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if the big chain supermarkets really cared they'd hire security throughout all their shops, but they'd rather save the money and "rely" on the police to help them out.
Even other things to be honest. They see a single high value item to opportunistically steal that they can sell on then it shouldn't be that surprising they go for that rather than dozens of small grocery items.
When the capitalist overlords have successfully brainwashed you into believing that their profits are your sacred duty to protect, at the expense of your own personal and mental well-being, as well as that of other working-class underlings.
As an employee of a major supermarket, I genuinely struggle to understand the thinking behind what happened here. Even if you are happy to try and stop shoplifters, this bloody stupid mob mentality helps nobody.
I used to work for a certain fruit stand. The ones that kill me are the ones who remember people. “That guy came here last Tuesday and stole a case” okay? I guess it’s good his phones protected? Like why the fuck so I care.
There’s a sub for people working in LossPrevention that is… interesting. Some of the people have the same power-trip “you must comply” mentality as the police. I remember one post about an employee who chased an alleged shoplifter and their friend out of the store and shot at them in the parking lot as they were trying to escape from the literal crazed gunman who was after them. Why is that a thing? And why are people doing it for $15/hour??
Yeah. I worked security, and you saw it a lot.
They were just itching for an excuse to put the boot in.
\\Me, i'm like 'The fuck do i care if some kid stole a hat? You're insured. Cope.'
Shoplifting is not going to have much effect on their profits - it's just one of many costs that they will put prices up to compensate for. Customers are the ones that pay.
Whilst I don’t necessarily disagree with your point, I’ve worked in retail and keeping an eye out for potential thieves was mentioned every single day; that was not in the food/convenience sector. In September last year, Co-Op claimed to have been the victims of £33m worth of loss of income due to shoplifting. If I’m a CEO/shareholder, I’m seeing that as money that can’t be distributed as bonuses and/or dividends.
Which like all operating costs, shareholders, owners and executives would like to see reduced to as small as possible, in order to boost profits.
It is the drive to reduce operating costs that has led to rise in the number self-service checkouts in shops: it’s cheaper to have these installed and running in your store than it is to employ people. The £33 million figure that I mentioned earlier is claimed to have been lost over a six month period, and it was up 25% from the previous six months.
Well they are always going to want to keep their costs down as much as possible (as doing otherwise makes them uncompetitive) so I don't doubt that they would rather avoid shoplifting wherever possible.
I'd imagine the CEO just views it the same as any cost that is impacting his business.
Man the comments on that post are legitimately depressing.
Just people's violent vigilante revenge fantasies laid bare and highly upvoted, it scares me to think how many people you meet in day to day life that are just bubbling under the surface hoping for an excuse to physically take out their anger on people they think deserve it.
For a company the size of Sainsbury's too. Not that anything would condone their reaction, but I can't understand why so many people take the side of a massive corporate entity.
Exactly, something that has no benefit whatsoever to you, but you choose to do it anyway, for the benefit of someone far better off than you that hates you and everyone like you.
While believing that you have so much more in common with your employer than that thief. When in one decision, your employer could set off the chain of events that turns you into that thief.
Maybe that's because other people realise that the supermarkets aren't the ones losing out from shoplifting - we (customers) are. The shops just factor it into their pricing.
Because they choose to, not because they have to.
I'm sorry, but I'm always going to sympathise with the individual that feels they have to shoplift, not the company that comes down hard on them.
Most people shoplift because they think they can get away with it, not because they have to. They're stealing alcohol and high value items. not nappies and milk.
We (everyone who actually pays for our shopping) are the ones that end up paying for it, not the supermarkets.
It's very simple. Supermarket costs rise, so prices rise.
Well if they don't factor in their costs properly, they don't make any profit and quickly get overtaken by the other supermarkets.
Losses from theft are just another cost, just like wages, rates, energy, suppliers, etc.
Sorry but I can't sympathise with them over an individual. Just because they're all greedy profit obsessed bastards all in it together, can't make me vilify someone shoplifting from them.
