I accidentally stole an entire big shop

[Rayoffingsunshine]

I spent about £95 on a big shop 3 weeks ago. I went through the scan and go. I had my two boys with me (2 and 3 months) and I paid using contactless. I didn't grab the receipt which I didn't notice until I got home and was annoyed because the supermarket had an offer for money off voucher if you spend so much that I had intended to grab but only realised I didn't have it when I got home.
I budget everything and wrote the shop on my budget app straight away so I noticed the discrepancy on my account within a few days. I thought it was just taking a little longer than normal to process but 3 weeks later there's still no record of it. I've checked every account I have including my husband's just in case I had his card though I'm certain it was just my day to day debit card. The only thing I can think is that the payment didn't process and I just didn't notice and walked straight out. But surely someone would have stopped me! I remember a friend telling me once, with a tiny shop, just a quick lunch on the go kind of shop, this happened to her once and she was stopped in the car park by security. I don't understand how this has happened. I wouldn't have been quick to leave because my 2 year old moves at a snails pace.

If I go and talk to customer service in the shop will they believe that is was a genuine mistake and just let me pay for it or will I get in trouble?

It was an accident until she realized. Then it became theft.

Oh please

I didn’t say that. It could be against one person’s world view not to eat animals or to have sex before marriage, either of which are legal. My point being morality is subjective and laws don’t necessarily reflect it.

You won’t get in trouble if you go back and explain the situation. You didn’t act dishonestly at the time you took your shopping as you believed you had paid for it, therefore it isn’t theft. Now you are aware of the error, you should go back and pay.

I once did this and didn’t realise it hadn’t gone through - I had a lot on my mind and I used my card, didn’t think about the receipt, and the staff member stopped me on my way out. I felt so bad!

You didn't "accidentally steal" it because stealing cannot be done accidentally. It is a conscious decision. If you mistakenly take something without paying it's not theft. (You might have a hard time convincing a court it was accidental, but that's not the issue.)

To protect yourself you could go back and explain that you believe you paid but the transaction hasn't come out of your account. This would cover yourself in the unlikely event action gets taken further down the line.

OP did paid, she scanned her card. The receipt was printed.
Her payment was accepted. If your payment is not accepted the till do not let you leave with a ticket.

She is not thieving anything or anyone. Either Tesco, the company which take care of the self services tills or her bank had make a mistake not her. If her payment wasn't processed that is nothing to do with her. It is up to the other parties.

She is not the problem, her behaviour at the till wasn't the problem, she did as everyone else.

This is not thieving. This is very likely to be a software issue that has absolutely nothing to do with OP.

Quite a lot of people wouldn't even notice. In my opinion the only thing she has to do is enjoy her shopping.

Poor Richard Madeley got put in the stocks for a couple of bottles of wine! 😒

...and Winona Ryder didn't work for you years...

@FatFatMary - are you arguing that taking something that doesn’t belong to you is not, or may not be, immoral? Or have I misunderstood?

I don’t think it’s immoral to accidentally get groceries from a multi- million pound supermarket chain without paying and then not got back and pay when you realise 3 weeks later

Further I don’t think it’s immoral to actively steal food from one if you are hungry and have no money. It’s not black and white

Once she became aware that her payment wasn't received, it became theft.

Imagine leaping through such mental hoops to justify stealing.

If your employer's financial system had a glitch and they believed that they had paid your wages, but the funds never reached your bank account, would you just shrug and say "oh well, they tried. It's the thought that counts."

" ...those of you who just tap and walk without waiting to see if it’s gone through are responsible for the operators getting in trouble with their managers."

I disagree with this. We are all responsible for our own actions. Shoppers are responsible for checking that they have scanned all their shopping and paid appropriately (not having a dig at you, OP - you're clearly concerned by it, and are a decent, honest person) and operators are responsible for doing their jobs, and also for flagging to their employers if the tasks they have been given cannot reasonably be done in the time frame provided. Shoppers are not responsible for operators failing to note something.

Thank you for answering me, @FatFatMary. I would agree with you that stealing food when one is starving/broke is understandable and forgivable, but I think we will have to disagree about the OP’s situation. I think it is immoral to keep something you know you haven’t paid for. The OP clearly did have enough funds for a £90 shop, so the broke/starving caveat doesn’t apply here.

I’ve had things I didn’t order (and therefore haven’t paid for) arrive in the supermarket delivery, and I always contact the shop to tell them. Sometimes they’ve just told me to keep whatever it was, and once they sent the driver back - sadly that was to pick up two bottles of wine.

