Shoplifted by accident, should I take it back?

[guiltymind]

Been on holiday for half term with kids. We went to a shop that is unique (there isn't one near us for about 100 miles). We were looking at some things, and I put something on the buggy (about 10 pounds). I was fully intending to pay for it but then 2 year old DD started to have a tantrum and I had to rush out of the store. It was only when I got back that I emptied the buggy and found that I still had it! I feel incredibly guilty, someone please tell me what to do....

I forgot to put some interdental brushes through and found them in the trolley. Small and easily missed
Went straight back and told the cashier and paid. Why wouldn't I? They weren't mine until I'd paid.

I'd post the money with a covering note apologising. I'd be a stammering wreck if I rang them!

I've inadvertently taken items without paying a few times. Including where I found DC in pushchair had hidden items without me noticing. On returning the item to pay, I have had assistants turn really nasty, and threaten to have me arrested. Since then I have sent cash in the post, to make me feel better, but can't be traced like a cheque.

Snowdrops DC3 put some socks in the tray under his pushchair in Debenhams. When I found out I just went back and put them back on the rack, because I was worried about that. On that occasion I had left the show before I found out, whereas with the forgotten brushes I was still in the store.

Have you made up your mind OP? What are you going to do?

I asked a few posts back, too. Sounds from the OP that she was just looking for reassurance that it was fine to keep the accidentally stolen loot. Not quite getting that she's scarpered...so it would seem.

The type of store has no bearing on the fact that it is theft unless you return the item.

If it's an independent store, I'd ring up and pay over the phone. If it's a huge chain, I'd just do nothing.

It makes NO difference whether it is a big store or a small independent one - the principle is the same. It is stealing. If you can't actually see that, your
sense of ethics is skewed. In short, you do not know the difference between right and wrong.

It is not about the value of something, either, or whether you perceive Tesco has been robbing you blind: it is about an individual taking the morally right course of action.

it is about an individual taking the morally right course of action.

Quite right CaraAspen. I feel it would be the morally right course of action for Tesco to make strenuous efforts to track down every one of the customers the BBC found were likely to have been overcharged over a three month period at least at 33 Tesco stores and refund them. I also think they should find out whether this has been happening in the rest of their 3,500 shops and also refund those customers.

That would not only be the moral thing to do, it also would protect Tesco from possible prosecution under trading standards legislation.

Don't you? Do you think Tesco is going to do it?

Hysterical over something so minor ON LINE that should say!

limitedperiodonly

it is about an individual taking the morally right course of action.

Quite right CaraAspen. I feel it would be the morally right course of action for Tesco to make strenuous efforts to track down every one of the customers the BBC found were likely to have been overcharged over a three month period at least at 33 Tesco stores and refund them. I also think they should find out whether this has been happening in the rest of their 3,500 shops and also refund those customers.

That would not only be the moral thing to do, it also would protect Tesco from possible prosecution under trading standards legislation.

Don't you? Do you think Tesco is going to do it

You are missing the point. Whether Tesco does it or not is of no consequence. The point IS the OP, or anyone else in this position, should do so. It doesn't matter if anyone else does - or whether the organisation called Tesco does - to return the item is the right thing to do.

Clearly, moral philosophy is not your strong point.

Trainspotting1984

What a load of uptight harridans. I'm taking solice in the fact it's easy to get hysterical over something so minor and be normal enough to deal with it without much thought IRL, no matter which way you go

The OP did ask and she is referencing a real life dilemma. Oh and I am not one of the "harridans" of whom you speak and I take solace in that.

I think you should consult a dictionary for a definition of "hysterical", by the way...

Tesco's overcharging on deals has been going on for at least 5 years! I check my receipt at every shop and one year it was pretty much every other shop that had an error on it somewhere.

I don't think it's me who's missing the point or doesn't understand philosophical debate CaraAspen.

Someone on this thread talked about not paying Tesco for some oranges she'd accidentally taken and you called her a thief for not paying Tesco back.

That's as maybe, but Tesco have also been shown to have taken money that it shouldn't have. That's why I found it interesting to examine their attitude to a similar mistake - inadvertently gaining an advantage from many customers and not bothering to give the money back.

Tesco is an organisation, but it has a CEO, Dave Lewis - I've just looked it up. If the company performs badly, even if it isn't entirely Dave's fault, he will be required by the shareholders to resign. That might strike me with sorrow at the unfairness of it all, but I think that on balance Dave will probably be all right.

The matter of overcharging customers in 33 Tesco stores for at least three months, and the wider matter of how long and in how many of their 3,500 stores they have been doing this, will not be a resigning matter for Dave.

But I believe that morally, Dave, as head of Tesco, ought to form a department to put every effort into tracking down every single customer who has been overcharged and refunding them over this. It should relatively easy because many Tesco customers use credit or debit cards, have itemised bills and also use Tesco Clubcards. For those people who use cash, Dave could operate an amnesty system if he wanted to.

