self checkout stealing

[starshipsweremeanttofly]

Yes IABU.
I started this around 2 weeks ago, a shop I visit several times per week. The first time, I can't remember if it was an accident or a conscious choice. I put through most of the items and threw one in my bag unscanned. This shop doesn't weigh the items on self scanner and doesn't have security bleep things on the exit. I have been maybe once since where I paid for everything.
Has anyone else done this sort of thing? It's partly a rush I guess, sounds cringey to say it. Partly driven by money worries. I'm not in a great place mentally.
It's a big chain, not excusing it, just I'm sure someone will say I'm stealing from a small independent shop.
I'm just trying to understand myself and try to bloody stop.

Who are the 8% who voted YANBU?

You're thief and pushing up the prices for the rest of us.

I've stolen food and baby milk when I was very poor. It was an awful place to be. I'm very grateful that while I'm still poor, I have enough to be okay and not have to do it. Now I couldn't even physically imagine having the balls to do it.

I guess desperation changes your mindset. Hope things look up for you soon, please seek support for your mental health

Ask your GP to refer you for counselling if you genuinely want help.

Sorry, I feel insensitive saying I'm poor as I'm not on minimum wage and many people have it much worse than me. I just mean I'm by no means well off.

Stealing is a kind of stress release for some people, OP.
Need to understand what is stressing you out to change the habit.

No wonder prices have gone up massively at the Supermarket!!! I’m kidding-kind of-because at this rate I will be sure stealing alongside you in order to feed my family!

Stolen items have a negative energy attached to them that will drag you down

Actually laughed out loud at this. What a load of tosh.
Not everyone believes in karma or bad energy.

Stop. Don't go shopping, or go to the checkout. Speak to the doctor about your feelings.

[quote oakleaffy]Just googled ''Self service tills'' and Sainsbury's Local in one of the Wealthiest London Boroughs has had to implement a ''proof of purchase'' for the 5p {now 10p} carrier bags as so many customers were nicking them.

It says self service tills have caused an upswing in theft.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5215073/Shoppers-steal-3-2bn-self-service-tills-year.html[/quote]
Of course they have, and supermarkets know this very well. They are not stupid, they know it’s a trade-off.

Self-service checkouts are expensive to install, but the amount of money they save the company by reducing their wage bill means they more than pay for themselves, notwithstanding an increase in ‘shrinkage’.

Supermarkets know how much money they lose as a result of people stealing from self checkouts and it still works out cheaper than employing staff to cover tills. What you're doing is bad but not unexpected. I doubt it's pushing prices up for other people.

Wasn’t there a celeb who was caught shoplifting? Possibly Winona Ryder? She said she did it for the high it gave her. I think her mental health was suffering at the time.
I’d suggest talking to somebody OP and seeking help as this could be a result of something you are not coping with in day to day life.

You are a common thief.

There's no other word for it.
What's next? Is it acceptable to you to steal a colleagues purse that they've left on their desk? To pick up and keep someone's cash that fell out of their pocket?

There is no excuse. Just stop it. You WILL be caught. You will get a criminal record. It might affect your job / future job chances.
Is it really worth it for a shitty 'freebie'?

@sst1234

Honestly this thread has to be wind up. A thief coming on asking for sympathy, empathy, permission, validation, whatever.

I think OP is real. Maybe it is trollery, but I don't think so.

OP clearly isn't happy about doing what they do, otherwise they'd not be asking 'AIBU' when they know they are being in the wrong.

Theft is theft, no matter how one makes excuses for it
''Oh, but it is only £1.99''

Or ''Big chains make thousands''

Anyone with a conscience and a modicum of intelligence knows theft is wrong.

But...Wealthy people steal, too.

A very wealthy woman used to steal a tin of beans or tuna as an act of ''rebellion'' {her words}..and Radio 4 did a very good play about a woman who started small, and escalated, and she never used or wore anything that she stole.

In the end she was caught, and she said ''Thank Goodness''.

For Radio 4 to put on a play about theft shows how common it must be.

Very few genuinely poor people steal, they are too proud.

It is often the middle classes....

another woman {now departed this life} used to boast that she stole Ecover washing powder and trays of cat food by leaving them on the base of her trolley at Waitrose, in a wealthy Rural area.

She appeared to be a nice white haired grandmother, well spoken, and I was really shocked at her doing it when she had no money worries.

