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!

Putting things behind high security cabinets in supermarkets just drives people to steal elsewhere. A local independently run deli near where I live keeps getting robbed by people who come in and just take armfuls of whatever they can grab- Tony's Chocalonely bars, fancy soap, even loaves of bread. They've ramped this up since the Tesco Express two doors down employed a security guard on the door and started putting high value stuff behind those security flap things.

People are always going to steal things, it's been happening since the dawn of time. I'd rather they did it in Tesco than in an independent.

This is so moronic. Only the dangerous should be locked up, locking up shoplifters etc doesn’t work, they won’t be rehabilitated and prison costs money too. This is rooted in the huge inequality we have. Fix the root of the problem. We won’t any time soon, especially with attitudes like this.

No it’s got worse . Society has got worse . And no shouldn’t be more acceptable in Tesco than an independent.

It’s nothing to do with you just do your shop. Even most shop assistants wouldn’t approach them. Not your problem.

I'm not sure your argument holds much sway when it's alcohol they're stealing! Yes, if it was baby food, children's food or nappies, but alcohol and meat? That's not because of the cost of living, that's either stealing to order or plain greediness.

No, it's not. The answer to these shoplifting thugs (because that's what they are) is much, much tougher sentences. Nobody is scared of the police or the consciences of their actions anymore. Our country is a joke..

No - the answer is to be honest and pay.

The recent increases in the cost of living are felt by many many people who still turn up and pay the full whack for their groceries.

Making excuses for criminal behaviour is just sloppy logic and insults all the honest strivers who are doing various badly paid jobs and still experiencing poverty in the UK.

Don't be ridiculous most people who steal Don't steal because they can't afford to eat people steal because they can. You could sell items at 5p and certain people would still steal them. Until police make shoplifting a priority nothing will change

I work in a medium / quiet area , and I guess that at work we are never aware of most theft ,.But sometimes ( once or twice a month ) .... people brazenly steal , walking past me at checkout with bizarre items with no resale value .......... Yesterday it was large 3 x 2 foot plastic storage boxes for moving home . Perhaps younger people or students find these items expensive to buy .
We probably would never know if people pushed cheese or batteries etc into their pocket and shopped " normally"

Op don't be anxious about it or let your children see you anxious about it shoplifters are shoplifters not murderers and rapists. Your in no more danger around shoplifters then you are any other random member of the public.

Organised gangs. Drug addicts steal high value items to fund their habit. There is usually a car and a driver outside (not an addict) who will pay the addict a small amount for what they have stolen. They will then sell on for a higher value but still half the price of the original shop price.

I was listening to a programme on this recently and a former Tesco security guard said he has left Tesco and was now doing nightclub security as it was safer. I find this flabbergasting.

Every supermarket here has them, it’s just standard. So do public buildings and so on. I live in a very quiet, rural area. Mostly the security guards just do helpful things for customers, or help people find the right desk at the tax office. I’ve never seen one have to leap into action, even when I’ve been in the city. There are also bottlenecks and gates at the tills so people can’t easily run out. Seems an obvious solution.

Where i work we have security so might make it different but the majority of shoplifters are middle aged women trying their luck. Doing scan as you go or self scan and "forgetting" to scan half their shopping. We use to take blue light card and the amount of nhs workers/ teachers etc who use to try and shoplift was unbelievable

It looks like at least one police force is taking this seriously.

www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/fb18b63ce542c37f

That's not why people are stealing basketfuls of meat or shelves full of deoderant. People who do that are hoping to either sell the whole lot to someone for money to feed an addiction, or to swap it for whatever they're addicted to.

its the level of aggression I saw from the men yesterday that shook me. They had the potential to escalate but luckily the fire door opened.

I think it has increased at least according to reports, but this is an important point : was it much more common before generally and people just didn't notice?

I do almost all of my shopping online - been ages since I've been an a supermarket. I had no idea the shoplifting had become so bad and so brazen. Very worrying that it appears to be organised crime, as the thieves are more likely to be dangerous than your odd weirdo who's doing it for a kick.

On holiday abroad I saw a lot of items locked behind plastic flaps, and you had to ask staff to unlock the flap for you.

These people who steal are complete lowlifes.

They should not be thieving in the first place. Not raging just observing that people can choose not to steal. Where is their self respect.
I don't think the cost of living Is a excuse. I recieved the old universal credit and had little income, this was a long time ago, I made do and did not even think to shoplift. Prices in the shop also go up because of the amount of stolen stock.
As mentioned on this thread stronger sentences might deter some.
Scum is your words not mine, you clearly think this as I don't use that expression.

They sound truly despicable. What sort of age were they?

I live in a big city . In our TK Maxx I am always finding boxes of make-up etc that are empty when you pick them up, yet there's two security guards on the door!

I frequently see this. Especially in Greggs. I see there's a whole thread about theft from Greggs! What I don't understand though is that when I see men (and as you say,it IS usually men) just walking out with trolley loads of alcohol,no one attempts to stop them. Yet one a bloke took a single bar of chocolate,they were chasing him across the shopping centre for it!

I haven’t RTFT but I agree OP. My local Asda doesn’t feel safe anymore - people acting really oddly, shouting, aggressive and talking to themselves. Making nasty comments or just being generally loud and obnoxious. Lots of security, the staff wearing clip on cameras. It’s so sad.