I knew shop lifting was a problem but I didn't imagine it was like this..

[SunShow]

DS is working in a Tesco Express. He personally makes around 8 shop lifting reports every day. Obviously these are just the one he sees.

I imagined that shoplifting was kids/teens stealing a chocolate bar or desperate people stealing food and that does happen, but most of it is much larger scale. Yesterday he had people arrive with rucksacks and literally sweep the contents of a shelf into their bags.

Staff are taught not to confront them (good as far as his mother is concerned!) and police take no action even when there is good CCTV.

This is a small supermarket in the nicer bit of a perfectly pleasant suburban town.

Agog at these scenarios! I wonder if the general public would be in favour of the police/CPS focussing more on traditional crime like theft rather than social media posts and Glastonbury performances.

All the people claiming barriers would work they don't, in our Sainsbury's people either tailgate to get out or just force them open enough to squeeze through the gap.
Even our Screwfix (which is like Argos where everything is behind the counter) has had a Fog Bandit system for years and I assume that's to stop them accessing the back.

It’s not fair to say the shops don’t care.
as shop staff we have to protect our personal safety first and foremost. We stop them at the door if we see them approaching, ask them to leave if we catch them taking stuff, besides that I just want them to get out without being abusive towards me. What do you expect us to do? Pin them down and take the stuff back? Some staff do corner them and grab the bag back etc but we are told not to do this as it’s dangerous and we can be in trouble for it.
the higher up bosses who don’t work in the shops- maybe they don’t care . They don’t care enough to give us a security guard for example. But don’t say the shops staff don’t care

It wasn’t uncommon when I worked in retail for them to clear and entire gondola of the entire size range of dresses, shrugs, skirts and tops. You could literally turn your back and when you turned back the entire thing had vanished.
In John Lewis I watched a guy casually wheel out and entire rack of Barbour jackets. They were security chained so you couldn’t take one, much more efficient to take all 30.

Amazed at the number of people here are outraged if they are stopped or questioned when everyone agrees shoplifting is a problem across all types of people

Why should I have compassion for any thieving bastard who selfishly makes sure the rest of us pay more for their scumbag behaviour? No chance.

This isn’t a case of poor souls stealing a loaf of bread to feed their emaciated children, it’s junkies stealing things to sell on.

I’m sick of the breakdown in law and order.
I wish there was the “broken window approach” that worked well in NYC in the late 1990s.
The majority, who are good hard working honest people are sick of the crime stats.

Well that is encouraging, has cheered me up a bit 😊
But I still feel that the law needs to be enforced, otherwise it’s of little value.
People escalate even within these kinds of crimes, round here many shopkeepers have been threatened with weapons. A friend of mine was mugged and robbed with a baby in her arms, the whole thing was caught on CCTV and a local solicitor told her the police are well aware of the gang…nothing was done, no one would arrest, prosecute or even question. A few streets from me a disabled man was mugged, thrown from his chair and down the steps to a basement flat before the attackers left him there, again told no action will be taken.

Seems to be the same thing happening with discipline in schools but that’s another issue, though it will end up being connected. Yes, they can behave as they want and no one can do anything. Poor teachers, you couldn’t pay me enough to risk life and limb in some of the schools near me.

I sound like the grumpy old relative at Christmas dinner who is retired and reads the Daily Fail, I assure you I’m not at all!

Are you yourself going to drag purchase" junkies" and beat them up.or are you just expecting Someone else to do it?
Because I wouldn't risk it not would I want to risk getting a criminal record for a low paid job.

With the jails full and people without jobs unable to pay fines, I'm not sure what if any powers could stop this expect for shops putting things behind counters.

It would stop a lot of impulse shopping, but why is impulse shopping a thing anyway?

I do it as much as the next person - telling myself I need whatever item - but I often don't. And while I appreciate it creates jobs it also leads to landfill etc.

So perhaps this will be a natural way of all bigger shops closing down and everything going online or back to Arkwright's style corner shops?

