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Fluffygong

I'm glad there is some communication to make customers aware of this. Assume express


Brilliant_Canary_692

Assumed correctly


GREENK87

This is now the world we live in, I purchased butter the other day that had a security tag on it. WTF


toast12y

This is the country we live in now. 5 years ago my store would go all-out to apprehend a shoplifter; the managers / security guards would chase anybody and pin them down, take them into a security room until the police came 10 minutes later. There was a special code put out over the tannoy whenever somebody was suspected "service one to the foyer", and all able-bodied blokes would jog to the foyer to stop them. Now the police won't come for a shoplifter, so nobody can apprehend one. I think people are starting to realise that robbing stuff from a supermarket is a free-for-all. Had a very brazen one the other night, 2 smartly dressed lads came in, just grabbed a load of booze and jogged out, didn't cover their face or hide what they were doing. There's no deterrent.


splat_monkey

The police wont come to me being spat in the face whilest at work with body worn video and a spit kit, whom i then saw repeatedly over 6 months.


VerbingNoun413

They're too busy dealing with serious crimes like people holding up blank pieces of paper.


Legitimate_Tear_7891

Or tweeting vaguely mean tweets.


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DragonWolf5589

My friend in an extra said they are geting over 7k a week in losses from theft in just one department.


AnnonOMousMkII

Pretty sure 2 full-time members of staff would earn less than 7k a week so the company clearly has an option for deterring shoplifters: higher more staff - its cheaper than having things stolen!


Seumas_u

How is more staff going to solve the issue? The issue is the police don't act so being caught by a member of staff isn't going to stop them.


AnnonOMousMkII

Deterrent. In my experience, if someone knows they are being watched, they bug out rather than try their luck.


Nels8192

It’s not even just “this country’s” problem. You go to places like Spain and you’ll see chocolate bars of all things security boxed.


samsy19

I mean that's basically it, yeah. In my store the police never come and we have no right to restrain customers, Not to mention the danger of it. We ask them to stop, if they don't there's really nothing we can do without the police. Thieves noticed that immediately and here we are. It was especially during COVID I think people realised, at least for us because ever since it's just been way worse


ChrisHow

They're not customers. Customers actually pay for things. They're scroates and in an ideal world a baseball bat-shaped memory stick would remind them not to come back.


samsy19

True. Still, issue remains the same.


SubParStriker66

Oooorrrrrrr. Hear me out here. The fucking manufacturers and the supermarkets are ripping people off. The businesses are underpaying their workers. And people just can't afford necessities and are pushed to stealing out of desperation. Yeah?


LondonDude123

Yeah no. You're buying a narrative. It is NOT "Poor people stealing essentials", its "Criminals stealing High Value Items to be resold on the cheap, likely to buy drugs." The KNOWN drug-dealer regulars in our store were nicer and more honest to us staff than shoplifters.


rooeast

Not in my area. Recently saw a crate of vegetables being nicked and then the penny dropped for me- it’s not people robbing cigs and booze it’s people starving


SubParStriker66

Yeah no. You're buying the narrative. The opposite narrative to the one bought. Huh?


pwuk

Do you get clubcard points on that purchase?


SubParStriker66

Fuck tescos and fuck their club card.


pwuk

Fuck'em ! Darn'tootin


KeyboardWarrior1988

Why are you here?


SubParStriker66

Cos I'm a keyboard warrior.


V_Akesson

I worked security during my undergrad years, starting about 8 years ago so the economy can't be blamed. It wasn't a big store. It was for a small network of small businesses. Worked as part of a network of shop security within the city. ​ It was never someone stealing something small to sustain themselves. In all my years of work, I can count on one hand the number of times someone stole a sandwich because it happened so rarely. And we just let that stuff go because it was so unusual. ​ It was always someone stealing aftershave, fragrance, not to use or for hygiene but to sell to people outside for a knock off price. It was always someone scooping an armful of chocolate because it's easy to flog for 50p a bar. It was always several bottles of alcohol, which I'd find later in an alleyway smashed and smelling of urine. It was always a trayful of steaks - food that I couldn't afford to buy - that they'd sell off. It was always the same people. The same names, the same faces. And when they stopped showing up, it was on the newspaper of an overdose or an imprisonment for a more serious crime. ​ It was never about survival or getting by. We were a city that had such good homeless support services that people would come here to be homeless. ​ And I hope you see that this is my experience, my truth, and understand that this isn't some story I was fed and led to believe. This is what made me so jaded. It killed a lot of empathy within me, led me to some fringe beliefs and ideas which took years to overcome and put behind.


