Do people have no shame any more?

[tachetastic]

I don't know if the worst part of this story is the fact that its theft or the fact people don't care.

I was in Tesco this morning buying eggs (the normal type, not chocolate) and a couple were standing by the egg display swapping the eggs from two half-dozen boxes of the fancy premium brand eggs into a box for 12 Tesco own-brand eggs. They weren't even being subtle about it. He was just standing there holding the boxes while she swapped the eggs over. He then double checked that the designer eggs she had put in the Tesco box were all unbroken, and then they put the expensive box containing the cheap eggs back on the shelf and put the cheap box with the expensive eggs in their trolley, and off they went.

During all of this I and three other customers were just standing openly watching them and casting glances at each other.

The difference in price was probably about 50p per box, so about a quid in total. But is that the point? Are the eggs so much better that it's worth a heist, or are people just so pissed off with the CoL crisis that anything they can do to feel that they are getting something for nothing is worth while?

The couple so clearly didn't care that I couldn't see the point in telling them it was theft, but when they left I moved the two boxes containing the cheap eggs to one side and left them open, so nobody would pick them up not realising they weren't the fancy eggs.

AIBU, this is fine and large supermarkets have it coming?

or AINBU, this is still theft and cheeky fuckery of the highest order?

And more interestingly, what cheeky fuckers have you seen lately who could beat this?

It will get where all the shelves have shutters & you have to scan your card to open

Or tbh they will just push people to delivery/collection only.

At the moment people don't think through that part of the high prices is the supermarkets pass on the cost of losses through theft to customers.

I’m not sure we can afford the prisons.

Eight weeks of genuinely hard unpaid labour would get my vote, ideally productive but even unproductive work digging holes. Bring back chain gangs for shoplifting and antisocial behaviour. And for poor grammar. 🤣

Yes, people aren't angry enough (or maybe they are but just feel powerless) about the costs that theft add for everybody else. If it were, say, one person in 10,000 who were thieving, it could be absorbed relatively easily; but the sheer number of them nowadays, coordinated and emptying multiple whole shelves of goods into their bags - several times every single day - it's obvious what overall effect that will have on those who do bother to pay for their goods.

Aside from that, though, putting everything in plastic cages is an additional loss on several levels. Firstly, there's the cost of buying the cages. Secondly, there's all the extra time it takes the staff to load them and unlock them again on purchase. How much time does it take to put 100 chocolate bars straight out on to the shelf versus having to put hem in 100 cages first?

Thirdly, it massively reduces the amount of stock that can be put out on one shelf for sale. Fourthly, it looks so unappealing and the hassle will tip the balance for many between "Oh, go on, then, I'll grab one for the trolley" and "Nah, I can't be bothered with the faff - I'll leave it". Also, the very act of taking an item in a plastic cage to the till for them to unlock it before you can buy it will make honest people feel like they're under suspicion and somehow potentially 'naughty' - so another deterrent from buying it.

@AntiqueBabyLoanSmurf it's obvious what overall effect that will have on those who do bother to pay for their goods.

But I’m not sure it is obvious to a lot of people. The news is constantly saying the price of oil is pushing prices up, war in Ukraine is putting prices up, Trump is pushing prices up, China is pushing prices up, global warming is pushing prices up.

I don’t remember the last time I saw a news story telling me that shoplifting was pushing prices up and that works both ways. It makes consumers miss the connection between what their friends and neighbours are up to and the price the pay at the till, while shoplifters continue to think that what they are doing is a “victimless crime” that only affects faceless supermarkets and not anyone they know.

I got a box of 12 free-range expensive eggs on my home delivery around the time you posted this.

They had been swapped for cheap, bleached white eggs and now I know why! I'm still frothing over it.

No, you're right - and I probably phrased that badly.

I should have clarified: it's obvious if you stop and think about it properly; but as you say, most people won't ever stop to think about it.

I do think we need to stop categorising all people who steal from shops as the same.

There are a some who steal from necessity, for their own use – basic benefits level income, poor budgeting, etc. Mostly small value essential items. Baby milk/food, nappies, etc. Bread, tins of beans, etc.

There are those who steal to sell to feed a drug or other habit, not for their own use – often mid value items – boxed or mid-priced toiletries, alcohol, joints of meat. Sold on an ad hoc ‘down the pub’ basis.

Some who have addictions and/or debts are recruited by middle-men and steal to order – similar items to above but handed over to the bosses for minimal payment.

Then there are the professional gangs who sweep tech and similar off shelves and sell at huge profit. Often armed with knives or other weapons but usually just bagging the swag and blasting out of the shop regardless.

I think, when caught, they should be treated differently – depending on the motivation and style of theft. Difficult but not impossible.

Just lock them all up.

I think the ones that claim to steal out of necessity are the hardest to judge because that comes down to an individual's subjective view. There is the extreme (and hopefully largely hypothetical) example you often hear quoted as a possible justification where a mother is stealing baby formula to feed her starving child, but in most cases there is a subjective element as to whether something is a necessity as opposed to something they just really want.

The group you don't include in your message is the people who feel a sense of entitlement, and they actually irritate me the most (along with the organised criminals who are carrying weapons or use intimidation as a threat). People who want something and probably can afford to pay for it, but resent paying because they feel that's for mugs, or they are prepared to pay so much but not as much as other people. These are the people that switch labels around or scan three items but not the fourth and justify it on the basis that the price is too high without thinking that part of the reason the price is so high is precisely because people are doing what they are.

I actually had an full on argument with a friend about this today, because when we went to a supermarket for lunch he put both a pastry and a cookie in a paper bag at the bakery counter, but then when we paid he only put the pastry through at the till, basically getting the cookie for free. I had also put a pastry and cookie in my bag but did pay for both. When I picked him up on it he just laughed, and I wasn't going to report my friend to security. He earns six figures and always gives to charity, buys the Big Issue, rounds up at the till, etc. He was actually honest and said that he didn't intend to take the cookie until he had put the pastry through at the till and realised that nobody would know (apart from me obviously) if he didn't put the cookie through, so he didn't bother. I gave him hell clearly and we compromised that he promised to pay for an extra cookie next time, but who knows if he will. The cookie only cost about a quid but it annoyed me so much that he didn't see the problem with not paying it.

Though @OonaStubbs suggestion of a mandatory prison sentence would probably make sure he paid for his flipping cookie next time! 😂

Surely the machine would've realised that the pastry was much heavier than it should be?

It isn't something I would care about seeing happening but I would think it was wrong only because someone else will pick up the cheap eggs without knowing. I hate cheap eggs because they can have blood and those big white string things in them

I would have expected so, but it didn't. Perhaps there is a lot of variation in the weight of all the different baked goods so it didn't pick this up.

With the increase of Food Banks, I haven’t seen so many of the necessity group and I agree there is a subjective boundary regarding need and want. I also think there more likely have been ‘blind eyes’ and stern tellings off in the past.

I haven’t come across any of the entitlement group. I suggest the egg changers may come into that group and your double dipping friend too. On the edge of that group might be the weight changers, buying expensive fruit or veg and choosing to weigh them as cheaper items.

I hope OonaStubbs is going to fund the building of more prisons 😉

It wouldn't cost so much if we got rid of all the "human rights" crap. Just concrete structures with the prisoners manacled to the wall, like in medieval times. Just chuck in a few out of date sandwiches as food every once in a while. Make people actually scared of prisons for once, instead of looking forward to a reunion with their mates and free food and playstation, with a potential shag from a sexy lady prison officer.