Guest column: In-person shopping no longer pleasurable

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By: Catherine Ford

Want to be treated like a thief? Go shopping in person. Walk into any store in the country, from the big-box ones to your neighbourhood drugstore or grocery.

Take notice of the security measures. They aren’t there for your benefit but to deter what retailers are calling an alarming increase in theft. They are aimed at you and we are accepting this apparently without complaint. All of us who physically go into retail outlets are presumed guilty.

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I resent this immensely, but then I remember when shopping was a pleasure. (At that time, the only not-in-person shopping was ordering from an Eaton’s or Sears catalogue.)

Today, Canadians — almost 50 per cent of the 18 to 24 age group and 32 per cent of those aged 25 to 34 — do the bulk of their purchasing online.

There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is convenience and delivery — and never having to get out of your pyjamas.

An online report by the retail industry is blunt: “Canadians have embraced electronic commerce amid a major disruption in retail channels. In 2022, there were over 27 million eCommerce users in Canada, accounting for 75 per cent of the Canadian population. This number is expected to grow to 77.6 per cent in 2025.”

Those of us who predate the internet and online shopping are lured into becoming computer-savvy for an entirely different reason. Look no further than the above statement about being treated like criminals. We may never return to the heady days of being waited on respectfully in department stores (if they even still exist by the end of this decade).

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Retailers are doing a good job of driving us out of their shops and thus negatively affecting a city’s economy. Cases in point: Having to pay for the use of a shopping cart; being asked to produce a receipt as you leave the store; metal gates and alarms linked to your purchase.

The drugstore a couple of blocks away has a permanent security guard and keeps its shopping carts locked up. I am definitely angered over the idea that I must “pay” to shop with ease, and then hand over money for my purchase.

To the store’s credit, if I don’t have a loose loonie, a clerk will unlock a cart for me. The presumption is that I won’t “steal” the cart if I’ve “invested” my own money in using it. Curiously, if anyone was going to purloin a cart — which happens often if the boulevards in my city of Calgary are any indication — paying $1 for it seems like a bargain.

The security guard is another matter. I went to the store one noon hour and was stunned to see a line of teenagers outside with a uniformed guard letting a few in at a time. He smiled at me and waved me right through.

Presumably, someone my age will not rampage through the shelves but everyone knows you can’t trust teenagers not to steal you blind. (Cue a hint of sarcasm.)

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If I were a teen, I’d be waving signs, demanding a boycott of the company and protesting outside this store, which treats me and my peers as thieves and a nuisance.

Meanwhile, the big-box store demands I produce a receipt before it allows me to leave after dropping a few hundred dollars on plants. The world just shrugs at this and other affronts to those of us who are not predisposed to stealing stuff.

Clearly, the five-finger discount has become more than just an occasional problem, but any idiot could have predicted decades ago that once stores started piling stuff on shelves and cutting floor staff, this would happen.

It’s a lot easier to assume the worst of your customers than it is to hire more staff. It’s also cheaper.

None of this is news; none of this is ever likely to change.

But it certainly explains why online shopping has surged in popularity, even for my demographic.

Catherine Ford is a regular Calgary Herald columnist.

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