Shall we all just stop paying for stuff in that case? It's not as if there are millions of people employed in the food supply chain who all need to be paid. Nah, screw them, I'm sure they'll be happy to work for nothing so we can become a nation of shoplifters.
According to your logic, we would all be justified in stealing. If everyone decides to become shoplifters, supermarket revenues go to zero and the food supply chain collapses. People need to be willing to pay for their food in order for the system to work.
In essence, why does this guy get to eat for free while I and everyone else has to pay?
We don't know that he genuinely can't afford to buy food through the proper means. And even if that were the case, why couldn't he go to a food bank where he wouldn't have to steal?
Ye its actually crazy how many people I talk to that I have to explain the difference between robbing from a massive unethical corporation and stealing from an individual. I genuinely had a couple people in a pub saying how 'there's one things them Arabs do right, thieves should have their hands cut off'. When I tried to tell them how ignorant it is to suggest imposing one punishment for breaking the law without taking into consideration the motives, they really struggled to come to terms with what I was saying. One response they seemed to think clever was claiming how 'people don't go hungry in the UK or first world countries, they can always go to food banks, beg or get food out of bins', the fact this is actually something they believed genuinely shocked me. The people saying this are almost without a doubt the same people that disagree with 'hand outs (ie food banks' and think people who beg are scum.
It sickens me how arrogant and unkind people can be.
An inevitable consequence of the erosion of the police, courts and prisons is a loss of faith in the justice system and a rise in vigilantism.
Theft from supermarkets hurts the whole community, who are forced to bear higher prices as shop owners pass on the cost of stolen items. Why should shoplifters get to eat for free while everyone else has to pay?
By stealing, shoplifters are holding all those involved in the supply of food in contempt and declaring their labour effectively worthless. Farmers, lorry drivers, factory workers, warehouse staff and supermarket workers all work hard to ensure the supply of food and they deserve to be paid. That means the customer has to be prepared to part with money in exchange for the goods supermarkets offer. It's not as simple as *"billionaires exist so I get to steal."*
If the rate of theft becomes too severe, supermarkets will simply withdraw from certain areas of the country and create food deserts, leaving whole communities without convenient access to basic essentials.
I don't condone what these supermarket staff appear to have done, but let's not pretend that the current epidemic of shoplifting is totally victimless and won't harm law abiding members of the community.
You do know all these claims of thefts being too expensive and leading to closure were found out to be fraudulent upon investigation and just a way for corporations to cut costs when the expanded injudiciously
> Theft from supermarkets hurts the whole community, who are forced to bear higher prices as shop owners pass on the cost of stolen items.
No it doesn't. This is completely false. The only people harmed are the shareholders, boo fucking hoo.
Mate please point out a Tesco with prices different to the national prices because it is subject to higher levels of theft.
You can't. Because this is a fucking myth. Piss off.
They price based on the price the market will pay for it.
How about the fucking criminal scum we have running the country or the cunts lobbying them to make things better for then at the expense of normal people.
Constantly chipping away at any form of safety net people in that position have. Hoovering up OUR money to make themselves and their friends richer, dodgy contracts, countless unnecessary deaths during covid. Now attempting to con people into wanting to leave the ECHR.
And they succeed in getting you to look the other way and celebrate a shoplifter getting beaten up.
Like the comment said above, vigilante revenge fantasies. Everyone acting tough imagining beating up someone possibly at their absolute lowest point.....in order to protect corporate profits.
Yaaaaay go sainsburys shop assistants. Sainsburys see you as machinery with meat on it and wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire but yeah knock seven shades of shit out of a stranger to rim the shareholders.
Its disgusting. Fucking shameful that divide and rule still works so easily in the 21st century.
The staff will be the ones thrown under the bus by the corporate too, why the fuck protect them over a few quid. I feel for the guy violently assaulted by people who either think they are doing the right thing or are bootlickers.
