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.

Do they really wait until you steal £200 worth? What if you take a packet of 50p biscuits a week?

@genteelwoman Well done for getting out. That can’t have been easy. Also illustrates that it is not all straightforward and that some people who steal do it out of despair.

Even without the humiliation of actually being caught at a checkout, do you want your photo printed out and added to the wall of people who need to be watched like hawks in store?

What happens if a friend gets a job there and sees your pic?

I did this accidentally when the scanner disconnected.

Now whenever I scan and I'm aware that it disconnects, I just pretend to not have noticed. I may get caught one day, but my excuse will be that I definitely scanned it.

Not scanning the odd item on self checkout is ridiculously common ( maybe not on Mumsnet) but I'm telling you in the real world, it's very very common. I'm not saying it's a good thing, I'm just saying it happens, a lot!

@pigeonfarts

I did this accidentally when the scanner disconnected.

Now whenever I scan and I'm aware that it disconnects, I just pretend to not have noticed. I may get caught one day, but my excuse will be that I definitely scanned it.

Why don't you think you should pay for stuff?

I'm just trying to understand myself and try to bloody stop.

What's to understand? Taking something from a shop without paying for it means you are a thief.

Quite poor you've played the mental health card too.

Why don't you think you should pay for stuff?

You're oh so perfect aren't you?

@pigeonfarts

Why don't you think you should pay for stuff?

You're oh so perfect aren't you?

Not at all! I have just as many flaws as anyone else. Stealing isn't one of them so I was curious why someone would knowingly steal stuff knowing that the cost of people doing so is passed on to everyone else in the pricing structure. When you posted saying you do it knowingly surely you didn't expect a pat on the back?

I did this accidentally when the scanner disconnected.

Now whenever I scan and I'm aware that it disconnects, I just pretend to not have noticed. I may get caught one day, but my excuse will be that I definitely scanned it.

I get that this will be your excuse when you get caught, but out of interest, why are you actually taking the goods without paying?

This has become so common in our local supermarket they’ve got security guards and only leave out 2 steaks in the fridge- you have to ask if you want more then pay at the cashier till!

@pigeonfarts

Why don't you think you should pay for stuff?

You're oh so perfect aren't you?

Most people have enough morals that thinking they can get away with stealing doesn't mean they start stealing.

It's hardly perfect just absolute rock bottom basic human decency.

Meh, I'm not dodging millions in tax

@pigeonfarts

Meh, I'm not dodging millions in tax

Neither are all supermarkets or other independent businesses like village shops. Good to be 'meh' about stealing stuff.

You are stealing from other ordinary people, though, @pigeonfarts. If there was no shoplifting, the supermarkets would be able to put a smaller amount on their prices, to cover shrinkage.

Loss due to theft doesn’t come out of the supermarkets profits or their shareholders’ dividends - it comes out of my pocket and every other honest shoppers’ pockets.

Forgive me if I don’t like paying for other people’s ‘adrenaline rush’ or dishonesty.

You're oh so perfect aren't you?

How depressing that you think not stealing is being perfect. Pretty much everyone has flaws, but most people don't choose to steal.

Meh, I'm not dodging millions in tax.

Oh, so as long as you only steal a little bit, that's fine is it?

@ohnoitsnot

I think this is very common . Tesco apparently sell far more carrots than they ever have in stock so assume avocados are weighed as carrots . I have some tricks , but not telling

Good, as not all of us are thieves .

You're oh so perfect aren't you?

LOL. Yes, not liberating the contents of Tesco whenever you go for the weekly shop is such an impossibly high standard of behaviour.

@pigeonfarts

Why don't you think you should pay for stuff?

You're oh so perfect aren't you?

You dodged the question. Why do you think it’s acceptable to be a thief?

I think this is very common . Tesco apparently sell far more carrots than they ever have in stock so assume avocados are weighed as carrots . I have some tricks , but not telling

Come on! You have to tell us. Need to get my sticky fingers on a flat screen TV next (obviously a joke).

You just pick a flat screen tv and instead of beeping the barcode on it just pretend it’s carrots.
Then leave.
Then go home and enjoy your new tv.

Loss due to theft doesn’t come out of the supermarkets profits or their shareholders’ dividends - it comes out of my pocket and every other honest shoppers’ pockets.

So true.

Loss due to theft doesn’t come out of the supermarkets profits or their shareholders’ dividends - it comes out of my pocket and every other honest shoppers’ pockets.

Not just shoppers, it also comes out of shop floor staffs pockets too when our shrink target is missed and it costs us our (meagre though it is) annual bonus. Last year my bonus was £700, this year £250 because our shrink target was missed, that's nearly £500 taken out of my pocket because people are thieving little shits who think that they are stealing from a "faceless corporation" so it doesnt matter. It does matter to the shop floor workers on not much more than minimum wage who lose out.

Not to mention it can cost people their jobs - the store I work in had a colleague who was sacked because too many thefts were happening on his shifts when he covered the self scan machines, which meant that, as far as the management were concerned, he wasnt doing his job properly and so was sacked. Obviously that wasnt the official reason he was sacked but the warnings and disciplinary notes he had received for not being careful enough at watching for theft/ensuring tags were only removed from high value items after they were paid for etc meant that they could sack him for what would otherwise have been a warning offence. Granted, he may not have been the best worker we ever had but he didn't deserve to lose his job because there were too many shoplifters on his watch.

There’s no justification for stealing. Stop abusing the self scan and seek help for your theft addiction.