@Bowling4soupcompletly agree it was crushing to experience. The laughing manager of the shop a pp mentioned is absolutely the exception in my experience. It’s a basic that an employee should not feel that powerless in their role. You want them to feel sense of pride in their contribution.

you cannot go round spray painting people randomly, of course not!

do you mean DNA spray? That can only be used by trained security guards which your Tesco extra probably can’t afford

I see theft nearly every time I got to the supermarket, which is daily as I live so close. The staff aren't paid enough to care and nor should they put themselves at risk.
There are some needy people but most people know they'll get away with it so do it. I think it is bad sign for society as bad behaviours often escalate.
I've written to my MP about this but got no response. I think security need more power to detain shop lifters and they need a police campaign to come and lock people up for a while. People know that unless they steal loads there is no consequence to stealing.
It really makes me rage.

Nah, that’s not the job of shop staff. Clearly we need security everywhere, even in places you’d think they wouldn’t be required.

Security staff wages would be nowhere near the costs of stock lost to theft.

I work in a supermarket and we’re trained to leave them alone just let security know what we think, firstly for security (could be carrying a weapon) but secondly because there’s been a lot of cases where people robbed, sued the supermarket and won!

Being middle class doesn’t mean that you can’t be a shoplifter. I saw a man in a suit walk out of M&S with armfuls of filler steak and when my ds worked in a retail, a junkie waved a dirty needle when asked about the makeup stuffed into the buggy. She walked out with more than a grand’s worth!

There was someone on here who bought luxuries like scent boosters off someone who steals to order and was baffled why people think she did something bad when she wasn’t the one actually doing the stealing.

It is rife and absolutely brazen. Poor staff should not put themselves at risk. There needs to be penalties for these gangs, the £200 rule needs to be scrapped, and there needs to be targeted action by the police against repeat offenders
A young lady at my local Tesco said it was hourly not daily and the police never attended even to collect video evidence.

Why do you think Security staff (on their equally low wages) should be more willing to put themselves at risk than shop staff?

I can imagine what Jobbie's take on this is. That people are starving and have to steal.

Because they can be given stab vests, are trained in restraint and part of their role, are recruited based on their ability to physically handle others etc.

The scale is truly shocking. I was at a Sainsburys Local when a man came in, swiped a load of stuff and ploughed straight into an elderly lady in his rush to get out. He knocked her over and she had to go to hospital.

Again great idea in principle. Real problem is it’s way too easy for a scammer to tailgate a genuine shopper. This has happened to me! So then you have honest shoppers at risk of getting bashed out the way by the tailgating scammer.

I work in a deprived area the local supermarket has put entrance and exit barriers up to prevent people walking out with a lot of goods. No problem to the locals they are sending the kids in and I witnessed two boys running down the aisle with various fresh meat bulging under their arms like rugby balls one high jumped the barrier one went under it. They were like a fast tag team. The security guard said they can stop people but not physically and they can’t leave the shop to chase them. He said the parents cut the meat and share it among the families and neighbours.

I have a colleague who shop lifts at the self service tills by scanning a cheap item and bagging a more expensive one, she pays for the cheap one too. Or she buys birthday cards and scans two at once, she bought three dresses in M&S and scanned the cheapest three times. She said it’s very rare for an assistant to check the shopping they are just too busy. She says it all adds up and it’s the price they pay for making her do her own shopping.

It's because the police do fuck all about it. We were shopping in town this morning, police out in force. Saw them arrest a shoplifter in Specsavers, walk him away handcuffs and all, not even half an hour later he was stealing shoes in Deichmann. They did not bother to come and arrest him again, despite several of them being in shouting distance. It's a free for all and police are just for show.

I live in a predominantly MC town. In my local M&S Simply Food, I’ve seen people come in and take 3 or 4 steaks. They have no in-store security and put the fresh meats close to the exit. It beggars belief.

My nephew had a part time job in a M&S while at uni, he says it’s cheaper for them to let shoplifters steal things than to employ security staff.