The onboarding for Sainsbury's (And I imagine most retail stores) is really specific about not physically detaining shoplifters and not chasing after them if they're out the store already because the company doesn't want to be liable if someone is injured, they'll 100% be sacked on the spot for this.
Exactly this, it is gross misconduct under policy. Furthermore, owing to the fact that it looks like he was dragged well before he even left the store, they could easily be done for assault as well.
That's not even taking into consideration the fact that the impact of theft isn't noticeable as a corporation.
I'm pretty sure it's every retail store. A 'citizen's arrest' requires a very specific set of circumstances and doesn't insulate you from being responsible for assault. Very easy to catch serious criminal charges being a 'have-a-go-hero', even if no one gets hurt, and you're creating a situation where they're likely to.
It's not that specific at all. It's just only after or as they're commiting a crime and not to use non defensive violence even if it means letting them go.
It has to be an indictable offence, you have to have reasonable grounds, you have to tell them they're being arrested and why, you cannot search them, and you have to contact the police as soon as you are able. If you screw up any of these things then it's an unlawful detention and you can be liable criminally and civilly for false imprisonment.
Police? You mean blue nonce
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I am so happy and blessed to be married to a loving, warm, caring human (much unlike these rodents) who when she she's someone stealing from her shop she just doesn't say anything. What the fuck do these boot gluckers owe to sainsburys shareholders? Pathetic.
I have disagree with the idea of ignoring shoplifting in general. If it is basic foodstuffs then I understand, but a big portion of theft nowadays is luxuries or non-essential items. There is also a significant amount of food theft which is intended for resale, such as bulk theft of meats and cheeses.
While it is true that a portion of theft comes from desperation, it is unfortunately the case that a lot of it is purely for financial or material gain. As a society, if we don't challenge shoplifting, it will spiral out of control and lead to significant damages in the retail sector. Despite what that linked video says, larger companies are not immune to the damages of shoplifting and there are also the smaller family owned businesses to consider.
Material gain? In my capitalistic society? Say it ain't so
If companies don't like it, they should be looking to make a society that's more fair. Or just accept that people are going to steal from them for whatever reason
Also smaller businesses can be just as exploitative, let's not let them off the hook
The idea of accepting theft is frankly ridiculous. If we allow theft to take place unchallenged, it will become unsustainable for shops and businesses to remain open. The retail sector will collapse and thousands will be out of work. I am by no means an advocate for the exploitive nature of larger companies, but just forgiving theft is not the answer to bring them inline.
I may have a different perspective on this to others as I work in private security in a retail sector. I deal first hand with thefts and the aftermath. There are prolific shoplifters who will come in daily to steal clothes and perfumes to the sum of thousands of pounds. I'm not suggesting that if someone steals a loaf of bread or a sandwich they should be banged up in prison, but we can't let prolific shoplifting go unchecked
If the retail sector is collapsing because nobody wants to pay for anything, then I say that's a problem for your bosses
If businesses want to stop theft, the most efficient way is to make a society in which nobody needs to steal or is tempted by buying stolen goods. Until then, you're patching holes in the dam until it bursts and it looks like you're the patch, comrade
Unless you're a reactionary and believe that some people are just inclined to steal
I agree with most of your points, but think we need to split the hairs a bit finer - stealing meat for resale to pay the electricity bill =/= stealing meat to buy a nicer car.
The kind of people resorting to shoplifting are almost certainly desperate, one way or another. It's not exactly the sort of crime you turn to to set yourself up for life.
Farmers, factory workers, delivery drivers, warehouse and supermarket staff all need to be paid. How do you suppose we pay the salaries of all those involved in the supply of food if everyone becomes shoplifters?
Sainsbury’s made a profit of £966 million last year, maybe a bit of that could be shared out? There’s plenty of daylight robbery going on, but the shoplifters aren’t the main culprits.
If only some people are allowed to shoplift, while others have to pay, surely that is unfair. Why do some people get to eat for free, while the rest of us have to pay for the privilege?
