If you work in retail (shop floor) have you personally witnessed an increase in thieving?

[SaturdayGiraffe]

Someone just told me there’s conspiracy theories that the shops are lying to raise prices.
I’ve seen one theft this year (as a shopper).
Suppose the AIBU is “To believe that theft has indeed increased.”

Sorry for the stupid question but how can people leave with trolleys full and just walk out when the security alarm will ring?

Because staff are told not to challenge in case of assault (could be carrying a weapon etc) I think there's a cut off point as well in a lot of stores so anything under a certain value isn't worth it.

My mil was complaining about the prices in the shops and about how half the shops in the town have closed. Then half an hour later asking us if we wanted some high end shampoo as John in the pub was selling to for £1 a bottle!!!! She can't see the connection

I was unfortunate enough to walk into our local little Asda with my 10 year old daughter as 2 local spice heads were clearing the alcohol shelves. Staff were shouting at them to put the stuff back and the blokes threatened them with the heavy bottles. If they’d thrown it at the bloke, and I can assure you, they had every intention of doing so, they only didn’t as the worker could see me and dd in the firing line and backed off to protect us, me and my daughter would have been covered in glass and alcohol.

I reported it to the police online and sent my condolences to the staff, they were lovely, checked we were ok after they’d run out, explained they came in all the time and they weren’t allowed to physically stop them.

Years ago I lived with a girl who had a "Shop Lifter Contact" she came round with a load of suits from Next. I bought it for £10 and wore it for a job interview the following week and got the job. There's no way I could have afforded it otherwise and after that I was gainfully employed in decent jobs with never a break, until my children were born.

And have you handled solen goods since?

😁

I'm impossible to shame, so please don't bother.

Charity shops also sell cheap suits, you know.

It’s not a justification.

Yep, although there's also an increase in credit card fraud and scammers.

For us (toyshop) it's often teenage girls stealing little things, or it's organised men going for lego.

I don't work in retail, but as a customer, I've seen people kicking off and racially abusing security guards on several occasions. It must be a bloody awful job dealing with these people.

We should have police walking the streets

This !. I feel like telling them to ask me if I need assistance or leave me alone because they're wasting their time.

You're pretty naive if you honestly think this is about poverty...

I have seen several thefts as a shopper. It used to be a rare sight, but now I see one every week or so.

Nice to see these needy boat people not sitting around watching tv

And no punishment for those buying stolen goods.

If the 1/2 price coat and 1/4 price toothbrush posters were prosecuted would they still buy stolen goods?

If you take the resale market away then there is no incentive to shoplift unless you are going to use / eat / drink it yourself.

Can't believe what I'm reading. I'm in Australia and I don't think we are seeing anything like that here.

Its like reading about societal breakdown in real time. It makes so sad for my homeland 😔

I dont think it’s just the U.K. - someone mentioned France above and videos online are mostly USA.
I think it will reach Australian cities.
Trump said he’d shoot these gangs raiding stores.

It makes me feel so angry when I see videos of people, mainly young people, streaming stores.
A lot of stores in America have simply closed their doors for good due to it, meaning that the decent law abiding people have lost what to them, could be a valuable amenity.

In my Australian city my local supermarket self checkouts use biometrics to read our faces. They're linked to gates at the exit which lock us in the shop unless it recognises us as someone who paid!

My experience is that the desperate people aren't trolley dashing out the store. They're doing what someone upthread said, they're taking things to the till, paying for what they can and bagging the rest and I'll never report that stuff.

On the estate my parents live on and I grew up on, a man literally goes door to door with his "products". It's been the same bloke since I was a kid. I once got a brand new game boy and only as an adult did I realise it was from him. We were dirt poor growing up until my DM met my step dad so I don't blame her. DM hasn't bought from him for years.
Sometimes these sellers are part of life in some areas. This bloke has known 3 generations of my family. It becomes very normalised to buy everyday products from someone like him.

no, please dont try and stop them. I am glad you dont

Yuck.

I grew up in a very deprived area, shoplifters knocking on doors with cheese, butter, razors etc was a regular occurrence.

People on MN calling buying stolen goods gross are never going to dissuade these people from buying it. They feel so extremely let down by society that they can justify it in their own heads. Rightly or wrongly, I find lots of people on mumsnet naive to what actually happens in these areas. Buying stolen cheese doesn't seem too big a crime when your neighbour has been arrested for having a cannabis farm, the local park is full of needles and crack pipes and almost every teenage lad is being recruited into drugs running.

If you haven't experienced these areas, you simply can't understand the collective mindset of those who live there.

Absolutely this. That's what I was getting at with my post too. It's so normalised in some areas. You're more likely to find people who don't want to fund someone's habit rather than worrying about the shops they've stolen from and the breakdown of society.

you are the cause of the problem. You are a fence. You have committed the crime of receiving stolen goods. If your supplier is caught any time in the next couple of years and names you, you will be arrested too