To think it's easy to shoplift?

[DotTheCaddy]

Came out of Tesco earlier and set the security alarms off. The security guard literally glanced at our receipt and waved us on without checking our bags or anything.

I also had an incident last week where something in my bag set the alarms of when I was going into a shop, so before I left I mentioned to the shop assistant that it might go off again and she just laughed and said she wouldn't come after me. Even though I could have been fibbing and covering my arse.

aibu to think it must be really easy to stoplift or am I missing something?

I think it depends on the shop. Someone in front of me set the alarms off near the self service the other day and I unfortunately walked through as they were still going off and I was searched I hadn’t stolen anything but I suppose the person in front may have done but they weren’t searched.

It may be fairly 'easy' but sooner or later you'll be caught, may get prosecuted and a criminal record. So I think and hope most people are honest!

I don’t think tattoos are an issue honestly, I’m in my early 20s and a significant amount of people my age have tattoos. When I worked in retail, no one was instructed to specifically watch customers with tattoos.

I do agree that racism was rife, black teens were watched more often whereas in reality older white women were actually the rampant shoplifters - they could get away with being more brazen and prolific as people of this group can be invisible/unremarkable as they just blend in.

I was walking out of the supermarket and the last year with little baby DD in the pram and the alarms went off. They asked if I had bought nappies and I said no and they dropped it. Previously I'd set off loads of alarms with tagged packs of nappies all over the place.

Also we're almost never bag searched in museums and stuff if with DD, huge bags and the pram but they cant normally be bothered. One of the times they did search they asked if I have anything sharp and they didn't like my response of "probably not", I was very tired, idk what was in my bag

Yes if you look a certain way! I have almost accidentally shoplifted many, many times.
I have also accidentally shoplifted and got away with it.

It’s really easy to get distracted and leave something in the bottom of the trolley under my bags😮

2-3 years ago I was coming out of New Look with no clothes (shocker, its shite) and the alarm went off.
They stopped me and checked my bag, nothing in there. Pushed the bag back and forth and the alarm went off. Did my purse, no alarm, did my sons allergy bag and it went off.
The bloody epipens, all on their own were setting the alarms off. What the fudge?

I carry those epipens everywhere I go, and those very same epipens (same ones, same year, same batch number) hadn't set the alarms off before and hadn't done afterwards.
I've obviously had loads more epipens since and they have never set off an alarm .

When I was a lot younger and much heavier I used to get followed around supermarkets frequently. I always wore smart clothes although quite baggy.
Perhaps they thought I was faking it and had half the shop up my jacksy

My makeup sets the alarms off in morrisons I carry it around in my bag the security guard notices me setting it off on the way in and gives me a pass usually on the way out im honest but its open to abuse

My library books set off a shop alarm once. Crazy.

DP gets followed or searched constantly when shopping, it's infuriating.

One time we had just found out I was having a MC, both went to Superdrug to buy pads straight from the hospital. Price was wrong at till so DP went back to shelf to check price tag and security guard followed him down every aisle. When we left, after paying at till, he followed us down the street and asked to search DPs pockets in front of lots of people. Never been so angry.

When we go to our little supermarket next door, if DP is paying and goes to self service, a security guard comes and stands really close and watches over him.

He's white, 30 and doesn't look scruffy. No idea what it is about him.

@DotTheCaddy

Came out of Tesco earlier and set the security alarms off. The security guard literally glanced at our receipt and waved us on without checking our bags or anything.

I also had an incident last week where something in my bag set the alarms of when I was going into a shop, so before I left I mentioned to the shop assistant that it might go off again and she just laughed and said she wouldn't come after me. Even though I could have been fibbing and covering my arse.

aibu to think it must be really easy to stoplift or am I missing something?

Yes it is that's why it's so common. But going over the top to stop it costs more than is lost and ruins good will.

If you had been dragged off, bags all searched in front of everyone you'd be posting about show shite Tesco is and they'd maybe lose business.