Odd one!

I think a lot of these posters are being very judgemental and nasty. The op is asking for help. OP. I've heard its not uncommon. Even among people who might even be well off. I think you're adking for help, not asking if its ok. Am not going to weep over stealing from a masdive supermarket. Its not like it doesnt happen day in day out. But its naybe going to become a compulsion and you will very likely get caught uf you carry on. Please speak to your gp. Or find a helpline before that happens. Good luck. And not judging here

I have accidentally not paid for self s an Items when it goes nuts and I have been rushing and the next item.was in my hand. I hate self scan and try to avoid them.

Just dont do it! Asda video you at self scan. It only takes one person to notice then look for a pattern and you will get caught. Is it worth it?

You will get caught. They have CCTV on the self scan tills. Stop now before you ruin your life.

I noticed a small M&S store cordoned off their self checkouts completely for the past few months. At first I thought it was because of coronavirus social distancing - but they could have easily opened every other till or added the screens like other stores have? I’m guessing their shrinkage was too high to justify keeping the self checkout tills open!

No judgement here either. Our local Lidl had to get rid of it's six self service tills and replace them with two manned tills about a year after it opened, and I imagine it was for this precise reason. They must have been losing quite a lot of money. I imagine it's a lot more common than the saints on Mumsnet would like to believe.

Don't give in to temptation. Go to the manned tills in future. You certainly wouldn't get a criminal record over nicking a couple of tins of baked beans, but you would probably get banned from the shop. It's really not worh it.

Nope. I'm terrified of being in trouble its a massive worry of mine!

@P999

I think a lot of these posters are being very judgemental and nasty. The op is asking for help. OP. I've heard its not uncommon. Even among people who might even be well off. I think you're adking for help, not asking if its ok. Am not going to weep over stealing from a masdive supermarket. Its not like it doesnt happen day in day out. But its naybe going to become a compulsion and you will very likely get caught uf you carry on. Please speak to your gp. Or find a helpline before that happens. Good luck. And not judging here

@P999 An odd thing about Judging...

A young student ate a grape when they were working at a well known Supermarket.
Student was sacked immediately, the reason given that a loose grape popped into a mouth one day could escalate.

Anyway.... all the staff {I knew one of them, another student, } were given a talk on this, and lo and behold one of the seniors who gave the pep talk was found a few months later to have been stealing large quantities of things that were not cheap.

The young student lost their job for a grape...but the manager was caught with far more!

Rank hypocrisy? 🤔

People seem to think when they steal from a large company that it is a victimless crime - this is not the case. I used to work for a large retailer in their complaints team and shops get marked on things like wastage (things that are stolen are included in this number), if their wastage is too high the shop are effectively marked down and staff can lose bonuses/treats etc. When retail staff are underpaid already (this is a wider convo) to steal is literally taking money out of their hands that they need.

Oh come off it !! Loads of people do this .. it's built in to the cost model.. no need to pay a cashier xx per hour .. but lose x on theft . So still a profit ..

My highly paid DH feels a sense of 'getting one over' when he self scans and it doesn't register .. whereas I work in law enforcement and play the ' ill lose my job scenario if caught' ... so don't do it. Both natural human instinct .

For OP though.. it's a dangerous game of chance.. like people in the public eye doing something that will lose them their job if caught.. it's the adrenaline rush of 'getting away with it ' think Cecil Parkinson fathering a child out of marriage, Whilst a cabinet minister and refusing to recognise her.. Jeffrey Archer meeting up with a sex worker .. (look them up if you are too young .. and then even further back .. ' the Profumo affair' .. )

Where is the thrill?

I once took back a jar of herbs that I had missed when I went through a manned check out. The till lady didn't seem to grasp what I was saying. Had missed it in my trolley and wanted to pay the 48p. The thought they thought I'd done it on purpose to save less than 50p was horrible and it was an accident.

Stupid to do. Not clever. Pathetic to steal. What more is there to say. Even if poor no excuse.

God some people are so judgemental! Not ashamed to admit I used to do it in my early 20s along with a lot of other reckless behaviour. I wasn’t emotionally very stable and ended up with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder (to cut a v long story short)
Absolutely don’t be afraid to tell your GP. There may be some other things going on with you that it wouldn’t hurt to look into.
Incidentally a friend of mine still does it when she’s not in a good place. Outwardly responsible, home owner, late 30s.