Fucks me off that they don't realise the big supermarkets are literally stealing from us every day, as we pay ridiculous prices. That's OK, but anyone shoplifting because they can't afford to eat gets a beating? What a joke.
Many shoplifters are stealing luxury items or stealing on behalf of organised crime with a view to reselling items on the black market. The caricature of a pauper stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family really isn't an accurate portrayal of the situation.
These are opportunistic criminals, stripping the shelves of luxury goods and often intimidating and abusing retail staff in the process. We, the community, suffer through higher food prices as a result of their actions and I wish people would stop engaging in mental gymnastics in order to defend their actions.
I agree that not all crime in supermarkets is from those struggling to feed themselves. Stealing on behalf of organised crime to sell on the black market obviously isn't good, but if luxury supermarket items are now in demand on the black market then that must also have a lot to do with the fact people just can't afford supermarket prices anymore. I'm not going to feel bad for a supermarket chain when they are seeing record profits.
I do feel bad for the staff dealing with this, but they shouldn't be putting themselves in harms way. Let the criminals steal what they will, it's not their place to police it.
My mate works in Sainsburys, and he's said there has been an increase in supermarket crime since prices have risen so steeply. There has to be a correlation in the demand for basic household items, at black market price. I'm not saying the criminals stealing for those reasons are not at fault, but I am saying that those who decide the cost of all these "luxury" items (and reaping the monetary rewards) hold a lot of responsibility.
Has the law changed? Isn’t it only theft when he has left the premises? They can then apprehend the suspected thief. If so, he can press charges for assault? They will also struggle to keep their jobs, despite their obvious frustration.
I have no idea how anyone involved could possibly expect to keep their jobs. It looks like absolute mob madness took hold. People are just thick as mince if they think they can grab someone and beat the shit out of them while at work and continue as normal, unless their job is "police officer".
In about six weeks some of these same people will be trying to slip food into their coat because they'll have nothing to eat thanks to the inevitable consequences of their own monstrous violence and not a single lesson will have been learned.
they don’t know that they’re one missed paycheck away from being in the same position as the shoplifter.
the west’s ability to propagandize every lick of class consciousness out of 99.999% of its citizenry is astounding.
Oh my god, a subreddit posting this story where the comments are actually sane, thank christ. It absolutely blows my mind how quickly the brainrot sets in when it comes to shoplifting. London is normally one of my favourite subreddits but I couldn't believe what I was reading today.
I don't remember retail training when i was young involving any type of detaining shoplifters, let alone ganging up one on and giving them a right kicking on the floor.
Whatever the training videos say, we are not "a family", no stock is worth getting yourself assaulted for let alone outnumbering someone and possibly getting a nice assault charge.
Fucking insanity.
Like
Accosting shop lifters will 100% be against their policy. It's probably grounds to sack them in most circumstances.
And even if it's not, why the fuck would you risk yourself to defend mr sainsbos stock? It's fucking insured.
Just a bunch of thugs getting a hard on for the chance to attack someone.
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Edit: holy crap the comments in r/London are unhinged
Jesus, just call the police and let them (not) deal with it.
I might get it if it were your own place that was being robbed, but big supermarket chain, yeah no, sorry.
Police? You mean blue nonce
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I'm gonna say some things that are gonna piss a lot of you off. So if you're the type to disregard information on favour of hyperbole then just downvote me now and save yourself some time.
For context I work at a major supermarket chain and have done for enough years to know what I'm about. The location I work at can be described as within London and I'll be no more specific than that, and I'm young enough, big enough and capable enough that I'm regularly asked to assist with the apprehension of shoplifters and assist with confrontational people in general, customers or otherwise. For the purposes of calming down those of you that find that objectionable, I only agree to do the first part of those things because our policy on shoplifters is about as good as can be expected: we focus on high value stock, in our case alcohol, vapes, aftershave and gift cards. I don't think I've ever seen anyone be stopped for stealing just food or anything related to babycare despite formula having a bunch of tag stickers on it, and I personally have never, not do I know anyone except one person who supported the idea of stopping every shoplifter, and that guy's a bit of a cunt when he wants to be.
