To be livid at Tesco again

[Mallenstreak]

Further to my other post-while standing at customer services saw a woman with a child in her trolley stop at the sandwich section,grab a packet,open & eat it then walk off. I pointed this out to the manager who simply said "yes I expect the empty packet will go on a shelf somewhere". She also said that this happens all the time and she is always finding apple cores or banana skins where shoppers have just picked up food and eaten it as they go around the store. Tesco have loads of signs warning that they prosecute shoplifters but it's obviously o.k to eat the evidence as you go along!

I am always eating whilst shopping but I always pay. I often rush to the supermarket then realise I am starving half way round or thirsty.

I am sure quite a few people nick stuff but surely lots of people do what I do too? I dont think that is wrong.

I have never, ever in my life, eaten or drunk anything before paying for it... Neither has DH or my DC.

I have never seen other people do it either.

Nobody in this country can possibly be that starving!

store account for theft in their profit margins.so we all pay for fuckwits who eat the products and dont pay

I have terrible eating habits so will often go shopping on an empty stomach. Its my own fault I admit. But cant see anything wrong with eating it before I pay, I do it all the time in cafes etc.

I'm with you che! It tends to be dd rather than me so I grab some of those decorate your own gingerbread men, open it up, give one to her and shop in peace for a good 20 minutes I always pay though, am I still in the wrong OP?

I would only graze on something that had a packet that could be scanned and paid for before I left. When grabbed and bit an apple I went to customer service and offered for pay over what the apple weighed but they declined. I think that purposely grazing is questionable.

i do open multipack item,retain barcode and pay

gah, this really pisses me off. I went shopping with a good friend recently and she scoffed a packet of sausage rolls and a bottle of coke on the way round.

I assumed she'd stick the empty packet on the belt to pay for, she just ditched them on a shelf. was SO annoyed with her, that's theft!

your kid eating the odd grape is one thing, but adults getting hungry halfway round and stealing food is another. Just wait until you've paid for your food FFS!

My friend lets her DD eat a sandwich whilst sat in the trolley and then chucks the wrapper half way round the store. She is most amused that I am by this.

thelunar66 fgs bully for you that you've never done it. What do you want? - a medal? It's only stealing if you leave the shop without paying. I have sometimes eaten an item with a fixed price and paid later amd more often I have opened a bottle of pop and consumed some it is not a crime actually!

i am shocked at consumption and non payment. i occasionally open barcode item for dc but obviously still pay

I do this...sometimes with 8mnth mindee i open a bag of rice cakes and give her one...but like everyone here, i pay for it

dumping it halfway round is theft and is wrong but i wouldnt be livid about it!

If the staff did it, we'd loose our jobs. We're not even allowed to consume then pay afterwards (on our breaks), so why should customers get away with it?

I had to beg someone to buy me some water once whilst they were on a break. I'd had a coughing fit and had drunk all mine!

Bexie- surely there is tap water available for staff???

I regularly open packets of rice cakes for dd but always pay.

Actually, consuming products before purchase is considered theft under the law even if you fully intend to pay for it later and shops are well within their rights to prosecute. But seeing as this would be daft as the customers are going to pay, they rarely if ever bother. I would never do it as it is pretty rude - the items are, after all, the property of the shop until you've made payment. Putting them in a basket or trolley doesn't automatically make them yours.

This factoid is just about the only thing I can remember from my Law A-Level

Shocked at this. It's theft.

I usually get my dd a sandwich from the kiosk and pay for it, then give it to her to eat as I do my shop. I'd be worried about being caught and accused of shoplifting if I opened a packet that I hadn't paid for.

I don't necessarily see someone buying a multi-pack of crisps and giving a bag to their child, as long as they intend to pay for the item. I don't do it myself only because I am a coward and scared of the big security guards

Do people really eat stuff before they pay for it? How fucking hungry can you be that you can't wait 10 minutes?? Can understand giving a kid something to shut them up then scanning the packet though. Better than tantrums, I hate supermarkets as it is.

It's the eating it then discarding the packet without paying that shocks me.

I am absolutely shocked and disgusted at people who do this - thieveing pigs!

"By Scorpette Sun 13-Dec-09 00:12:59
Actually, consuming products before purchase is considered theft under the law even if you fully intend to pay for it later"

Er, actually, no, it's not. You must intend to deprive the rightful owner of the goods/payment for it to be theft, so paying after consuming is fine. Like, you know, in restaurants?

OldLady I was just about to bring that up, whilst I'm not sure how I feel about opening a packet whilst walking around, of course you consume food before you eat it in a restaurant.

LOl, consume it before you pay for it, surely?