Shoplifting

Well i thought I did.
Woman acting furtively.
Then put something in rack under pushchair.
I think she covered it up[cant quite remember that bit.]

I told the cashier, then left the shop.

It is only now, years later, that I think it is quite common to put things down there, if have a pushchair, and then pay at till?

Anyway. I had told the cashire. Dont know what happened after that.

Fwiw, I know some of the staff at our nearest co -op.
They said a few months ago that they are having many more things shoplifted there, than they used to have.
The day I was there, they said, they had chased people out of the shop the previous day.

Yes was in town long while ago and it was in River Island they had a large revolving clothes rail near the open double doors🤔
As I was going in two guys swept in both grabbed and armful of clothes each and sped off
Shop assistants chatting by the till never even registered

6 months in jail for nicking cheese for hungry children! Must have cost the taxpayers a fortune to keep children in the home!

Lots of supermarkets here offer a choice of a piece of fruit free for children when shopping AuntieE.. DGD2 prefers a pear, but often has to settle for a banana! I’ve often eaten my way through a small French stick, while shopping, but always pay for it - even if it’s just a few crumbs left in the wrapper!

I doubt they were ‘nicking cheese for hungry children’ Whingey. My S-in-L reckons pre-packed cheese and bacon are two of the most stolen items - quite expensive, in small packages and easy to sell on. I imagine the thief to whom you refer probably has a criminal record to get a custodial sentence.

Mt61

That not a nice thought to think everything on eBay & Vinted is stolen.
People do change their minds, too late to return, or buy items knocked down & sell to make an extra buck.

I don’t think I said everything new with tags was stolen!
I said I suspect it was the source, clearly meaning some items.. I also have bought things that I decided not to wear, but didn’t take back. I don’t use on line auctions and usually give unwanted clothes to charity.

Kniw wgat I would like to do to thieves. However, I would be in trouble, put their photos out as a warning to other shops and to neighbours so they can lock tgeur goods away.
Every night prior to local Evening News there could be an item on ‘Todays Shoplifters’ , it would get a lot of views. Also useful to post how much shoplifting is costing each of us.

When I worked in Boots young women were often caught hiding stuff under the folded hood of their pram/pushchair. Not children's stuff either, anything from make-up, creams, smellies to batteries.

Young girls used to arrive before they went to school and do a full face makeup using the testers, which used to make me cringe.

Allsorts

Kniw wgat I would like to do to thieves. However, I would be in trouble, put their photos out as a warning to other shops and to neighbours so they can lock tgeur goods away.
Every night prior to local Evening News there could be an item on ‘Todays Shoplifters’ , it would get a lot of views. Also useful to post how much shoplifting is costing each of us.

On London news one shopkeeper refused to let a prolific shoplifter into his small corner shop only to have his windows smashed. The police won't attend more often than not and those responsible say they can't pay as they have no money, hence the shoplifting. Poor shopkeepers can't win.

yogitree

Long ago, when I worked part time in Asda, there was a display of TV's right at the front of the store opposite the entrance. There followed a 'trend' of people coming in and lifting a TV then running out! Management didn't move the display for days which was slow work on their part, although the thieves learned very quickly they were onto a good thing.

I know someone who worked at Asda who told me a bloke once pushed a full rack of suede type coats out of the door, they weren’t allowed to stop the culprit. Also certain people were buying the exact same shopping, putting one trolly through, then passing on the receipt to the other person.
Another stunt was a lady who would claim to faint at the till, then staff would called an ambulance, she & the unpaid shopping would be taken to the hospital 😩 Apparently did it in a few stores.

A couple stole an expensive item from a shop in the village. They went to the garage where they usually took stolen goods.It still had the price label on. They didn't realise that the garage had changed hands and the new owner was a regular customer of the shop which had been robbed. The thieves were charged and made make reparation to the shop. I hope they learned their lesson.

Yes, when I worked in Woolies many years ago, a woman came in with a large duvet box. I was keeping an eye on her discreetly as she was acting a bit strange, looking around, not at the goods. As she was making to exit, I could see that the box was a lot heavier than when she came in. What she had done was cut a letter box slit in the side of the box and was “posting” clothes, make up, shampoo, sweets, and some heavier stuff from the household section. I alerted the store detective and he stopped her outside and took her upstairs to the staff room. The police came but she just got a warning and the box and goods were confiscated.

.

LadyGracie

Why on earth would you feel sorry for him?
Because he was young?
Because he was scruffy.

(But bet he had an expensive modern mobile phone in his pocket!)

He's a thief - and he and his like just puts the prices up for the rest of us.

If you feel that sorry for him. Keep an eye out for him and offer to pay for his shopping.
.

Yes, l was in our local cCoop Store in M21. A highly overated but very des res area about a year ago.

I was stood at the Coffee shelf reading a label an a oack of expensive filter coffee that was on offer.

Two men came up besides me with large bags. And jusr cleared the shelves with their arms out of all the expensivecoffee items on the shelves

Before l could say. What do you think you are doing. They shot out of the ztore saying "You have to get it while you can"

I was gob smacked!!!

Milest0ne

A couple stole an expensive item from a shop in the village. They went to the garage where they usually took stolen goods.It still had the price label on. They didn't realise that the garage had changed hands and the new owner was a regular customer of the shop which had been robbed. The thieves were charged and made make reparation to the shop. I hope they learned their lesson.

Good- it puts everyone else’s shopping up 😩

AuntieE

Yes, I have often seen parents of young children "forgetting" to pay for the bar of chocolate or banana their child is eating in the supermarket queue, children and adults shop-lifting in the poorer parts of large cities, wealthy women doing it in expensive clothes shops - ditto school-girls for a dare.

