Did you pay for that? What is driving the massive rise in shoplifting?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jun/02/did-you-pay-for-that-what-is-driving-the-massive-rise-in-shoplifting
Posted by boycecodd
Did you pay for that? What is driving the massive rise in shoplifting?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jun/02/did-you-pay-for-that-what-is-driving-the-massive-rise-in-shoplifting
Posted by boycecodd
33 Comments
The realisation by many that there are no consequences.
The enormous disconnect between the businesses themselves and the consumer.
Nobody feels sorry for a faceless international conglomerate that doesn’t even pay its fair share of taxes.
I have seen people driving 30-40k cars stealing. So surely they can afford it. Also working in retail made me realise that anyone can steal.
The fact that you can do it as much as you like and get away with it is a biggie
In my area, there has been a 500% surge in referrals for crack cocaine use, and county lines have increased nationwide. The majority of shoplifters I encounter are crack cocaine addicts rather than Aladdins who steal to eat.
One person I spoke with stated that ten years ago he would pay £100 per gram, but now he only has to pay £50 and he can get it anywhere. When inflation is taken into account, prices will drop significantly.
For the “top boys,” it’s a lucrative business model with little risk.
I dunno, I have no idea why the impoverished citizens of a rigidly hierarchical class system would turn to crime, it’s just one of the worlds great mysteries I guess
I always notice it’s a certain phenotype of person. I also witnessed it at my local Tesco Extra, stealing fucking cereal and then going straight out where a Black BMW was waiting. I suppose they are the cash rich type.
Another good reason is shops around most of us aren’t owned or run by local people anymore. Shoplifting from your neighbour is a much bigger personal and social taboo than stealing from a faceless corporation, moreover a local shopkeeper has a bigger vested interest in stopping thieves themselves.
The article is pretty thorough otherwise. We’re all poor, loads of us are turning to addiction, there isn’t enough mental health help, the police are no deterrent, corporations are taking us for a ride, and offices as high as the Prime Minister don’t seem to respect the laws so why should the rest of us?
I’m sure a lot of it will because of higher prices in rent, food etc…. The fact that generally you can walk in fill up your bag and walk out without fuss or danger of police, also doesn’t help.
See teens daily doing it (many dressed with branded clothes etc, so definitely not starving)… guessing some form of proving how “hard” they are? Proper naughty boys (loved that in the Gentlemen 😂)
Even if youre caught nothing happens, I’ve seen people running out of shops being chased by security, they just ditch whatever they took and run off.
Even when they aren’t successful there’s no consequences
It’s because you can literally steal a hundred quid a day and won’t get touched by anyone, cops only care if you steal thousands quickly and even then the shop has to repeatedly log crimes for them and build a case, most can’t be arsed and just mark it down to loss over profit.
The best deterant is a kicking by the security guard, but that’s a rare thing these days.
It’s not a victimless crime either, it can and does result in loss of available hours, especially with shops with small staff numbers. So we end up earning less and having more put on us in the hours we get, which in turn results in sub par shops with less of the stuff you want because some minging tramp has robbed it all and it needs reordering.
I fucking hate the cunts, get a fucking job and pay for your shit.
There needs to be pushback, and it’s as simple as that.
4K security cameras catching you, and forwarding the footage direct to the police to hunt you down live would be a great start. Right now there’s nothing but a note in a journal.
The nonchalance is what amazes me. I walked into River Island this afternoon and a ‘gentleman’ strolled out with a few T-shirts in his arms. You could see the annoyance on one of the shoppers face as she wanted to give chase but knew she couldn’t, she even mouthed ‘for fuck sake’.
Was in Greggs this week and a local cracksmith stood in front of the fridges for a leisurely 5 mins deciding what he was going to steal and subsequently pocketing it. Didn’t give the slightest shit. I told staff (who shouldn’t have to deal with this shit) and he was confronted, said “ah sorry”, put one of the things back and just fucked off with a coat full of stuff.
