Be honest, zero judgment - how often do you steal from supermarket self-checkouts?

[Alwaysthelastone]

My theory is, “decent, up-standing” people do it a lot more than they’d ever admit. Let’s try to stop this thread descending into judgement and criticism of people who are just answering the question honestly. Otherwise they just won’t be honest. No judgement from me, as long as we’re talking large chain supermarkets only. I’ll admit that I sometimes forget to weigh fruit & veg, get to the till and can’t be bothered going back so don’t bother paying. Occasionally in the past when money’s been tight I haven’t paid for a few of the more expensive items like laundry detergent, nappies, the odd bottle of wine. But we’re talking 3 or 4 times I year. I’m not some sort of serial shoplifter and I consider myself a decent person (although I’m sure I’ll swiftly be told I’m not on here 🤣) anyway, would be interested to hear how often the mostly upstanding, middle-class MN population really does it…

Never.

Having worked at a supermarket you’re right, but people will not admit it online. It was almost always middle class women doing it for a thrill, the real shoplifters who just go in and lift a bunch of steaks are normally crackheads, but the habitual self checkout stealers were almost always middle class women or teenage girls.

I may have inadvertently stolen a Max Bygrave record. The record shop had one box of free records and one box of a pound only. I thought that both boxes were free. Next time I went there I noticed that one box was free and one a pound a record. I never played it, so I wouldn't have enjoyed my ill-gotten gain.

And, it is because people steal wine etc, that everything takes so much longer. In one Morrisons I went to, they’ve actually locked up all the alcohol, you have to press a button and wait (forever!) for a member of staff to come and open it.
And other supermarkets if you are at the self checkout, you need staff to remove the security tag but they won’t do it until you’ve scanned everything and paid. You then stand around waiting for them to come and do it. No one “needs” wine and shoplifting makes everything worse for everyone.

How long ago was that, I don't ever remember having my shopping packed and Ive been doing food shops for over 30 years

I wouldnt want that anyway but haven't ever seen it apart from local scout group type situations

And I've never stolen anything and it would never cross my mind to do it

I stole a creme egg from a newsagent about 40 years ago (it was a dare on the way to school). Still feel bad about it now!!

Never and I'm now 80, so have done a lot of shopping in my life.

Absolutely never, partially because I won’t want to get caught and partially because it’s not something I w

Never. Funny thing to assume about people.

So by your logic, it’s fine for burglars to steal - sorry, "sneak things out" - from the houses of wealthy people, because they can afford the loss?

Do you teach your kids it’s fine to steal from other children who they dislike, or whose families are better off than yours?

I work in a supermarket, scum like you ruin our numbers which affects our bonus and makes sure we get constant headaches from managers. You're a shoplifter and a theif.

You're literally stealing money from me.

Never stolen anything. It would just never occur to me to take something that isn't mine.

I remember years ago when a relation of my, then, husband had a break in at their flat.

When they put the insurance claim in they made out that the monetary loss was far greater than it actually was.

I was pretty naive at the time and didn't know people did things like that so voiced my surprise at their behaviour. Only to be told that 'everyone did it'.

Well no they don't, and yes I did judge them and they went right down in my estimation.

That's one of the reasons insurance premiums are so high, the insurance companies are covering the loss from people inflating their claims.

In the same way, supermarkets factor shoplifting into their pricing.

Stealing from shops is not some light-hearted, victimless jape, it's theft and we all pay for it.

My Mum did something similar, and accidentally stole some bottles of wine. She'd been shopping with her sister at a Sainsburys in a different town. Mum didn't drive, but my Auntie did. She didn't realise until she got home.
So she took the wine to our local Sainsburys, explained what happened and said wanted to pay for it. They told her to just keep the wine. Mum felt uncomfortable about this, so she made a £30 charity donation to ease her conscience.

Your moral compass is seriously skewed. You seem to be looking for solidarity on here to justify you stealing. Your thefts arent even accidental, but deliberate. Unbelievable....

I read that as a "half-drunk" bottle of brandy 🤣

Never have and never will. And yes I do judge those who do.

Absolutely never

I very occasionally take a plastic bag, but only if I’m unable to go back and add one

I did this once! Partner had a basket full of items, I had something under my arm and walked out forgetting to pay for it but just as I walked out the doors realised and ran back in mortified and paid for it.

never intentionally nicked anything

A greetings card once. The scales were causing drama and I couldn't get any staff attention. Putting the second card on the bagging area let me continue scanning and when I still couldn't get anyone's assistance I just paid and left as I needed to go.

Never. I cannot believe you think this is common amongst people who have the means to pay.

Honestly, never, I spent about 100 quid at farm shop/feed supply once and when I was loading my car I found a £2 plant I hadn’t paid for and ran back in and returned it. I’ve been so broke I’ve took penny jars to the machine in Tesco and I can make a bag of veggies and spuds into various meals in the days before payday. But I’ve never considered nicking anything.

I always steal carrier bags from Co-op. Those little green ones make the perfect food bin caddy.

I only ever go to Co-op on the hop, so wouldn't have my own bag with me. I take the opportunity to get a new bin bag with my shopping.

I'm pretty sure there's been times where I've put something on the scales, realised it hadn't scanned but it still let me carry on. I'm too scared to do that these days.

Never. I just wouldn’t occur to me to do it. It’s not me. I take action to try and uphold the sort of standards in society that make it better for all of us, and that I see inaction from people allowing normalisation of. If I saw you shoplift / not pay I would call you out on it.

I stopped a clothes shoplifter in the street once, took their haul from them and marched it back into the shop. Pointing out you appeared to not have paid for that wine would need no second thought.

The only time I have ever knowingly sort of stolen from a self-checkout was in Primark - I had a basket with a few bits I needed, and a crying baby so I was stressed and just wanted to get outside.

I had 2 t-shirts, same price, but as I went to scan one I realised it didn't have a label, so i scanned the other one twice as I just couldn't face going back to find one with a label and queuing again etc, or waiting for an assistant to do it for me while my newborn was screaming.

Joke was on me in the end though because it didn't fit and I couldn't return it because it wasn't on my receipt 🙃

Other than that I'm sure I've probably inadvertently not scanned things when doing self-scan round tesco, but nothing more than that.