To think that shoplifting is not my f#%*ing problem

[ShoveItUpYourArseMargaret]

I can't he the only one. I've never stolen a thing in my life.

I have had it up to here with the extra security measures in shops lately.

Today in Sainsburys, I went back to the aisles with my PAID FOR shopping, to check the price on the shelf l as I'd been overcharged SO actually Sainsbury's were stealing from me. As I went back through self-checkout area where I'd paid, my trolley wheels then locked 🙄

....Also, not long ago, I did some shopping in TK Maxx and boots and the alarm went off when leaving TK Maxx because the person on the till hadn't deactivated the security thing. We went back to the till and the security person WHO HAD BEEN STANDING THERE WATCHING US, came over and rifled through my bag. I told him some of the stuff was from boots and he said, no, he had to check that too. In the process, one of the items from boots costing £10 went missing. So TK Maxx actually stole from us.

I used to love TK Maxx but wont go there anymore now.

Shoplifting is NOT my problem, I don't do it and never have. I'm not a criminal and expect not to he treated like one. Shops who are happy to take your money but treat genuine customers like shit are in danger of scaring off people who are there to spend money, they'll just end up full of shoplifters. 🤷‍♀️

A friend of mine just keeps walking when they set of the security alarm because the shop has forgotten to deactivated the security tag. She then walks in and out of shops setting off the alarm without a care in the world. I might just take this approach next time and totally refusing bag checks now as TXMaxx rifled through personal belongings and took my property 😬

I think some people steal because prices are high. I think lots steal because they can sell stuff on quickly. There’s whole gangs of people who come from abroad ( predominantly Albania going on the number of people in jail) who then go on a spree up and gown the country stealing thousands of pounds worth of stuff a day. Short jail sentence if anyone catches them / can be bothered to convict.

I think I’d have a lot more sympathy for someone nicking a block of cheese than I would someone stealing hundreds worth of batteries/ small tech/ booze to sell on.

This happened to me in Sainsbury's too. Went in for a few things, didn't have all I wanted so thought I'd try Asda. Put back the few things I had put in my trolley and went to walk out.

The wheels locked at the door, and it felt like a good 5 minutes before anyone came over.

Questioned me why I was leaving with an empty trolley, and told me it was because the store had recognised that I hadn't gone through a till point.

I was so embarrassed. Haven't been back since!

What a bizarre thing to be so cross about.

just tried to post some links showing its mostly women being falsely accused but they wouldnt post

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-69055945

I hate the scan your receipt things. It's so wasteful making every transaction produce a stupid scrap of paper, most of which seem to end up as litter.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/mum-mortified-after-b-m-mistakes-her-for-a-shoplifter/ar-AA1JWfdp?fbclid=IwY2xjawMqqtNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHjLlSxjy4tJ0h4BcoIilxhEYRsynmVCWTYonAJMuHniyrNIrzUz96mGFe7OW_aem_BCvXxJpAcArsadt7fNsnYQ

I work in a shop and have done for the past decade. 90% of the people do not steal because prices are high, they steal mainly laundry items chocolate coffee etc that they can sell on quickly to get their next fix. Or young kids stealing sweets/energy drinks/smoking bits and phone chargers. Gangs of Romanian women stealing hundreds of pounds of clothes/cleaning stuff etc.

In my experience genuine people who steal because they’re struggling to eat and survive are definitely in the minority. We all pay for their actions at the end of the day and they make my blood boil. I won’t stand there and watch.

The one thing that really annoys me is having to ask for a carrier bag and having a member of staff scan the bag at the self service as they now hide them away... hugely patronising and frankly insulting when I spend sometimes close to £200 and they think I am going to rob a few 30 pence carrier bags.

Also, a few occasions I have purchased from kfc or McDonald's and they forget to add the dips in the bag which are like 50 pence... they always insist on seeing the receipt first before they hand it over!

Thats my rant over but yeah I agree with you hugely annoying for us honest people.

OTOH I quite enjoy pointing out the store detectives to DP. I think they’re incredibly obvious.

No, but i do shop in them and understand that a % of the prices I ( and everyone else pays) goes to cover the cost of theft.

