I just shoplifted from Tesco. Is that wrong?

[Delete Delete Delete]

Here is one of the Co-Ops I worked in https://www.change.org/p/the-co-operative-membership-department-save-our-co-op-kingsley-park-terrace-northampton. It was hit everyday but 3 or 4 shoplifters. The Police even started doing undercover sting operations in there. So what happen, its closed now, because of Thieving bastards. Though I had left this branch by then.

[ollyboro]

Stealing at the self-checkouts at Tesco basically puts you at the same level as Worrall Thompson. And who wants to be at the same level as that stumpy cunt?

[Ferris]

I accidentally taff stuff when using the self checkouts. Makes me feel bad :(

[Replies From View]

Also I didn't use the self-scan checkout, I avoid them as they put people out of jobs. Do you use them, and if so, do you not care that your choice might mean less jobs available for people who would be happy to work in a Tesco or similar?

I use self-service checkouts as a matter of routine because I'm usually only buying about five things, and everything except the self-service checkout has a massive queue.  The massive queues tell me that the conveyor belt staff are doing okay for the time being, but also some supermarkets have other areas like deli sections, bakeries, cooked meats and sushi which all need to be staffed.  I don't know whether closing down monotonous conveyor belts is really having much of a negative effect, if indeed self-service checkouts are causing that.

I don't like queues, by the way.  I don't like standing on escalators when I can just walk up or down the empty bit, either.  Fuck that shit.

In the end I'm pretty sure fighting automation is a losing battle.  Remember Charlie Bucket's dad?  Used to work in a toothpaste factory, didn't he, screwing the little lids on the tubes.  Then he lost his job and had fuck all until he got to live in a big chocolate factory.  And that was ages ago.

You just have to hope that any jobs lost to automation can be replaced with something else within the same company, if staying within one company is important.  But you also have to surely hope that most people's careers won't involve settling in supermarket jobs.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Here is one of the Co-Ops I worked in https://www.change.org/p/the-co-operative-membership-department-save-our-co-op-kingsley-park-terrace-northampton. It was hit everyday but 3 or 4 shoplifters. The Police even started doing undercover sting operations in there. So what happen, its closed now, because of Thieving bastards. Though I had left this branch by then.

So what? You make it sound as though its existence was sacrificial, to do the local economy a favour. Far from it, it existed to make a profit out of the local community and then move that money out of Northampton into the hands of its shareholders and third parties. In return they employed 20-30 people in precarious employment. THANK YOU GRAND OVERLORDS OF THE CO OP, YOU ARE SPOILING US WITH THESE PAY AND CONDITIONS

It was clearly badly run, possibly poorly located, and sounds like a poorly managed store to be so on the margins already that a handful of individuals removing stock could result in that.

Good riddance to a rubbish business.

[gib]

dunno if Co-op has shareholders as such but you're right about how Tesco works Shoulders.

[Delete Delete Delete]

Wow, on what evidence would you say it was badly run? I know the manager at the time of the closure and can assure you it wasn't down to bad management the fact that you don't know that the Share Holders of the Co-op are the general public. Its a Co-op, look it up. Its not a PLC you can trade stock and shares for money. So the profits really were pumped back into the local community through its Membership card, which gave people using it 5% back on co-op purchases and a 1% to local causes. From my shop alone last year we Donated £20,000 to local causes that actually helped the community. You clearly know nothing about there work.

[bgmnts]

Corporations being gross doesn't excuse criminal behaviour.

[Noddy Tomkey]

The other thing to watch for is have ago Heroes beating the fuck out of you, whether it be security, staff or random's on the street.

You're nuts. Maybe at a smaller shop, but I can't imagine anyone doing this at Tesco.

[Dr Rock]

I use self-service checkouts as a matter of routine because I'm usually only buying about five things, and everything except the self-service checkout has a massive queue.  The massive queues tell me that the conveyor belt staff are doing okay for the time being, but also some supermarkets have other areas like deli sections, bakeries, cooked meats and sushi which all need to be staffed.  I don't know whether closing down monotonous conveyor belts is really having much of a negative effect, if indeed self-service checkouts are causing that.

I don't like queues, by the way.  I don't like standing on escalators when I can just walk up or down the empty bit, either.  Fuck that shit.

The supermarkets probably allow huge queues to form so that people use, and get used to using the self-scan and later they can sack more people and have it more automated. Another complaint I have made at my local M&S is about this, and that there should be more people on the tills. Sometimes there has been nobody at a till, but an employee nect to the self-scan machines saying she would help me with the self-scan. I said that I won't use them as they are putting people like her out of jobs (and also I don't want to do the work that the staff do for free on the tills, but I didn't say that). She actually said 'I like a man with principles'* and got a member of staff to come to the tills.


*though not as many principles as she thought, as today's event proved.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Corporations being gross doesn't excuse criminal behaviour.

Who said it did? These are responses to assertions that thievery results in higher prices for products, closure of stores and harrasment of staff.

