AIBU to think more people steal than we think?

[Garfy0505]

I run an online business and around 2-3% of my orders I get messages from customers saying thier items have not arrived. Most of them do not realise I can track the item and use the GPS to determine the house it was delivered to. I politely suggest they've contacted me by mistake and 99% of these then either miraculously find it or I never hear from them again. There's whole pages on facebook for people to advise them how to get items for free from online companies, what is wrong with people? I wonder now if for every 100 people I come across 2-3 of them are secret thieves! Please if you ever think of doing this, remember there's often a small business behind the website that you're hurting, rant over!

Yes most people steal. But as Porcupineinwaiting says they justify it to themselves.

I think we are getting closer to a dog-eat-dog society as more people steal what they want, lie and cheat. "My kid is only 3 so I don't have to pay", order something wear it, get a refund, keep the extra if someone makes a mistake with change, e-bay scammers, pickpockets, sick-day skivers, burglars, shoplifters, benefit cheats, tax dodgers. Theft is pretty much a way of life and whilst virtue signalling has never been more rife actual, real morals seem to be lower than they have been for a long time.

Dishonest people will target businesses like yours so you probably have to deal with a higher percentage of thieves than you’d find in a random sample of the general population.

As a customer trying to track down deliveries I’ve had to phone up about a parcel only to find it was delivered to a distant neighbour’s house round the corner and no note was left at my house!

Op I had a similar business.

It does happen all the time. Often we would get back 'oh my flat mate had it'.

We knew many people in the same industry and often the same names would pop up. They would try it in with us, then them.

Some people who sold our products online, would also come to us if there was a complaint. Because usually the person had come to us, with a different complaint. Then tried them, in order to get refund.

I dont think realised that in a smallish industry, we all talked.

Lots of people try it on.

In some cases I suppose things are found quickly because once they know it's been delivered they actually look for it. I'm sure anyone who has shopped online for any length of time will have a few stories about delivery companies and their ineptness.

I ordered something once, low value, it never arrived. Got in touch with sellers they asked I checked with neighbours and waited another couple of days. Three days later no parcel, neighbours didn't have it. Sellers resent, it arrived no problems.

Well over a month later had a knock on the door, turned out the parcel had been left seven doors down on the expected delivery day. No card left, person who'd accepted it had just had it lying round their house.

There are some couriers that will send you a delivered notice, and a photo of the front door where they delivered it

I was very probably ‘ porch pirated ‘, still searching village for my vintage copper pot that was allegedly delivered. It has a mark that the user won’t notice as unique, you would need a time machine to buy a new one the foundry works closed years ago ! Lightfingered Lil or Larry will be struck from my social circle. Shocking behaviour!

You can track within 3ft? I’d question the accuracy claim since even Apple can tell me my phone is in any one of eight local properties if I try and find it and the RFID type tags you will be using will be less secure than that. What I’d guess you see is the location of where the hand scanner pinged it last which is still totally unreliable.

It doesn't help that Amazon are so awash with cash due to getting away with minuscule amounts of Corporation tax that they don't have a reverse supply chain, they just tell people to keep that "faulty" item and they ship out a new one, because it's a lot less hassle and they don't need so many staff

That's because most things sold through Amazon are actually sales from their third party partners - Amazon are only acting as fulfilment. They don't bear the cost of faulty item refunds - it's automatically passed on to the supplier. I have many client trade via Amazon and they get huge charge-backs for "faulty" goods. The reason why they don't want you to return them is that the supplier also has to pay Amazon for the return postage and then postage back to the supplier. It's all just part of the cost of trading via Amazon - the good far outweighs the bad.

The best are when the photos aren't even of your own front door though.

I have had parcels supposedly delivered and location updated online etc with my supposed signature. And haven't received it at all. I have no doubt that some people pull a fast one, I have also no doubt that some delivery people make it look as though the item was delivered and then either keep it or place the item somewhere where it gets stolen.

I think we are getting closer to a dog-eat-dog society as more people steal what they want, lie and cheat. "My kid is only 3 so I don't have to pay", order something wear it, get a refund, keep the extra if someone makes a mistake with change, e-bay scammers, pickpockets, sick-day skivers, burglars, shoplifters, benefit cheats, tax dodgers. Theft is pretty much a way of life and whilst virtue signalling has never been more rife actual, real morals seem to be lower than they have been for a long time.

It's always been like that. Nothing new and nothing to do with modern society. We had a newsagents shop back in the 70s. Shoplifting, cash/change con tricks, etc was pretty common, and we were in a "naice" area (middle class etc).

The worst was when they built a sheltered accommodation block opposite which had little lockers in the entrance area for milk, post and newspapers etc - the sheer amount of stuff that got stolen was unreal - milkman said the same. Not only did we get customers phoning in every day saying there was no paper in the locker which we'd then have to redeliver, we'd get others at the end of the week trying it on randomly saying they didn't get a paper on Tuesday, wanting a reduction, etc. In the end, both us and the milkman agreed to stop delivering there. Even OAPS are on the steal!

I've worked in a big hospital, on various different wards over the last 16 years and if it isn't nailed down it's stolen.