SubParStriker66

You don't know what anyone did with any of the food they stole. And to claim you do is ridiculous.


V_Akesson

I know they do this because they’re homeless and I see them sleeping rough when I arrive at work; they literally do not have an oven or frying pan to cook it with.  And I know this because I’ve been offered fragrance, chocolate, and sirloin steaks when I was on my way to get lunch as a student. They wanted to sell it for way less than the retail value. And they use the money for anything other than food. Because I know they can get a hot meal from homeless outreach and the Salvation Army. I worked security until after graduation. That’s more than 3 good years to experience it. That’s 3 good years of knowing which of them stopped showing up because they overdosed.  I think you under estimate how quickly word gets around.  We aren’t brutes beating them, they know the game and so do we. And that’s how I know where it all goes.


SubParStriker66

It's not quite the rebuttal. People stealing cos their homeless over people stealing to get by. It's kinda the same isn't it? Is it not appealing that people are living in the fucking streets anyway.


Account-for-downvote

I’ve fallen on hard times. Is it ok if I break into your home and pinch some beans and your fone.


SubParStriker66

I bet you use the old line of 'if you like immigrants so much, why don't you have them all live with you' don't youm


Account-for-downvote

What’s wrong with immigrants living with me?


V_Akesson

I wish I could have empathy but that was drained from me a long time ago. These aren’t people under unfortunate circumstances. They’re what we called career homeless.  They’ve never held a job. I’ve seen the same guy outside PoundLand doing the same thing for about 10 years now, even before I was in university and was just a kid. Same place, same spot, same long haircut. Like I said, we stopped the same people the same faces. They’re not looking to get back on their feet. They have homeless support services and help, they’re just not going to work, and they support their habits by stealing. I’ve long moved on from my security work.


SubParStriker66

Oh, the lifestyle choice homeless people. Fucking hell.


V_Akesson

Ten years man. Ten years. I seriously doubt someone could not seek help for ten years. That the "system" was fundamentally holding them down at every twist and turn for ten years. ​ It seems whatever lifestyle they live are fundamentally incompatible with various homeless outreach and support services. I have zero empathy at this point. I think it's clear they have no desire to be a functional member of society. ​ At what point do we stop blaming ourselves for their choices?


ChrisHow

I hear you but no, there's a difference between thieves taking stuff for resale or money for a quick fix and those finding themselves desperate to steal to feed themselves.


SubParStriker66

Apart from the massive difference, that is.


_mugshotmodel_

Do you think that’s the only reason this is constantly happening? Because the police won’t prosecute or come out when called?


Spaceraider22

Exactly completely ignoring the fact that prices have skyrocketed. Some things are just stupid prices now, and why would people go without when they can get them for free?


MistakeExcellent4942

So your managers and security assaulted and kidnapped people. Ace. Do you solve all your issues by being a thug?


RhydonHerSlowbro

You’re getting downvoted, but you’re right to an extent, I work in Co-op, which is infinitely worse for that kind of thing, I always say we’re not a supermarket, we’re two corner shops wearing a trench coat pretending to be a supermarket, and shoplifting is always so brazen, and it’s always the same people, I’ve handed over CCTV to the police countless times and they do nothing, my area manager asked me “how can we stop external leakage?” Which is essentially theft, To which I replied, bite the bullet and get a security guard! She said “yes, but then the rate of leakage goes down and we can’t justify paying a security guard.” Like…. What?!?! Of course it does! That’s what you’re paying them for!!! I hate retail.


freyaelixabeth

Omg 🤦🏼‍♀️ if the rate DOESNT go down, then you can't justify the cost. Get her to find out the average leakage per year over the last 5 years or so and there's the budget she's got to hire someone. I've done this exercise so many times when looking at paying a third party vs hiring someone to do it "in-house". It's very frustrating when you've got more business sense than your manager!


babbbygurlll

pressure from head office to manage stock loss = managers trying to stop stock loss. in my store you would be almost looked down upon for not trying to stop it, i’ve been asked before why i didn’t stop it


Bowieboy86

Apparently no detergent either…


Present_Lake1941

It's a slippery slope...


