Target targets the big bags!
I was out shopping in Highpoint Target with my partner and her lady friend this afternoon. The unusually wet weather drove Melburnians indoors, so it was a good excuse for everyone to shop.
I was looking for a television stand to match my brand new LCD tele at home, but decided to keep shopping around. Empty-handed, we headed towards the exit.
A Target staff at the exit stopped us, and asked me - and only me - to open the contents of my duffle bag. Surely I don’t look like a shoplifter?
My partner and her friend both had a lady bag each, but the Target staff did not ask them to open their bags.
Annoyed, I quipped.
“So people with big bags are the bad guys? We’re the robbers, rapists and murderers?”
The Target staff, clearly shocked at my comment, claimed that my bag was big. A big bag could hold stolen stuff.
I couldn’t believe my ears. A small lady’s bag could easily hold stolen items as well. God knows what my partner and her friend could have walked out with for free. But I didn’t want to kick up a commotion, it being a lazy mid-week shopping crowd. So I left.
Store policies are store policies, yes. I don’t mind getting my bag checked. Fair enough shoplifting is rampant. But to check the shopper ‘coz the bag ‘is big’ just doesn’t add up.
The Target staff targetting (pardon the pun) folks with big bags. Next time I’ll walk into Target, or any shop for that matter, with a small bag. I’ll shoplift a couple of small items. And walk out with the safe knowledge that only people with big bags will be stopped.
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It’s such a stupid policy and is very prevalent in the US. In the US, according to Digg, you don’t have to show the contents of your bag. I’m pretty sure its the same here. The key is not to make eye contact and just walk out. Also, even when presenting the bag, they never look at it with any detail. Surely, if you know that they are checking bags, then you would put stolen item in pocket or shirt.
Everytime I’m in Kmart/Target I hear announcements like "Security to Section B". Whats going on there?
Yeah it’s very easy to shoplift. But it’s got nothing to make eye contact. Try as I might, everytime I fucking look at other things or pretend to be engaged in conversation, they call me. Coz I either have a big bag or I look like a gay Asian killer or something.
And yes they never look in detail at the contents. It’s just company policy. They’re really just going through the motions.
They next time someone asks me to open my bag, I’m gona fucking take every content out and lay it out infront of them. It’ll be nicely laid out on the floor in a horizontal fashion.
That’ll teach them.
lmao , adrock2xander. That comment had me in splits. I dunno if i actually go down on the floor laughing at the look on their faces if u actually ever get to do that and I can witness it. Anyway, yea it happens to me too. I usually co-operate but it happened once to my gf and she hated it. Kept talking to me *loudly* that it was ridiculous and would never happen in HK and that she wasnt EVER coming back to the store again.
lmao , adrock2xander. That comment had me in splits. I dunno if i actually go down on the floor laughing at the look on their faces if u actually ever get to do that and I can witness it. Anyway, yea it happens to me too. I usually co-operate but it happened once to my gf and she hated it. Kept talking to me *loudly* that it was ridiculous and would never happen in HK and that she wasnt EVER coming back to the store again
You can’t steal anything anyway, they have security scanners that will pick up the barcodes. In addition, there are cameras to monitor the customers. The whole bag checking thing is just an additional (probably unnecessary) precaution.
hey.. interesting post. I always thought they check preferably the bigger bags because the opening of the bag is… well.. just bigger and it’s easy to let stuff slide in. No?
not at all, anything can be shoplifted. actually i dnt think its the barcodes that are read, but those black plastic thingies that u see them remove when u pay. try to take them off urself, its very hard. but if u do so the scanners go blind. RFID tags are much more effective at this (very small so hard to find) plus store can keep a close eye on the merchandise. but these r expensive
I concur. I think the environment we live in today breeds fear. The cameras in every aisle of a grocery or supermarket and the ‘Big Brother’ mentality that every government/large organisation tries to enforce on their citizens or clients. So much so that everyone is afraid of not paying when the products, when past their use-by date, are discarded in bulk at the back. We’re really just paying for prices pre-determined by some rich, fat people who roll in the cash monthly while the common minions like you and I pay top dollar for everyday products.
So let’s all shoplift. We’re all so afraid of being caught, when the threat of actually getting caught is marginally slim.
I avoid going to K-mart, Target, Big-w etc for this reason. I hate feeling like a criminal every time I leave the store. Worse still in Kmart every time you go in they’re always shouting on the loudspeaker "SECURITYYY! ACTIVATE SECURITY CAMERA 9 IMMEDIATELY!!!!!" Such a welcoming feeling.
I happily open my bags for the staff at stores. Legally I don’t have to, but then again they don’t have to let me into their store either.
If you choose to shop at Target, and you like the low prices they offer you, it’s just common courtesy that you cooperate with their security measures which help them discourage theft and keep prices low.
I happily open my bags for the staff at stores. Legally I don’t have to, but then again they don’t have to let me into their store either.
If you choose to shop at Target, and you like the low prices they offer you, it’s just common courtesy that you cooperate with their security measures which help them discourage theft and keep prices low.
That’s a incredibly tame way to ensure their products are paid for.