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…

I don’t have to go as far as thinking about what would ‘stop’ me doing it, because it just doesn’t occur to me to do it in the first place. Nothing stops me stealing, I just don’t ever think about stealing something.

It’s the same as if someone asked me ‘What stops you stealing cars and joyriding around the estate?’ Or ‘What stops you stabbing people when they annoy you?’

What ‘stops’ me doing those things is simply not having any motivation to do them.

Why the inverted commas around thief? are you trying to imply that taking stuff from a shop without paying ISN'T being a thief?

Never ever.

I once stole some tights when I was about 15. Not sure why.

In the past I quite often used to not pay for train tickets, but that was due to being only just in time for the train and not wanting to endure the annoying lecture when I asked to buy the ticket when I arrived. It was much easier just to exit from the back of the station. Now I can buy tickets on my phone I don't do it.

That's about the extent of my criminal career.

Absolutely not!! I did once walk out, forgetting to pay (I had been rearranging some bags). I realised when I was getting a coffee, so went back, explained what had happened and rescanned everything so I could pay. Shop lifting is not acceptable.

Our local co-op doesn’t have the weigh area so I can see how it would be easy to do it there.

I got a bag check done once and they found an item I hadn't scanned. Well, I had but cocked it up. I'd picked up 500mg 5% mince, scanned it, then realised there were some better dated ones further back, so swapped the packs.
What i hadn't realised was that my new pack was 500mg 5% Aberdeen Angus mince and was more expensive.
They checked every item in my trolley and I was mortified.
So why on earth would I put myself through that fear by nicking a banana?

So, technically I suppose I have attempted to shoplift, just not successfully😅

I once - totally by mistake - didn't scan a bag of ice. Random trolley check, they found it, had to get every single thing out of the trolley and rescan it. For about 10 visits after this, my trolley was checked every time. You will get caught.

A deeply troubled family member used to steal from shops all of the time. She got a thrill from it. She has serious, deep rooted problems though so I presumed that was part of her compulsion to steal.

Me never.

I admit to having done it as a poor student when the self scan first came out. Just put a biggish item by your feet or keep it in the basket, and then scan everything else through and move the rest away to pack and sort out your bags. I wouldn't do it now, and regret a lot of the bad/poor choices I made back when I was an older teenager. I was hanging around with a crowd that thought if you got away with anything that meant it was fine.

I would never do it now in my 30s/40s.

Never. And I absolutely reserve the right to judge you.

If you want to maintain your integrity then you'd never steal from anyone.

I don't think the OP understands how self-checkouts work 😆 😆 😆 😆

The presence of cameras and physical weight verification mean that it is more difficult to get away with stealing via the self-checkout.

Never. I once forgot to pay for a bar tab, realised the next morning and called them - mortified - and went back on to settle up.

It's partly that I would feel bad about myself and partly because I understand that societies run much better and more pleasantly when they're built on trust. When that is undermined in this drip-drip fashion, life also becomes drip-drip worse as people gradually realise that they can't trust the people around them to behave honestly and not be looking to get one over for themselves, and they start to take defensive measures against it. Those defensive measures mean more red tape, harder access to help for people who genuinely need it and total cessation of some ways of life we used to enjoy (in this case I'm thinking of honesty boxes, leaving your door unlocked etc.)

Societal trust has diminished in this country just over my lifetime, let alone the lifetime of my parents and grandparents, and this is one of the small reasons why. It's really sad.

Never but I know people who have they are usually very poor and buying food

I don't usually like the 'would you judge' threads but in this case I absolutely would; and if a friend said they'd done it and treated it like it was no big deal in the way the OP appears to, I'd be rethinking that friendship.

any more than 1 is a serial killer

I was thinking the same. How? Seems impossible to me. And who would risk being caught stealing if you can pay for it?? I mean, if you haven't enough to buy food for your kids, then maybe...

Never intentionally. Once I had the pushchair and put some nuts up in the hood, my daughter kicked off royally that I got half way around the store, and we left. I found them the next time it rained 🤣 I didn't go back, as I couldn't remember how long they had been there!

I have never done this. I have the kind of job where any kind of criminal record, even for the most minor theft or shoplifting, would end my career. Also, I'm not a thief and don't believe I have the right to take things I haven't paid for.

Never. Why would I risk it when I don't need to?

It does happen a lot more than you might think and those who do it definitely aren't the ones most might expect. I saw someone stuck a couple of things in their tote and waltz out of M&S the other week. Seemed a youngish man, hipster type clothing, possibly student or young professional.

I've had plastic carrier bags, probably a handful of times and not scanned them but I'd never deliberately steal an item from a shop. It's probably 90% morals and 10% fear of being caught if I wereto steal, but I know I wouldn't (apart from carrier bags) 😉.

I was once 'collared' by a security guard going through the door of a large tesco with an item of clothing in my bag but I'd not stolen it, the cashier hadn't taken the security tag off! It was soon cleared up with the production of my receipt and I held said item in the air and waved it to the small crowd of curious onlookers who'd stopped shopping to see a 'shoplifter' being dealt with and triumphantly declared "see I had paid for it, I'm leaving now" and walked out of the door cheeks blushing!

I'd be mortified to repeat this scenario again but actually be guilty!

I have never gone to the checkout with the intention of stealing. However, in the 10+ years that I have been using self checkouts, I have probably ended up not paying for items about a dozen times. This would either be a very low value item in a big shop that refuses to scan, or an item without a bar code that I have to look up and either can't find at all or can only find a slightly cheaper equivalent.

If that makes me a career criminal, I can take it.

On the other hand, when I do my weekly shop these days I self-scan as I go. I have been checked occasionally as we all are, and on two occasions failed the check. On both of those occasions the rescan of my entire shop showed that actually I'd over scanned (accidentally scanning items twice without realising, as well as not correctly scanning one item that meant I failed the test). So I reckon Asda overcharges me quite regularly!

That makes me feel ok about the occasional lapses at the self checkouts. I reckon we're even at worst.

Never

Societal trust has diminished in this country just over my lifetime, let alone the lifetime of my parents and grandparents, and this is one of the small reasons why. It's really sad.

Thanks to people like OP, my local supermarket now looks like airport security against terrorism. Barriers at the checkout to people running out with stuff and they've just installed huge cameras and what look like scanners at the entrance.