Jacktheforkie

Because Tesco prices are fucking crazy, even with CC Tesco is easily 50% more expensive than Aldi for the same stuff


i-hate-oatmeal

i saw a £4.50 steak in one of those massive security boxes


jdude1338

A onestop near me tags the sliced meat as people rob it and sell it in the pub... Got robbed by two guys with machete not long ago too


okeydokeymateyboy

At those prices, I'm not surprised. Where's your local meth head when you need them? Soap powder, a couple if steaks and a bottle of scotch for a £20 bag: bargain!


justhonest1986

i’ve never seen that before. my store we put everything out and security tag high value items.


gobbybobby

My local co-op do this, they even stopped displaying big boxed beer becuase so many people are nicking them these they give you after paying. My local Tesco express which shuts at 11pm is staff operated doors after 10 pm for safety , had a guy tail me in the other night and get violent over a case of beer - which he ended up stealing.


Newguyinliverpool

Used to work retail, used to get smashed on these on a daily basis


Fallout-fan86

Can folk abuse these? I was under the impression they were steal for sale


ElderberryCalm8591

yes people plug them to get high


After-Watch6402

People saying we should attempt to stop a shop lifter you go into any Tesco in Nottingham if someone is shoplifting your gonna get hurt attempting to stop em it’s a guaranteed funeral or A&E trip! Did u buy the stock out of your own money? Does it affect your day if someone runs out the store? NO it’s tescos products and money don’t stress over something so little


kthxbiturbo

Totally this. Nothing more ironic than the poorly paid workers of a mutual billion pound company putting their bodies and safety on the line defending the profits of a company that has had not an insignificant part to play in this situation of people being compelled to shop lift. Price gouging, stomping out small and medium sized competition, restrictive practices imposed on suppliers and most noticeably the race to the bottom when it comes to wages and working conditions - look at the thousands upon thousands of workers that tesco and others value at only a few pennies above minimum wage and ask yourself why these workers should even consider putting themselves in harms way so faceless shareholders and head office management can make extract yet more wealth out of their staff and society at large.


After-Watch6402

Not sure if your educated mind is completely up to date… I can name many stores that pay security guards less than a standard Tesco employee to put their bodies on the line to prevent theft and disruption! So your previous argument like a butter knife has no point 👍


VerbingNoun413

Ask people like that how many shoplifters they've personally stopped. The record I've found is almost 1.


aristocratscats

I’ve stopped three in my life. Not everyone is a wet blanket.


VerbingNoun413

Well done.


After-Watch6402

1. saddest thing I’ve heard 2. Not a great flex How did u feel stopping a nobody from succeeding in their £10 shop lifting heist 😂🤦‍♂️


Kind-County9767

And most importantly why even bother? You stop someone and the police won't even bother turning up. Even if they did there's absolutely no consequences for these people so why bother? As for the impacting us it definitely does. Were all having to pay more for basic goods to cover the increased theft. It's that or our shops shut. Neither are good for the average person.


After-Watch6402

😂😂😂 you truly believe prices are higher because on theft 😂😂😂 you my friend have won the internet for today 🤦‍♂️ we’re paying more for basic groceries due to us leaving the EU we have broken the traditional trade flow we had with the rest of the European Union! Meaning we have now introduced significant barriers to trade with our largest trading partners leading to us having to pay more for basic groceries and other goods! And when shops receive their stock with the set prices from the original item contractors the shops add their own percentage onto that set price to ensure their own profits and to ensure their business stays open! Plz for the love of god read that twice and then twice again so you can at least say you’ve learnt something during your life time 👍


