Greggs shifts food behind counters to stop thieves

[SerendipityJane]

I'm old enough that my DM was more used to this sort of operation than the new fangled "self service" that appeared in the 60s.

Once again the feeling of travelling backwards in time doesn't seem to quite go away.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c17r52rvj2lo

Good! Cheeky fuckers stealing.

there was a thread about this a while ago and apparently people just walk into Greggs and take whatever they want and the staff are told not to challenge them due to safety risks
loads of posters had witnessed it

Amazed it’s taken so long. I’ve seen videos on tiktok and people are brazen, they don’t even try and hide it!

My local Pret in London has security for this reason.

Itsu has moved all of its products behind the counter and you have to order through a screen too.

Becoming a low-trust rather than high-trust society is a terrible development for the UK. And no I don’t think it’s about poverty - it’s about there being zero consequences for this kind of crime and people not giving a shit.

Just come out of Greggs. Shoplifting is the culture of the place. Stood in the queue wishing I had the chops to do same. I think it won’t be long when it becomes normalised.

Not surprised. Every time I used to go to my local Greggs (and another similar nearby) I saw people stealing (especially those items in the middle).

Is it cos of the seagull?

I completely agree with this. The levels of shoplifting are insane and the police are mot interested. Ultimately it saves consumers money as they are not having to put up their prices to compensate.

That’s sad isn’t it?

Saw someone repeatedly shoplifting in Sainsbury’s the other day. I had to fight every instinct not to try and intervene. They’re scum

You would steal if you were a bit braver? Wow.

Years ago I worked for a newsagents chain who had every single item of stock behind the counter. Newspapers. Magazines. Sweets. All of it. Early 90s. In the e stores that didn’t have the shoplifting was rife. Awful.

Saw someone running out of Waitrose with a leg of lamb recently. Whistles near me is locked (have to buzz to be let in) and today I walked past Toast and noticed the same as a customer was trying to get in (note on door explaining). I don’t shop in either of those but am looking for work and it’s worrying! Oh and the security guard who stopped a man who had something in his pocket in Superdrug last week - cool as you like the guy said he’d just put it safely there until he got to the till. Lordy.

Don’t intervene, last department store I worked in, security guard got run over chasing shoplifters. Off work six weeks (self employed).

My DS works in a Tesco Express and they have regulars who come in to steal. The staff know they're doing it, the thieves know they know, but the police won't come or act on the CCTV evidence, and (quite rightly) staff are told not to challenge them for their own safety.

DS makes about 5 police reports a day, and that just the ones he sees while he's on shift.

It depends entirely on what they’re stealing and why. I assume you’re going to tell me they were steeling vodka, cigarettes & a Sky dish.
Of course, genuinely desperate people sometimes do genuinely desperate things.

What an awful indictment on society that some have sunk so low retailers have to hide their products

Was having a coffee in Greggs last week and about 6 school boys walked in, opened the door to the fridge and they all took a drink then 1 went into the middle and took 2 packs of sausage rolls.
The young girl behind the counter just shook her head and said to us - there is nothing I can do against even 1 of them, we just have to leave them.
Was people have to put up with at work is sad.

An employee in the Tesco where I shop told me they don’t challenge shoplifters. Good ain’t it

It is the same in M and S, they are told not to challenge them.

There's no police. Too busy with Twitter and going on parades.

Think it’s a great idea, though it is sad it has come to this.

There's never an excuse for stealing, and this culture of taking it because nobody stops you needs to be stopped. I'm all for having stock behind the counter if it stops this.

My friend works at a supermarket. A colleague of hers was knocked down by a shoplifter legging it. All the colleague did was to walk around the corner to go down the next aisle. Wasn't challenging him. Dislocated shoulder and off for a month or so.

All it needs is a shop worker or customer getting seriously injured from shoplifters running into them, then dying from internal bleeding etc.

Greggs are only trialling this in 5 branches in London.

A lot of theft currently is organised crime in some form. It’s not people stealing a loaf of bread and eggs because they can’t afford it.

It goes well beyond shops. They even target delivery lorries from specific retailers and steal the parcels inside.