Why do companies think it is a good idea to treat their customers like criminals like Walmart does when they check your receipt before letting you leave?

Here’s a view from Australia.

In Australia, the big, friendly supermarkets have a code of practice. If your handbag, purse, or carry bag is the same size as a regular piece of paper, they won’t search it, they won’t ask for it to be searched, won’t pry into it, unless they can 100% prove with eyewitness or camera loss prevention surveillance, that you absolutely stole something.

They are kind of nice places to shop and the prices are about 11–14% higher than ALDI.

Then, there’s ALDI.

ALDI doesn’t care. Aldi managers are told they must hit their numbers by any means necessary. The stores are really crude, basically just pallets and cartons with a limited range of products that aren’t bad, just middling . The main way they achieve this is by running the store by a spreadsheet.

The store MUST achieve a certain amount of scans per hour (items per hour)
Losses (theft) MUST always be within a stated percentage, no exceptions.

So what happens with ALDI from a Loss Prevention point of view?
When the store hits its loss limit, it’s Supermarket Penitentiary. Every bag at every checkout is searched. If you are 75+ and carry a handbag, tough, they will check EVERY pocket with a torch. It doesn’t matter if there’s something sensitive there, like an incontinence pad - inspect, inspect, inspect.

I’ve seen the elderly, 80+, buying a pack of eggs, and the poor woman is just struggling to stand, and they went through every pocket of her tiny purse, lest she might have stolen a teabag? The grandmother on the right, would positively be searched at ALDI.

So, what does ALDI have to say about this policy?

These big companies - they just laugh at you. They don’t care. They know that as long as they are 11–14% cheaper, people will put up with this.

The only way to change how they behave is to change how you behave, but you won’t, so they’ll continue to behave insensitively, because they know enough customers will walk over hot coals to save 14%, to hell how they treat people.

From spreadsheet to spreadsheet, you’re just a number, not a customer.