At the amount of shoplifting that apparently goes on

[paperbattles]

Just been to the local garden centre, which has new security sensors, CCTV and security guard - the checkout person explained that so much shoplifting has gone on that they have had to install extra precautions. She said if an item can be moved people will take it, and loads of people do it - top of the list scented candles, alcohol and flowers. Am I completely naive to think that most people are honest and the odd few make a mistake or even steal a small item; or is it not thought to be bad behaviour? what is the reasoning? trying to understand what makes people do it, where do they draw the line?

I'm not surprised. I remember a few years back running a charity stall, the number of people who picked stuff up and walked off without paying was horrific. We also got targeted by a group of women who clustered around us and shoved stuff under coats/into buggies until one of the helpers told them we were closing the stall down until they left. We all love a bargain, but some people don't count it a bargain if they have had to pay.

My sister was a primary school teacher in the midlands, and a few years ago asked a 7 year old if his new trainers were a gift from Father Christmas. He replied that they weren’t, they were a present from The Pinchers” - his mum tells them what they want and they go and get it!! Quite a black market in goods stolen to order she discovered.

VIOLET I know a children's hospice that has similar stories. Including parents walking off with the bed linen, crockery and anything not nailed down from the parents flat and one family having to be told that unless their noisy, aggressive drunk visitors left immediately , they would be asked to leave too. I know having a very sick child is stressful, but it does not excuse theft and thuggery.

Slumber as a white, goth/metal dressing teenager I and my friends were often followed by security in shops. Never stole or vandalised anything but we were also approached by police after school windows were broken.

I accidentally shoplifted a lovely blouse. I had it on a hanger over a vest top I'd also bought, and had it hanging on the trolley. I bought other stuff too, but kept the receipt in case I wanted to return it, only to find that I'd only been charged for the vest top, not the blouse.

I love this country - there is so much that's great about it - but the amount of thieving and corruption really depresses me. I have worked in quite a few sectors including retail and the amount of thieving, fraud and corruption is really upsetting. I think it's maybe worse as we like to lecture the rest of the world about fairness and honesty.

I did get undercharged once though because when I pointed out that the young man on the checkout had only charged me for one of the DVDs and not the "2 for x" price he pointedly told me "not to moan as it was a good offer". It was a good deal for me, but not in the way he meant.

Used to work in an off license as a student (remember Victoria Wine?) and much of our attempted theft was middle class sounding types typically working as a team i.e. lady asks about champagne on the shelf behind you while her partner places a few bottles of wine in his coat while your back is turned.

It’s true people will pinch anything
We’ve had magazines stolen from our waiting room ( not even new ones!) and someone took the soap and moisturiser holder from the patients toilet once - wasn’t even nice or expensive

My friend is the manager of a care home and told me that theft is rife amongst staff. Anything from toilet roll to washing up powder

When I was a university student, I had a Saturday job on a well known clothes store. It was quite common to see staff steal items of clothing; usually by wearing it under their clothes. I was shocked to be honest

Aforementioned job under umbrella of huge sports retailer, we had to record shoes worn in & out of shift, and got searched any time we left the building. We had to : lift up tops to show waistbands, roll up trousers and pull down socks, roll up long sleeves to show wrists and forearms, turn out all bags and pockets and coat hoods and remove boots or high tops entirely. Any bin bags had to be checked on cttv by a manager before you could take them off the premises. All measures designed to cut internal theft.

my teenage daughter was caught shoplifting with a friend. We were obviously mortified. She said it was her idea(friend had a mum who regularly beats her for things like not doing housework etc and my DD wanted to protect her)
According to my daughter, many many teenagers think nothing of shoplifting. She says some do it because they cannot afford what they want, but even wealthy kids do it to show they can etc.
The police dealt with it well. They explained the consequences of her actions on not only businesses but also all of us who have to pay inflated prices to cover the losses. She had to write to the shops involved and apologise and she had to see someone working at a youth offenders unit as they advise the police of whether to bring charges or not. There was alot of emotional stuff going on with DD and friend whose mother had decided to move in with boyfrind and had told DD's friend she would be not returning to her school. English was a second language recently acquired and my DD was her safety blanket so they both went into meltdown. However, I deviate. I am shocked at how 'normal' shoplifting is considered. I am still not convinced my DD is as ashamed as we would want her to be but she does know that if I ever find her with unexplained make-up/clothes I would personally drive her to the local police station and hand her over!!!

