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Original poster

Greggs shifts food behind counters to stop thieves

183 replies

SerendipityJane · 19/05/2025 18:01

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

Sandwiches in a Greggs shop

Greggs shifts food behind counters to stop shoplifting

The High Street chain is trialling moving its self-serve goods to crack down on shoplifting.

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

OP posts:
taxguru · 22/05/2025 20:12

EmeraldShamrock000 · 22/05/2025 07:14

Dispatches on C4 followed a group of shoplifters who were stealing millions every year from supermarket stores in the UK, they were suppling market stalls with their entire stock, once they infiltrated the EE gang, they discovered an illegal marriage scam too, charging 10,000 plus monthly fees for a wife visa while stealing millions in shop stock in gangs, it is a huge business, they were exported a lot of stock too, while claiming benefits and housing payments.

Show quote history

No doubt, black economy tax evasion, benefit fraud and money laundering added into the mix, maybe even some illegal workers, probably no valid driving licence or insurance for their vehicle(s). Lots of boxes ticked on their bingo card of criminality.

Missey85 · 22/05/2025 20:18

WFHmutha25 · 19/05/2025 18:08

Is it cos of the seagull?

🤣🤣 I saw that video he really wanted the sandwich 😊

Missey85 · 22/05/2025 20:21

isitme111 · 22/05/2025 07:56

Forty + years ago it was a huge thing to be caught shoplifting. The store could detain the thief and the police would attend, the thief could end up with a criminal record for one offence. Nowadays it's just a normal thing to witness.

I got arrested and taken to the station when I was 15 because I stole a Spice girls tshirt 😆

EmeraldShamrock000 · 22/05/2025 21:29

The court news usually mentions 59 or so previous convictions, charged, a suspended sentence.

Missey85 · 23/05/2025 07:14

Bundleflower · 19/05/2025 18:19

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.

Show quote history

Most of the thieves aren't desperate 😆😆😆 they'll sell what they steal if they need food go to the foodbank

RockaLock · 23/05/2025 08:45

taxguru · 20/05/2025 19:22

But they have 2,600 stores, so the profit "per store" is roughly an average of £28,000 which is hardly excessive.

Would you get in a tizzy over 2,600 private/independent bakers/sandwich shops making only £26,000 each?

In fact, they wouldn't make that much because they'd be paying more for their supplies as they'd be buying from distributors/manufacturers who'd make a profit. Wholesale profits are typically 25%, manufacturing profits are typically 50%.

So, if instead of owning their own stores, if they just did the manufacture and distribution, then each of the private/independent shop fronts would probably only be making £13k each per year.

Hardly excessive when you drill down the figures into numbers of stores, etc. That's the probably with getting excited about "big" numbers without actually dividing down by numbers of stores, numbers of staff, different divisions, etc.

Show quote history

Exactly, and that £28k per store per year profit works out on average at just under £550 profit a week for each store.

So if each store is losing on average £300 a week to theft, then that’s a massive chunk of their profit to lose. And it wouldn’t take much of an increase to tip a store into making a loss.

All of a sudden, that £74m profit doesn’t look so excessive, does it.

dollymixedup · 24/05/2025 21:50

When I worked in Greggs we were told that if you spread sales evenly over a week, that store wouldn't make profit until Saturday afternoon.

Shoplifter 'uniform' north face and armarni !

Lots of customers paying for some items, but nicking others (red bull and lucozade in particular). And the more customers which witness others doing it, the more that try it out.

It's frustrating and disheartening as staff - especially managers - as our performance was rated on waste and availability. So if someone steals the last cheese and ham baguette, you have to make more, usually for them to be stolen again! So takes staff time as well as ingredients etc - knocks all your stock out of whack.

We had builders stealing to order for co-workers, until one day my colleague followed them and informed the site manager.

taxguru · 25/05/2025 19:19

@dollymixedup

We had builders stealing to order for co-workers, until one day my colleague followed them and informed the site manager.

Yet people still seem to think that shoplifting/theft is excusable because "they're poor"! No! Most aren't poor!

As I said upthread, I've seen groups of builders, roofers and scaffolders walk out of our village co-op without paying for their snacks/lunches, bold as brass, get into their trucks/lorries and drive off. They just come in, take what they want and go out again, no attempt whatsoever to hide what they're doing, cover their faces, etc., clearly safe in the knowledge that the police aren't going to bother investigating and tracking them down!

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