Customer unfriendly
There is a practice among certain department stores and supermarkets that is very customer unfriendly. It is the practice by security guards manning the exits to demand purchase receipts from customers so that they can sign or scribble something on them. The practice is not a security check because the guards do not bother to see if the purchased items match what appears on the receipts.
What the guards are actually doing is invalidating the receipts so that they cannot be used again. One smart way for thieves to help themselves to merchandise is to smuggle in empty shopping bags, fill them up with goods, find a way to get past the cashiers, and then make their exits using old purchase receipts to cover for the stolen items. Any receipt with any marking on it is deemed already used and therefore invalid.
Now, it is of course the duty of management to minimize losses from theft and any store's clientele fully understands that security measures need to be instituted to thwart thievery. But surely such measures must not come at the clientele's expense, especially if they insult and offend the sensibilities of customers.
And that is precisely what happens when guards demand to see the purchase receipts from each customer and then invalidate them with markings from a ballpen. It implies that every customer is a potential thief who might likely use his purchase receipt again if left unmarked. The management and its security personnel may not think of it that way but that is the end result of it.
The customer cannot help but feel he is being suspected of some future wrongdoing. And that does not make for healthy customer relations. Customers are the lifeblood of stores. They bring business to the company. Yet, instead of being made to feel welcome, or even treated like royalty, the stores that engage in this very bad practice make their customers feel like they are criminals.
Again, stores need to thwart thievery. They cannot afford continuing losses to thieves. But they cannot have it for free. Worse, they cannot let their own customers pay for it with their dignity. If you cannot trust your customers then do not go into business. In business, or at least those businesses that are run professionally, the customer is always king. He is never to be regarded as a suspect.
One thing conscientious businesses can do if infested by rampant thievery is to invest in security. And by security is meant not only guards at entrances and exits. There must be roving house detectives. The more house detectives a company can afford to hire, the better its chances of securing its premises and all the goods therein.
I do not know which government authority monitors the security practices of stores but this particular practice needs to be stopped. I think it is a violation of the rights of a customer to be treated like a suspect. The practice imposes on the customer the burden of proof that he is not going to commit the crime of shoplifting sometime in the future that the store impliedly suspects he might do.
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