Shops are becoming quite scary

[ithinkilikethislittlelife]

I am starting to become quite nervous in shops, primarily shops that sell food stuffs. Just yesterday I saw two men go through a fire door in my local supermarket that takes them straight into the car park armed with baskets of stolen items. The one basket had steak/meats and the other looked like it was all bottles of vodka. The poor staff trying to wrestle the baskets back and stop the two men from leaving was quite upsetting to witness. This was yesterday. Saturday in my local co op a chap was loitering by the alcohol section while I was shopping. Getting into our car outside I noticed him sprinting past us clutching bottles of alcohol. Me and dh see it all the time now. It’s an epidemic. And it usually seems to be men. And I’m not having it that they are stealing milk for babies or bread for their children. I always see them take alcohol. I don’t know what the answer is but yesterday I was frightened for the staff member who intervened as the one chap raised a bottle of alcohol at her and she then backed off but I totally understood her rage at trying to stop the thieves taking from her place of work. I don’t want my children to witness these thieving people and I don’t want to feel anxious just trying to go about my day and buy food!

I used to work in a supermarket in the mid 00s (naice one in a naice area) and people stole stuff all the time. If the staff weren’t intervening (which is bloody stupid because a minimum wage job definitely isn’t worth putting yourself at risk for) then you likely wouldn’t even notice.

It’s the brazen way they steal stuff now. Not slipping shampoo bottle into a pocket but armfuls/ baskets full of booze. And they are angry doing it. It’s bloody horrible.

The answer is to bring down the cost of living.

Your children will feed off you. So don’t let your anxieties around this bleed in to them.

No, I don’t feel anxious in the shops.

It’s crime gangs getting funding - nothing to do with the cost of living. One loaf of bread etc is very different from these what people do.

But until the police go in hard and heavy, nothing will change. 🤬

i am going to assume that the shops tell their staff not to tackle people. And i'm pretty sure the police won't come out for shoplifters.

So until it reaches critical mass and everything in a shop is behind a secure counter, we can look forward to more of it, higher prices and more bars of chocolate in locked boxes. Unfortunately.

How horrible. I have never witnessed this in the shops as a customer but have as shop staff. Supermarkets used to just put it down to wastage to avoid unpleasant scenes in the past but I know there is a lot of theft in some places now. Staff should definitely not be intervening or wresting item from shoplifters!

i think that’s what needs to be done. Put all the high value stuff behind barriers. Inconvenient yes but Staff must be in fear for their lives at times and i would rather a bit more hassle when shopping and staff feeling safe.

I worked in a Co op until I retired last year and we were told to not approach them. We could shout but no more. Obviously some people did physically stop them as it's extremely rage inducing. They have bodycams now. To a pp there are plenty of women who brazenly do it too.
We used to get regulars who would go to all the shops in the area and the shops would ring each other to say she was on her way so they could stop her coming in. She'd been locked up a few times for about 10 weeks and then she'd be back.
I know it wasn't our money but I just used to think that if I'm working for my money they can too.

You think that’ll stop blokes stealing bottles of vodka?

or more police, more prisons, quicker sentencing, more prevention to stop people becoming criminals

When I was 18 (a long time ago) I worked in a pub and the landlord used to buy bottles of alcohol from shoplifters to serve to customers. As did a couple of his friends who were also pub landlords.

Alcohol is easy to sell on. If I was struggling to feed my family and was going to resort to shoplifting, its easier to steal some alcohol and sell it on, and then buy food, than a basket full of bread, milk, veg etc. Of course there are other reasons why people shoplift but it makes sense to go for the highest value items. That's why meat also gets stolen a lot.

I’ve never seen anything like this where I live, although our Morrisons has had a security guard since Covid.

I believe retail staff are advised not to intervene.

That would be good for all of us but it's not always an issue.
We had a very well to do chap who came in every day and quite often spent a fair bit, turns out he was stealing a packet of salmon every day.
We had another workman who stole a racing post every time he came in but bought other stuff. We told him outright he wasn't welcome back and told his workmates to watch their wallets when with him. Not very professional but you get so angry with them.

Are the fuck men with baskets of vodka and steaks doing it to feed their families. Stop making excuses for criminals

Surprised staff were wrestling the baskets back tbh

They are usually told not to intervene

When I see the odd shoplifter peg it out of the shop, I just roll my eyes. It doesn't make me anxious, if you don't get in their way then you're of no interest to them

Staff are not supposed to be wrestling anyone, that's a stupid thing to do.

Never ever seen it happen some how..but these people are definite scum. To cheer myself up I watch the occasional rare video where shop staff actually beat up the thief.

There was a video a few years back where Sainsbury's staff cornered the thief in the back room and just whacked him. Made me feel so much better.

Just because you're poor doesn't make it okay to steal.

Yes I saw it happen in my Tesco on Sunday. It’s a huuuuge Tesco with a mile long queue for the self serve checkouts as it was closing in 10 mins. Two men casually walked through and the assistant called after them and then they ran…but the wrong way and went down a slope to a closed door 😂
they ran back up and out the shop, narrowly missing other shoppers by the front door.
i asked where security was. She said don’t get me started!!
why wouldn’t a Tesco that big have security! They would have been able to tackle them at the front door.

It been really bad for a while now. I work in a very quiet, very posh area and we get shop lifters in a few times a week so I can only imagine what it's like in bigger towns / cities. I feel perfectly safe at work though op, you really don't have to feel anxious about it. They're not going to be paying any attention to you, they mostly just grab the stuff and run.

It looked instinctive to be honest. I felt myself walking towards her to help as well. I’m 5ft and 8 1/2 stone and scared of my own shadow but instinct kicks in. Then he legged it through the fire door he booted open. My husband was like “where the fuck are you going?” I was on auto pilot.

Yes it’s really bad now. And it’s so hard to report it to 111 (I was on hold for 45 mins then got cut off). I think people don’t both RT reporting so we have no real idea of how much crime is occuring.

lol, no.

It might not seem major to many people, but it's one of the reasons that the cost of living is going up. WE are the ones paying for this, not the shops. They just pass the extra cost on. If shops put higher value stuff behind barriers, WE are paying for this as well.

If you know anyone who shoplifts, shame them into stopping please. Or report them.

The answer is to lock up criminals.

As Jaxhog said - we end up paying as consumers. Well those of us who bother to play by the rules and pay.