AIBU to “steal” this?

She doesn’t say she can’t afford to feed her children though, she said things are “tight”. Things are “tight” for me on maternity leave too but I can still afford to buy my baby milk.

Not being able/ willing to afford branded laundry balls is not food poverty 😵‍💫

If you can’t afford to feed your children then don’t have them, the OP has a baby that she clearly can’t afford.
It’s almost laughable, I can’t afford to feed my kids(?) so I’ll feed them stolen goods and continue using loads of laundry crap that I don’t need.
The logic of some posters on here is beyond belief!
No wonder the country is in such a state!

But surely according to that logic one could say that the prices before the COL crisis were the maximum amounts people were prepared to pay? Yet they did rise, and people didn’t just stop buying things.

tate of our society that man has enough desperate people needing essentials like washing power and baby milk

essentials are not fancy branded washing powder and scent balls. Baby formula is covered by tokens for people who are genuinely skint.

Let's not try to paint the picture of a poor, desperate mother who is scraping together the coppers to afford a loaf. This is a woman who is turning a blind eye to thievery to afford her luxuries.

What‘s there to extrapolate? OP said she’s spending £10/ week on mostly unnecessary items, because she can get them half price.
Why would someone who can’t afford to feed their children as you put it spend that kind of money on unnecessary luxuries?

well I don't think anyone who thinks £10 for a weeks worth of laundry stuff is a saving is about to gain entry to Mensa...

My mother was looking after my 5 year old and they walked up to the big supermarket to get some shopping. As they left a man ran past with two big bags. Security tried to intercept and the man swung a bag at him, which hit a window which in turn shattered (safety glass at least) as did some of the things inside the bag. A huge mess, the man got away with the other bag and staff had to make the door safe and clear away the mess. My daughter was terrified. Still victimless?

A few years ago I did a car boot sale and the next stall was a couple of people who for various reasons we assumed where drug addicts. They had a blanket rather than a table and lots of packets of stickers/children’s craft kits/toys, some of which had shop prices still on, and a mishmash of other stuff. I didn’t assume they were stolen at that point, but a lad was rummaging through one of their bags of random items and went away, to come back with his father. I was shamelessly earwigging at this point. The two went through the bag together and came up with a handful of things they said had been stolen from their house, including a cap with the lad’s very unusual name on it. The stallholders made a couple of vague excuses, then grabbed the blanket by the corners and ran. People steal to cover their drug habit. Just because they are stealing from shops doesn’t mean they aren’t also stealing from homes.

well @AmiABadPersonn if you have already decided you are in the right, why post at all?

Have you been living under a rock???? Shop staff are being physically assaulted regularly these days by shoplifters.

please don’t complain that supermarkets have put up their prices to cover stock losses. If you think ‘they won’t miss it’ then you are stupid.

No judgement here. It's all very well taking the moral high ground but shouldn't we be angry about the social issues that lead to drug addiction, shoplifting and food poverty instead?

Stealing is wrong no matter your circumstances.

I do think not says a lot about the state of our society that man has enough desperate people needing essentials like washing power and baby milk o make this worth while for him. It's like the drastic rise in use of food banks. We have some serious problems

I would go to a food bank if you genuinely can't afford to feed your kids rather than fund a shoplifter and his habits and risk a criminal record for yourself. We all like a bargain but I doubt buying from him or not is the difference between them eating or not?

Also, probably unlikely but there is a big problem in China with counterfeit baby formula. If some of that fell off the back of a lorry the man might sell that to you. I would never take that risk with my baby.

How many washes do you do a day?

My daughter works in a shop that is raided regularly by low life's like him. She's terrified when he comes in the shop because she doesn't know what he's going to do. He fills bags up with laundry stuff and leaves. If she approaches him, he has a go at her and throws stuff around the shop- it's a small local shop.
Unfortunately the police have done nothing about it and until my daughter can get another job, she's stuck- she has bills to pay and needs the money.
So just think about those on the receiving end of your drug users shopping spree....

How could £10/ week for laundry be cheaper than unbranded washing powder? Unless you regard scent balls as some sort of essential item.

It's not really a case of them having to increase prices though, it's more of an increase of prices because people will still pay.

They definitely do do careful calculations that include costs and thefts (both shoplifting and thefts from employees). It's just thefts won't affect every store and every area in the same way whereas an increase in fixed production costs for example would so it is more difficult for a store to increase a price based on theft without losing out to their competitors. Stores are already charging the maximum the can get away with without losing sales. When a wholesale price goes us it will go up for everyone (Tesco, ASDA, Sainsburys), so this is more likely to be passed directly to the consumer.

I remember my uncle getting 'done' years ago for buying 'off the back of a lorry' (buying from a dodgy bloke down the pub)

Those were the days...

That's backwards.

No retailer would drop their price if theft magically stopped. Except one will to attract customers and then a price war will start.
And they won't have to increase prices quite so much so often either

You have no leg to stand on op, buy cheaper own brand laundry powder/pods/liquid/whatever, own brand conditioner and ditch the ‘scent balls’. It’s all awful for the environment/clothes and skin anyway. Then you’ll have more cash for the formula and food. That’s what the rest of us do! You’re a thief if you keep ‘buying’ from him, you’re literally no better than he is.

I wouldn’t encourage someone like that to come to your door. You are playing with fire!

Whilst I don’t do it (but I probably would if I could), I used to know people who bought stuff like this.

Having worked in the buying dept of a major retailer, you and I will have to agree to disagree on that one.

They have to know ALL their costs, including staffing, all other overheads and losses.

They don't just pick out a price out of thin air and hope for the best

Shoplifting (theft) is a major issue these days

Of course you're right, and anyone thinking otherwise is pretty dense.
Here's an article about shoplifting and how the costs of it are passed on to customers. https://www.insight-security.com/uk-shoplifting-epidemic-all-time-high