If you were a teenage lad youd have had your bags checked because no ones boycotting them over that vs nice mum just doing the family shop

I said this to my husband just today. Went to Tesco and bought a large toy for Christmas for my son. Paid for it, carried on doing scan as you shop. As I left, the alarm went off and no one came to check my bag. No one.

Toy had a foil alarm on. I wouldn’t steal for obvious reasons but I could have!

I've had library books set the alarms off too.

Security guards in supermarkets tend to get to know the local shoplifters very quickly - they’ll prioritise the high-value regulars who are making a raid on the steaks/cheese/razors etc - small stuff they can sell on. If your receipt looked like you’d spent enough to fill your bags they’ll not be too worried.

And a lot is profiling - try shopping when black, or being a young male in a hoodie.

Make up is totally a thing. I used to set it off in the local sainburys a lot, never stole a thing and one day the security guard asked me if I had make up in my bag - turned out it was a maybelline mascara that still had that funny tape on it - he waved it in and out of the door to show me.

I am more assiduous in removing the mad security thing from it now. Interesting though.

I had a pair of jeans that set off the alarms at the exit of the Duty Free shop on a Swedish ferry once. It was all a bit surreal: I was politely escorted to a small cabin where some sort of hand-held scanner was run over me, and went off by the right-side pocket of the jeans, so I turned the pocket out and all that was in it was my cabin-key, but the scanner went on going off. In the end I thought "soddit they're Swedish, they won't care" and simply took off my trousers and handed them to the bloke with the scanner, who eventually found a shop's security tag sewn into the seam. I'd had those jeans for at least a year and never set off an alarm before.

I use a mobility scooter and it sets off the alarms but I just get waved through. I think they don't want to be seen harrassing the disabled woman.

@Sparrowsinthehedge

I use a mobility scooter and it sets off the alarms but I just get waved through. I think they don't want to be seen harrassing the disabled woman.

I worked in a shop where there was a guy in a wheelchair who would come in, get a stack of DVDs, disappear into the disabled toilets and come out again sitting a few inches higher. He’d always be stopped before he left, which meant he didn’t get arrested (you needed to attempt to leave to be charged). He got barred after a couple of attempts.

A few years back I bought a leather bag which it turned out the sales assistant hadn’t removed the interior tag from. I set off alarms in pretty much every shop I went into afterwards, and no-one blinked an eye. It didn’t cross my mind it was me, because I had paid for everything, I just thought it was a bit odd.

I realised when I got home, and was a bit miffed to have to trail back into town with the bloody bag.

@ZoominMoomin

As someone who spent years monitoring CCTV/doing security work - yes, it's piss easy and happens a lot more than you think it does. It would also surprise you that the demographic we found to be on the rob the most was the middle aged people who seemed middle class and well to do. Obviously you have your standard scumbag gangs in, and people who are struggling with drug addiction and need money to fund their habit, but it was the middle aged/class people that surprised me the most. Bedding, toys, clothes, joints of meat. The lot. Security guards now also have it hard because they are no longer allowed to touch people or are at least discouraged from doing it. The rules for the supermarket I monitored for were that they were only allowed to suggest a suspect steps back into the store and weren't allowed to grab them like they used to. The suspect can then say no and walk off with the goods and we let the Police know, but they are too busy to come out and because it's not a threat to life, they wont come.

In short, yeah, it's easy.

@ZoominMoomin

What was the reason for the change in security procedures and policing? It feels like it’s heavily weighted in favour of the criminal now?

I bought a bottle of wine once with a security tag on inside the wine box. I had paid, but it set the alarm off because they didn't remove the tag. The security guard cast an eye over my shopping for a second and waved me through the bleeping door then when I got home I found the tag. I was still able to open the wine but would have been embarrassing if it was a gift! It shows how easy it must be to walk out with stuff unpaid if you were that way inclined.

Ah security guards... if they follow you around they just doing exactly what they paid to do, it happens to everyone i think.. some are jobsworths and watch everyone and some dont care cos it wont come out of their pocket

@PurpleFlower1983 and @pineapplepalmtree have got it spot on!

I think the way I look I could walk out with a full wardrobe.