Shop lifters

toffee

toffee

Senior Member
Location
uk
it cost companies millions and always a constant battle to beat it 'with all their security camera's
it has risen in the UK. over the last 8 years -people coming in have added to the problem from abroad
with no job etc....have u seen any one take something in a store ' would you report them , or turn the other way ?
have u worked in a store as a secret shopper ! or say they can afford to lose it / what is your view .
 

Security cameras do not really deter crime. What they really do is to record crime.

Of course, I would report a shoplifter. Theft is theft and let go unpunished is not acceptable. Mostly, courts look at shoplifting as a misdemeanor and usually sentences the perpetrator with a fine. It’s unlikely that if you report the theft that you will have to testify. I’m doubtful if there will even be a hearing. Probably just a summary offense. I can only remember one case that I had where a man filled up his car with gas and took off. Someone at the convenience store knew the man, so it was an easy case to resolve.
 
I was in Lowe's yesterday. It's one of those big box stores, where you can go for hours before finding a clerk. In the light bulb section, I found some empty light bulb boxes,. Somebody had swiped the bulbs. I needed a light switch. Again I found an empty box in with the full ones. I wanted one of those solar post lights. I got one, but when I got home, it had been opened and the rechargeable batteries were swiped. By the way, also yesterday, a clerk at the same store was arrested fora scam costing Lowe's $10,000.00 .https://wnep.com/2019/07/.../several-charged-with-theft-from-lowes-in-monroe-count...
Shoplifting is a crime of opportunity. If you don't have enough staff to create a presence in the store, yeah, you are going to get ripped off. And if you don't have enough staff to manage the place, you are going to get ripped off.
 

The people named in the article have a problem. I think at least a few of them are facing jail time.

As for shoplifting overall, retailers have it written into the cost of doing business. If there were no shoplifters, the prices of a lot of the things we buy would be much less. The last numbers that I remember seeing were that about $10-12 billion worth of merchandise is stolen each year.

I’ve often wondered about the empty hangers that I would see in the dressing rooms at Kohl’s and other department stores.
 
Part of it is the fault of the management of these stores. I have often searched far and wide for a salesperson to help me, sometimes even having trouble finding a checkout counter. Then, when you do get to the checkout counter, there's always a long line of customers and a frantically busy cashier. They don't make it easy to buy stuff legitimately. Not that this excuses stealing, of course, but they do sometimes make it easier for someone to steal an item than to buy it, almost like they're inviting you to!

However, with the demise of so many department stores and shopping malls, this problem may be coming to an end. It's not easy to shoplift items online. ;)
 
I was in the checkout line at the Dollar Store recently, and a woman with an armload of stuff ran by me and out the door. (Stealing from the Dollar Store... seriously?? :D) The cashier watched her run and did nothing; she said it happens frequently. Apparently they are instructed to do nothing to try to stop the theft.
 
C'est Moi said:
I was in the checkout line at the Dollar Store recently, and a woman with an armload of stuff ran by me and out the door. (Stealing from the Dollar Store... seriously?? :D) The cashier watched her run and did nothing; she said it happens frequently. Apparently they are instructed to do nothing to try to stop the theft.
Click to expand...
Maybe they figure it is more trouble than it is worth. I've seen people steal from garage sales,mine included.
 
I actually faced this dilemma a few days ago.

I was shopping at walmart for some dogie treats, there was a lady with two children, one was small enough to be in the buggy and the other a young man about 13 or 14 in my guesstimation.

She was saying to the older child..

I really don’t want to pay that much (for the dog food she was contemplating putting in the buggy).

The boy said well just don’t ring it up when you check out.

She then put it in the buggy. I gave the boy a good hard look.

Now I couldn’t really go tell anyone about this because they really hadn’t stole anything at that point.

I later ran into them in the food section and noticed that the dog food was not in the buggy…..I was glad.

I can not stand a thief….and pray tell what would you do if your child (I’m assuming that he was her child here) said something like that to you?
 
A former detective I know said Target has a great security system. They did nab a friend of my ex DIL with a few hair bands under the child seat flap. And they prosecuted- she went to court where she was fined. Target doesn't fool around.

I saw a YT video where there was a clothing theft ring going on. The women would shop- lift items and turn them into a ring leader for a few dollars per item. They caught one woman with the goods, and made a deal that she had to rat out the names for something, I forget the deal.

She sang loud and clear!
 
C'est Moi said:
I was in the checkout line at the Dollar Store recently, and a woman with an armload of stuff ran by me and out the door. (Stealing from the Dollar Store... seriously?? :D) The cashier watched her run and did nothing; she said it happens frequently. Apparently they are instructed to do nothing to try to stop the theft.
Click to expand...

I was at a Nike outlet store a few years ago. Two young men came in, made a grab of a few pair of high end shoes and ran out the door with me in pursuit. I wasn’t able to catch either one, but one of the low-lifes dropped the shoes he was running with. Both got into a waiting car and they were gone. The license plate number was blocked, but I got a pretty good description of the car, which really didn’t help. There are a lot of black Nissan Maximas in the U.S.
 
Seeker's story about the dog food made me think of an article I read about Tesco. It seems that since Tesco installed self-checkout the most popular fruit/vegetable choice has become bananas. It seems that people using the self-checkout are ringing up pricier more exotic items under the same code used for bananas, a different kind of theft.
 
Our local Macy's had a "smash and grab" of designer handbags at Christmastime. Three young men made off with dozens of expensive purses. Next time I went to Macy's, the handbag department was moved to the center of the store, next to fine jewelry.
 
Several years ago I was in line at a CVS. A woman (40ish) in front of me had a little girl (maybe 6 or 7) with her. Cashier asked woman to empty her handbag. Woman removed some items which she clearly was intending to steal....then she GRINNED!! :mad: Cashier told her to leave. No approach by security.

Imagine a child seeing that. (shaking my head....)

Today if I'm near someone in a store and they're asked to empty their bag or pockets, I'd put my items down and walk out.
 
Last edited:
Aunt Bea, this occurred to me the other day as I was using the self-checkout. I bought organic peaches, thinking they would be better than the regular ones. (They weren't.) I wondered how many people ring up the honest description of their item. It would be very easy to cheat with produce items, and I bet there is plenty of that all the time. Probably the employees have been told not to accuse anybody, or even act suspicious, unless they feel they have good reason to do so, otherwise they might just be insulting and alienating an honest customer.

Those checkout machines really are a kind of honor system.
 
I remember when you didn't have to fight with hard, plastic, cut your hand packaging just to get to the product you bought. But there's so much theft going on that these things are necessary. Of course every product doesn't have that type of packaging. But it's correct that honest consumers pay for the stolen goods when it's all said and done via price increases.
 
Well, today I was buying groceries and fresh cherries were on sale. I hate buying tasteless fruit, so I filched a cherry and popped it into my mouth. 😬 🍒 It was good, so I bought 2 pounds of 'em. I suppose they could have weighed me to see how much I owed for the pilfered fruit, but I'd have hit them with my purse.
 
I avoid the self check-outs, but even so, produce usually has a little sticker with a 4 digit code. Sure, someone can switch stickers but that's a lot of hassle to save a little money. Also someone might see what's going on.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top