If possible I have drawn a member of staff's attention to it, or said loudly as the thief was leaving the cash desk, "Hey, you forgot to pay for the wean's sweeties" or whatever it was.

Especially price they are charging now for sweets & chocolate 😩

I don’t think there are many people who steal for necessity there are food banks and church food and even out of date cheap food No one really need go hungry
I don’t feel sorry for the scruffy young man at all,
Most of our thieves are not scruffy though they are perfectly well dressed well fed and often run a car
In fact the really poor living on the street don’t usually go shopping people give them food and drink and if we are asked in the charity shop we will find something A coat, good but not good enough to sell, a blanket, a sleeping bag or in one case we were asked if we had a back pack for a rough sleeper we found one for him he was very humble in asking and thanking
.the thieves are usually well dressed well spoken often personable but without a blooming conscience

I volunteer in a charity shop and we get a fair number of shoplifting . It’s a small shop and hard to keep an eye on everyone and we don’t have cctv .

I used to work at M&S and there used to be a cctv room where someone was watching the cameras all day. They knew the “regulars” and could alert sales floor staff if they spotted them. And sales floor staff could let them know if they saw someone they thought was dodgy. Then head office decided to centralise it so nobody is watching the store all the time, they just react when alerted by the individual stores and obviously it takes longer for them to log in, find the right camera and it can all be over before they’re looking in the right place.

Many years ago as a schoolgirl I had a Saturday job on the Pic'n'mix in Woolworths. We had a regular couple whose 'MO' was for one to cause a fuss over the cost of a tray of pic'n'mix whilst the other pocketed several chocolate bars from the counter opposite.
They were caught several times but just left it longer and longer between visits in the hope we would forget who they were!!
I don't think they were ever prosecuted, the purloined items were retrieved and the individual sweets in the tray of pic'n'mix diligently returned to their rightful containers, usually by one of us Saturday girls!

Witness it regular here
Cars pull up and just load stuff into the boots if their cars after dark when there is less staff on. I feel for the staff
I think it would be better if they just closed earlier (and upset everyone) but it would stop them for a time at least

We had a shop in our house for over 30years. There was an honesty box for the customers, mainly local people who mostly knew eachother.

We sold organic veg boxes and local produce.

Only once did I witness blatant stealing. We were returning home and met this rather odd woman who was always blessing us and everyone else.
She had her arms full of jars of honey. DH gently confronted her to say that was our total stock so please could she just take one.
"They're past their sell by date" (they weren't) "I didn't want them to go to waste!"
I never trusted her again.

Another time at Lidl I witnessed a blatant robbery. 2 men with a full trolley came out the entrace door to a waiting car and filled it up and drove off.
Lidl have since tightened their security.

Sarnia

kittylester

BlueBelle

Yes quite often in the charity shop I work in We have challenged and banned some, I caught out one very well dressed nicely spoken young man with his car outside I didn’t accuse him but engaged in cheerful conversation walking with him towards the counter with his basket full of items where he unfortunately found he’d left his card at home !!!! We kept a keen eye on a lady with a pram who I knew had stolen before, again well dressed very personable we pottered around tidying where she was ‘ looking’ and she knew I knew and hasn’t been back since
These are not poor people, and we lose a lot it’s awful because it makes you doubt everyone

DD3 worked at Budgens when she was a student. They were told not to challenge but to follow and stand next to known offenders.

The same with Sainsbury's. My youngest son works for them and they are told not to try to apprehend anyone shoplifting but alert security. The police will not attend for anything under £200. Sometimes words fail me. This is one of those times.

I worked with someone who stole from the charity shop we both worked in . I took over from her at lunch time and the other person who worked with her notice she was always taking things to the back shop to pay for later. She paid for maybe two of the items but had many more secreted away . I would have confronted her if I had seen her at it . Eventually I had proof of her steeling from another shop and the boss got rid of her . Her husband confronted the manager about this but he knew fine his wife was at it all the time .

About four weeks ago I was in a local Coop store. My dh was at the end of the shop near the door waiting for me. I had just finished and was going to pay when one of the staff shouted stop him he’s stealing. A man dashed down the aisle with a great big bag bursting with goods. Myself, one of the staff and dh tried to take the bag off him but he was determined not to let it go. He pulled away and got out of the door. Dh followed him but the staff member said to let him go. However, to my dismay my dh followed him. I called after him and was really frightened. I am almost 84. Some younger men asked me what the matter was and I said my 85 year old husband had gone after a shop lifter. A member of staff followed in the direction of my dh. I was really upset. The shop lifter had disappeared into an alleyway which led to a car park. The staff member told me that she found dh struggling to get the bag off the thief. He had him up against the wall. Then a car appeared and he got away with the bag. The young men appeared as they were concerned for dh. The only staff members on that day were women.My dh however got the car number and gave it to the staff member and we all went back to the shop.Dh said he saw him coming into the shop and picking up stuff and putting it into the bag. It was so blatant he thought he was doing some kind of stock take! The shop had been subjected to a major power cut for a week which had caused empty fridges and freezers. They had just received a big delivery and this fellow was helping himself to meat,fish etc etc in large amounts. Anyway, the female staff were taken advantage of and shaken up. So was I and really cross with my dh who seemed to forget how old he is. Of course he should have just let him go as you are not supposed to follow once they leave the shop - as my dd told me after she gave dh a stern telling off. I presume the car number was given to the police as it must have been reported.