Eating without paying

We were standing at the check out in Tescos last week and a child (about 8 or 9) went over to the pick n mix sweets and helped herself - her mother saw her but took no notice. Also saw a chocolate santa that had been half eaten on the shelf - it was probably the same child! What puzzles us is why you will see items of shopping randomly place on a shelf nowhere near where they should be. Our mantra is 'didn't want that one' - could be ham bought at the deli in with the toilet rolls or shampoo dumped in the freezer!

The eating without paying thing has been going on for years. I worked as a Saturday girl on Woolies pick n mix back in the dark ages! and even then folk would help themselves to a sweet or two & just walk off. The problem is worse now that supermarkets are huge with very few staff around. How I long for the days when we were served food that was kept behind glass by a lovely smiley assistant in a white coat!

My friend and I were walking around a Wilkinson store, we are ladies of a certain age and reasonably dressed, when I picked up a tub of hand cream to purchase.
As we sauntered along looking at goods on offer we noticed a young man ,obviously a member of staff, following us. So, we continued to saunter ,went up in the lift, came down in the lift and slowly made our way to the checkout with said young man still with us. My hand cream was duly paid for and off we went on our way.
Childish maybe as no one can now who is likely to steal anything. I do feel for staff in large shops as they are often short staffed and cannot be expected to keep their eyes on everything.

I won't let my grandaughter have the free fruit sadly unless its an orange, as too many kids handle it then put it back, and after my son in law went to pick up a top at our local Tescos and it was covered in snot ( it was definitely snot, and an adult had to have wiped it on there as a kiddy couldn't have reached!!!) we don't go into any stores now without a hand sanitiser!!! Absolutely gross, don't buy the bread for the same reason....I don't trust anyone not be gross anymore.

Sarahelenwhitney - why are you saying this to me? I agree with you and as far a I know I havent put anything to the contrary. I have observed that constant snacking seems to be the norm these days for many children including my GC but that doesn't mean I approve.

I don't understand why shops that have security staff do not instruct them to stop known thieves from entering.

As for unwrapped food, I see so many adults and children leaving toilets without washing their hands I try not to buy it.

Whilst on holiday in Scotland this year the hotel we stayed in had a device on the door handle that when you opened the door dispensed a hand sanitiser on to your hands, I was very impressed.

I saw a man carrying two pairs of men's boots out of M&S. An assistant saw him and pointed to the pay desk. He headed over to it, she turned round and went back to her job then he walked out of another door. I told another assistant who casually went after him but came back a minute later saying he had gone.

We were in a clothes shop in Oxford when my son saw a man pick up two expensive cashmere sweaters and run out of the shop with them. He alerted the shop assistant and offered to chase after the man, but she said they were not allowed to follow people who had stolen goods (for obvious reasons I suppose). They said it was quite a common occurrence. The rest of DS's day was peppered with of righteous indignation and mutterings!

I have never seen anything like this but grandma1954 is right, we are paying for it.

Ah, but it keeps them quiet sarahellenwhitney

Pollyperkins
Bad parenting. Feed your kids before shopping. Obesity on the increase increase in removal of decaying milk teeth no wonder if you can't do a bit of shopping with out stuffing your kids with things out of packets or cartons of sugary drinks.

Further to my original post, I have no issue at all with anyone consuming food or drink on the way round IF they pay for it! What I’m talking about are those that deliberately steal items that can’t be weighed or accounted for as they’ve hidden the wrappers on the shelves or in the freezers! We then pick up the cost through higher charges on our shopping. It’s a bit like when I was in charge of a schools finance and we had to charge extra to parents paying for trips to cover the cost of those that didn’t or wouldn’t pay! Don’t even get me started on that one!

Just a slight digression.
We were once in Woolworths in Llandudno. A man came in, unbuttoned his shirt, took a deodorant off the shelf, squirted both armpits, put the deodorant back and left. We were amazed but no one else seemed to notice

Children do get hungry, (despite "proper" meals). I can remember being a bit preoccupied unloading my trolley contents on to the conveyer, but on looking up at the sound of laughter from the assistant and the woman behind me I was mortified to discover my 2 year old had taken a bite out of the baguette that was sticking up in the front of her trolley. For the record, I did offer to replace it, but the assistant declined!