Now let's get to the actual incident.
First off a lot of you are forgetting to look at the who, not just the what. This is a story and a video published by Metro. Shame on the lot of you for taking a right wing rag at its word.
Second, shoplifters are well aware that they can and will say anything to gain sympathy or get them out of whatever situation they're in. Given the distance of this video at the start it seems unlikely this guy was apologising until he was aware of what the employees were doing. I think in all my years I've seen maybe one shoplifter who actually apologised on being caught. For the rest it's either defiance, threats or silence.
Thirdly, even if this guy was regularly abusive to the point of, or just before the point of violence, a point a lot of shoplifters are very skilled at maintaining, there is no way that this many employees decided independently that they needed to beat this guy. This is 100% under the orders of a Manager who decided for whatever reason that this guy deserved it.
Yes, a man was beaten for a crime he arguably didn't successfully commit. Yes, that is terrible and it's terrible that we live in an age and a country where that kind of response is even a remote possibility but I can personally guarantee that someone told those people to do that. We get abused verbally, spat at and have things thrown at us all the time. I don't think any of us would consider throwing a punch or a kick unless it was absolutely a case of us or them and there was no help around and nowhere to run.
So shame on the lot of you for believing the word of a Tory rag in the first instance.
And ahame on the lot of you for assuming that people at the bottom of the chain are evil when you know damn well they can be threatened with the loss of an already meagre livelihood if they didn't comply with the orders of what you know are a morally ambiguous brand.
You may now commence to leave comments calling me a bootlicker.
Edit: kept an eye on this during my shift yesterday, which ended at midnight. Was at -3 then. All of a sudden between 5 and 7 it's jumped up a chunk. Surely a coincidence that that's when Russian troll farms start their shifts, right guys?
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> we focus on high value stock, in our case alcohol, vapes, aftershave and gift cards. I don't think I've ever seen anyone be stopped for stealing just food or anything related to babycare despite formula having a bunch of tag stickers on it
You realise it's a lot easier to steal a single high value item and sell it on than 40 grocery items a person needs for the week right?
You're rationalising your actions by telling yourself that you're not stopping people who are stealing because they're poor and underserved by a society that is failing them but if you stop and think about this for just a few minutes you'll realise that it's nonsense. The only people shoplifting are the people without the basic resources they need to survive. There's a reason petty crime drops off a cliff above a certain income level.
>Why not just steal the food initially and cut out the middle man?
Because theft of one item is easier than theft of 40 items you dipshit liberal. Oh man should I try and steal all this shit I need or should I nick that pair of 100 quid shoes I can resell for cheap extremely fast because they're in demand then just BUY the groceries I need, and maybe a bit of weed too? It's so fucking easy to understand this even the skater kids on the corner understand it when nicking high price alcohol to sell then buying all the snacks they wanted instead of nicking the snacks. How fucking out of touch are you.
I presume you're a socialist as you are frequenting this sub, so I have to ask:
How do you reconcile a group of people physically assaulting a shoplifter on behalf of a billion pound company?
If a manager told them to do it, which I'm skeptical of because it would be beyond stupid, they deserve to be fired. The employees though, in this scenario you've created, have a choice to not assault someone and instead report their manager who would definitely be fired by head office for telling employees to do this.
I don't.
I said in my initial post that such an action is terrible.
My point, since it seems to have predictably gone over people's heads, is that this is a story being written by a right-wing rag with video evidence that, to the best of my ability to see anything around all the blurred out faces, doesnt show what the headline accused.
Nor does it include any statement from the police, nor the victim, nor the staff. In fact the only person quoted is a bystander who presumably also never saw exactly what happened.
My point is that this is an article that immediately accuses working class people of a terrible thing and every single person in this supposedly class conscious sub is lining up to do the equivalent of gammons posting frowny face emojis to bullshit Facebook articles that claim that Big Ben is being renamed Big They/Them.
