I think I’d just leave though the fire exit.
New gates at the entrance automatically swing open when customers walk in, but they’re set to trigger an alarm if someone attempts to back out.
This sounds like a great way to troll them. There’s nothing illegal or even just wrong about deciding to turn around when entering a store, so alarm away! What do I care, I have time.
This is standard practice in europe
One more lie from reddit, for karma. Pathetic.
never in my life living in EU countries have I witnessed such bullshit
The only remarkable thing about this coming from the perspective of Sweden would be if there is no ungated exit, for example at the manned checkout. Having one-way gates at the entrance has been standard practice for as long as I’ve been alive, and basically ever since self-checkout became a thing, they have been receipt-gated.
You’ve always been able to exit by the manned checkout though as for obvious reasons you can’t imprison people who visit your store
Yeah I saw that… The fuck it is not.
Jeeze people trying to argue that Europe is different from america I get but not pretending you get locked in grocery stores to do so.I have seen scan gates after self checkout counters before. In Albert Heiijn shops in Amsterdam and in Lidl Shops in Zürich.
But Coop and Migros Shops don’t have them in Switzerland. I think the 7/11 in Copenhagen also didn’t but I’m not sure of my memory.
We have a scangate at my local edeka. But you could still just walk by the normal checkouts if you don’t have anything
“You didn’t have what I wanted at a price-point I found acceptable, but that’s all right - I came prepared with full camping gear and my own sleeping bag. Don’t worry about it - you’ll hardly notice me sticking around, possibly for ever.”
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Yeah never purchase and you can never leave. Just beg for food from those that want to leave desperately enough. They get their receipt and you get their items.
And you repay the establishment for the inconvenience of your unlawful imprisonment by advertising their special services to all the other visiting patrons. That seems fair.
I mean, I do have to wonder how many people with physical or mental disabilities are effectively just going to be trapped in here.
Also get the sense that they’ll have more and more and more and more and more security in and around the building as younger people start passing around exploits in the security setup.
Well, I mean, even if the thing has access to a shared PoS DB using properly randomized, sufficiently long and non-sequential transaction tokens, it’s still deliciously susceptible to simple malicious compliance: Find the cheapest single item carried by the store, fill up an entire basket with them sumbitches, line up each item separated by a divider and insist on a receipt for each separate transaction to “prepare for any future need to check if the store carries anything i actually want while maintaining strict compliance with store policies”. Then, head outside and start distributing whatever it is for free to other prospective customers and use that to strike up a conversation about the recent changes. You never know. People might get ideas.
Which means you’re going to have security guards checking receipts, not unlike at Krogers or Costco.
And I’m sure they’re very aggressive with anyone who looks criminally young or tan.
You’ve got security guards at Kroger?
Just about all we’ve got. Like, three store cops for every one clerk.
Is this not illegal as hell?
Oh for sure this would be unlawful imprisonment and probably break some minor fire codes but who cares about that kind of stuff these days.
There is profit at stake!
This isn’t a minor fire code. but a death trap
And for that very reason, it’s also extremely illegal. If the fire exit is the only way to get out in the event of a fire, and it’s blocked by said fire…
Yeah like the time a book store locked me and my wife inside. I pushed on the door not knowing it was locked and it broke open. Guess due to the emergency exit bar. They got pissed but I told them they illegal locked us in and fuck off.
Looks like a little glassbreak keychain tool would make for a quick and crunchy exit.
Me personally, I’d start kicking and hospital bills means a reason to sue.
While I watched some customers struggle with the new technology, my receipt scanned immediately. The glass doors slid open, and I was free. But if, like this person on the San Francisco subreddit recounted, I hadn’t bought anything, my only means of exit would have been to beg the security guard to let me out.
The security guard
Huh. I’m reminded of Roller Coaster Tycoon, which has scenarios where you have to have a certain number of guests in your park at a specific time; and a valid strategy is to get enough people to come into your park, and then delete the path behind them so that they literally can’t get out.
Are you really playing Roller Coaster Tycoon if you aren’t torturing your guests
Peak American entrpreneurship
I’ve seen the entry gates in stores, where you can’t go out the front very easily. Except, you can force them open with a little bit of pressure. And yes, it sets off an alarm. It isn’t terribly loud, but it will turn heads.
You don’t owe anyone an explanation as to why you’re leaving through the entrance. They also can’t bar you from leaving if you don’t buy anything. I’m willing to bet those exit gates open just as easily. The article cites fire codes, but it’s also false imprisonment to keep people from leaving without probable cause to detain. That’s why a lot of stores’ policy is to let you exit the store even if they know you shoplifted. Because for it to be an actual theft, you must deprive them of their ability to sell it. Just pocketing it isn’t enough — once you step off the property however, you’re guilty of shoplifting. With the gates clearly being inside the store, even if you are holding merchandise you haven’t paid for, they have no legal cause to detain you.
The law is not clear on what your rights are if they are not actively detaining you and you are not able to leave, at least not here. Where you are, it may be different. I do know if you break something trying to leave, you can be charged with vandalism or destruction of property. If they’ve barricaded you in, they have to lift the barricade upon request. The law is fuzzy on how long they have to do it, though. So they can obstruct you from leaving for a time but they can’t detain you. What’s the difference? The law is not clear. It’s not five minutes, it’s not ten minutes, it’s not an hour. But also, if you hop over the thing without damaging it, you’re legally in the clear. And it looks like you can hop over it without much effort.
I’m not a big fan of Safeway. They have nice stores, and I enjoyed their soda (Safeway Select) when I was younger. Now, I don’t drink soda. I do admit they have good products (that they make) and clean stores, for the most part. When I am in Northern California, though, another chain gets my business. I don’t hate Safeway, but they are not my first choice.
We made it so that there was the least friction to people just buying constantly and freely… Well now we need app operated coupons, face scanning entrances and receipt operated exits with merchandise locked behind plexiglass…
Why are customers so reluctant to buy now?!
