Opening up goods packaging in shops - do you ?

dinners

dinners

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Phil
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I'm terrible for it and my wife often gets twitchy when I open and unpackage things in shops. I just work on the principle that I often want to look at what I'm buying and sometimes items aren't displayed and staff are impossible to get hold of.

I opened up a bluetooth speaker dock thing in a well know chain a few weeks ago and after deciding it wasn't for me I put it back in the box but I didn't do a very good job. A couple of days later I was back in the same store and noticed that my repackaged item was reduced as it was marked as 'a previously opened item which may have been returned or used for display purposes' :naughty:

Does anybody else do it or does anybody know if we should ?
 
I draw the line at opening crisps but I'll try a few olives from the counter before deciding which ones to fill my pot with.

How about magazines in a bag ?

That really annoys me :)
 
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Nope, don't buy many mags

Got my wrist slapped once for opening and eating a chocolate bar on the way round the supermarket doing my weekly shop, I fully intended to pay for it but according to Mr Security guard it was stealing as it was still the stores property
 
Keith W said:
Nope, don't buy many mags

Got my wrist slapped once for opening and eating a chocolate bar on the way round the supermarket doing my weekly shop, I fully intended to pay for it but according to Mr Security guard it was stealing as it was still the stores property
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Interesting.

I've often (with 4 little ones in two trolleys) cracked open a couple of drinks cartons for example and paid for the opened multi pack or empty carton at the checkout. I doubt security saw though even though I wasn't being secretive about it.

Grapes are another one. I'll pick a few grapes from the bag to placate the kids as I go round but I'm paying a fixed price for them rather than by weight.
 
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Have done the same with my nipper on the way round doing the shopping, mind you i'm not sure how you cope with 4 of them

French stick is another one for me, I cant help breaking the end off and eating it as I am walking around
 
Oh yes - French stick is a favourite here too.

I say 4 little ones.......The kids are 13, 5, 2 and just turned 1 so only really 'two that I'd call little ones'

Hannah (the 13 year old) is more like another grown up helper.
 
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if youre breaking the seal on a package then id expect a slapped wrist, like you say stores often end up selling opened packaging as shop soiled etc.

if you want to look at it see if theyve got a demo/open box model somewhere to look at before you reduce their sales margins ;)
 
If I see a package thats been opened I steer clear. Maybe someones opened it to nick a bit they've lost at home or stolen half of it or something. However I also find it annoying when I wish I could look at something and its all sealed up.
The last time I opened a package to try something before I bought it I got some funny looks. Mind you I was buying a lavatory seat at the time.
 
I'm not allowed in the supermarket as I fill the trolley up too quickly!
 
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neil_g said:
if you want to look at it see if theyve got a demo/open box model somewhere to look at before you reduce their sales margins ;)
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Normally I would however I did say - sometimes items aren't displayed and staff are impossible to get hold of.
 
dinners said:
I draw the line at opening crisps but I'll try a few olives from the counter before deciding which ones to fill my pot with.

How about magazines in a bag ?

That really annoys me :)
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I will often open mags too.

Now on the grapes, while I have done the same is that not theft? Ok, its only a couple of grapes or picnmix but its still theft...
 
Sealed pack, no but if someone else has opened one, I'll get back in! Usually in Lidl to see if the quality is there (usually is). Never open mags if they're sealed up - they're usually sealed to keep freebies in the pack rather than stop people seeing what's in them and an opened bag makes the mag unsaleable. Ponesses me off when I can't get to the mag I want to buy because the freeloaders are all stood there reading them...
 
cambsno said:
I will often open mags too.

Now on the grapes, while I have done the same is that not theft? Ok, its only a couple of grapes or picnmix but its still theft...
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I've no idea. Technically it probably is as I've yet to pay however, where I buy grapes the bag is a fixed price so I pay the same whether it's full or has a few missing.
 
cambsno said:
I will often open mags too.

Now on the grapes, while I have done the same is that not theft? Ok, its only a couple of grapes or picnmix but its still theft...
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It probably is, unless you can show that you intended to pay for them, but I can't really see a supermarket taking action over something so trivial. I suppose they might ask you to stop helping yourself to "samples" though. OTOH, I do know an elderly lady who was asked to leave a store, and not to come back, because they'd noticed her eating bars of chocolate and discarding the wrappers a couple of times.

CNA is a large book/stationary chain in South Africa. They tried to stop people browsing through magazines a couple of years ago, by getting the security staff to approach them and say "Please pay for the magazine before you start reading it sir/madam". That came to an end when customers started shopping elsewhere.
 
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Depends on what it is and what kind of store it is.

I will generally ask to look at an item if I can. I might open a small corner (that won't compromise the rest of the packaging) if I can to check/feel the item.

I never open sealed magazines, taste cherries/olives/grapes or other such stuff. If I need a drink of water etc, I'll pick it up, pay for it, and then drink whilst going around the store. I have read magazines before to get an idea of whether there's an interesting article, or occasionally just to kill time. What's funny is seeing people read a mag in say WHSmiths, then putting it back and picking an unused one to buy.

One of the things I hate the most is little brats who've opened various confectionary items to get at the prize/taste the choc/just destroy something for no reason. Drives me nuts.
 