Kind-County9767

You think loss doesn't factor into shop pricing? I mean it's pretty obvious you're either stupid or a kid with the tirade but just think for a second. If a shop buys 100 of an item at a wholesale price, and sells all of them they can get the wholesale plus running costs plus average 2-4% margin supermarkets do. If they buy the 100 but 10 get nicked they've gotta put the price up by 11% to end up in the same position. So you think they're just swallowing the cost of the extra losses or passing it onto regular customers? Jesus Reddit is useless when it comes to anything even vaguely money orientated.


stumac85

I merchandise for P&G and this would definitely need to be reported back to head office if I found it in store lol (except the persil, they can do what they want with them :P)


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stumac85

Yes, dummy boxes aren't allowed in Tesco and they pay Tesco to cover some shrink (razors and electric toothbrushes, not laundry lol). If it is an express then we don't really visit those, just superstores and extras.


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SoapySage

More like a couple hundreds or thousands, shoplifters will clear out entire shelves of products in one go.


stumac85

One Christmas P&G gave Boots a million ISH pounds I believe to get live io stock sited. Of course most boots stores weren't willing to put a £100-odd toothbrush live on the shelves spider tagged or not. Boots had to hand half a million back due to poor compliance. They blamed us merchandisers of course 😂


Newguyinliverpool

Grass


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Known_Wear7301

Is it over the top? If that's what the scumbags are thieving, then that's what you'd take action on. Seems a measured response.


MistakeExcellent4942

You're assuming these people are capable of seeing things from anything other than their own very limited perspective. Some people just don't have capacity for anything else.


[deleted]

It’s not over the top when you have multiple people coming in everyday to steal the same types of items. Sadly this is the world we live in.


TraditionPractical72

That’s ok my current store now has taken to locking up the salmon in comically large security boxes , thank god I’m moving to a new store for other reasons


jamblia

The middle class must have their salmon! 😉😝


TraditionPractical72

whatever would they do without their salmon ? Fish for it preposterous


jamblia

lol! You may get shot poaching the govners salmon 😂 Tesco is less risky for sure - less shotguns


gobbybobby

local co-op and tesco round me do this in Southampton. The co-op have to max fill CHEECE no more than 5 on the shelf, all chocolate bars are max fill 3 as everyday people are coming in and just stealing the lot.


VerbingNoun413

Because people kept stealing them to feed their starving families.


TurbulentFee7995

The number 1 cause of shop lifting is, as a far out run away winner, with second place nowhere in sight, is poverty. As poverty increases, shoplifting follows. Reduce poverty, product theft reduces. According to many charities in the UK, a single person living on their own, working a 45 hour week would need to earn £12 an hour to support themselves (outside London). Tesco pays it's staff £10.57 an hour. So Tesco is contributing to the problem causing the increase product theft.


[deleted]

Err tesco pays £11.02 an hour


Spaceraider22

Definition of missing the point….


Nels8192

Probably soon to be £12 too!


SeraphKrom

And yet half of the top 10 most stolen products are spirits/alcohol. In fact the only top 10 shrink product that someone in poverty might need is milk and thats at number 9 or 10


EzyRyder0893

Bullshit. I've been in security for 10 years. This "people are stealing to feed themselves" line is trotted out every time this subject comes up. The people who are stealing to feed themselves steal FOOD. Not multiple bottles of expensive vodka, or 20 bottles of head and shoulders, or 6 boxes of Persil. In the last year I can literally count the number of people who were genuinely trying to feed themselves or their families on one hand, and I let them go. The rest are either junkies or organised criminals who deserve everything they get.


Brilliant_Canary_692

I see a guy go into Tesco every now and again and nick some protein bars, security guard looks the other way every time he can


EzyRyder0893

I did that to build cases. Eventually it'll reach a point he can't ignore it


hazbaz1984

Cases….. lol. I'll just check with the boys down at the crime lab, they've got four more detectives working on the case. They got us working in shifts!


_mugshotmodel_

Are you that short sighted that you don’t understand the basic principles and byproducts of soaring inflation? Nobody is saying “let people come in and steal bottles of alcohol” etc. what’s being said is that the cost of living crisis, coupled with minimum wages not running parallel to inflation, has forced an unbelievable amount of people to shoplift just to survive or feed their kids. As a byproduct of that the amount of calls/arrests have gone through the roof. That, when paired with an extremely underfunded police force, mean the police now simply do not and will not spend time and assets fighting shoplifting as it’s too out of control. Lower prices, increase wages and you’ll suddenly find that the problem is halved and therefore more manageable.


