To think that shoplifting is not my f#%*ing problem

I think some people steal because prices are high. I think lots steal because they can sell stuff on quickly. There’s whole gangs of people who come from abroad ( predominantly Albania going on the number of people in jail) who then go on a spree up and gown the country stealing thousands of pounds worth of stuff a day. Short jail sentence if anyone catches them / can be bothered to convict.

I think I’d have a lot more sympathy for someone nicking a block of cheese than I would someone stealing hundreds worth of batteries/ small tech/ booze to sell on.

The big Tesco near me locks the wheels if you don't go through the checkouts.

I found that out as I pushed the trolley into the shop, then realised I'd left my bags in the car. I tried to take the empty trolley back out with me but the wheels locked and the security man had to use a scanner thing to unlock them.

Do you work for a supermarket by any chance?

Shoplifting is a problem for all of us, as we end up paying for it. Annual losses exceed 2.2 billion pounds. We need to start treating theft from shops seriously. I'd rather have policing of shop theft than tweets.

If take trolley through a different route, the wheels (actually the front left) lock. There is a remote to unlock the wheels. Also if the store sees a shoplifter using a trolley, the staff and security can lock the wheels to prevent a trolley pushout.

If need to go back into the store, best to leave trolley at the back of checkouts and walk without a trolley

The rest of us who just shrug and accept that these measures are just a part of life now are the ones without a problem.

@CheeseCakeSunflowers No, don’t speak for me - I’m as pissed off as OP. Far too many of these big supermarket treating every shopper as guilty until proven innocent.

I do know what you mean about the power trip. I’ve seen rather harried looking women unloading their shopping on to the security desk whilst some bloke casually peruses the receipt to make sure it matches. It’s always women. I do get stealing is a massive issue but I just think there’s better ways of handling it. Tbh if they pushed the point I’d suggest they refund my shop and we can go to the till together and have a cashier check everything is on the receipt before you give me back my money.

The fact that you are upset enough to post here suggests to me that you do have a problem with shop lifting as it has led to what you consider to be an intolerable inconvenience. The rest of us who just shrug and accept that these measures are just a part of life now are the ones without a problem.

was it…. a big coat??😉

I was trying to get daughter a prescription filled at 7.30pm at night and went in a large Tesco and put my baby's car seat in a small trolley as he's heavy. The medicine wasn't in stock so I simply went to walk out. The wheels locked on me at the doors! I simply took my son's car seat and left the trolley where it had locked (no I hadn't stolen anything)

YANBU. Shoplifting is rife because shops don’t want to pay staff and have actual checkouts. They don’t want to provide customer service anymore (even when our local co op has staff there they are filling online orders and no one wants to go behind the till).
Shops can’t have it both ways. I have no sympathy whatsoever. They made the problem then they blame the customers.

This has happened to me a couple of times and I refused bag search, told them to call the police and watch their CCTV while we wait

Never did get a big fat voucher I thought from being proved wrong

they just walked away

the big coop has the spirits behind locked glass cabinets

there were a couple of kids stealing a coat when i was in Millets today.
just wicked.
and i doubt they will make use of the coat

Totally. You see men in the co-op, Tesco express filling large holdalls full of stuff and a member of staff stands there and watch. They don’t even verbally challenge them, I assume they call the police but I never see the police come.

i know they’re told not to stop them.

i don’t know what’s changed. I remember a good few years ago i was at customer service at a big tesco and a “Mrs Robinson “ tannoy went out….lots of staff appeared. They were all discussing some shoplifter in the shop….even the trolley lads appeared. As soon as the suspect was one foot out the shop he was jumped on and pulled to the ground 😁

We will be like America soon with even more stuff locked in Perspex boxes. But the police and courts need to get tougher, there’s no deterrent.

Id like to know how many six foot blokes they are approaching in store v 5 foot 4 women

Our local sainsburys is loosing £40,000 a week to these people. I dont blame them for fighting back

When I worked in retail we were told to constant on the lookout, our managers would make us treat customers like they were under suspicion, it was embarrassing for us.

Yeh I actually find it annoying too. I got stopped for the exit alarm going and talked to with no manners when id done nothing wrong. I was asked if I had a receipt and produced it. I was asked to take everything out of my bag and said I didn't mind if they wanted to unpack and repack everything but I wasn't going to as it was an inconvenience to me. Suddenly there wasn't such an urgent need to check my bag 🙄
I actually think it's the attitude that pisses me off, not them having to be diligent about shoplifting...like those alarms go off for the wrong things all the time AND I had a receipt AND was happy for them to go through my bag but it was like I had done something wrong.

Sometimes it looks like a power trip. In a local Asda they have a security guard at a stand by the door and I have seen several times people’s trolleys just suddenly lock as they are going out the door, it appears that the security trigger something but I don’t know for definite, perhaps there is a random program in operation but why? They cause the shopper to bump into their trolley, they don’t check the trolley, it seems utterly pointless. The first time I saw it was a young heavily pregnant woman who banged her bump into the trolley and was crying in the entrance afterwards and didn’t even get an apology from the security. I offered to be a witness if she wanted to make a complaint but she just wanted to go home.

I went into my local Dunelm yesterday and all the dorma section is now In security coded locked glass cabinets, Sainsburys have introduced barriers that are like Fort Knox, it’s a really depressing sad state of affairs that our country is a crime riddled mess but I can’t really blame the shops when apparently the police refuse to attend any reports of shoplifting unless the value is over £500, the thieves know they can get away with it without any punishment, I’m angry at the government for allowing this situation to happen, the demise of this country is utterly depressing.

I don’t steal so if someone was desperate to chase me down to check shopping they can but tbh I think they are busy pulling polite shoppers to look busy whereas the gangs of, sometimes violent, professional shoplifters sail on through as no one wants to deal with that for min wage.

THIS