Eating in supermarkets

[rogerthomas]

What is the general opinion about people who take food off the shelves in supermarkets and eat it as they go around. Most of them present the empty packaging at the checkout and pay for it, but I'll bet there are plenty who dump the packet on their way round.

If I saw someone doing that (dumping the empty packet) I wouldn't hesitate to report them because it is undoubtedly theft. Yes, you may say that the supermarkets can afford it but that misses the point.

What do you think?

[fideldyfee]

well even if they do pay at the end its technically stealing.

it used to really irritate me when i worked in a shop. the worst is when they are eating grapes cos when they get to the checkout they are only paying for the ones that are left! i think there was a thread about this before where people were saying what annoyed them about supermarkets and that was mentioned.

[lady_p_gold]

Well I have to admit if I am shopping for about an hour I do sometimes eat a packet of crisps from a multi-pack as I go round, as as I am paying for the multi-pack anyway it makes no difference. The only thing I have ever taken and not paid for is tiny shovel full of chocolate raisins from the pic n' mix ... lock me up now !! Hey if I am paying �150 for my shopping I feel I deserve half a dozen chocolate raisins. After all the customer service in our supermarkets is pretty dreadful (and it is not the staff's fault just the way it is managed).

[rogerthomas]

OK then lady p gold, where do you draw the line between the �150 you spend and the small scoop of raisins. Would it be acceptable to steal 10p worth of goods, �1 worth of goods, �10 worth of goods just because you are spending a large amount. If I was the manager of your supermarket, you would be banned.

[andyjevs]

If people can't go for an hour without needing a packet of crisps or biscuits, there's something wrong with them.

I absolutely hate seeing people take something off the shelves and start eating it...it's rude and totally unnecessary

[natalie_1982]

I don't see the problem, we're taking a few grapes here or, in lady p's case, a few choccie raisins, not an entire roast chicken or pizza.

I don't really see why an adult can't go for an hour, or however long it takes to do the shopping, without a packet of crisps but we couldn't make it around Tescos with my little bro in tow when he was a tot unless he had a bag of Wotsits to chut him up! They were always paid for and taken out of a multipack bag.

[lady_p_gold]

God I knew when I typed that someone would get all steamed up. Of course it is not acceptable to steal as you said, however I am the sort of person who if I was overcharged (which I have been many times) 50p or 1.00 I would not bother going back and mentioning it. And as I said I am eating one packet of crisps from a multipack, I would not eat a packet of crisps and not pay for it or put it back on the shelves. I would not park in a disabled space. I tip they guys when they deliver if I shop on the internet. I do not feel I need to justify my own personal code of conduct and can live with the guilt of occasionally eating one handful of chocolate raisins.

[rogerthomas]

If you don't think you have to justify your personal code of conduct, then why did you get involved in this topic?

[natalie_1982]

You ought to have you hands cut off really Lady P, that's they used to do. Hopefully next time you'll think twice before STEALING those raisins. And I shall severely reprimand my brother, who is now 19. ;-)

[sammd]

it annoyed me when i worked in a supermarket too. food shopping doesn't take long (no more than 30-60 minutes really) so why can't people wait til they get to the car park? people stealing food leads to the supermarkets putting prices up to recover their losses. maybe people are influenced by what their parents did when they were younger.

[4getmenot]

Only just at lunch time my mate stood at a counter eating a chewy mint out of a pack he'd just picked up. The lady behind the counter didnt seem that bothered. As long as he paid.

[joko]

perhaps people have low blood sugar? diabetes? or haven't eaten for hours?

It isn't stealing because they haven't left the shop yet - the food is still technically in the building and when they do leave, they will have paid - as long as they pay wheres the harm?

obviously if they don't pay then its theft..

though things that are weighed like grapes or whatever is a bit different as that affects the price but if there is only one price...

fortunately this isn't that common is it?

[ermintrude35]

..I work at woolies , you would be surprised at the empty packaging and bottles of pop we find scattered accross the shop at the end of the day...but what really bloody irritates me when people eat the pick'n'mix and think nothing of it!...consumption is theft... if all our customers ate one sweet every time they went into a woolworths store, and there are over 800 stores countrywide, can you imagine the shrinkage in profit over the course of 1 year.. people who just say " it's only 1 sweet/grape etc"and are so blase about it, at the end of the day are all thieves...

[maxi29]

Supermarkets aren't too bothered about the odd grazer. There has been plenty of research to show that people who shop when they're hungry tend to spend more, so a supermarket loses the odd packet of crisps or nuts, then they'll probably more than make up for it somewhere else.

[Drusilla]

I've honestly never seen, or heard of this before. I don't notice what other shoppers do and am too busy keeping an eye on what my daughters are trying to slip into the basket without me noticing.

In a Pickle, why are shops putting hot, cooked chicken near the entrance when it would be more sensible near the exit?

[mrrobbo15]

...its rude and theres no need for it....all those who do it....would they be happy if people did it in their shop (if they owned one ) ?

[pignpog]

Oh, one of my biggest pet hates........ Started when I used to go shopping with two children under 2yrs.Watching the parents take a huge bag of grapes......... and pay for a handful which were left by the time they reached the checkout. I used to take a packet of cheddars with me, and a tommee tippee full of juice. It stopped the 'I wants' and left me free to shop. What would I be, showing 2 impressionable young children, if I freely offered/took goods without paying first. As older children now, they ask me if that is ok? No need to guess my reply..........

[finisterre]

These people are savages, and are not fit to live in a civilised society.

[keezin]

how can it take 60 mins to buy a food shop....what are you people buying?i am in and out of the supermarket in about ten minutes flat.jeez what a waste of an hour.