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!

@Treacling absolutely no point in reporting it, nothing ever happens.

I am VERY happy to pay more tax to imprison these scumbags. That’s the only way to effect change here.

I know, it’s ridiculous but I reported as my children witnessed it. How could I not report it when I am trying to teach them right from wrong? And also to ensure it was recorded as a crime to show in statistics.

If everyone reported every crime then officials couldn’t say ‘crime is dropping’. It’s only ‘dropping’ on paper because people think there is no point in reporting.

I like in a fairly rough location. I know Tesco Met nearby did get an armed robbery once - they had secuirty gurads for a bit afterwards.

I don't see this - shop lifting happens - apparently even from the charity shop but staff get told not to physically intervene.

We have got slidy things in local tesco for small items but not lcoked away. Saw in press some places are putting chocolate bars in boxes that need to be opened by staff - most alcohol and clothes in larger shops has tags the staff at tills have to remove - if it was anything more than than would go elsewhere or just shop on-line even more.

but then they'll just steal more of the low value stuff. I saw a news report yesterday about how people are mass-stealing chocolate - yes it doesn't sound like much but it's still a big loss for the business if they grab a whole box and leg it. There was a (admittedly quite funny, but the wider repercussions are serious) video of a guy with £220 worth of cream eggs stuffed in his jacket, and another where someone grabbed a whole chocolate display stand that was close to the entrance of a shop - in and out within less than 30 seconds and a few hundred quid up.

Even if the police do come down heavy, as another poster suggested, it costs a fortune to try and investigate petty crime, even if they do catch someone and take it to court, are we going to imprison everyone for stealing £100 worth when we are already letting prisoners who have committed much more serious crimes out early due to overcrowding?

The only way I can see 'live' shops potentially working in the future (other than everything just going online) is something like amazon go, where you have to scan an app linked to your credit card before being allowed in - it would have to have a minimum amount available, like the hold charge when you get petrol now. Then anything you are holding when you leave gets charged to you, the shop doors don't open again until you 'check out.' If anyone has ever been to a pure gym or similar the entry/exit doors would be like that - 1 person at a time (maybe slightly bigger to allow for pushchairs/shopping trolleys). There would obviously have to be emergency exits for fires or similar.

My local Morrisons last year put glass doors on all the spirits & expensive wine. You had to ring a bell and wait for a member of staff to come and unlock the door to get it. Lasted for about 6 months then went back to normal - I’m assuming it was down to inconvenience & staff availability 🤷🏻‍♀️

There was an item on the radio yesterday saying they are having to lock chocolate up because of losing so much of it to theft. I don't think the main reason for shop lifting is the cost of living. Shop staff don't have the power to stop people and there aren't enough police to deal with it. Why are people so dishonest, selfish and not bothered about the law? We all end up paying the price. I don't know what the answer is.

Where was this?

There was an antisocial incident involving teens that require police intervention this week at my local supermarket.

Its an area thats nice. Not a run down area.

So god knows what its like elsewhere.

No, I don't feel anxious in food shops. If anything, the weekly food shop is one of my favourite activities of the week! I enjoy strolling around, deciding what to buy.
But I've never noticed anyone doing what you describe. Genuinely, the last shoplifter I actively clocked was a teenage girl putting make-up her pockets in a Superdrug! And that was about 20 years ago!

I’ve seen blokes just going straight out through the self service with bottles of alcohol too. I’ve also seen groups of young boys aged about 12 just walking through the self service area with bags of sweets and also blatantly putting them in their rucksacks before walking out. They don’t even bother to hide it any more as nothing is done!
As previous posters have said this is partly
why the price of groceries are going up for all of us.

No excuse

We saw lads run put of shop with two microwaves couple of weeks ago. Nearly run into us as we werecoming in.
Cost of living my arse

I saw a recent incident in Lidl where a man staggered in (unchallenged by the security guard) clearly pissed out of his mind, fell into some bottles of Prosecco and smashed them, then stole some and went out to the carpark, where he got beaten up by a member of the public who threw a trolley at him. Not clear why. The police turned up at this point and arrested both of them.

I didn't feel scared or threatened at all myself, but it's annoying that the police aren't more bothered about shoplifting, as it's just so commonplace now. It's mad that drunk people can just wander into supermarkets and help themselves to more booze without even an attempt to stop them. It's also part of the reason why food price inflation is so high.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3gqr7p0lqo

Sainsbury in one shop in London - for the box idea- read the headline and thought it a more widespread idea.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-39860739

You really have to be careful when tackling people carrying glass bottles.

Its not about the cost of living.

I live in a nice area. The kids are spoilt rotten and have money. They are just bored and know theres no consequences. They do it for the shits and giggles not because they can't just go in and buy something.

The behaviour that occurred this week wasn't even stealing. It was another form of anti-social behaviour. The shop has been targetted for some time and the staff have been victims of harassment, abuse and even violence.

Yeah I wouldn't like to work there right now given whats been happening.

Stealing cadbury's musy be pretty low point in thiefe's considering the quality

20 years ago I worked in a co-op, it was razors, coffee, meat (particularly bacon) and alcohol. They stole to order and took it in the pub next door for delivery then bought drugs, repeat repeat repeat.

It's certainly more obvious.

Years ago a shop lifter sent my mum flying try to escape but it's wasn't so common.

The other day I went in a petrol station with food outlets as I walked in a guy ran out, he had 4 salad bowls so £15 of stuff. Staffers shocked when I told her what he'd taken.

The stealing pushes it up for everyone. Who do you think covers the cost of these items?

I've not personally seen anything like this, but have seen a lot of posts and complaints from local small business owners about shoplifters in recent years. One shop posted a video of a couple of women stuffing loads of Jellycat toys into their bags, then one would go outside and offload them into her Audi before coming back in for more.

In many of our local supermarkets the alcohol is now all kept in locked cabinets and you have to push a button to call a member of staff to come and open them, same for anything Pokemon related! Meat is often kept inside plastic security cases too.

I wouldn't thank you for it these days either.

It sounds like it's a quantity crime they were highlighing- steal entire shelves to order - so likely someone selling to the supply chain not direct to public themselves.

My local Aldi. But I always nose about when I’m shopping and I’ve seen it happen in Tesco and Asda as well. It’s so brazen. And when you click the type who do it you spot them everywhere. My husband always asks who I’ve got my eyes on and I’m usually right. My husband and son were in our co op and men grabbed at the jars of coffee and made a right mess smashing them while trying to pile them into a rucksack. It’s all the time. And it’s not cost of living. It’s to feed a habit. And like I say, I don’t know what the answer is but it’s certainly escalated.

Yes, that's a much better idea. God forbid anyone has a beer at the weekend.