Why are people so uppity when it comes to putting their bags behind the counter?

[Jacen]

When I was a kid (around 10/11) and I went into Harvey Norman to look around (usual kid stuff :P), I actually always asked one of the employees if I could leave my bag up the front. The store obviously had no problem with this, because it means that they knew I wasn't stealing anything. This should be policy in any store that has something of high value (jewlery, computers, whatever).

[Kyree]

<snip> Shoplifters also look just like you and me. They're not always easy to spot. The stores are not doing this to be mean to you, they're doing it so that they can reduce their losses, continue to operate, and pay their employees. You may be the nicest, most honest person in the world, but the guy who came in before you could have been a thieving scumbag.<snip>

I couldn't have said it better myself, hehe.

For those who get mad because the stores "think they are a thief from the moment they walk in"...well...yeah. In today's society, do you honestly blame them? Look at the two threads we have going on shop lifters on the first page of Sucky Customers...

hiring more LP isn't going to help much. People with huge shopping bags walking around the store...it's just too easy to slip something into one.

[GingerBiscuit]

We have a shop with two floors and not nearly enough staff to cover it. It is, therefore, company policy to ask large bags to be left upstairs with us to reduce theft. We don't assume you're a shoplifter, we just can't assume you're NOT, either.

I don't like having to ask you to do it, and most of our customers don't mind...

[PepperElf]

the best solution, in my opinion, is the locker solution.

they do that at the local mall here - Daiei. Most stores don't have a no-bag policy (they always tape the bags shut anyway when you buy stuff), but it is there if you don't feel like lugging your stuff around all the time.

[Snowbird]

I agree with PepperElf, lockers that lock need to be provided if bags are not allowed in the store. If customers can't be trusted not to steal, neither can employees, particularly if there isn't a guarantee that they will be able to watch the bags at an LP level. Anyone looking like an employee could casually walk behind the counter, as has been noted in other posts as well.

There's also the fact that if someone is going to steal, they'll find any way to do it, including shoving the items in their pants, shirts, coats, etc. If a store were to continue carrying that policy down the line and require clothing to be turned in too.... well, that's a scary thought.

[marasbaras]

Stores are perfectly happy to have our bags behind the counter for free .. with nobody watching them. I seriously doubt that they'll be willing to provide lockers.

Maybe a smart one will. That's where I'll shop.

[Darkforge]

I understand why some stores have these policies but unfortunately I need to keep my bag on me at all times because I have my medication in it. (I always carry two Epi-pens and an inhaler) and need these to be on me at all times.

When I explain this most employees let me through but some still insist. If they insist then I get the pad of paper out of my bag, write a description of my baga nd a list of whats in it and ask them to sign to confirm and that when I leave they can check that there is nothing extra in my bag.

If they don't agree with that then I'm not shopping there, I'm sorry, but I'm not risking my life for your store policy.

[marasbaras]

Heck, I'm not risking my possessions for your store policy. Darkforge's reason is far, far better.

[Boldido]

Okay. Those of you who feel persecuted by the bag check please look at it this way. Somebody at some point in time used an innocent-looking bag (purse/shoulder bag/backpack) to steal from the retailers that instituted this policy.

This isn't a question of persecution, but rather choice. If your store has a policy that requires customers to leave their bags at the front and people choose to leave rather than abide by the policy, that doesn't make them a sucky customer, it just makes them someone who chooses how they are to be treated by others.

The stores with this policy have decided to believe a certain mathematical formula:

Lost revenue due to bag policy < Money saved from reduced shrinkage due to customer theft resulting from no bag policy

Its a business decision, pure and simple, just like a customer choosing to go elsewhere is a business decision.

Now if the customer gives some non-policy setting clerk grief over such a policy, then they rise to the level of SC.

I am among those who do not abide by such policies. The only time I ever said anything was to a manager at a movie theater sometime after 9/11. I was shopping at a mall around Christmas and had two small bags. I was told that due to terrorism I would not be able to bring in any bags. I was polite to the clerk and acknowledged that they were just doing what they were told, but that I would like to speak with a manager about the new policy. She was very polite and agreed that a no bags policy for a movie theater at a SHOPPING MALL was stupid and proceeded to berate the policy and those who implemented it more than I had intended to do myself. She told me to take the bags in and not to worry about it. I understand the policy was discontinued a short time later. The big problem for this theater, however, is that the policy encouraged me to go to another theater to avoid the hassle and I have continued to do so out of habit ever since.