They don't know you so can understand them checking when the alarms go off or you walk back out with paid stuff, that would look like you are walking out without paying. If I am overcharged I tell the staff that the label had said x price, every single time they go off come back with the incorrect label and refund me the difference.
In cases of alarms going off, it has a few times been the result of a makeup item which I have the receipt for from a different shop, the staff in the alarm shop identified it, either send me on my way or they have disactivated the alarm for me to I have no further annoyance.
They definitely wouldn't steal your item.
If shoplifting wasn't so rife then they wouldn't have such tight security, but it is so they have to check

Oh this the Boots shoplifter who regularly appears and disappears?!

Another feature of our broken society.

I paid for a single item at self checkout (Tesco). Live close by so going for one item takes a few mins only. Receipt printer out of paper. Got stopped. Arsed around with looking at club card history (not yet on there), but history for that self checkout was broken. I’m standing there with a member of staff and security guard. 10 mins go by whilst they decide what to do with me. Staff member says I know you didn’t steal that, we just have procedures. Ok I say, very politely. So I was taking up the time if the guard and the employee. So guess what, a shoplifter takes the opportunity to shop lift 🤣🤣 and they say to me “just go” as they try to accost the real shoplifter. Too late!!

Shopping in supermarkets is becoming a very unpleasant experience, endless CCTV, locked products, and the constant sense that you’re under suspicion, yet we have to do all the scanning. It’s like supermarkets are running everything with zero trust. When I’m in Aldi or even Waitrose I have the staff peering into my bag before I’ve scanned a thing and then their beady eyes are watching everything I do. If they don’t trust me get staff on the bloody tills! I was in B&M today, and all the laundry detergent was kept behind plastic security sliding doors. I couldn’t get anything out, so I left it. I did notice, however, that the prices were very high, which might explain why shoplifting is rife - washing powder and detergent have become so expensive, feels like greed to me.

Doesn’t stop you from feeling targeted especially when security are trailing you.

I have watched blatant shoplifting and seen someone walk out of a store with 4 bottles of spirits and when you turn to the security guard to see if he is going to do anything about it he just shrugs his shoulders

I have been the subject of close scrutiny at the self service checkout whilst the till that backed on to mine had school kids putting handfuls of stuff into their school bags and paying for only a couple of items yet the assistant who stood so close to me that I bumped them each time I scanned an item and turned to put it onto the bag area refused to look at the school kids as he thought it was a distraction method.

I don’t really shop in stores now as I am sick of the scrutiny if I just want to look around and not buy. It is creepy.

Bloke here. The ridiculous security infuriates me.
i recently did a big shop in Tesco. Unusually, I used a self-service checkout thing because all the tills had long queues. I was very careful to check the prices on the screen, and was 100% sure I had paid for everything.
On leaving, a rather aggressive security bloke blocked my progress and asked for a random check, of every item. It would have taken ages.
I told him that I was not a thief, that title in all the goods in the trolley had already passed to me, and he must either immediately stand aside, or arrest me.
He stood aside.
A similar thing happened in Aldi with some steaks, which I’d paid for at a manned checkout, but the RFID tags hadn’t been deactivated properly. Alarms sounded as I left. Despite a load of impertinent screaming for me to stop, I just walked on. Nothing happened.
It’s nice being honest: one can confidently face down these self-important tossers.

I get it.

Oddly enough happened yesterday, sort of.

Where I live there is a B&M and a Tesco next to each other, so I bought my shampoo in B&M (half the Tesco price) then went to Tesco. Had a receipt. There was an "unexpected item" thing, and the assistant asked what was in my bag on the floor, so nothing to do with the bag on the scales. I told her what it was, pointed out the receipt in the bag and she still asked me to prove I had bought it from next door. What the hell else could prove it better than a receipt from less than half an hour ago?!

Left all the shopping there for them to put back and went to Aldi.

The big supermarkets tried to save on staff by having self serve tills, but now complain that they are losing too much to shoplifters......well PICK ONE, cos Sainsburys, Tescos et al....you cant have both!

.

As long as society is soft on shoplifting, stores will do what they must to stay profitable.

Sainsbury's and a TK Max security guard stealing from you are not my problem, preventing theft in shops keeps the prices lower so we should all care, even if we don't give a shit about other people.

It's not only this country shop lifting and pick pocketing is rife all over the world.

even the mince i bought had a security ticket on it
now that is ridiculous
it was left on
it was a tesco express - the alarm went off - what was the point? no one stopped me - if there was security how could they tell whether i was stealing or not?

Plenty of countries where it is not ….