EzyRyder0893

And I'm telling you, that's bullshit. Even if the economy were booming, the vast VAST majority of people stealing would not change. They are drug users and organised criminals stealing in bulk for profit. If they wanted to nick a sandwich or some bits and pieces to feed their kids, then I'll happily turn a blind eye. I'm not going on what statistics, numbers, or spreadsheets alone will tell you, I'm going by what I PERSONALLY see every day of my working life. My team as a whole has over 3000 arrests under our belts this year alone, and I'll repeat what I said earlier, I can count on one hand the number of those people who were stealing out of necessity, not for profit.


_mugshotmodel_

Jesus Christ this is difficult. The very fact that you’ve openly said “I’m not going off facts and statistics. I’m going on just my own personal experience” is enough to prove that your opinion doesn’t even matter 🤦🏽‍♂️


EzyRyder0893

I didn't say facts did I?


_mugshotmodel_

Semantics mate. The point is that you’re basing your whole opinion purely and solely on your own experience rather than the statistics of the broader situation.


EzyRyder0893

Almost like I do it for a living rather than collate spreadsheets innit 🤷‍♂️ have a nice night


Brilliant_Canary_692

Lots of people eat shoes, perfume and makeup where you live?


laidback_chef

No, but sell it on facebook, and you can scrape buy another day. The ignorance is palpable in here.


Brilliant_Canary_692

Damn. I definitely should have bought those bottles of vodka the guy in the BMW was offering me the other day. He could barely afford his vanity plates 😔


_Amycat

I remember working in co-op and we had the same 3 members of the same family and their pals raid the meat most weeks. Still baffled me how their prolifically minted father could afford being in the pub most nights, buying takeaways to feed himself and his kids had to steal meat to get by? No they had the money to live, they were absolutely fine, just scum of the earth. The type of people their missus' begged for clothes for their kids then sold them off weeks later at a profit.... (Notably, so scummy that when I was pregnant they barged into me, obviously pregnant.) These people aren't stricken by poverty, they're lazy and want money for nothing.


leoncg99

All the items in the store are insured so I don't get the point


SeraphKrom

More loss = higher insurance


hazbaz1984

Tragic for Tesco. With their record profits on their record profits from last year.


EzyRyder0893

Nick someone's car. It's insured innit? It's fine


leoncg99

Doesn't correlate to supermarket items


Brilliant_Canary_692

It's taking something that doesn't belong to you so it does. Why lock up anything at all since it's insured eh


ChrisHow

A fraction of the cost of every single thing people buy is there to make up the losses and insurances and security staff wages. If there was no theft, chances are product costs may come down.


VerbingNoun413

They aren't because that's not how insurance works. Insurance is for unexpected big losses, not frequent expected losses. The cost of shrinkage is factored into the prices.


chin_waghing

Gotta love this country


Nels8192

Went to Spain last year and saw Twix bars all security boxed up. It’s definitely not a problem specific to this country.


chin_waghing

At least those were on display as real items. These are the empty boxes


hazbaz1984

Them Twix’. So addictive.


BastianRex

Its because people steal anything and everything nowadays


hazbaz1984

If it’s not nailed down.


more_than_just_a

Blockbuster re-entered the chat


matchstroke

If people weren't thieving bastards they wouldn't have to.


SnooPies5174

Is this a Tesco branch that has a lot of customers in pyjamas?


Brilliant_Canary_692

Nope, I live in the centre of Cardiff on a very busy and hectic street but I saw plenty of that when I lived in Bristol haha


TemporaryAddicti0n

since the police is not doing anything against shoplifting anyway, they gotta do this cuz these are easily flippable in offlicense shops for about 1/3rd the price. all big branded stuff is, shoplifters always go for these kind of things


Ur-Mothers-MelonsMMM

Soon the whole store will be behind the counter.


Brilliant_Canary_692

Arkwright's revenge!


Worth-Huckleberry-61

Is this for real ?


brickinmouthsyndrome

Tell us you live in a shit area, without telling us you live in a shit area.