No consequences + insane inflation + cost of living crisis + doesn’t feel ‘wrong’ taking from faceless mega corps + fewer people feel they have a stake in our society, so acting against it (e.g. crime) has a lower (moral) barrier to entry.
Lots of this can be traced back to Tory failings. Namely austerity. Reducing police capabilities, cutting opportunities for social mobility.
More recently the kamikaze budget that fudged up the economy especially for mortgage havers meant that people who were just about managing to keep their heads above water, now needed another £1300 a month with no warning.
Lots of people can’t even afford basic food items. Some women can’t afford sanitary towels. For some people it’s greed, and lack of concequence, for others it’s despiration.
When I heard of the rise in shop lifting, I pictured Wayne and Waynetta Slob sticking bottles of gin down their pants.
I’ve seen 3 shoplifting offences in recent weeks. One, a 40-something man with garlic bread and hummus walked straight through the self checkout. Then 3 teenage girls with cans of soft drinks. Same M.O. Then a guy in his 30s, smartly dress, Audi A3 in the carpark walked through the self checkout with a bottle of wine. There’s no way they could have been distracted enough to just “forget”. I called the 40 years old guy and he just put his hand up and kept walking straight past the security guard.
There’s no consequences and some people just have the balls, or lack of morals to just take stuff.
How did the person who ran off with two bags of stuff actually do it? He had to pack them from trolley into the bags before leaving? Isn’t the security looking at that saying that he’s about to flee? It doesn’t pass the smell test.
I’d imagine the cost of living crisis is playing it’s fair part. Inflation in food prices, as well as everything else. You also won’t find many people saying the owners of massive supermarket chains will realistically be losing much if someone shoplifts. If you arrested every shoplifter the police would get even less done when it comes to greater crimes. Can’t fine many because they just wont have the money for that.
Maybe if all the shops went back to hiring security guards rather than relying on their shop floor staff to deal with shoplifters, it may help. Instead they blame the police, as if the retails have no options to reduce shoplifting.
Also, maybe try training your staff in how to use your CCTV and update it rather than having archaic systems that look like the person is being filmed in 8-bit.
When our leaders and their friends are helping themselves to BILLIONS from the public purse, I honestly couldn’t care less about this. For goodness sake, people can’t afford to live and are stealing to feed their families.
The end result of ‘me-first’ neoliberal economics sadly. Law of the jungle
just from that stock picture lets look at price increases according to quick google searches
tea has gone up 34%
lurpak increased by 37% (and pack size shrank)
heinz beans went up 40%
cereal prices went up 2.9%, but pack size decreased by 8%
eggs went up by 39%
peanut butter… has surprisingly fallen despite huge production problems
… and i cant make out what the last thing is
How long until you have to ‘tap in’ to access your local supermarket? The first ones to implement this will be able to lower prices by 20% and sweep up massive additional sales. I’d love it see it.
The fact that police do nothing to combat this. Its unfortunate that the police seem to have all the time in the world for twitter crime
Saw a guy emptying a shopping basket full of meat into a rucksack yesterday around the corner from my local co-op. He asked if I wanted to buy some meat which I declined.
I went back to the co-op to take the basket back and let them know. When I got there, they asked “oh you’ve got the basket back, cheers” turned out they knew and there was nothing anyone could really do. Didn’t even sound like they reported it.
Because people are poor and these businesses make millions. Why not?
Times are hard, shoplifting is not a crime anymore in the eyes of the police.
Maybe if they stopped putting pictures of policeman instead of real police in shops it’d stop but I’m just spitballing, never seen cardboard chase down a thief tbh.
Maybe people have too much freedom?
The jails are full? Well comrade off the tesco stocks with you!
One more word and its a week in the sainsburys gulag!
If I see a woman stealing any baby products or feminine hygiene products I’m not saying a single word
They are alway at spoons asking me if i want steaks
Media who constantly report on cost of living crisis also wonder why people are stealing more 🤦♂️