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.

Until there is any consequence or punishments meted out as a deterrent this will continue. Sadly society has taken a terrible downturn and there is a huge lack of respect for retail. Shoplifting is not a victimless crime, quite the opposite - every decent person in our society who enters a shop and pays for their goods - is a victim. The more goods stolen, the less profits, so the more we have to pay.

My theory is that in the future most chain owned shops will require customers to have to belong to the shop in some form, rather like the Nectar, More etc loyalty schemes, be pre-approved and have credit card, personal details and facial recognition on file before you can even enter - a bit like the Amazon fresh store model. It would cut this problem right down surely?

I am depressed too at going into our local Coop, Greggs etc and it appears to be a free for all help yourself shop for a section of our community. Most of the shoplifting I witness is booze, steaks etc stolen to order. We locally have a no questions asked friendly well stocked Food Bank which welcomes anyone who is experiencing financial difficulty - I think most of what I stolen is to sell on unfortunately.

It happens because it is tolerated.

Police and retailers don't want to deal with it because in the short term it is difficult and expensive to prosecute.

Communities tolerate shop lifting gangs because it means they get some cheap groceries and are happy not to ask where it all comes from.

Thrill seekers do it because they can. They don't see themselves as criminals. They get a little private frisson from getting a free steak. They think it is a victimless crime.

But society suffers. Criminality is contagious.

i wonder how many people see product walking out the door and decide “if them, why not me” and the next day people see them, and the rabbit hole gets a little deeper

judging by the comments in this thread about people in suits, I’d say we are pretty deep

Oh no, they sometimes come up to me in Waitrose and ask if I need any assistance. Hope they don’t think I’m shoplifting!

A friend of mine had a son who worked in a mini supermarket (budgins)

He caught so many shoplifters it was unreal

The police told him to stop as he was making their figures look bad and in turn,the supermarket fired him (long story and a bad manager)

They shut down within 6 months (in my area)

They would walk in,sweep the shelves and run,middle class ladies would come in and 'accidentally' drop something into their bag,little old ladies would shove bits into their trollies-there was no 'typical' person

I think the only person he didn't stalk around that shop was his mum!

I finished using the self service tills and had noticed a couple of customers there. One guy had scanned his shopping and had gone off. As I walked past the till he’d been using, there was a message up about “Do you need more time?” Guy had scanned his shopping, bagged it up and then left without paying.

God knows. How has Trump become president of the most powerful nation on earth when he’s a retarded toddler in an adult body? How are men allowed to compete in women’s sports and call themselves women? The list of things I can’t compute anymore is just endless. I feel like we are living in an alternative reality on another planet. In twenty years there will be no such thing as law and order anymore.

Whilst I like to blame Brexit for a lot of things, it isnt the only reason for increased food prices.

Shoplifting does play a significant part. Shops budget for a certain amount of loss. If that loss increases, then the shareholders certainly wont be taking less dividends so it get passed on to us (as usual)

Along with food scarcity due to climate change (the price of chocolate is doing wonders for my waistline though!), unstable supply chains (supermarkets have gaps on the shelves as standard now), increased processing costs...

If it’s reported and the CCTV submitted the neighbourhood team will know exactly who it is. The manager can find the details via police.uk and there will be a contact us link. If they aren’t happy with the response, complain. And what is the shop doing themselves? The shop has a responsibility too. Have they employed any kind of security?.

This is it. It makes you wonder why you bother being honest. No reward for it and seemingly no punishment for not being.

Not true. All this shop lifting isn’t being done by some single parent with empty cupboards and hungry children. It’s criminal gangs who will do anything other than get an honest job.

I see this regularly at a store near me especially at lunchtime. Meal deal etc. self scan unmanned and 1 person behind a screen sorting out eg cigarettes or lottery tickets. My local Aldi have 1 or 2 people on the scan and will close a couple of tills down if 1 person is supervising and the store is busy so they can watch who is doing what.

Er no, it wouldnt

we have NO ROOM in our prisons

During the M&S meltdown i saw someone try to pay with his phone, fail, and just walk out with bags of stuff. I was amazed!

That you Keir?

Let’s build more then. Not that they will be needed - if there are a few high profile lengthy sentences or deportations it will soon put a stop to it. Like the rioting last year.

In my local Greggs the other day having a sandwich and coffee. Bloke walked in and swiped loads of stuff off the shelves and walked out.

Who is going to staff them? There’s no staff….its beyond ridiculous

Do you know what it costs to build/staff a prison? And for those of you want more prisons the minute it's suggested it will be in your area you will be campaigning against it on a nimby ticket. Maybe the supermarkets could fund a prison that shoplifters get sent to. Finest M&S jail, No reason to thieve at Morrisons.

Influencers or villains given the case of the female officer who gave an inmate a BJ for her TikTok or whatever she was doing. The recent prison Governor who got jail for being involved with a villain and this week a female officer jailed for smuggling phones, drugs, vapes into the jail in her bra.

I saw an article years ago that M&S in Hampstead, so an affluent area, had over £4,000 worth of stuff stolen every week. That is £208,000 a year and that is just one shop.

I don't live in the UK, but we still have this theft issue. Companies lose millions each year, who do you think is paying for that, literally?

It pisses me off so much. I was sat in a Greggs and in the space of 10 minutes saw several people just come in, browse the shelves, pick an item and just walk out with it. Made me wonder why I bothered paying.

Our local Tesco Express now has sliding doors over the washing up liquid to stop people just swiping the lot into their bag.

I wondered why there are sliding doors across the whole of the dairy and meat sections now.

NS would sort this out.

It's cost too much to house a prisoner that's why it's the last option, also prison is for rehabilitate not punishment. At the end of the day there is no social conttact anymore, people are sick of everything and don't care about anything, let alone how their behaviour effects other people. I'm sure the people on this thread wouldn't steal but many probably exhibit other shitty, entitled behaviour that contributes to this society we live in where everyone is in it for themselves