It's perfectly reasonable to point out Tesco is competing with other chains and so keep prices the lowest, that closure of stores is due to them being unsustainable and the harrasment, underpaying and terrible  conditions of staff is already the modus operandi of this business.

We have to face up to it that while immoral, petty thievery is just that, petty, and negligible for a corporation like Tesco who produce so much unsold waste and indeed criminalise people who try to eat the food they throw out.

[doppelkorn]

Shoulders, have you ever had an opinion that wasn't resoundingly and thunderously correct?

[thenoise]

The more people who shoplift, the harder Tescos will clamp down on them, employing more security and installing more CCTV, etc.  This means that people in real difficulty will find it hard or impossible to slip a few tins into their handbags unnoticed, just because bored rich people like you get a kick out of it.

[Replies From View]

The supermarkets probably allow huge queues to form so that people use, and get used to using the self-scan and later they can sack more people and have it more automated. Another complaint I have made at my local M&S is about this, and that there should be more people on the tills. Sometimes there has been nobody at a till, but an employee nect to the self-scan machines saying she would help me with the self-scan. I said that I won't use them as they are putting people like her out of jobs (and also I don't want to do the work that the staff do for free on the tills, but I didn't say that). She actually said 'I like a man with principles'* and got a member of staff to come to the tills.


*though not as many principles as she thought, as today's event proved.

This being the case, what can be actively done to change the system?  Assuming that one or two of us spending extra time queuing up at a staffed conveyor belt won't revert what's already been done.

And may I ask - how large is the kind of shop you're doing where you are boycotting the self-service checkouts?  There are people with 30+ items in a shopping trolley - I can understand them queuing up rather than faffing about with all those things themselves and the tiny weighing scale to put them on.  But would you do the same thing if you were only buying five small items, as I am?

If anything I just think the self-service checkouts cause me to use the supermarkets more for simple things, where the queues would otherwise put me off.  It means I can pop in for some milk, bananas and tea bags, and pop back out again.  If they got rid of the self-service checkouts they wouldn't shift me to the queues - I'd just go somewhere without queues.  So there's that to bear in mind if you're very keen to support supermarkets rather than your local businesses.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Wow, on what evidence would you say it was badly run? I know the manager at the time of the closure and can assure you it wasn't down to bad management the fact that you don't know that the Share Holders of the Co-op are the general public. Its a Co-op, look it up. Its not a PLC you can trade stock and shares for money. So the profits really were pumped back into the local community through its Membership card, which gave people using it 5% back on co-op purchases and a 1% to local causes. From my shop alone last year we Donated £20,000 to local causes that actually helped the community. You clearly know nothing about there work.

Well, I had Tesco still burning in  my mind, so fair enough. However, while I know how the co-op used to run I understand the business model has now changed to a more corporate one due to its poor performance, is that right?

As for badly run? Well you said it yourself, a handful of people affected their margins so much the store was unsustainable. That's largely not the case elsewhere in the country and for other businesses. That suggests it was relatively poorly located, poorly and uncompetitively priced and poorly managed and the goods and assets poorly protected. It had to be something, right?

[Delete Delete Delete]

This being the case, what can be actively done to change the system?

It won't, the current trend will be Dark stories. Where people order online and just arrange a pick up time. So I predict you will start seeing less and less stores as online grocery shopping becomes the norm.

[Dr Rock]

The other thing to watch for is have ago Heroes beating the fuck out of you, whether it be security, staff or random's on the street.

Also I am a 49 year old disabled man who will be protesting that it was an honest mistake, not some junkie legging it out of the store with a leg of lamb. I find your proposed situation very unlikely. The thing that has made me wonder about doing it regularly is that I could get banned from the store, which would make my life much more difficult. There's a smaller Sainsbury's nearby, but you can rarely park anywhere near it, even with a disabled badge. M&S has a car-park, but I can't afford to do all my shopping there.

[Delete Delete Delete]

Well, I had Tesco still burning in  my mind, so fair enough. However, while I know how the co-op used to run I understand the business model has now changed to a more corporate one due to its poor performance, is that right?

As for badly run? Well you said it yourself, a handful of people affected their margins so much the store was unsustainable. That's largely not the case elsewhere in the country and for other businesses. That suggests it was relatively poorly located, poorly and uncompetitively priced and poorly managed and the goods and assets poorly protected. It had to be something, right?

Yes, it was all the thieving cunts coming in taking goods off the shelves and not paying for them.

[bgmnts]

We have to face up to it that while immoral, petty thievery is just that, petty, and negligible for a corporation like Tesco who produce so much unsold waste and indeed criminalise people who try to eat the food they throw out.

Its still an extra cost, someone has to pay for it.

Every little helps, so to speak.

Unsold waste and criminalising people who try to consume the waste is fucking gross and I want to see every Tesco executive strung up from the highest lampposts but that's a different issue I think.

[Dr Rock]

just because bored rich people like you get a kick out of it.

