Mum shoplifting in Tesco

[1000yellowdaisies]

Not so much an Aibu but its bothering me.
I was in tesco before, just arrived and was faffing about near the entrance getting a scan as you shop scanner thing.
A lady was leaving the shop and the alarms went off. Security took her to one side and found she was leaving with stuff she hadn't paid for. The security guard and 3 staff from the customer service kiosk went through her push chair and when they found more unpaid for stuff they took her through to the back.
Her child was roughly same age as my youngest.

I feel sorry for her. Yes I know she could be a thieving chancer with enough money but she wasn't nicking luxuries like bottles of booze, it was nappies and calpol from what i saw. What will likely happen to her? She looked so embarrassed.

They would have called the police and she would have been arrested
they will not let a shoplifter go it’s an arrest, she would have been allowed to call someone (family member) to come get the child

been there!

Tory Britain

Its not. There have always been thieves. It should be called theft, not the softer shoplifting. I worked in retail most of my working life and thieves were a major problem, costing the retailer (passed onto the customers) millions of pounds every year. I was punched, had a death threat when leaving court from the thief, had knives pulled on me. I have sympathy with anyone with no money for food, but theft is not the answer. I have no sympathy for anyone who chooses to steal from shops and gets caught.

Yes I think theft in supermarkets has increased in recent years - when I was working in one as of last year, we were security tagging so many different product lines compared when I started some years previously. Tagging baby milk. The trolleys had locks on the wheels to stop people just walking out with full trolleys of shopping without paying. A sign of the times I guess.

God I still remember when my own two were small 20 years ago, there was a woman being marxhed through a cheap catalogue shop we were in a few days before Christmas, she'd stolen what looked like some kids, sooty and Sweep glove puppets. I can still remember her shouting 'but I need them, I need them ' as her poor kids toddled next to her.

I think people are treated a bit kinder these days and I'd hope someone in that sort of situation would be directed towards support rather than needlessly humiliated.

I'd have felt sorry for her too @1000yellowdaisies

doesn't mean i'm pro theft

I live in a tough area and shoplifting is rife all the time.The local branch of a well known supermarket charges higher prices than the one in a more affluent area because of the shoplifting from it.Thee is usually only one manned till, sometimes none. One member staff is looking after the many self service ones trying to spot people who leave without paying.It must be the most unpopular job in the store, and it is usually the new recruits to the staff who have to it.
The staff members who have been there for years are permanently in place at the cigarette and spirit tills, they are considered by the rest of the staff as the cushy number as it is difficult to steal from them.
I used to be regularly offered items from my neighbours that were ''hot''', but always declined them.I have even been offered items while standing at a bus stop.
Prams and buggies are regularly used to hide stolen items.
Saying that though, when I was baby ( born near the end of WW2), my pram was used to hide black market meat that my mother got from a relative who worked for a wholesale butcher.He would arrange to meet my mother outside one of the shops he worked in, slip the meat under the pram apron while pretending to make a fuss of me.The only difference between that and shoplifting was that it was paid for, but more than the allocated ration.

That's awful, poor woman. Could be anything from debt, uc being suspended or financial abuse from a partner. Police and probably ss will get involved and hopefully she'll get the support she needs.

I was in a charity shop last week and there was a mum next to me with her two children looking at soft toys in the basket. As bold as brass she told the eldest, who was about 6, to put one of the teddies underneath the buggy.

She did and they walked out.

From a charity shop ffs.

Assuming she wasn't a professional, it's awful she felt she had to do it. Prices are rocketing so much and I honestly believe the supermarkets are bumping up prices for the hell of it in some instances I think more and more people might chance it as the CoL really bites, but our local Sainsbury's is piloting a new system where you HAVE to get a receipt at the self-checkout and it has a barcode on it that you need to scan to get out of the closed barrier. So if you try to shoplift or scam the self-service, you've got no chance.

Of course she looked embarrassed she got caught stealing, unlucky

I feel sorry for her too. Back in 2008 my husband nearly had to steal nappies. We had one nappy and 3 days until we got paid. Luckily he had enough change and nectar points to buy some but I'd never judge someone who felt they had no choice.

Might be because I'm from and still live on a council estate but we have local people selling on stuff like this realy cheap. (I think) lovely local mum is our local shoplifters and takes orders. She does well at Xmas.

Hmm...Calpol and nappies are common items to rob, they sell well in the pubs. The presence of a child and pushchair means nothing - they are frequently used in these situations. Anyone would look embarrassed to be apprehended in a supermarket.

Hungry people steal a small amount of food. I've stolen food myself - I took a bunch of bananas and two baking potatoes from the outside display at a greengrocers 20 years ago when I was unemployed. (I stuck a couple of £ and a letter of apology through the door when my Giro arrived a few days later). I've turned a blind eye when I saw a young man put a pre-packed sandwich under his coat then quickly leave in Sains the other week but I'm willing to bet he wouldn't elicit half as much sympathy.

Or down to my local Weatherspoons! 😂😂

Several supermarkets had the barrier system at the exit in France recently - you had to scan your receipt to leave the store.
All checkouts were self-service and staff were watching you scan as well as manning the exit barrier

Did he leave the shop? It's not theft until they've left or attempted to leave the building, you can put items in anything you like as long as you don't leave without paying.

It seems a bit suspicious-looking for the sake of it in some circumstances, but I've seen people use their own bags instead of baskets before - then they unload them at the checkout, pay and then repack them.

Some wheelchair users also do this - when they aren't able to carry a separate basket with them.

Nappies is probably a professional they can be shifted easily as can calpol, which is ridiculously expensive.

Shoplifters' number is going to be well and truly up when the Amazon system comes in everywhere. Powerful scanners scan everything you pick up (and presumably 'unscan' if you change your mind and put them back?) and automatically charge your pre-registered card for every one of their items that you walk out of the shop with.

I think she will on trial at the old Bailey. Probably a life sentence. Especially for taking calpol.

Retail managers learn very quickly to be cynical about shoplifters’ excuses & sob stories. Particularly those who are carrying the latest iPhone & wearing hundred quid trainers…

as can calpol, which is ridiculously expensive.

I might be missing the point slightly here, but I find it so hard to imagine somebody genuinely that poor choosing branded Calpol instead of the own-brand near-identical one that's half or a third of the price.

Unless people are just saying 'Calpol' as a shorthand to mean 'or that kind of product' - like calling all vacuum cleaners 'hoovers'?

That’s not true as my sons friends got caught leaving out local Tesco with a bottle of Fanta each when they were 17. The police were called and they were made to donate money to charity and write a letter of apology to the store.

If gour stealing it it doesn't matter how expensive it is though does it?! Might as well steal the good stuff.

I worked in supermarkets in the 90’s and it happened then. Have you been living under a rock?