I work retail and you would be amazed what people help themselves to.It is not just the more expensive stuff either but every day items that are under a pound to buy.
They will open packs to screws/nails and take what they want, a light bulb or two from a multi box. I have even found the empty packing for rubber washing up gloves. They stole the cheapies shops own brand but who needs rubber gloves so bad they need to steal a pair it has got so bad that practically every item priced over £5 has to be tagged.

do other races also get followed around in these types of places

Chinese person told me that security guards follow her in Marks and Spencer. I thought she was just being paranoid, but the very next time we went together she turned out to be right. (And it was not a branch she'd been to before.)

Worked in clothes retail in a rough part of
Town. A family of regular shoplifters would target the store. We
Didn’t always have a security guard but one day when we did, he stopped them on their way out and recovered some items. The gang leader said to him “its lucky you stopped us and not one of the shop girls as I would have stabbed them”.
A few months later she drove head on onto a bus and died.

@rebelrogue I have a friend who does that at self checkouts all the time. She seems super proud of herself (whereas I think the actions are awful). In her simple logic she says the shops charge too much and she's not paying the price they ask. My retort back is that the prices wouldn't keep going up if they didn't have to make the loses up because of the act of theft in the first place. She thinks I'm talking rubbish though.

@Slumberlabd1 I'm white and I've been followed round shops. No idea why as I've never shoplifted and only ever been browsing.
I walked out of M&S once when heavily pregnant and looking for nursing bras as the security guard kept following me round and standing near me when I stopped to look at things. I'd rather he had just spoken to me if there was a problem. They permanently lost a customer that day.

A friend of mine has borderline personality disorder which makes her very impulsive. One of the things she occasionally does is take perfume bottles that are left out as testers. I kid you not....£70 bottles of perfume with just a few sprays gone from them.

Meanwhile Lego minifigures in our local Tesco are kept in a cabinet as son many get stolen. When I last bought some I expressed surprise and the staff member said “you’d be amazed at what people nick”. seemingly if it’s liftable they will take it,

There was also a report recently about ships selling more carrots than they had brought in as supply. People were selecting carrots and weighing stuff like Avocados and Asparagus etc.. I was amazed because quite honestly that would never ever occur to me.

Is this just my experience as a black person or do other races also get followed around in these types of places

I think you are probably right but I get followed round a lot and I am white.

Is this partly why nowadays you aren't allowed to browse and have staff asking you whether they can help as soon as you walk into the shop? It drives me mad and I end up walking out again - I just want to be left alone! I prefer online shopping now because I can just look around the website (though even then you get those chat pop-ups).

I've seen it happen a lot and in every "type" of store. I was at a supermarket a few weeks ago and saw a man walk brazenly out with a load of alcohol and cheese and wasn't stopped despite the security officer being a metre away

My SIL worked for Apple for years - they lose millions every year as there's literally no loss prevention (ever noticed there's no alarm barriers at the doors? Steve Jobs always said he'd prefer to maintain a 'sense of trust' in his customers'.)

Not so much the hero products (iphone, macbook etc...) as theyre obviously out back, but the accessories. One guy would literally come in with a bag for life, sweep the drones off the shelf and walk out again. Cases, speakers, cables....ever since Apple Pay was introduced it got alot easier for people to steal from Apple, and the employees literally cant do anything! Shocking innit.

I work for a major supermarket chain and most weeks we lose thousands in what's called shrink, which is a mixture of shoplifting and wrong inventory.

Booze, spirits and champagne, is popular as are things like razors and nicotine replacement therapies. But like purple have said anything and everything goes!

I quite regular find empty drink bottles and food wrappers that people have consumed while walking round the shop then left in a shelf and not paid for.

his mum tells them what they want and they go and get it!! Quite a black market in goods stolen to order she discovered.

Yep, I work in a supermarket and we recently stopped a guy who had a bag full of kids toys (lol dolls etc so not cheap stuff) and in the bottom of the bag was a list of people and items. He freely admitted that he was stealing to order and that his sister was the one constantly stealing expensive vodka (£1ks worth had been stolen in the last 4 month) so we're just waiting for her to pop in over the next few days ...