I'm not rich! I'm on benefits (because divorce where I had half a share in the business I now no longer have, and disability) while running a business that declared about four thousand pounds profits over each of the last two years.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Yes, it was all the thieving cunts coming in taking goods off the shelves and not paying for them.

So, as I say, a pretty poorly run operation possibly twinned with being a poor location for co-op to set up shop to begin with.

There is no fucking way 'a handful' of shoplifters could cause losses to singlehandedly bring down a supermarket unless the supermarket wasn't already barely turning a profit and the staff were ill equipped and ill trained to combat the theft in the manner other stores do.

It sounds to me like a pretext to spare the blushes and divert from the poor decisions of certain employees and the wider business.

[Delete Delete Delete]

Its still an extra cost, someone has to pay for it.

Every little helps, so to speak.

Unsold waste and criminalising people who try to consume the waste is fucking gross and I want to see every Tesco executive strung up from the highest lampposts but that's a different issue I think.

Your assuming the waste has no value. Tesco sells its waster off to be burnt as fuel to generate electricity. Likewise plastics and cardboard are also recycled. Anything in bulk can become valuable. There has also been cases where people have raided from the bins, poisoned themselves then sued the supermarket. So Supermarkets have a duty of care to the public to make sure that they don't kill themselves because they think there getting a freebie.

[mr beepbap]

Always love seeing some pathetic thieving cunt getting humiliated getting caught and paraded out the shop

[Delete Delete Delete]

So, as I say, a pretty poorly run operation possibly twinned with being a poor location for co-op to set up shop to begin with.

There is no fucking way 'a handful' of shoplifters could cause losses to singlehandedly bring down a supermarket unless the supermarket wasn't already barely turning a profit and the staff were ill equipped and ill trained to combat the theft in the manner other stores do.

It sounds to me like a pretext to spare the blushes and divert from the poor decisions of certain employees and the wider busiWhy is that so hard to believe. ness.

I did tell you that supermarkets run on thinner margins than you would believe, and theft really does have an impact. Admittedly the rent charges were  a big impact that made the running of the store tight and competition again has an impact, but theft was the last straw then turned the black to red on the accounts.

[Replies From View]

It won't, the current trend will be Dark stories. Where people order online and just arrange a pick up time. So I predict you will start seeing less and less stores as online grocery shopping becomes the norm.

Don't worry, I'm sure that the likes of Tesco will manage to keep a few shops open for the likes of anyone who wants to see what they're buying.  If they don't, we'll have local farm shops opening on the high street and fucking it all up.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Your assuming the waste has no value. Tesco sells its waster off to be burnt as fuel to generate electricity. Likewise plastics and cardboard are also recycled. Anything in bulk can become valuable. There has also been cases where people have raided from the bins, poisoned themselves then sued the supermarket. So Supermarkets have a duty of care to the public to make sure that they don't kill themselves because they think there getting a freebie.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/foodforlondon/what-a-waste-we-launch-a-major-investigation-into-the-scandal-of-wasted-food-a3348306.html

What about the duty of care to the environment by not producing huge quantities of waste in the first place? Unsold, unconsumed. Animals, crops, fuel, pissed up the wall.

But no it's all petty thieves they're the ones.

[Delete Delete Delete]

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/foodforlondon/what-a-waste-we-launch-a-major-investigation-into-the-scandal-of-wasted-food-a3348306.html

What about the duty of care to the environment by not producing huge quantities of waste in the first place? Unsold, unconsumed. Animals, crops, fuel, pissed up the wall.

But no it's all petty thieves they're the ones.

Have fun beating a straw-man, now that you have lost your argument.

[pancreas]

Shoulders, have you ever had an opinion that wasn't resoundingly and thunderously correct?

It's easy. So can you. Just take one moral imperative—just the one, mind—and then swing it around like a huge erect penis, shooting out jets of cum as you rotate.

[bgmnts]

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/foodforlondon/what-a-waste-we-launch-a-major-investigation-into-the-scandal-of-wasted-food-a3348306.html

What about the duty of care to the environment by not producing huge quantities of waste in the first place? Unsold, unconsumed. Animals, crops, fuel, pissed up the wall.

But no it's all petty thieves they're the ones.

Nobody agrees with this more than me; I think what big businesses do transgresses every kind of morality there is, it's horrendous.

But to say petty thievery doesnt make any impact I disagree with.

It's jarring really.

[Johnny Yesno]

Also I didn't use the self-scan checkout, I avoid them as they put people out of jobs. Do you use them, and if so, do you not care that your choice might mean less jobs available for people who would be happy to work in a Tesco or similar?

I don't use them, and if there's any good to come out of the ease with which you can use them to steal, it's that they may eventually get ditched in favour of keeping checkout staff employed.

To be clear, I'm not looking for my behaviour to be justified. I stole a torch from Tesco - which is a surprising decision I made to be perfectly honest, and I'm not sure why I did it,
(although i have no regrets either) - and am asking what people think about that, not tell me it's fine.

You wouldn't care what anyone else thought if you weren't seeking approval.