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, you do realise shop theft impacts us all!

Never. WTF

Yeah, "LOL". Always makes everything sound fun and not stupid and selfish at all.
Does it count as "serial banana theft" when you originally said that what you steal is laundry detergent, nappies, the odd bottle of wine?
At least you were honest about the wine - most people when caught and who mention it on MN, only steal for their babies and are always caught the very first time they go out pilfering.
And, no, I haven't.

Never! Pleased to see that is the general response too.

Honestly, if I find some single garlic rolling around that I didn’t put through the scanner or which I didn’t weigh as the scales weren’t working (often the case at our supermarket) I don’t shlepp back to offer to pay; but it’s a real hesitation. I do also when that ever happens think about the huge amount of money I spend there but it bothers me when it has happened and I am never completely easy.

PPs have mentioned that many people steal to fund drug habits and I have to say @Alwaysthelastone , that if I saw you doing this in my local shops I would assume you are an unhoused crack addict or alcoholic because those are the people I regularly see stealing from my local shops. Hopefully you don’t mind people making that assumption about you.

You should definitely stop helping yourself to stuff that isn’t yours though. Makes the prices increase for all of us that aren’t on the rob and that isn’t very fair.

Never. If I ever heard my teens were doing this, I’d be furious.

Crikey. Never. You have a weird view.

Never

really shocked you would say this

and happy to steal wine ?????? - nappies I could almost not judge - but wine - wtf

this can’t be real

Never. Wtf?! My husband sometimes steals a bag because he's pissed off that they charge 30p for them (even the paper ones, and wasn't the while point of it to reduce plastic use?) but while I don't disagree with him exactly, it still makes me uncomfortable and I would never steal one.

I think some people are generally honest whether they're being watched or not, and some people will do whatever they can get away with and don't care as long as they're not caught. Those people assume everyone else is like them.

Never, the stuff is weighed too so how could you steal it?
Once I genuinely couldn't find the little icon thingy for a lemon and just stuck it through as a lime, which was about 10p cheaper if even that. Of course, a lemon is slightly heavier so it screwed up, and a staff member had to come over. And she looked at me like I was trying to steal the Crown Jewels!

I never have as an adult.

As a teen I used to push the ends of tubes of fruit gums so they'd spill out onto the shelf and then eat some.

I am certainly not whiter than white and neither are most people on MN, even though they pretend they are. In real life I've had people tell me they've never broken the law, and then you happen to be behind them as you both leave the event, and they are breaking the speed limit.

I refuse to do retailers' stupid receipt scanning and either don't shop in stores that require it, or tail-gate. The "shoplifting" retailers complain about isn't shoplifting, it's looting by gangs, and they don't care about receipts and barriers.

Maybe once a year 😀 I’ll put something through as a cheaper item. I reckon it’s a lot more common than this thread is making out.

Never. Live in fear of accidentally doing it. I rushed the self service at Zara and got stopped by the security guard on the way out. It was awful I had paid and could show the payment had gone through on my online banking and the shop assistant women were apologetic to me but the guards initial assumption I was a thief was absolutely awful. I keep every receipt now.

Never but I have been given something for free when it wouldn’t scan and the staff member on self checkout couldn’t be bothered to sort it so she said just have it.
But I would never steal.

Never, someone gave me the wrong change yesterday and I gave back a tenner. Theft is theft.

Never have, never do, never will.

I live in an area where many people are experiencing the negative impact of poverty and the cost of living crisis has hit hard. Meanwhile people who have the money are just casually shoplifting? Ew.

I'd rather continue using my energy to volunteer with a local charity and schools to help get the supermarket waste and donations to the people who need it.

I don't like breaking rules because it makes me feel panicky and anxious.

I don't understand how you can either with the scales and the cameras at the checkouts?

I once accidentally didn't scan a top in Tescos. DD1 was a baby and sat in the trolley and started crying so I hung the top I had in my hand over the handlebar of the trolley to pick her up. Then completely forgot to scan it and was caught walking out of the checkout area with it. I think (hope) the woman that stopped me could see the genuine shock on my face but it was absolutely mortifying! That experience alone was enough to put me off ever trying to take something without paying.

Never

Never

I don't understand how you can steal wine as it has to be age approved by an employee

Never

Never, I once had to have a full rescan of Tesco scan and shop and it transpired that my transgression was that I'd scanned the more expensive piece of steak twice, so the full rescan was slightly cheaper than my basket had shown and I was mortified when they did the check then said there is an irregularity we need to rescan everything

Not all self-service tills use scales - eg the M&S at Waterloo station doesn't.

You have reminded me though that sometimes I can't find the type of bread roll. I imagine I've underpaid on some occasions but on others I've probably paid too much so they get it in the end.

I never do

It's not about "feeling" like you are a thief, when you steal, you ARE a thief.