Shoplifting food

[Bananavape]

What's your opinion on someone shoplifting food, sometimes the more expensive items within their weekly shopping (cheese, sauces etc), or sometimes when they're out and starving but no money to actually buy anything to eat (a sandwich or wrap etc), if they genuinely can't afford to feed themselves?

So what would they have done without family, with jobs that didn't cover the rent and utility bills going through the roof so no money to heat the house. Your implication is people are only going without because they don't work hard enough. That's rubbish we have nurses, teachers and professionals doing full days and in the case of nurses extra shifts struggling to pay for everything and failing they are not lazy they are low paid. What will society do if they all move to better paid jobs ?

I'm not judging. I even said I don't get involved if I see someone shoplifting. I said it is naive to think all shoplifters are doing it because they are desperate, because many do it to make money by exploiting other people's desperation.

People do what they feel like they need to to get by. For some people that means stealing food. For some that is benefit fraud. For some that means getting into more and more debt. It's personal to each person. My mum's solution was to leave us home alone while she worked nights. Until someone reported her to social services. Then we were back to eating chips with bread & butter once a day. It's shit.

There is a very well known former sports personality whose mother and mother-in-law were arrested on a shoplifting spree in Tesco. They reportedly lived in houses bought by the sports personality and the value of the goods they stole was in the region of £800. Was that okay?

If their houses were brought by him, why do they need to shoplift?

So why shouldn't I steal from you?

i'm more concerned about food wastage then food theft tbh!

They paid their own bills. In fact they paid for the houses my grandparents lived in!!

It’s stealing, end off discussion

So they landed jobs,worked hard and was successful no need for uncles allotment food and now in your eyes the only reason anyone is struggling is laziness....how did they get enough money to travel here and find a home in the first place if they were so poor

Well that's a stupid comment. Of course it's stealing. Nobody has disputed that. So let's not discuss it any further.

Let's also hope that you, your family, nobody you know, nor anyone else, is ever so unlucky as to become desperate to eat or feed their children; and have no other options to turn to.

The thing is, it's easy to condemn others from a position of comfort or privilege. It's far harder to think about what you might do when not in that position. If I needed to, I would lie, steal or kill to protect those I love. Anyone who says they wouldn't is either lying to themselves or without feelings. They wouldn't be my first options, no. But I altogether let those I love die either. That didn't mean all thieves are facing those stark options. But it's not up to us to judge that.

And it is still a matter of shame and disgust that anyone should have to consider theft to survive in a developed country. If you think nobody is in that position, then you know nothing about the country you live in.

Last week, at the self service checkout in Waitrose, I was watched like a hawk by an assistant (or 'Partner', as Waitrose like to call their staff). She was standing next to me watching my every move.

Before me, she had stopped a couple of young women who hadn't paid for sandwiches and crisps. She had told them to either pay or the manager would call the police. They paid up.

It's sad that because a minority of people choose to steal, honest people are treated like potential thieves.

I'd want to walk a mile in the shoplifters shoes before judging. If it's basics then there but by the grace of his at the moment. Over a tenner item different story.

I thought people used to go to jail or get fined and/or community service for shoplifting.

Reading this thread, it looks like there are no longer any consequences to breaking the law.

Perhaps I should try it sometime.

Hunger and need makes people do things they wouldn't ordinarily do

Not that folks here seem to grasp that.

ive had situation u can only use food bank twice after that they refuse to help they say u need long term help????? and turn u away it sucks

I'm very fortunate that I've never been too poor to be able to buy food. That said, who knows what the future may hold, one day it may be me, you or anyone in the unfortunate position of being penniless and hungry.
Therefore I can't judge those who are in that unfortunate position.
Many years ago, an elderly lady told me of how her husband died at a young age, leaving her homeless with five small children. The property they lived in was tied to his employment, so they had to leave.
She set off with her kids and what she could carry on a long, long walk to her parents.
On the way, her children were crying with hunger, she had nothing to give them.
She sat them behind a wall and walked to a chip shop, ordered a couple of fish and chips, then fled with them without paying when the woman put them on the counter.
Now, I know it's not the same as walking into Tesco and pinching a pack of cheese and a loaf, but it's still stealing.
In her circumstances, would I have been desperate enough to do the same for my crying, hungry kids? Probably yes I would.
There's all kinds of reasons why people steal food, some out of desperation, some to sell on for their fix, some just because they can, some because they have kleptomania. Again, it's not for me to judge which of those reasons, but if it's genuinely due to hunger, then it's a disgrace that in this country that people are having to steal food and that we have food banks.
We're supposed to be a 21st century forward thinking modern country, yet some people are living in conditions akin to 1923 rather than 2023.
That is what people should be outraged about rather than judging people less fortunate than themselves.
If you've never suffered real poverty, then be thankful rather than moralising over those who are.

I think there are other options but if you have not eaten in a while you might not be thinking straight.

Or you might not be able to get to the food bank / community kitchen etc.

I know Greggs gives their left over food to local groups, I don't know if they would give it to someone who asked, I hope they would.

I've also been in a kebab shop and chatting tot he owner who said if someone needed food he would give it away, I think being Muslim might have influenced him, I know Muslims give a certain amount in charity and for the owner of a kebab shop it would be an easy way.

@oliboy1981 the food bank where I volunteer is one visit a month and they offer long term help/ financial help if needed.
Might be worth seeing what others are around? Mine is church related (south east)

im in south wales bad

My son is a policeman. He tells me that they try and be leaniant. If they see its a desperate situation. For example is somone has stolen 10 steaks they are not trying to feed their kids. If it's some pasta and sauce, fish fingers gers or something like that then its a different approach and they also refer them for help.

I wouldn't see it. It's not my business.