That would make me feel all warm and fuzzy about Tesco.

But aside from that is the fact that Tesco might have breached trading standards laws. That's not morals. That's the law.

Just like some people on this thread are quoting their interpretation of the law on theft to the OP.

I think the OP should cough up. That's the moral thing to do, whether she's committed theft or not. But why shouldn't Tesco also cough up, whether they've breached trading standards or not?

I work in a supermarket and I am often still pleasantly surprised when people return to the store, or stop on their way out, when they realise they have forgotten to pay for something, and often I will then use my discretionary goodwill vouchers (they're worth £1/50p) to give people a discount for their honesty. If people phone up and it's a low value item (costing a couple of pounds) then I will often tell them not to worry about it and I'd write it off as waste or something, as a gesture of goodwill.

Having said that, if I ever get home and realise I haven't paid for something, whether or not I would return it depends entirely on the context - if it's from an independant retailer, regardless of the cost of the product, I'd at least call them to ask them what they want me to do - bring it back/post it/pay for it etc - as sometimes the cost to do those things are more than the item's worth but I would rather give the retailer the option as it is their choice as to whether they are happy to take the hit of the loss. I know one local independant shop owner that displays stuff on behalf of a local jewellery designer and when she sells items she then pays the designer, minus the stocking fee, so if you walked out with one of the designer's products, both of them would lose out on the money.

If it's a large (multi)national retailer, more often than not I'd still return it if it's a high value item, but if it was a low value item and it would cost me more to return than the value of the item I'd be tempted to just keep it and possibly mention it next time I'm in the store. The only exception being for any "accidental theft" I made whilst shopping in the supermarket I work at - I wouldn't want to risk getting into trouble for not reporting it even if it is only a 50p bar of chocolate. But, for example, if I've gone on the bus to pick my DD up from a playdate two towns over and pop into a Sainsburys (that we don't have in our town) to grab a few bits for tea then realise when I'm home that I have a £1 bottle of pop in my hand that I forgot to pay for, I'm not going to go out of my way to go back, as the bus fare alone would be easily double/triple the cost of the drink and that's without the hour round trip to go back and there's no way I could afford to be so out of pocket for a one off "theft" of a £1 drink from a large retailer ... if it happened at the Tesco metro round the corner, I'd nip back and pay, but that's because the cost of returning doesn't outweigh the cost of the item.

Trainspotting
What a load of uptight harridans. I'm taking solice in the fact it's easy to get hysterical over something so minor and be normal enough to deal with it without much thought IRL, no matter which way you go

What a ridiculous post. Harridans is a nasty and sexist insult and to suggest people are being 'hysterical' is a pathetic exaggeration.

I'm a bit by the '2 wrongs make a right' mentality going on here. Tesco have overcharged people so it's ok to steal from them? If Tesco charged you twice for something would you shrug and walk on or go back in to get what is rightfully yours?

And yes, taking a pack of oranges and not paying for them is theft.

Then YOU are a thief. I hope you're proud of yourself.

This may not be hysterical but is a slightly heightened response that made me snigger a bit.

I'm imagining CaraAspen with an outstretched finger surrounded by shocked ladies in a Victorian melodrama

On returning the item to pay, I have had assistants turn really nasty, and threaten to have me arrested

This was my first thought as well. I have heard of this happening. I would either send a cheque (although it does have your name on so maybe cash would be better) or make a donation to charity and forget about it.

I did this once, went into Boots to buy two new toothbrushes and something else that I can't remember. Well I picked up the toothbrushes was holding them in front of my chest like a ceremonial sword and couldn't find the other thing and walked out and down the road displaying my stolen toothbrushes proudly in front of me.

Ran back in a terrible state, grovelling and apologising and assistant was killing herself laughing as I explained my husband was the duty inspector at the local police station and he was likely to kill me if I was brought in for shoplifting. I think it was the best laugh they had all day.

You have my sympathy but try to be more dignified than I was.

Tesco have overcharged people so it's ok to steal from them?

That might be what others have said but not me. I just think it's an interesting point as to what efforts we think people should make in order to repay people they have inadvertently taken money from.

I think the OP should, but I also think Tesco should too. That's regardless of the relative monetary gain, though that of Tesco is going to be much, much more.

I don't know whether the OP or the person who inadvertently took oranges without paying would be charged with theft. Neither do I know whether Tesco would be charged with breaching trading standards for the multiple occasions over a three month period in 33 stores of 50 out of their total of 3,500 shops that they overcharged people. I just know that the nice thing to do would be to return the money in the cases of the MNetters and for Tesco to find out whether this overcharging happened nationwide and make recompense.

Don't you agree PutTheBunnyBackInTheBox?