Shopping at Primark is set to be quite different as the brand has announced a surprising new security measure to stop theft.
The high street clothing store is known for its cheap prices and the occasional high-end lookalike, however it has experienced a wave of shoplifting recently. The brand is planning to combat the offenders by adding simple blue stickers to bags.
Staff working at the tills at some Primark branches have started to seal the paper carrier bags with blue stickers that say ‘sold’ to stop shoplifters in their tracks.
It’s part of an ongoing trial at Primark, which is being rolled out at shops across the UK and Ireland, where the shop is known as Penny’s. However the brand has not confirmed which shops are taking part.
At the outlets taking part, customers carrying bags without the stickers will be stopped at the door by security guards.
‘Antisocial behaviour and retail crime is rising right across the retail industry and we’re working with other retailers and organisations,’ a Primark spokesperson told Metro.co.uk.
‘We’ll be keeping an eye on this and monitoring the impact these new measures have, listening to feedback from our colleagues and customers.’
How bad is shoplifting in the UK and what is being done about it?
Theft from shops is on the rise according to shocking figures from October 2023 shared by the British Retail Consortium said the industry is losing £1bn a year from theft.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released the same month showed shoplifting had risen by a quarter in the past year.
In response to rising shoplifting cases, Lidl announced last year it had spent £2 on bodycam equipment for staff, becoming the the first supermarket in England to do so.
And in October, John Lewis, the Co-op, M&S, Boots and Primark pledged more than £840,000 to kickstart the Pegasus initiative, which aims to improve how retailers report crimes like shoplifting to the police.
A Primark branch in South East London is trialling the stickers and a worker told The Sun: ‘The thieves would put anything in which didn’t have a tag and wouldn’t set off an alarm.
‘They could blend in with customers because you can only get bags from the checkouts. It was very hard for security guards to spot.’
News about the stickers has not gone down well on social media, as customers shared their concerns about the environment as well as what happens if they bring their own shopping bags from home.
X user @audipokery said: ‘@Primark why are you putting laminated plastic stickers on your paper bags? Is your carbon footprint not big enough? #WhatAWaste.’
Another X user, known only has Mrein (@NreillyN) shared a picture of the new stickers on their shopping bags. ‘@Primark absolutely disgusted with this ridiculous policy of using plastic non recyclable stickers on papers bags that now need to be ripped open. So wasteful and unneeded. Maybe put your tills near the door if you are so worried about security. #landfill#waste.’
Meanwhile, another concerned customer, Michelle Potière-Wright (@Rosylone) wrote: ‘Will the stickers damage your own bags, stopping them being reusable? Not really bothered as not been in Primark for six years! What if other shops start doing it? Terrible sign of the times!’
And Theresa Hudson tweeted: ‘@Primark went to your Luton store today. Bad idea to put PLASTIC security stickers on the paper carrier bags. This means you can’t reuse the bag as it rips. Makes queues longer. Do you intend to challenge everyone in store who refuses the stickers like I did?’
The Primark spokesperson did not address environmental concerns from customers but did confirm that the sticker will only be used on the shop’s own paper bags and not reusable bags customers bring with them.
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