People openly stealing in Greggs

[Xraytime]

Whilst I was in the queue for a coffee, 4 different people came in and took several sandwiches, doughnuts and drinks.

They were not together.

I feel like Greg’s need to put every behind the counter, I can’t see how it’s sustainable long term.

I see this at different Greggs aswell but there will normally be just one person. Today was shocking.

Not just Greggs, they're just openly taking anything and the staff say they can't stop them, they cannot lay a finger on them. I guess Greggs is a small fairly open and usually very crowded store, which must make it particularly very easy to walk straight out of, having picked up what you want. I guess they will have to reconfigure, or put the prices up so that paying customers pay for the theft. Even security in certain shops cannot stop them. I see security even in Lush, what next?!

I agree tbh. We are living in end times.

I wouldn’t challenge a thief for minimum wage either. The could have a weapon or injure you through violence. I worked in a major supermarket years ago and we were trained that if threatened with a weapon to put a code into the till. This code would open the drawer and alert the store security and management that you were being robbed. Once that drawer was open, step away. The money/goods are insured.

Sadly this isn't unusual, our local Greggs now has all the most popular savoury items like sausage rolls behind glass, as well as the individual cakes and cookies. I wouldn't be brave enough to go in there at breakfast time, it's taken over by pretty rough people and you rarely see anybody else in there then. Most of the people behind the counter are very young and I doubt that they stay long, I take my GC in for something after school and there seem to be regular staff changes.

I've not seen it in Greggs but today I walked in to b&m and while entering the first aisle a man walk briskly walking out past me and to the entrance door with a HUGE shopper bag stuffed full over his shoulder and 2 others in his hands. I'm not sure if I was horrified or impressed at the absolute nerve and I'm also not sure anyone else even noticed! 😅

This is something that is happening everywhere. As the police are unable to do anything about it, for whatever reason, we need to be calling this out, in the hope that they are embarrassed or that enough people will start doing likewise. My experiences are that the majority are not starving, they just can't be bothered to be civilised/decent human beings.
We can't be telling our children to stand up for what's right or to call out bullying, if we mutely condone theft.

Very, very little shoplifting is down to people who are starving, etc. it’s mostly organised gangs or people who’ve figured out they will never get caught and punished. A small number are responsible for a big majority of the incidents. They rely on bleeding heart liberals, who mistakenly think they are doing it out of need.

Frankly this started in Covid where the police decided they wouldn’t enforce lockdown rules on a certain section of society who have now figured that things like shoplifting, red lights, speed limits, etc are laws they can opt out of with relative impunity. And yes, we all pay for it through higher prices.

The only solution is what New York did in the 1980s, a massive investment in law and order and don’t write any crime off as insignificant (todays shoplifter is tomorrows phone snatcher, etc). Arrest and prosecute them all.

The confidence is striking.

This is really awful. It just shows how bad things have got.

To be honest, I don't agree that this is legit hardship. It's opportunism and low level disorder. There seems to be a prevailing ethos of tolerance to law breaking because of police inaction. I am really concerned about it.

If you're genuinely starving there are loads of community food cupboards round here. This isn't that - it's just a refusal live in a law abiding society. I can't believe we've got to this. It's not acceptable.

My son worked in Greggs during his first holiday from uni, it was the only job on offer. I was pleased because he needed some Get Real time after spending his entire student loan in three weeks. People ran in and stole doughnuts all the time. This was way before the cost of living crisis. The cheapest doughnuts were displayed beside the door, so the young staff weren't endangered by "yum yum" thieves coming nearer them. All the teens working there thought it was pretty sad.

It does not help that B&M only use the kiosk for purchases including when customers buy largish items- garden furniture, duvets, wall mirrors etc.

Greggs will budget and account for wastage. They rely on volume and if they made it harder for paying customers to quickly pick up a sandwich/steakbake then they'll lose customers. Wouldn't make sense for them to put everything behind the counter. It's probably hard enough for them to recruit staff as it is without endangering them by having them challenge shoplifters.

They'll have done the maths. Every Greggs I pass is queued out the door.

I quite agree, though I might not have put it that way.
We get the society we deserve. Every time you shove someone in the bus queue, get annoyed at someone just doing their job, drop litter or leave your dog poo on the pavement you're part of the problem.
It's sad that your normal punter is too scared to challenge when they see someone stealing.

Sadly in my area of London this is the norm, to the point my 2 local Greggs, one 0.4 miles away and the other about 1 mile away know the “regulars” by name.

The genuine homeless in the area actually have a rapport with the staff and will give hot drinks for free and occasionally some food, the chancers/druggies tend to just come, select what they want and walk out. I used to tell the staff when I would see it but after they said to me Head office have basically said don’t put yourself in danger over sandwiches ( which I agree with) now I just watch em come and go, as do the staff. It’s really just normal in London now, and I assume many other parts of the country.

Some stores put the food behind the till but some can’t unless they totally rejig the layout, some have hired security guards but apparently it has to come out of the individual stores account and most were saying that it wasn’t worth paying out for the guard when they worked out how much they actually lost in sandwiches and drinks per day/week.

I remember was in Sainsbury’s during their toy event. Had boards of large toys in the foyer . A guy tried to steal 3 Barbie campervans. Boxes were about 1.2m across. He misjudged the exit as he hit boxes on the security barrier and all three fell out from his hands . Security guards stopped him and walked out empty handed. Unsure if he tried again

Social inequality gives some people the idea they are this owed something. Yes society is unfair, yes some get great opportunities in life, some people get shitty ones - but you cannot have blatant thieving in broad day light. At least have the decency to do it by exploiting legal loop holes, through good honest nepotism, or by cultivating friendships with useful people like the better half of us do. Have some self respect. Oikey bloody riff-raff, Honestly!

Oh good. Tax the rich, the most globally mobile people. Excellent you are genius! Obviously the rich aren't leaving the UK and moving overseas and obviously this isn't won't mean less tax revenue overall. Your genius policies won't mean less money for the NHS, teachers and disabled.

Your views are so clever.

After the rich have left shall we tax the middle class more? Shall we implement communism?

You couldn't be more wrong. Go and read the Institute for Fiscal Studies reports.

Those who have brazenly shoplifted will mostly have been caught on camera and could potentially be identified and blocked from establishments in the future- surely?

It's like every other crime in this country the punishment after being caught is a joke no detterent untill somebody in power grows a pair and puts punishments in place where these morons think twice i'm afraid our once Great country will become even more lawless

Who is going to block them?

I am throughly sick of people who say people are stealing from Greggs because they are desperate. Really?? It might not be because they are thieves who assume no one dare stop them? I was in Boots just before Xmas. I was looking at the No 7 Xmas packs. I made a comment to the lady next to me that they were good value, Next thing I know she has lifted two of them and walked out!

I told the assistant on the till that the woman had just pinched them and she responded with a shrug to say - well what can we do?

They are thieves!

the algorithm which decides who is allowed into the shop

Personally, I’d never be bothered with people stealing certain things. Food is one of them.

I’d wager that the thieves are stealing more out of a sense of entitlement than a sense of hunger…

People say it’s because people are on the breadline… not the majority who steal in one Greggs… you obviously do get a couple of homeless, but one teenager was stealing breakfast every morning on his way to school.. his poor parents had given him the money to pay as after months of stealing every morning he was challenged and paid up… some people just know they’ll get away with it as prosecution for shoplifting is rare