings of a glorified checkout computer :)

[binary_star]

HAL9000 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Who remembers the exact price of every item

> purchased during a weekly or monthly 'big' shop? I

> don't.

So you've never had the privilege of working a checkout then! One of my student jobs sadly, and I can tell you that you might not check every item, but plenty of people do.