[Gurndigarn]

Lost revenue due to bag policy < Money saved from reduced shrinkage due to customer theft resulting from no bag policy

Its a business decision, pure and simple, just like a customer choosing to go elsewhere is a business decision.

And unless either the store has a huge markup or the store deals in high-volume transactions, it makes perfect sense.

I always got the opposite problem. My company refused to let people leave bags behind the counter, because we couldn't watch them properly (arcade setting, usually one person working... it's a customer-service intensive position, and we weren't risking expensive walkmans walking off on their own after we agreed to watch them. We'll, we're probably up to real expensive phones and ipods now, but the philosophy is the same.)

[IHateStupidCustomers]

I personally wouldn't leave my bag behind a store counter....but, if a store had that policy, I just wouldn't take my bag in, or go back out and leave it in the car or something. I wouldn't bitch or complain to the employees about it, that's for sure.

The college bookstores around here all have that rule, and I don't bring my bags in. One college set up lockers you can put your stuff in, for 25 cents, and then you got your quarter back when you got your stuff out. Not a bad idea.

[Boozy]

For those who get mad because the stores "think they are a thief from the moment they walk in"...well...yeah. In today's society, do you honestly blame them?

I do. I guess I just find it rude.

I suspect there are lots of stores doing this in the US, but its still rare for my part of Canada. So please understand what I'm saying in that context:

I find there is a direct correlation between stores that require you to leave your bags at the front and poor customer service in general. Its an attitude of "Its cheaper and easier for us to inconvenience and/or insult the customer than it is to hire more staff/install security cameras, so that's what we're going to do."

This attitude manifests itself all over these stores; long lines at the till, stock all over the place, damaged product still sitting on shelves. They let the customer deal with that instead of hiring more people (especially if by doing so they need to pay better wages.)

And despite the lines of bullshit they feed us, it does not appear that these stores "pass the savings along to the customer."

[TryNotToBeThatOne]

There's only one store that has a 'leave your bag in a cubbyhole' policy, that I shop at, anyway. And frankly, I have only twice seen bags in those. In the store's case, it's more a problem of tight spacing than theft prevention. Their aisles, beyond the primary one, are narrow. Although I think that the owner has had a problem with theft in the past, once he got a good group of regular customers the policy was allowed to um, not lapse exactly, but it's not heavily enforced.

Next time I'm in there, I'll ask about it.

[Yfandes]

But isnt the store taking on a rather large liability by requiring that customers put bags "under their protection"? I'm actually thinking of a scenario where a customer puts in a lousy empty bag, and claims a much nicer full bag? Seems to me that lockers are the only way to 1) keep bags out of the shop or museum and 2) avoid taking responsibility for the bag.

The only places I remember having a bag check are museums, and Im fine with the lockers.

[LifeCarnie]

i completely understand, he works in a pawn shop who know what kind of prettys are in there, and people are willing to steal, if i want to shop im more than happy to give up my bag if need be, hell some times it nice not to have to watch it all the time

There are only a few places I've been that have asked me to leave my bag. I don't see the big deal about leaving the bag.

You may not be a thief, but that doesn't mean the other 10 people in the store, who are also carrying bags, aren't thieves.

The only other way to monitor who is and who isn't on the level is to monitor each person who is carrying a bag individually.

Which means more staff, which means more of an expense for the store, which means higher prices for the patrons of the store.

The only places I remember having a bag check are museums, and Im fine with the lockers.

My girlfriend and I have frequented a few "adult novelty" (porn) shops. Most of them have a bag check system. You give them your bag, they give you a numbered ticket and than pin a ticket with the same number to your bag.

When I travel to Boston for the day, I tend to bring a backpack with me. In case I buy something, I can just throw it in the backpack and forget about it.

It can be a pain if the previous store didn't de-activate the security strip and I walk into another store and set their alarm off. The staff is usually cool about that when it happens.

Also, I'd rather have someone hold my bag instead of having Captain Obvious, the store LP officer, following me around pretending to shop.