A former Sports Direct employee has revealed top secrets customers need to know when shopping at the retail giant. Rebecca Mooney, 24, bagged herself a part-time job at the high street in 2020 where she learned the tricks of the trade.
And during her brief stint at the company, she soon discovered how the budget sports chain deliberately sways customers to trade a plastic carrier bag for a more expensive one. In a TikTok video Rebecca reveals staff are told to tell customers they do not have any plastic carrier bags when a customer asks — despite them being underneath the till.
This, Rebecca claims is a means for the company to upsell the £2 bag for life, which not only bumps up the customer's order but also sees staff get a slice of the profit. She claims the company would rota in a 24-hour-week employee in six separate four hour shifts instead of three eight hour shifts.
"I was shocked when I first heard," Rebecca said. "The story about the bags definitely shocked me the most as Sports Direct is the go-to cheaper shop compared to the rest.
"So people going in and are then having to spend £2 on a bag when it wasn't necessary. The managers even told us each morning how many of these bags were sold and what target we should try and reach if we were on the tills.
"I told my family and friends about this and they were shocked and were like 'ahh so that's why they always say they have ran out of carrier bags"
"I guarantee if you go in there now and go to pay, they would say they do not have any of the cheaper plastic bags left. Each staff member would get 2p commission if these per bag sold and I was told in a morning meeting that it looks better for their store if they sell more of these bags.
"The other temp staff were young and for some their first job so complied with these rules which is understandable. I just gave the 5p ones out the majority of the time but I did feel pressured by the managers to sell the bags.
"They also refused to give people longer shifts which meant hardly any days off. Another thing I thought was strange is that before starting the manager got the ladders out which are used to get the stock from high shelves."
Rebecca uploaded a video to TikTok exposing the secret which has been viewed over 13,000 times.
One TikToker said: "I work at sports direct…she ain’t lying [sic]. A second social media user: "Damn"
"I love those £2 bags so useful," said a third person. A fourth person said: "They get commission for selling the bags!! and a lot of other products in the store which they offer you.
Another person commented: "This always happened at Teesside park."
Jam Press approached Sports Direct for comment.