I would never buy a wrapped loaf from somewhere like Tesco. I like a lovely crusty seedy bloomer, not a limp one in a plastic bag

Not really the point though is it Aslemma?

icanhandthemback - well said and thank you for your post! I am not diabetic but if I get hungry - and have forgotten my usual snack - I need to eat or I become shaky and feel so ill. So, as I explained, I open a multi pack of cheese biscuits etc to tide me over and, of course, pay for them with my shopping. I can never tell if I am going to suddenly feel like this and this solution suits me and never causes any problems in the store!

On a similar vein, I needed to return a item of clothing to my local sainsburys and struggled to find the correct receipt. The sales assistant found my purchase by checking my credit card as that was my means of purchase. She apologised for the delay but explained people had started stealing items of clothing then bringing them back to store for a cash refund!

I would never buy a wrapped loaf from somewhere like Tesco. I like a lovely crusty seedy bloomer, not a limp one in a plastic bag.

Some ways to steal on here that I would never even have thought of!! My only experience was when buying a pack/tube of cold sore cream in Morrisons I got home to find the cardboard pack was empty. As it was quite expensive for such a small item I took it back and was informed that it was quite common for people to take the tubes, bottles of medication etc out of the cardboard packaging and leave it (the packaging) on the shelves. There was no hesitation in replacing my item but I had no inkling that such things went on. How innocent am I?

When I was a young lad, I worked in the local butcher's shop. We had a customer who was constantly shoplifting. One day we decided to deal with it. when the customer next came into the shop, we placed ourselves in advantageous positions where she could be seen at all times! (Didn't have CCTV in those days!)

When she came to pay, we included all the items she had collected on her visit. She queried the additional items and we explained that they were in her bag! She learnt her lesson!

harrigran I would never ever leave my wrapper on the shelf. I will always pay for what I consume and take my rubbish home with me or bin it. For the record, you are not shop-lifting until you leave the store without paying. You can put things in your pocket if that is your want but until you get out the door without paying, you are not shop lifting.
I am not about to defend my actions to people who do not seem to have a handle on the legal position nor will I apologise for occasionally getting caught out with the diabetes when shopping has taken longer than expected. (I always carry glucose but I would prefer to eat fruit when available which doesn't take well to be carried around in a handbag). My point was that not everybody you see eating something in a supermarket is stealing, they will pay for the goods at the same price as the pious who feel they must leave the store first.

Grampie.....I think its a feature of them all! I saw a young mother put a whole box of nappies under her trolly at Aldi (in front of me) then she failed to declare it. I was on the verge of mentioning it but like others have said....what do they actually do?

The 'new' advanced way of people scanning and paying for their own goods (most big stores) as they go is just asking for trouble...yet they think this is the way forward?? Go figure....people put whole crates of beer underneath the trollies and don't scan them!

I think if the get caught they say "Oh am so sorry, I forgot!"

But with so many customers and so few staff, so many get away with it!!! Must be thieves paradise!!!

And Yes, the rest of us ultimately 'pay' for these dishonest people as shops must take the thefts into costing?

Hygiene issues are different issue - bit like buffets....you take or leave. How many hotels go in for buffet type meals now though? Sometimes you just got to grin and bear it and tbh I have never been ill from buffets ...so far... lol

We were in our local Tesco this afternoon and they had a lovely array of free fruit for the children. One girl obviously a teenager helped herself to a large banana from the tray. One assistant came over and said something to her and she looked quite sheepish.

I know in our local Sainsburys we were told that on one occasion a gang came in and filled their trolley with meat to the value of a few hundred pounds and just walked out. They also found that a certain group of people had found how to remove the security tags from around the spirit bottles and they had done this and gone through self scans and of course the tags were not there to set off any alarms. Security much better there now.

I have also seen someone in Asda push her shopping trolley through the till with a big pack of dog food on the hook where we hang our handbags.

I have never seen this (apart from mum paying for something her child has already eaten) - outrageous!

In a local Sainsbury's a young man hid several cans inside his jacket - there was a member of staff close by but I feared the man wouldn't think twice about attacking me outside if I said anything. After he'd left I told staff but it happens all the time. On another occasion in my local Coop a customer put his basket of goods on the floor in one of the aisles and transferred them to a plastic carrier bag and walked out. By the time I found a member of staff (who was a foreign student) it was too late - and he wasn't interested. I've stopped buying the Coop's delicious Portuguese tarts after I saw a large fly enjoying one. Never know if fresh bread rolls, croissants etc might have been on the floor and then picked up and put back by customers.