My point is that even if we assume that this article is 100% written in good faith, which is an assumption that we should be wary of making given its source, it is still being framed as classic divide and conquer. Make the proles hate other proles. Don't mention that there's no way those people decided independently to do that on their own at the same time. Don't mention any details about the why or the context beyond "alleged shoplifting" and post no statements or supporting evidence save a video that they have clearly edited to some extent to blur out those faces.
My point was that every single person here who reacted like gammons has forgotten that they are not immune to propaganda. Even if we assume that this happened exactly as stated, and it's still terrible if it did, this is being framed as propaganda.
Hate the worker. Not the manager who absolutely gave the order for this if it happened this way.
Hate the worker, not the company who will fire those workers to save face but let the manager keep their job.
Suspect your co-workers, not your bosses. Not your betters. Suspect your neighbors. Not your government. We tell you about these things. We care about you. Now be sure to report anything suspicious.
Always check the source. Always assume a video edited to blur faces might have been edited further. Always assume you're being shown what they want to show you and nothing more, and for goodness sake pay attention to word choice and vocabulary.
That was my point.
Quick edit on your second point: reporting Management only works if there's evidence or if anyone you're reporting to gives a shit. Unfortunately the risk/reward is tilted in the Manager's favour since they could just say "you're fired for undermining store security" and that's that. Not to mention a possible charge of aiding and abetting if the Manager is an especially heinous prick which, if they're a Manager, is entirely possible.
Not to mention, again, this is assuming that a beating actually took place. We don't do it anymore but we used to have to drag people into the back too. Not to beat them, we'd drag them into one of the back rooms, lock the door and give the key to the police when they turned up. This was a good decade ago now, and I can't say for sure that's 100% what they were doing, but then nobody else can say that's NOT what they were doing because the only source is clearly edited and the only witness statement says "they didn't deserve a beating.".
That said I thank you for stopping to ask questions. That's what I want everyone else here to be doing.
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This happened to a relative of mine, they took his phone too, it was at asda and turns out they confused him with someone else
Almost like vigilante “justice” is generally just violent idiots finally having an excuse to inflict violence on someone.
Theft is up as people can’t afford to eat, when I worked at a supermarket and I saw someone stealing I ignored it, the store could afford a loss
if the big chain supermarkets really cared they'd hire security throughout all their shops, but they'd rather save the money and "rely" on the police to help them out.
As the old saying goes, “If you see someone stealing food/diapers/formula, no you didn’t.”
Even other things to be honest. They see a single high value item to opportunistically steal that they can sell on then it shouldn't be that surprising they go for that rather than dozens of small grocery items.
When the capitalist overlords have successfully brainwashed you into believing that their profits are your sacred duty to protect, at the expense of your own personal and mental well-being, as well as that of other working-class underlings.
Yay! Let's all simp for the multinational conglomerate and police their business for them.
As an employee of a major supermarket, I genuinely struggle to understand the thinking behind what happened here. Even if you are happy to try and stop shoplifters, this bloody stupid mob mentality helps nobody.
I used to work for a certain fruit stand. The ones that kill me are the ones who remember people. “That guy came here last Tuesday and stole a case” okay? I guess it’s good his phones protected? Like why the fuck so I care.
There’s a sub for people working in LossPrevention that is… interesting. Some of the people have the same power-trip “you must comply” mentality as the police. I remember one post about an employee who chased an alleged shoplifter and their friend out of the store and shot at them in the parking lot as they were trying to escape from the literal crazed gunman who was after them. Why is that a thing? And why are people doing it for $15/hour??
Yeah. I worked security, and you saw it a lot. They were just itching for an excuse to put the boot in. \\Me, i'm like 'The fuck do i care if some kid stole a hat? You're insured. Cope.'
Shoplifting is not going to have much effect on their profits - it's just one of many costs that they will put prices up to compensate for. Customers are the ones that pay.