I don’t take things that aren’t mine or that I haven’t paid for - that is my personal morality. And yes, I do judge people who steal (absent any real justification like poverty) from either other people or from businesses. If shops didn’t have to build in a percentage to their prices to cover theft, the rest of us might pay a little less for our shopping - I think that would be a good thing all around. I don’t mind paying shrinkage for things that get broken or spoiled - that is unavoidable - but most people can avoid shoplifting, so I don’t think it is unreasonable of me to object to paying more for my shopping so thieves don’t have to pay anything.

The self scan staff do get “interviewed” after what is known as a walk off.
sometimes its genuine sometimes its not but either way they check the security cameras and the person is identified to the staff involved and security.
its your responsibility to ensure your payment has went through, its not a glitch in the system!

You should go back and explain you haven’t been charged for your shopping, then the balls back in their court.

Well at least you have a reason for judging other than that other’s values don’t align with yours

We really don't know that her payment was accepted or if the receipt was printed.

OP very vaguely says 'I didn't grab the receipt which I didn't notice until I got home'. So it's likely she didn't notice a receipt because she didn't make a payment and therefore there was no receipt.

OP thought she had paid. She did not pick up a receipt and it may well have been because there wasn't one as the payment had not gone through. She was distracted and didn't notice. Understandable. If she now knows she hasn't paid, for whatever reason, the honest thing to do is to go back to the shop, explain what happened and offer to pay. If the shop tell her not to worry about it she will have a clear conscious.

However, the OP has not come back so perhaps she is languishing in a cell somewhere😁😂

Probably locked up in the Tower, @DoraSpenlow!

This post is going to make the 30p carrier bag thief feel soooo much better!!!!!

But I'd go back and explain - it might be that the payment was processed at their end but not by your bank for some reason. This happened to us with the purchase of a new bed a few years ago. Over 2k and a month on, the amount didn't appear on our credit card statement. We called the store's head office who confirmed they had received the funds. We then called the card issuer who confirmed there had been a processing error and promptly took the money there and then. Gah!

Hung up by her thumbs!

@LaurieStrode
If my employer system has a glitch I would notice it and I will notify them. I wouldn't accuse them from theft. Regardless of them noticing or not before me.

This is the opposite. OP did not have a glitch. Either is Tesco or the bank. She did pay. She scanned the shopping and she paid. She is not accountable for any glitch or any system. It is likely is Tesco.

This makes me wonder, if I'm a freelance working from a company and I forget to submit my invoice to them, shall I accuse them form theft, or just check my own stuff and submit the invoice. Because that is what the supermarket has to do.

If the OP card didn't work she wouldn't be able to print the ticket and the tickets printed. That means payment accepted. If the payment accepted has not been processed is not upto the OP to check third parties companies system or glitches.

Shall we all from now check any single transaction we do, just in case we are thieves because whatever had happened somewhere else.

I don't think is theft. Just that.

Nonsense. "Thought she had paid" is extremely weak. We all know what the readout looks like when payment has been accepted; it's very obvious whether it's processing or not. She just flapped her card in the direction of the till, ASSUMED it had registered, and walked off. That is not the same as diligently checking to insure that the transaction has completed. Customers have an obligation to make sure they have paid.

At any rate, now that she knows she didn't pay for the merchandise, the honourable thing to do is to contact the store and complete the transaction. Not rail against profiteering, pretend it didn't happen or "enjoy the free shop" as some here have suggested. There is no excuse now for not paying for goods received.

I’m not so sure that mens rea can be applied retrospectively. Surely a person has to have the mens rea when they commit the actus reus. So it’s not theft (but could still result in a charge of theft which would then have to be proved).

What’s not in doubt, it seems to me, is that OP owes the money to the supermarket, unless she paid at the time and the money hasn’t yet been debited from her account.

If this were me I would contact the supermarket because (a) I’m honest, and (b) I wouldn’t want to take the risk of £95 disappearing from my account unexpectedly on 21 December.

Scanning your card doesn’t mean you paid. Lots of people scam the self check out machines by deliberately scanning their card too quickly for it to register.

The machine gives you lots of opportunities to check you’ve successfully completed your transaction:

1. the card scanner tells you transaction is complete
2. the machine asks you to confirm if you want a receipt
3. the machine thanks you for your purchase

If you haven’t paid after that then you’re likely stealing.