Olives and grapes are fair pickings for the missus - I just walk away. However, the french stick is fair game, and so is a really cold bottle of Zero Coke if we are thirsty. It is much simpler in French supermarkets where the words "degustation s'il vous plait?" will lead to an offer of many delicious treats from the deli counter.
 
neil_g said:
i bet you wouldnt like a store trying to sell you an item where the seal had been broken etc.
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Depends really.

I've haggled on price for opened goods and have chosen opened goods over unopened goods when the price has been marked down.
 
dinners said:
Depends really.

I've haggled on price for opened goods and have chosen opened goods over unopened goods when the price has been marked down.
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This is Neil's point, by opening the goods the store has lost money on the product they are trying to sell. If you were a retailer I imagine this would be highly annoying.

It's like when people (male and female) try on white clothes in a shop and end up covering them with makeup / fake tan, before deciding they don't like the item anymore, putting it back on the rail or wherever, and then the store is left with dirty goods to sell on.
 
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ACW said:
This is Neil's point, by opening the goods the store has lost money on the product they are trying to sell. If you were a retailer I imagine this would be highly annoying.
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I'm not disputing that.

Neil said "I bet you wouldnt like a store trying to sell you an item where the seal had been broken etc" to which I replied (as the consumer not the retailer) that it doesn't bother me if the goods are reduced as a result.
 
i remember once in "house of fraser" trying out a bose sound dock for an iphone they got rather upset at Coldplays "Vida la vida" ...

Told them to foxtrot oscar one then and went to John Lewis, who could not care less what I tried out on their demo model...

Bought it from "Never knowingly undersold"... and just then had to go back to HoF with a huge carrier bag... and do a Julia (Robert's)
 
Keith W said:
Have done the same with my nipper on the way round doing the shopping, mind you i'm not sure how you cope with 4 of them

French stick is another one for me, I cant help breaking the end off and eating it as I am walking around
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rude not to... especially if still warm...
 
Having worked in retail (before retiring), I can assure you that a big bugbear was the customers who ripped and tore packing open to inspect the goods, then having destroyed the packing to a degree that it couldn't be used again, they put the opened item back on the shelf and bought an unopened one. Ask them to buy the one they opened and the chance was they would walk out of the shop without buying anything. As far as I was concerned, until they had bought and paid for the item, it didn't belong to them and they had no right to break seals or damage packaging, the shop owner is the one who has to pay for this in the end. Its common courtesy to ask the shop owner (who is the owner of the stock as well) if you can see and handle the item, a request to do so would never be refused.
We complain when our local retail stores close, but when they are being abused like this, as well as being used as a display for people who want to inspect items before purchasing on line, its no surprise to see so many closed signs appearing. So come on guys, show some common courtesy, common sense, and be fair.
 
I get really annoyed in shops when I see people open a sealed top to perhaps smell a product, or put a bit on their hand to see how it feels, and then put it back on the shelf. These are hand creams, shampoos, lotions etc, as found in Boots, for instance, where testers are not provided. I don't want a product where someone's hand has touched the opening. My husband laughs at me, but I always take bottles or tubes from the very back of the shelf so as to avoid those that may have been opened and tested in this way!!
 
No, rude and bad mannered.
 
Trev4 said:
Having worked in retail (before retiring), I can assure you that a big bugbear was the customers who ripped and tore packing open to inspect the goods, then having destroyed the packing to a degree that it couldn't be used again, they put the opened item back on the shelf and bought an unopened one. Ask them to buy the one they opened and the chance was they would walk out of the shop without buying anything. As far as I was concerned, until they had bought and paid for the item, it didn't belong to them and they had no right to break seals or damage packaging, the shop owner is the one who has to pay for this in the end. Its common courtesy to ask the shop owner (who is the owner of the stock as well) if you can see and handle the item, a request to do so would never be refused.
We complain when our local retail stores close, but when they are being abused like this, as well as being used as a display for people who want to inspect items before purchasing on line, its no surprise to see so many closed signs appearing. So come on guys, show some common courtesy, common sense, and be fair.
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Same here,i also found a lot of people who did open boxes had no intention of buying anything anyway,or make a big fuss if the the box had been open and you try to sell them the products,but that's the buying public for you,glad i am out of retail :D
 
As I said earlier, I'll look for a display item or at least try to find a member of staff to ask if it's OK to open something to inspect it. Whenever I've asked a member of staff (and I'm talking supermarkets, large electrical retailers and DIY stores) if I can open something to inspect it, none of them have said no. None of them have opened it for me either. All of them have simply said "of course" and left me to it.

I've no doubt there's a law that covers this however, If it's store policy not to allow customers to inspect goods then either the staff haven't been advised of this or staff don't bother adhering to the rule.

I accept some people may consider it rude to open an item or common courtesy not to, but if there's a particular item that (for some specific reason) you're not prepared to buy without checking something first, then I would have thought there would be a way of doing so.
 
just to make it clear - bose sounddock in both HoF and Bonds was a display model, so felt well within my rights to give it a try
 
I never buy anything that can be opened that is nearest the front of the display as I've bought anti histamine and ibuprofen and such like only to find on arriving home some of the contents are missing as some git has opened the package and partially removed the contents. Do what most people do if not satisfied with a purchase return it or if unsure leave it on the shelf.
 
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