Sainsbury's shoppers fume at 'ridiculous' security measures for yellow sticker items

Shoppers took to social media to share that yellow sticker items were scanning at full price on self-service tills at Sainsbury's stores, and to get the discount, they had to call over a Sainsbury's staff member to approve it

Sainsbury’s customers have been left fuming over "utterly ridiculous" security measures being introduced into supermarket stores.

Shoppers took to social media to share that yellow sticker items were scanning at full price on self-service tills at Sainsbury's stores, and to get the discount, they had to call over a Sainsbury's staff member to approve it. One customer - who described themselves as a "reduced stock shopper" posted to Reddit saying: "The last three times I've been to a Sainsbury, the reduced barcode doesn't scan and an employee has to come and help me - is this a national thing and if so, what's happening?"

Other shoppers responded by sharing that they had experienced the same thing in their local supermarket store. One said: "Happened to me several times recently too, utterly ridiculous. I am now avoiding Sainsbury's, it is going down the plughole." A second added: "It’s a massive headache and I hate it."

Another shopper shared on Mumsnet: "I picked up some reduced smoked salmon in Sainsbo's today, but at the self-checkout, it came up as full price. An assistant altered it and told me they have to do it manually as people are able to make their own yellow sticker barcodes and are using them on self-checkouts. Unbelievable!" A second person commented: "Yes, yellow reduced stickers don’t work in Sainsbury's anymore, which is really annoying when you self-checkout."

Sainsbury's has confirmed to the Grocer Magazine that they have been rolling out these new anti-fraud measures to its self-service tills in response to a surge in the use of fake coupons across its stores. Earlier this year, a viral Tiktok "hack" - dubbed "The Sainsbury’s method" - allowed people to share screenshots of genuine Sainsbury’s discounts on full-price products.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson told the Grocer: "We have range of security measure in place in our stores, including processes to prevent fraud. We continue to accept genuine coupons, vouchers and reductions and are sorry for the inconvenience this slightly longer checkout process may cause."

The new security measures for the self-service tills specifically target yellow sticker items and coupons. According to the Grocer, when you scan the item now, shoppers are presented with an error message and need to wait for a Sainsbury's worker to manually process the discount. They are unable to proceed with the rest of their shop until the item has been approved, and the process has to be repeated for each item.

Customers noted that the biggest issue with this security measure was that the number of manned tills at Sainsbury's stores had reduced so there was "no other option" but to do self service. One shopper added: "The self service till area at my 'big' Sainsbury's is hideously cramped, and there is never a 'normal' till open anymore. I get that there is theft and it affects the bottom line, but inconveniencing the 99% of honest shopper's for the actions of the few is the wrong way to go about it."

Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts has previously claimed that self service tills have made stores “more efficient” by freeing up colleagues to focus on other areas of the store, like replenishment or shop floor service. The Mirror has approached Sainsbury's for comment.