Suspected Profiling based on Race

Dear Dischem Management,

I am writing to formally express my disappointment and frustration with a new policy at your Ferndale branch, which states that if a customer’s trolley is full, a security guard must stand next to them to “check.”

Firstly, this policy is fundamentally flawed in execution. Your store has, at most, one or two security guards on duty. If multiple customers have full trolleys—five, seven, or more—how exactly do you intend to enforce this consistently? It’s impractical and suggests selective enforcement, which raises serious concerns.

More troubling, however, is how this policy played out in my experience. The manager claimed this was to ensure that the teller scans everything, not to scrutinize customers. Yet, I couldn’t help but notice the security guard intensely watching me, not the cashier. It felt like I was being profiled simply because I had a full trolley—an assumption that I couldn’t afford my groceries or that I intended to *****.

If your concern is preventing theft or cashier errors, then perhaps invest in proper loss prevention strategies like security cameras, as other major retailers (Woolworths, Makro, etc.) have done. Instead, this so-called policy feels more like a thinly veiled excuse for discriminatory practices.

Frankly, this experience has made me question whether I want to continue shopping at Dischem. I expect a response clarifying how this policy is intended to be fairly and consistently enforced, as well as how you plan to ensure that customers are not being unfairly targeted.

Sincerely,