Nothing new. My great aunt was a matron way back when and a lot of theft went on, mainly by the staff. Loved her to bits, but from what I've been told she mellowed considerably after retiring and I can still imagine how terrifying she must have been to the young nurses so don't think I'd have dared do anything wrong!

Yep. I run a holiday home and basically anything that isn’t nailed down will go. Including:

• First aid boxes
• Torches
• Coasters
• various kitchen implements
• Bedspreads
• Cushions
• The pole thingy for opening the loft hatch

And my personal favourite - a single shelf from the middle of a book shelf 🤔

I totally agree, OP, and I find it very sad. We all lose a lot when people stop being able to trust each other. I’m glad you can track deliveries via GPS, but as others have said, many shops and small businesses just have to take the hit.

I’m already worried about the effects of COVID-19 on shops and pubs etc, with people not going out. On top of Amazon undercutting shops by not paying real tax, they really need our support.

I too have worked in several large hospitals where everything has had to be chained to the walls and floors.
The two cases of mass theft over weekends that were solved were found to have been orchestrated and executed by staff.

I’d question the accuracy claim since even Apple can tell me my phone is in any one of eight local properties if I try and find it and the RFID type tags you will be using will be less secure than that. What I’d guess you see is the location of where the hand scanner pinged it last which is still totally unreliable.

At work we can tell where our engineers and the handheld unit are with a couple of feet.

I often used it to direct them, when they cant find a building they need to be in.

They also have to be within 100 ft tmof the building they are meant to be at to complete the certificates/ quotes etc, before leaving.

I sell a lot of my stuff on eBay and I pay for signed for/recorded delivery with Royal Mail/post office for each item, firstly because I do not want things to get lost but I also don’t want people to be able to take the piss. Everything is tracked even though it means I make a bit less profit.

Staff theft is, and always has been, very common. Not just staff from their direct employer, but also staff stealing from their employers' customers etc.

When I was a trainee accountant, it was in the 80s when even the smallest limited companies needed a statutory audit, so we'd have to pore through their books, check stock takes, visit client premises counting cash, do loads of "walk through tests" etc. We'd find several staff thefts each year (and the accountancy practice was only a small one acting for local shops, garages, pubs etc - not multi million pound businesses). And we weren't talking a few pounds, it was usually several thousands. Often quite sophisticated, not just nicking a bit of cash out of the till.

This country is getting more lawless and people know they can get away with theft, fraud, embezzlement, stabbing, murder, rape, burglary, you name it.

But at leadt police do the important stuff like arresting people for squabbling on Twitter or for putting up feminist stickers.

* I’d question the accuracy claim since even Apple can tell me my phone is in any one of eight local properties if I try and find it and the RFID type tags you will be using will be less secure than that. What I’d guess you see is the location of where the hand scanner pinged it last which is still totally unreliable.*

Apple’s GPS tracking is shit. Most companies use far better services.

I had a company swear I'd received an item and said they had 'GPS' evidence of it being being delivered. I asked for a screenshot/printout/proof and they quietly refunded it a few hours later.

Interesting insight about Amazon. I've had some bad experiences with refunds this year, but in the last month they've credited me £25 and £5 in separate incidents as a gesture of goodwill, along with replacing the items with same day delivery.

I was reading about WW2 on the home front recently and for all the "Keep calm and carry on" mentality it was exactly the same. Emergency supplies going missing from lifeboats when ships were in dock, thriving black market, stock-piling and stealing. Nothing new under the sun.

My friend's dad was the local vicar and in almost all ways Mr Morally Upstanding but even he had her claiming to be under 5 on the bus til she was about 10. She said none liked to argue w a dog collar.

I manage a petrol station shop, we get people stealing butter, coffee, meat etc. Not because they're starving, they sell it on.
I was speaking to one dodgy looking bloke as he approached the counter and when I checked cctv after(he was acting very oddly) he'd actually helped him self to some chocolate and put it in his back pocket as I was looking at him.
And all sorts of people will attempt to 'forget' to pay for fuel.

The thing is 'delivered' can mean left in a recycling bin, on the doorstep, or left with an unspecified neighbour. All of these have happened to me. Also once had something left by the bins without a card, only found it a week later.
A lot of these delivery firms just dump the item whoever and really don't care. I found a card from one firm lying in the drive in the rain.

Someone in the family ordered a Fitbit watch from Amazon. Puzzled as to why she hadn’t got it despite Amazon Prime she spotted it under a bush in the front garden. Having said that all my deliveries have been faultless from Amazon. Also, spotted a delivery lady using her own car. Watched her disappear up the driveway at the speed of light only to leave it on the doorstep. Thought then that I was pleased it wasn’t an order of mine. My dh enquired after a missing parcel and “it had been left in her porch”. Funny as she doesn’t have one.

I order a lot of parcels and I'd say approx 30% will tell me its been "delivered" or "handed to resident" when Ive been in all day and know for a fact (we have a CCTV doorbell) they havent been anywhere near my house.
This happens A LOT. Its frustrating and annoying but I'm not lying. I always offer to provide CCTV proof of the fact.