Is it ever ok to steal?

[Kayem458]

Went to do my food shopping early yesterday morning to get it out of the way. Arrived at 7, left at 7.30. Checked my bank this morning, my card was used twice in the shop, I’d paid for my shopping and gone home. My amount was showing as pending and a second amount for £21.35, called the bank first thing both were contactless payments (I’ve obviously left my card accidentally on the machine it was a self serve checkout). Bank confirmed card was used at 7.39 so whoever went to that self serve after me used it. Bank we’re fine and raised it as fraud however I spoke to two advisors, both were lovely and helpful might I add, but the first one said ‘well times are hard for people with cost of living crisis’ and the second said ‘at least it was only 20 quid could have been more’.

I’m going to the store today to give them the exact time for their cctv and I’m also calling 101. Is it just me or does anyone else agree that stealing is stealing no matter the amount? I have really struggled financially in the past and not been able to afford food, heating, bills etc that ‘20 quid’ would have needed to last me a good few weeks, the nights I’ve gone to bed hungry and stealing never crossed my mind! I’m pretty annoyed that the attitude to this is quite throw away, or is this just life now and it’s me overreacting?

Unless you consider:

1. Could she get those sanitary products for free without stealing? From a food bank or charity?
2. Supermarkets don’t reduce their profits as a result of shoplifting. They just put the prices up to account for it. So, the rich businessman doesn’t have less money from that, but every honest shopper does.
3. She’s putting herself at risk of prosecution, which is highly unlikely to help her situation in the long run.

If it were necessary to steal then I’d agree with you. If she had another option, which, in the UK, there almost always is, she should’ve done that.

Quite rare to need to steal for food in any first world country, go to a this world country to understand what hardship is

Must have been around 10 years ago now I was in Argos with DH and a girl ran in grabbed a boxed doll off of the shelf went outside where her friend and a small child were waiting and gave the doll to the child. Charming.

Children stealing for other children? Why no adults with them?

Suuuuuuuure you would. Right up until you or a loved one were caught walking out of a shop with a bag for life you didn't put through, or found to have taken a pen/pencil/notepad from work, or some toiletries from a hotel, or some condiment satchets from a restaurant, etc, etc.

Then you'd be all about "circumstances".

Stealing is never okay

There are times when it maybe understandable e.g. a child stealing food. But its one thing to steal from tesco, it's another thing to steal from a person. They had no idea if that was your last 20 quid or not.

Even if that person did steal because they were struggling to afford food, who's to say you aren't? You can't say CoL, it's only 20 quid and think that CoL doesn't apply to you. You equally could be hard up

Of course stealing is never ok. The supermarkets stealing the money out of our pockets making billions in profit are just as bad as the thieves who don't pay for their shopping.
What galls me is the way they try to get you to donate to food banks as you leave the shop when it is they who should be doing this as a matter of course.

In reality there's loads of people who fall outside that safety net though. No need to travel to see people having a horrible time

1. Potentially but not everyone can access foodbanks, at least not immediately. If you are desperate, getting what you need straightaway is probably more appealing than having to be referred, etc.

1. Yes, I think most shops account for theft to an extent?

1. Very unlikely a woman in this situation would be prosecuted.

I honestly think there's a difference between stealing from a supermarket who can afford the loss, and using someone else's debit card.

If you use their debit card, who knows what trouble you could get them into? An abusive partner who controls money down to every last penny. A person on the breadline who only had that exact amount in their account and now faces a ton of charges for going overdrawn? Someone who had just enough left to cover it but now has to go without something else until pay day. It's not okay to do that.

Unfortunately the one that stole the doll was one of the two young adults, and it was probably her own child she gave it to...but I would have been slated on here for saying that in the first place.

Yes you can. It's theft. That is on the person who has used the card. Not the victim.

OP have you been back to the supermarket. We have had cases where the last person has left the card on top and it has paid for the next person shopping. Unfortunately at present our system is not set up for contact less refunds, you need to put your card in and enter your pin, so your card and refund could be waiting for you.

To the question in the title, yes it is in a circumstance where someone is in genuine need. Its not right to take from someone's card or money like in the op but if someone is hungry or can't feed their family (I mean genuinely not just being a chancer) I absolutely would not judge them for stealing from a big supermarket whose shameless profiteering leaves them fair game. Foodbanks are great but need a referral (at least around here) and lots can't actually cope with the demand. We are not even making ends meet but are more than happy for anyone struggling to take veg to feed their family just make sure to check where in case it's not suitable for harvest, nobody takes advantage.

We're under duress by shops. They have a monopoly on where we can source things i.e baby food and they're solely profit driven so it's expensive.

I have little sympathy for their shareholders and owners, but I have more sympathy for those who are struggling.

So many people seem to believe shoplifting is essentially a victimless crime as the big nasty shops deserve it. Completely unable to grasp the bigger picture and that the general public, including them, has to pay increased prices that rise to cover losses made from shoplifting.

@ThreeblackCats

I've had times in my life where I've had no electricity, heating, hot water, and barely any food in the house. I always had food for my DC, but nothing at all for me.

I have never, and would never steal anything, and certainly would never "take advantage" of someone's bank card.

Stealing from other people is never ok.

But if I saw someone possibly struggling quietly stealing basic groceries from a huge corporation, I'd probably look the other way.

What people deem to be unnecessarily rich is a sliding scale though which makes that logic a bit muddy.

None of these things you mention (apart from bag for life) are stealing.

@ThreeblackCats

utter utter rubish

@clocktock im sorry your childhood was so hard 🌷. That's totally forgivable as far as a child & siblings being starving.

an adult these days has (thankfully) better options. even the homeless. IF someone genuinely can get get help through legitimate chanels then stealing from a large supermarket chain store seems the least objectionable option. We all
pay for stock loss, but I'm ok with that (for the genuinely needy). The amount of stock thrown out is a disgrace though.

This is what I think is more likely to have happened if OP left her card on top of the machine and the next customer didn't realise

I think it is more likely you were being watched and put the card in your pocket - bent down and someone took it and quickly did their shopping

The amount of stock thrown out is a disgrace though.

Pretty fortunate in and around the area that I live in that the supermarkets give food that's on it use by/best before date to the local community fridges or to the Olio collection team.