Who owns a pound left in supermarket trolley?

[Zippyzoppy]

My son has a part-time job at weekends with one of the major supermarkets. One of his tasks is to round up any stray trolleys and put them back in the trolley park.

Apparently, from time to time ( maybe one/twice per day) people can’t be arsed to put their own trolleys back and so leave the £1 coins in the trolley. If this happens, he keeps the pound and puts the trolley back as required. When he first told me about this, I was quite pleased for him and thought it was a nice way for him to make a few extra quid.

However, when I mentioned this to a friend, she was aghast as she thought that he was cheating /stealing from his employer as the money is rightfully theirs.

Who is right?

Well what do you want me to say? Obviously I’m going to deny it because it isn’t true.

wotsitsorhoops
Denial nice.

@Blossomtoes

Tbh I'm quite in awe of such a snappy yet meaningless reply.

😂

These "thief's" or thieves you're referring to. Who are they stealing from, exactly?

Because in order to be for it to be theft you have to intend to permanently deprive someone of their property. So, to whom does this purposely abandoned coin belong? The original owner no longer wants it. The supermarket have no claim on it purely by dint of it being on their land. So whose property are they stealing?

It's a pretty fundamental part of the legal definition of stealing, so I'd love to hear your answer.

👏

best comment yet!!

That's a good point.

And to add that there is no recorded financial transaction as no receipt is issued. The supermarket might also have a notice up absolving them of responsibility for any damage and theft that might occur in their car park area or other areas which includes where the trolleys are kept.

It's not the supermarkets money but his contract will also say something about not taking money or having any cash on him while working and supermarket workers are regularly checked at end of shift for concealed cash. He would be OK shakey ground.

Whenever this happened to me when working in a supermarket it was always a known thing to pop it in the charity bucket

I've worked in supermarkets with a zero cash policy when at university. I got checked once at 6am at the start of my shift by a particularly nasty manager and had 10p in my top shirt pocket that I didn't even know was there.

He gave my a written warning, downgraded to a verbal warning when I spoke to my union rep who couldn't believe they wouldn't bdrop it completely. Suffice to say I did bugger all work for the rest of the summer having been a really hard worker previously. Great management skills.

So yeah, I guess there is instances where managers might have issues with your son having some cash, but as it's not his job for life and it's unlikely to end in the sack I'd say the odd quid is worth the risk imo.

Is it legal for them to be searching staff? It is very degrading. They'd not be searching me.

I'm amazed at the naivety of some people on this thread with regard to cash handling policies.

I've never know any cash handling business to not have a strict policy around this sort of thing. It's not just because they're greedy, self-serving empires, it's for the benefit of the employees, too.

If you know for an absolute fact that you can't have any personal cash whilst you're working, it removes all doubt around what's permissible and what's not. You can't be fired/disciplined for innocently having cash in your pocket when a till is found to be short if you simply never have any cash on you.

In a similar vein, there's no line to cross with regard whether it's ok to pick up and pocket a dropped coin or something left behind at a checkout, or whether you need to hand it in. You know for sure what's required.

The clear and simple, if seemingly draconian, policies make things absolutely obvious for all involved.

@Tosire the shop I work in we have our bags checked every time we leave the building/show a manager your phone/purse. And a pocket check randomly , but usually once a month.
Ironically I don't remember having them at the shop I was fired from!

Nobody's opinion here actually matters.
What matters is the boys contract of employment. The contract of employment will prohibit this action.

So it doesn't matter what anyone thinks. If it's prohibited by contract them he shouldn't be doing it.

Simple as that really.

Just putting it out there - supermarkets don’t employ trolley assistants for the £1 coins, that not all of them require to use anyway.

That role exists because trolleys are themselves expensive and losing them left right and centre is problematic.

Supermarkets will do stock counts and orders for them.

Local councils will round up all the ones found in the local area and charge to return.

No supermarket gives a flying fuck about a few £1 coins, they care about stock (they trolleys) going missing and costing them money to replace.

Of course it’s legal. It’s pretty standard in retail.

It shouldn’t be. It’s demeaning and invasive.

I've worked in several supermarkets, and I'd have received a disaplinary as the bare minimum for keeping the money.
It's ridiculous but that would have been the rules, so it really depends on what his contract/employer states.

Not every business. Every retail business maybe but not every business. Yes they all can be audited but I can have as much cash on me where I work.

I don’t know the legal situation but supermarkets do very nicely, thank you very much, so I think your son should keep quiet and keep the money. After all, if he works at Tesco’s, every little helps 😉

Don't ever work in retail then if you don't want to be searched because this can include not only yourself but also your bag, locker and car.

I used to work for a national retailer .

no trolleys but any cash found in store had to go through till . There was a code to enter so it was logged …. Most I ever found though was 5p

As a former retail worker, I wouldn't grass someone up for it, but I wouldn't do it myself in case a kool-aid drinker caught wind of it. Most shops I've worked in have had at least one employee who would grass their own gran up for eating a couple grapes before weighing them!

In law property (the pound coin ) has been abandoned so it’s not theft because ‘title’ to the coin has been given up and it doesn’t belong to anyone Keep it , there’s no problem and certainly no offences.

It doesn’t have to be illegal for him to be sacked for it.

It will be in breach of cash handling policy (having any money at all on you is a pretty standard no no) and therefore gross misconduct.

It will be in breach of cash handling policy (having any money at all on you is a pretty standard no no) and therefore gross misconduct.

It may or may not be in breach of a policy, but agreed it may be. To bounce into having a pound in your pocket in breach of a policy being ‘gross misconduct’ though is one a hell of a leap and is highly unlikely.