The Honesty System: Part 2

The Dutch Sunrise on a spring morning

You know the feeling: that awkward moment in the store when the alarm goes off, and you know you haven’t taken anything, but you're still ready for the stares that make you wonder, “Did they or didn’t they?” This kind of judgment always creates insecurity for me, which is why I keep all my till slips, even when I know I have no intention of returning anything.

As I mentioned in my blog last week, the shopping culture in the Netherlands is very different, and it’s led me to a whole new set of insecurities. In most stores, you can scan your own groceries and pay without any assistance. The use of cashiers is mostly reserved for cash payments, and there are specific time slots for elderly customers to engage in conversation with a cashier. You can imagine how daunting it must be to be behind someone whose entire purpose is to have their weekly chat with the cashier! So, I usually opt for the self-scan.

You might be wondering how they keep control of all this with everyone doing their own thing. Well, this is where a concept called “steekproef” comes in. After scanning all your products, you indicate that you're done and ready to pay. Randomly selected customers receive a message on their screen notifying them that an employee will be with them shortly for a “steekproef,” which literally means "sample." The employee will randomly scan a few items from your bag to ensure they match the receipt. I've yet to see anyone fail the "steekproef," but it's clearly indicated that the penalty for not scanning everything correctly is a fine of €181.

So now you know what happens if you do not scan everything, but that begs the question, what happens if you scan too much. This has happened to me before.

This particular day, I fetched the kids from school and thought let me just grab my groceries quickly before heading home. I scanned all my groceries, in the back of my mind I knew that the things I usually take comes out to roughly €20, I didn't need much and the kids insisted on the donuts but the bill came out to €35. I thought it was too much but I left it, but the rand converter in my brain would not let me live it down.

When I got home I realized that the donuts had the wrong price on the code and instead of paying for 5 small donuts, I instead paid for 5 donut cakes. The difference was €15. That's R300. I was outraged , but I did not know what I could do because after all I scanned myself out. So being South African, and obviously missing my calling as a lawyer, I decided to take pictures of the donuts, of the ridiculous price and the till slip, I then emailed the customer service and immediately followed up with a call.

Ready to fight, I asked if I could please speak to someone who speaks English and the call centre agent politely said she speaks English so she will be happy to assist. I then told the lady what had happened and before I could justify myself she said of course, if you go to the store they can give you your money back or she can send me a gift voucher. For the inconvenience she would even reimburse me for the donuts. She didn't even allow me the opportunity to argue, what a let down! Being skeptical, I said I have emailed you the proof of the slip and the donuts. As a final note she said, no we don't need that if you took the time to call us we know that it must be true.

Literally the next day I received my voucher and I have been a loyal supporter of the Jumbo Franchise ever since. This has not only given me confidence in the stores, but also in myself knowing that if I overscan, it will be easily corrected. It helps knowing that sometimes, even when things go wrong, that honest people will make it right.

Until next time. ♥️