Swapping eggs in supermarket

[thimblewomgee247]

Just had my online shop delivered. As usual I open the eggs to make sure they aren't broken (they are normally fine). I had ordered 6 large eggs. On opening the box I could see they where tiny. The delivery guy apologised and refunded and said it happens all the time. People swap the eggs on the shelf.

Now as shoplifting goes this just seems a lot of effect for very little gain. Surely it's a right faff and the risk of getting caught must be so high

I have never heard of this and agree it is stealing! That's coming from someone that does take sugar sachets home though from cafés as I don't take sugar in hot drinks but sometimes have guests that do. 🫣 I don't view that in the same light though as I saw too many café staff just chucking my unused sugar sachets that they'd brought out with the coffee into the bin and I'd rather they were used than just discarded.

Not in our area.
The home shoppers are on the shop floor picking off the same shelves as customers in the Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s near us.

Yes it is a minor form of theft. Just as is taking a train journey without a ticket, or Mr Oyster card man, is travelling without enough money on your Oyster card, but having time to remember to bring your squash racquet and sports bag with you to work with your arrogance and TM Lewin shirt /Penhaligon stuff that you want everyone to see. Many of us have seen you do the whole "I don't know what happened/ I topped it up online" spiel to the overworked, underpaid staff at the barriers, week in, week out.

Other mild forms of theft include:
Weighing organic items as normal / shop own brand at the self service;

Leaving your own old shoes at TK Maxx behind (yes lady, I saw you), and walking off in the new ones;

Going around the supermarket eating Whole Foods South Ken's grapes, with your small dog under your arm. Cos that would be allowed in south east London Lewisham isn't it?

Arriving at 9:30am at a hotel booking made for 1400hrs, and wanting free early entry into a room, and kicking up a fuss that it has always worked in Bali/St Maarten/ Namibia's chain of the hotel.

I used to buy mixed size boxes of eggs and would check several cartons to see which had bigger eggs, but I wouldn't swap any, other than cracked or broken ones. It was amazing the difference between boxes. I would shake them first to see if they rattled.

If I found broken ones, I would put them in an open box to the side so that anyone could see them and staff could clear them away.

I was a supermarket manager many years ago.
Staff check the eggs to see if they are broken at the till.
The swapping of eggs is a pain as it means there are then different batch numbers/use by dates in a carton. So should there be an issue with the eggs it's difficult to recall etc.

Neither did I, and I'm a check out operator! I have never had this told to me ever, I'm only opening them to check they're not broken.
I must ask the others if they check as well.

My friend did this once when she took me shopping. Full on snapped off a whole big stalk. I was gonna smacked

They do that with Deliveroo and Chop Chop. But the individual shops wouldn’t have the stock or manpower to send shop assistants round stores collecting food for the sheer volume of home deliveries.

@Mirabai I have friends who work as pickers at my local Tesco. They collect things from the shelves, put it in the crates on their trolleys, it gets loaded onto the vans outside and driven off to people's homes for delivery.
Same in the Sainsburys in both nearby towns. You can watch the vans being loaded up!

It must be a relatively small customer base. In London it wouldn’t be possible to cope with the volume of demand from the individual stores. They have massive hubs it all gets delivered from.

My gran used to take the stalks off the mushrooms as she bagged them. Don't know why she didn't just eat them, to be honest!

We have chickens of a few different breeds so our eggs come in a range of different sizes; a bantam Silkie's egg could be half the weight of a Swedish Flower Hen's egg. Never mind the fart eggs, which happen when the egg making goes a bit haywire and they lay a tiny one. We're all very good at eyeballing egg sizes for cooking!

I can't believe some people would do this, what complete losers! Not to mention having no regard to the person who ends up paying for the smaller eggs. Hopefully karma will sort them out 😒

@Mirabai even in London, truly! My local Tesco in East London it works just as described by a PP. Asda too.

How bizarre these people must have some kind of MH issues, obviously thunj they're being clever when in fact they are just stealing 😳

They do that with Deliveroo and Chop Chop. But the individual shops wouldn’t have the stock or manpower to send shop assistants round stores collecting food for the sheer volume of home deliveries.

Pickers are commonplace in my local Morrisons and Tesco, they whiz round the shop collecting the orders and take them out to customers for delivery. They can be a bit a menace due to the numbers of them and the speed they move, but they are accessing the same produce as regular shoppers.

I think the cafe sugar sachets are different. If you get a coffee and they bring it with two sugar packets, it's no difference if you open one into your coffee and tuck the second into your pocket for a later coffee than if you open them both into your coffee. The price of a coffee includes a reasonable allotment of sugar. In the same way, if they give you one of those individually wrapped biscuits, you can take it away for later rather than having to eat it right there and then or return it.

(I drink coffee without sugar, btw!)

I think if you take more then you need, then it is stealing, the costs will need to be covered by the cafe and it adds up if everyone’s doing it. Hardly crime of the century , but I’d be willing to bet the people that swap eggs around, also pinch the sugar and milk in cafes to save a few penny’s too.

How bizarre these people must have some kind of MH issues, obviously thunj they're being clever when in fact they are just stealing

It’s hoarding really. I also think her generation would have lived through rationing, so it’s probably a manifestation of that too.

In Debenhams someone stole some undies and left her own lace bodysuit. 🤮🤢

I worked in a supermarket for years and we were never told to check eggs at the till. We were specifically told not to check them for cracks as customers already do this before picking them up and it would slow our scan speed down. Some cashiers would still check for cracks anyway. I don’t recall eggs being swapped as a big theft issue. Saffron and manuka honey got stolen a lot which I would never have expected because who needs saffron that badly?

I worked on the tills 20 odd years ago, I was told to check eggs for cracks.

My auntie used to do this - swop the joint of beef label for a cheap chicken one. She thought it was hilarious.

They are. Have you ever heard of security being called over egg rustling?

Oh, it lives on. Now in the form of putting higher priced goods through the self weigh scale as potatoes, carrots, onions or bananas.

Why do you think many self check outs have cameras these days?

This is why I no longer buy eggs from a supermarket but from an egg vending machine on a farm near me.
I've picked up too many boxes of eggs over the years and the sizing of them has been all over the place. It took ages for me to cotton o people were swopping them about.

@Precipice actually they're really expensive for us coffee shop owner to buy, so we prefer people to be honest and leave if they don't have them so we can re used