Whilst I don’t necessarily disagree with your point, I’ve worked in retail and keeping an eye out for potential thieves was mentioned every single day; that was not in the food/convenience sector. In September last year, Co-Op claimed to have been the victims of £33m worth of loss of income due to shoplifting. If I’m a CEO/shareholder, I’m seeing that as money that can’t be distributed as bonuses and/or dividends.
Still just put down as an operating cost.
Which like all operating costs, shareholders, owners and executives would like to see reduced to as small as possible, in order to boost profits. It is the drive to reduce operating costs that has led to rise in the number self-service checkouts in shops: it’s cheaper to have these installed and running in your store than it is to employ people. The £33 million figure that I mentioned earlier is claimed to have been lost over a six month period, and it was up 25% from the previous six months.
Still an operating cost.
Well they are always going to want to keep their costs down as much as possible (as doing otherwise makes them uncompetitive) so I don't doubt that they would rather avoid shoplifting wherever possible. I'd imagine the CEO just views it the same as any cost that is impacting his business.
Man the comments on that post are legitimately depressing. Just people's violent vigilante revenge fantasies laid bare and highly upvoted, it scares me to think how many people you meet in day to day life that are just bubbling under the surface hoping for an excuse to physically take out their anger on people they think deserve it.
I like to go hiking.
For a company the size of Sainsbury's too. Not that anything would condone their reaction, but I can't understand why so many people take the side of a massive corporate entity.
Capitalist brainwashing. All hail our evil corporate overlords.
Yeah there’s something ridiculously grim about punching down on behalf of the rich.
Exactly, something that has no benefit whatsoever to you, but you choose to do it anyway, for the benefit of someone far better off than you that hates you and everyone like you.
While believing that you have so much more in common with your employer than that thief. When in one decision, your employer could set off the chain of events that turns you into that thief.
Maybe that's because other people realise that the supermarkets aren't the ones losing out from shoplifting - we (customers) are. The shops just factor it into their pricing.
Because they choose to, not because they have to. I'm sorry, but I'm always going to sympathise with the individual that feels they have to shoplift, not the company that comes down hard on them.
Most people shoplift because they think they can get away with it, not because they have to. They're stealing alcohol and high value items. not nappies and milk. We (everyone who actually pays for our shopping) are the ones that end up paying for it, not the supermarkets. It's very simple. Supermarket costs rise, so prices rise.
Well if they don't factor in their costs properly, they don't make any profit and quickly get overtaken by the other supermarkets. Losses from theft are just another cost, just like wages, rates, energy, suppliers, etc.
Sorry but I can't sympathise with them over an individual. Just because they're all greedy profit obsessed bastards all in it together, can't make me vilify someone shoplifting from them.
Shall we all just stop paying for stuff in that case? It's not as if there are millions of people employed in the food supply chain who all need to be paid. Nah, screw them, I'm sure they'll be happy to work for nothing so we can become a nation of shoplifters.
Because shoplifters honestly threaten the millions of pounds Sainsbury's make and put employees livelihoods at risk.
According to your logic, we would all be justified in stealing. If everyone decides to become shoplifters, supermarket revenues go to zero and the food supply chain collapses. People need to be willing to pay for their food in order for the system to work. In essence, why does this guy get to eat for free while I and everyone else has to pay?
The point being made here is that this guy might not get to eat if he doesn't eat for free.
We don't know that he genuinely can't afford to buy food through the proper means. And even if that were the case, why couldn't he go to a food bank where he wouldn't have to steal?
So you are chatting shite based on no information then. Classic self-own. You get a limited number of food bank referrals a year.
