Knowingly stealing - food shop delivery

[Ponter]

We order from one of the main supermarkets. On the day of the delivery (last week), I decided to cancel the shop as many of my plans had changed so i didn’t need some of the stuff that had been ordered.

Anyway, the food van turned up and I had a hunch that if I accepted the order I could get the groceries and still get the refund. Which is exactly what happened. It was a risk but I still needed majority of the groceries ordered so thought I’d chance it. We had similar happen once before but we were honest in that scenario.

Even if the supermarket comes back and want me to rectify the error/pay up I can do so - that’s no problem.

I know it’s wrong but I believe the majority would do the same.

Be honest would you?

As bad as someone i know who walks out of Asda with a trolley full of shopping that's been "scanned"

I don't think anyone with a pushchair is vulnerable necessarily. I think this security guard may have perceived the OP as potentially more vulnerable than other shoppers and chose to single her out. Having a pushchair and no basket are not justified reasons for pursuing her around the store in my opinion

No its really not. It's the market, the shareholders, the constant pressure on suppliers and workers, it's inflation, it's speculation, but certainly not the rare customers who happen to benefit from an error made by the company itself.

Honestly why on earth would you advertise this type of behaviour

Its devious and embarrassing

I said in a previous post that the reason I was not against people stealing is that I discovered asda were not putting their cheapest products online for an online shop

So many just essentials items are available in thr store but not available online. This means people who cant get to the shops are forced to pay a higher price for essentials, increasing profits. That really pissed me off and I just don't blame people

OP doesn’t care though because her friend did it and wasn’t caught so she thought she’d try.

That’s how shoplifters work though, once it works, then they ramp it up to more times or more expensive items. And it’s worked here as OP plans to play dumb and blame mix ups with her husband if it’s queried (which it won’t be).

The worrying though is though how many people will be tempted to copy OP after this, because oh she didn’t get caught. See your prices rising there in your weekly shop? That’s partly due to thieves like OP.

No- never.
Because I am not a thief.
And you are...

Yes

Nope. If I was going to accept the order if it turned up after cancelling, I'd let the driver know and then get straight onto the customer services to check the payment had gone through ok.
I also wouldn't like to think that somewhere down the line an employee was getting in trouble for making a mistake.
My DH rolls his eyes when I email companies to let them know we had an extra item delivered we didn't pay for. But I feel more comfortable doing so.
On the rare occasions when this has happened, they have said 'don't worry about it', but I'm talking stuff like an orange juice or a small bag of prawns, not a large value item/shop!

No. I accidentally left the self-service checkout without paying (I swiped my card but it didn’t authorise and asked for my PIN instead). I left in a rush as it was really busy and I was on my lunch break wanting to get back home to rest a bit. I realised when I got home and had a notification about my card payment being declined. I went back in the next evening and owned up, asking to pay what I owed. The woman on the desk was very surprised

I'd like to think they would get a good dose of the shits.

It’s odd that you can cancel on the day without charge. I use Ocado and if I miss the deadline I’d be charged for fresh food as it’s wasted.

Obviously it’s stealing if you do it on purpose.

But the OP wasn’t struggling. She was planning a dinner party with meat and drink and that’s what she kept, even though the dinner didn’t take place, which is why the order was cancelled.

Most people would agree that the major supermarkets, at least, make considerable profit. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be in business. I don’t think that justifies stealing from them though.

No I wouldn't but I can imagine being tempted and at times in the past when I was quite poor, I probably would have given in. We'll never know. However I do not judge you. I am pretty sure you won't do it again.

Please move on from this, don't dwell on it. We all make mistakes, we're human beings and nobody has died.

Do something nice for someone, anonymously if possibly and certainly discreetly, then write it all off.

Good luck.

I don't understand how you could cancel on the day of delivery as it's too late.

I don't understand why you are on her posting about your theft that you planned and are pleased with either.

Yes it is massive - but OP is taking the entire shop, not just one item done in error etc.

Of course it's stealing! You're just as bad! I think it's more astonishing how many dishonest people there are!!

If there's an item in my shopping that I didn't order, I will always tell the driver. I'm usually told to keep it. I wouldn't keep it otherwise.

I guess you're the kind of person who, if you were given too much money in your change, you'd keep that too because well, they made a mistake! Don't you possess a conscience?

A similar thing happened to us but we didn’t realise at the time. I took some items off at the last minute that my husband had put on but we didn’t actually need, I wasn’t home when the delivery arrived so it was only a few hours later that i was questing my husband as to why all this stuff I’d removed had arrived (and accusing him of putting it back on 🙈😂) then we realised what had happened and that we hadn’t actually paid for the things I’d removed. Not a lot we could do at that point other than take it all back to the shop 🤷‍♀️

Food banks are available to people who are struggling, there is never an excuse to steal.
I was once in a position where I couldn't afford food for my family and food banks didn't exist. I still didn't steal

Was this Waitrose by any chance?

Once, in between the order cutoff date and the delivery date, my phone was stolen. I cancelled my bank cards in case the details were compromised. On the day of delivery, Waitrose had my shopping out for delivery but called me to make payment as my cancelled card had declined. I just remembered thinking why did they even have my shopping out for delivery if they couldn’t complete the transaction to begin with. I paid and everything was fine but I was surprised at how unbothered the staff were.

If it's too late to cancel it on the app you either accept the delivery and pay or reject what you don't want.
We've had mis-communications between ourselves and left things on the delivery by accident. We just reject them and we get a refund for those items, we don't steal the whole order!

The value of retail theft in the UK in 2023 was thought to be £7.9 billion.
You really don't care that the rest of us law abiding citizens are having to pay for that? Really?

From my time working at a food bank, albeit close to a decade ago, you could only visit a foodbank ama few times in a period - maybe twice a month and you had to be referred by a children's centre. You don't get loads of food but it is a godsend I'm sure

That said, there are still things you'd need from a supermarket and I think it's OK for someone struggling to steal for their family