It’s just theft isn’t it?

[HiRen]

Am back in the UK for my annual summer break. Just back from the supermarket. Stood behind a pretty old (going to guess at least 80yo) woman who was weighing fennel in the veggies aisle, to get a barcoded sticker that she could self-scan. She did one sticker, then a second, then a third. I moved over to the right a step, intending to lean over to offer help (I’m crap with tech, reasonable assumption she might be too). Immediately clocked she was holding the fennel up a bit, ie semi-lifting it off the scales. Then I watched her select “potatoes” on her fourth attempt. Saw her do it again on her fifth attempt - she’d lifted the fennel higher.

Basically, she was deciding what she wanted to pay for the fennel. She left four stickers behind, all decreasing in price, all for potatoes.

I’m normally all for being empathetic towards people on a budget, especially a fixed budget like an pension, and I know about the col crisis. But this was fennel, in Waitrose. She was LOADED with gold jewelry and had a small LV crossbody bag. She can afford 98p (the fifth sticker price) for a bulb of fennel. It made me half want to tell someone on my way out to double check her shopping scan.

No AIBU I suppose. I’m just properly cross. This isn’t the 80s anymore. Things cost more than they used to. Fennel shouldn’t be expensive - but it is. That’s how it is for everyone, and for more essential stuff than bloody vegetables. They don’t steal. She was blatantly stealing, and it was the repeated effort, and the sneakiness and slyness in the way she did it that made me so cross.

Errr vigilantism sounds like exactly what you are suggesting.

Like I said if the supermarkets are bothered, perhaps they can pay for staff to serve at tills or monitor self service. But they can’t be arsed can they? Presumably because this kind of thing ends up costing them less.

It’s not your business, not your life, not your supermarket. Mind. Your. Own.

The OP was just giving context with her description.

It doesn't matter if the person in question was 80 and dripping with real gold or fake gold, or a 20 year old in designer trainers.

Thieves are thieves.

It is pointless, and I should move on. I’ve thought about why it’s bothering me so much; at home I probably wouldn’t even clock this let alone have the time or energy to come to MN about this. I think it’s just all the things I feel when I come home. It’s just so sad to see all the things that have changed for the worse. Councils not picking up litter or cutting grass/trimming hedges anymore; people driving like rude maniacs with no manners; pushing and shoving to get on a bus; no politeness or civility; everything costs so much and for such poor quality. Maybe I’m going to the wrong places! But I lived here for decades before I left and it wasn’t like this. I just miss how there used to be some “fat” in people’s ordinary lives here, space for extras. Now that seems to be reserved for a minority - and this woman ostensibly falls into that minority so why was she stealing??

Oh fgs, I was hardly going to hunt her down and drag her to the police station! And it is my mum’s supermarket. I was with my mum. She actually is on a budget. It IS my business. I also have the right to vote here, and I do. It’s 100% my business.

As for “can’t be arsed”, do you think Waitrose executives or partners (whatever they call themselves) are idly drinking tea and eating biscuits instead of working? You think they haven’t priced theft and spoilage and loss into their prices?

You don't live in Italy do you?

No, I don’t live in Italy. Why, do I sound like someone you know who does?!

I thought the self-service checkouts had scales in both the bagging area and scanning area so surely would have come up as an error?

Supermarkets just keep putting the prices up if people shoplift or not. You should try it.

I agree with you, OP! I’d be fuming. Giving her the side-eye. I’d have probably said something as well. “Do you need some help?”, “Machine not working?” “I’ll get a member of staff.”

Here you get a handheld scanner that you take around the store with you. There are scales in the veggie aisle. At the end up put your scanner up to a machine thing and it charges you then.

Does your mum own Waitrose? Otherwise it’s not her supermarket- not her profit margin.

By “can’t be arsed” I mean these are companies who are out to maximise profits. They will be well aware of the scale of this sort of thing based on stock etc. They are perfectly well able to equip their shops with staff to monitor this sort of thing, but they chose not to in order to maximise their profits. So , yeh, if they are not worried, no need for you to do their work for free eh? Just honestly mind your own and get on with your day. And If your mum doesn’t like the prices she really doesn’t need to shop in Waitrose.

!!!

Do you really think this?

Being cross about fennel is very Waitrose.

Of course it's theft but some people are too blinkered, or just too dishonest to see it. I have a friend that happily told me that she buys ordinary eggs at Waitrose (Waitrose seems to attract this sort of thing!) but swaps the eggs in the box for a more expensive type before she scans them. She told me like it was quite a clever thing to do.Didn't seemto have any self awareness that she's a tea leaf.

Why don't we all just pay what we feel like for some fennel? No? Because at some point we were taught stealing is wrong.The costs are passed on to the customers.

I'm not going to get judgey if someone shop lifts some basic food essentials, times are hard for lots of people. But I draw the line at someone being able to pick and choose what they fancy paying some some fennel.

For all those saying it’s not anyone’s business. Does this go for other crimes as well. Burgling a house -Not my house not my
business. Someone being attacked. I don’t know them not my business. For crime to thrive, it just takes lots of good people to do NOTHING!

I definitely think that supermarkets will put up their prices regardless, yes. And that shoplifting has no effect on prices, other than they might use this as some kind of justification. Like how they say it's inflation but inflation is just corporate greed. Try looking at their profits.

Well. Seems like at least two people think that supermarkets might be the UK equivalent of Big Pharma or Big Tech or Big Oil! Fair game given they seemingly make obscene profits from life’s necessities. Maybe they are 🤔. Are they?

Yes it does. Other consumers have to pay more as a consequence of theft. The shops aren't going to take the hit.

Shops can’t just charge whatever they like for stuff, that’s not how it works. If you don’t like the cost of fennel at Waitrose, go buy some leeks at Ildi- that’s how the market works.

If Waitrose are losing a lot of money due to shoplifting they will pay staff to monitor the self checkout. - sufficient staff to look after your stock is part of the cost when your run a business.

I presume because it shows how widespread the problem is. TBH I’d be shocked to see an 80 year-old shoplifting in Waitrose.

I read something on another thread that I wish I could find to quote it fully, but it was something about the breakdown of the social contract. The COL and housing crisis mean people don’t see the point in working hard and/or paying for stuff any more. They feel scammed by the system so have no qualms about cheating and taking shortcuts themselves. I don’t agree with it, but I think it’s an interesting point. (I think it was originally said in relation to ‘quiet quitting’.)

“Profits at Waitrose soared last year, but staff across the supermarket and its sister brand John Lewis have missed out on a bonus once again. For the 52 weeks to 25 January 2025, profit before tax at the John Lewis Partnership tripled from £42m to £126m. Adjusted operating profit at Waitrose was £227m, up £122m.”

Really?

You are feeling self-righteous because an 80 year old woman is getting a few pennies off a bloody vegetable?

You must have a lot of time in your hands...

right

I really agree OP. The more the world in general goes downhill the more stuff like this upsets me! Rudeness, selfishness, mini law breaking seems on the rise :(