Friend tried shoplifting in Asda via scan and go

[bunnyhops90]

My friend who I was due to meet this evening rang me in tears and really panicked this afternoon following doing her weekly shop in asda this morning via the scan and go thing. She is a newly single mum to a toddler and twin 14 month old and I didn't realise until we spoke today just quite how much she is struggling with everything, she has been left with a lot of debt from her abusive ex-partner and is very much struggling to get by.

Anyway she said always uses the scan and go but today she said she doesn't know what made her do this but with Christmas coming up she is getting increasingly stressed about finances and making it through, she knows this is no excuse and accepts her unwise decision, she deliberately didn't scan a few things including baby food, fruit and pizza. When she went to go and pay it said she had been chosen for a staff member to go through some of her shopping and check for accuracy or something along those lines. Staff member scanned quite a few which were all fine then came to one of the items that she hadn't scanned and was told her full shopping would need to be checked. She panicked at this point, pretended she was taking an important phone call and swiftly walked away and left the shop with all the shopping behind before they realised there was a few I scanned and she drove home. She is terrified the police are going to show up on her doorstep and arrest her and is kicking herself for her stupid choice and worried she's got herself into even more difficulty now, I said I thought was unlikely the police would be contacted but apparently they will have her details since she used scan and go so thinks they will easily be able to find her. Does anyone agree with friend and think the police will come looking for her? I want to try and re-assure her but I really have no knowledge around this kind of thing!

@Spaffitupthewall that is a pretty standard day in retail (sadly)

I was followed by the security guard the next time I went in. I felt that was only fair and asked him for advice on what to buy from the wine section.

@DemonicCaveMaggot this made me smile!

I wouldn't necessarily assume minimum wage staff don't give a fuck 🙃we're always watching in our store.

Like a pp I missed out a big chunk of my shopping once. I was horrified but the cashier doing the check was really nice and said maybe the scanner wasn't working and it happened all the time (more likely I got distracted or forgot I was meant to be self scanning). Doubt the police will be involved but she shouldn't have walked off because it would have made her look guilty.

Because she WAS guilty

I can't say, I don't work retail . But know many who do, and see people filling bags and not paying .
B&M someone was filling three bag for life size bags of Lego. And leapt/crashed through a closed till point last time I was in store . Staff said that was not her first attempt that day and she's already banned from the store .

Tell her to not post anything on twitter and she'll be fine.

What an absolute drama and scaremongering. I've never heard such a load of absolute shit. Nothing happens, you forget to scan something, you say sorry and the cashier sorts it. Only the op knows her history and it was done on purpose. Absolutely nothing will happen, ffs.

Here in NL we has selfscans for years and years. I too got caught out and missed an item (not intentionally). They just take you to the manned till and redo it all. Then you pay - and leave. However, failing to scan several times might raise an eyebrow.

I don’t think it works like that when you’ve neglected to scan several items.

Staff won’t know she hasn’t scanned them until they scan them themselves, so they can’t let her off.

In my experience plenty of staff do care.

It does as long as they don't equal hundreds of pounds.

@Tink3rbell30 What's your cut off point in pounds that is ok to steal?

I think there must be something in the T&Cs you sign up to about misuse.

Just because they don’t prosecute doesn’t mean they won’t deny entry in future.

what, the "information" that staff are always watching and on high alert for shoplifters even if it doesn't seem like anyone is around, and there are multiple different potential check points? Surely sharing that information on a very popular website is a deterrent rather than anything else?

It's not like the post contains tips and tricks on how to circumvent said checks, other than perhaps 'don't make it obvious you aren't scanning stuff,' which surely any potential shoplifter with half a braincell would do anyway.

What do you think a potential shoplifter is going to get from that post that Asda wouldn't want them to know?

I am sorry your friend is having such a hard time. Having three such young children to care for, fresh off the back of an abusive relationship is a lot for anyone. Add in financial worries and no wonder she has got herself so worked up over this - please reassure her that the police are not going to turn up at her door. She hasn't actually stolen anything and you would never be able to prove the intent was there either - if it ever came down to it (not that it will!) then feigning ignorance (I was distracted, I thought I had scanned everything, scanner must of not been working properly, the list goes on).

The most that might happen is if she goes back she may not be able to use the scan and go or she might have her shopping checked. If she is that worried though, she can use a different supermarket.

I do not condone theft before anyone comes at me, however people are human and sometimes so down on their luck or having such a hard time that they do things they normally wouldn't.

Again, your friend is going to be fine. She needs some support though by the sounds of it. I hope she has good friends and family around her.

I am a supermarket duty manager with overall responsibility for loss prevention in the store.

She hasn't left the shop so no crime has been committed so the police wouldn't be notified.

At worst she will have her account blocked & not be able to use the self scanner device but most likely it will just affect her security level so she will get full re-scans for the next few shops until the system algorithm is satisfied she is scanning correctly.

She really doesn't need to worry tbh. She's made a mistake, is mortified & has learned from it.

I would say as a warning to everyone though that there is a lot going on behind the scenes on self scanning & large and repeated thefts are now followed up, data & facial images stored & shared across businesses.

All stores have different cut offs, but the majority of the time if you had a full scan and missed some things then you'd just pay and that would be it.

@Tink3rbell30 I didn't ask the stores cut off point . You said "it does as long as they don't equal hundreds of pounds."
As an Asda employee said earlier ppl are watching for thieves,watching hoe they are not scanning items. You seemed to be fine with the idea

Yes that was in reply to someone saying "It doesn't work like that" (when someone else said there's no need for a drama, they'd just scan the missed items and you'd pay and go).

@Tink3rbell30 But the whole thread is because the friend missed items on purpose.

I know but if she had stayed put and not ran off then the staff would have just scanned them for her, have her pay for the shop then leave. Nothing would have happened, that's what I was meaning and agreeing with.

@Tink3rbell30 fair play it didn't scan like that when I read it. I still don't agree with shoplifting