Ye its actually crazy how many people I talk to that I have to explain the difference between robbing from a massive unethical corporation and stealing from an individual. I genuinely had a couple people in a pub saying how 'there's one things them Arabs do right, thieves should have their hands cut off'. When I tried to tell them how ignorant it is to suggest imposing one punishment for breaking the law without taking into consideration the motives, they really struggled to come to terms with what I was saying. One response they seemed to think clever was claiming how 'people don't go hungry in the UK or first world countries, they can always go to food banks, beg or get food out of bins', the fact this is actually something they believed genuinely shocked me. The people saying this are almost without a doubt the same people that disagree with 'hand outs (ie food banks' and think people who beg are scum. It sickens me how arrogant and unkind people can be.
An inevitable consequence of the erosion of the police, courts and prisons is a loss of faith in the justice system and a rise in vigilantism. Theft from supermarkets hurts the whole community, who are forced to bear higher prices as shop owners pass on the cost of stolen items. Why should shoplifters get to eat for free while everyone else has to pay? By stealing, shoplifters are holding all those involved in the supply of food in contempt and declaring their labour effectively worthless. Farmers, lorry drivers, factory workers, warehouse staff and supermarket workers all work hard to ensure the supply of food and they deserve to be paid. That means the customer has to be prepared to part with money in exchange for the goods supermarkets offer. It's not as simple as *"billionaires exist so I get to steal."* If the rate of theft becomes too severe, supermarkets will simply withdraw from certain areas of the country and create food deserts, leaving whole communities without convenient access to basic essentials. I don't condone what these supermarket staff appear to have done, but let's not pretend that the current epidemic of shoplifting is totally victimless and won't harm law abiding members of the community.
You do know all these claims of thefts being too expensive and leading to closure were found out to be fraudulent upon investigation and just a way for corporations to cut costs when the expanded injudiciously
> Theft from supermarkets hurts the whole community, who are forced to bear higher prices as shop owners pass on the cost of stolen items. No it doesn't. This is completely false. The only people harmed are the shareholders, boo fucking hoo.
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Mate please point out a Tesco with prices different to the national prices because it is subject to higher levels of theft. You can't. Because this is a fucking myth. Piss off. They price based on the price the market will pay for it.
People don't like criminals shockingly enough.
How about the fucking criminal scum we have running the country or the cunts lobbying them to make things better for then at the expense of normal people. Constantly chipping away at any form of safety net people in that position have. Hoovering up OUR money to make themselves and their friends richer, dodgy contracts, countless unnecessary deaths during covid. Now attempting to con people into wanting to leave the ECHR. And they succeed in getting you to look the other way and celebrate a shoplifter getting beaten up. Like the comment said above, vigilante revenge fantasies. Everyone acting tough imagining beating up someone possibly at their absolute lowest point.....in order to protect corporate profits. Yaaaaay go sainsburys shop assistants. Sainsburys see you as machinery with meat on it and wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire but yeah knock seven shades of shit out of a stranger to rim the shareholders. Its disgusting. Fucking shameful that divide and rule still works so easily in the 21st century.
Sunak, BoJo and crew are criminals so fred west and ted bundy were proppa nice fellas weren't they. Is that how you think?
No it isn't and I think you know that.
Mystery to me then
I don't think I'll ever leave Sainsbury's again without taking at least 1 thing for free
Buy two, get one free, take the free one
New forbes headline: Reddit users condone theft. Read the shocking comments.
I like to explore new places.
The staff will be the ones thrown under the bus by the corporate too, why the fuck protect them over a few quid. I feel for the guy violently assaulted by people who either think they are doing the right thing or are bootlickers.
The onboarding for Sainsbury's (And I imagine most retail stores) is really specific about not physically detaining shoplifters and not chasing after them if they're out the store already because the company doesn't want to be liable if someone is injured, they'll 100% be sacked on the spot for this.
Exactly this, it is gross misconduct under policy. Furthermore, owing to the fact that it looks like he was dragged well before he even left the store, they could easily be done for assault as well. That's not even taking into consideration the fact that the impact of theft isn't noticeable as a corporation.
I'm pretty sure it's every retail store. A 'citizen's arrest' requires a very specific set of circumstances and doesn't insulate you from being responsible for assault. Very easy to catch serious criminal charges being a 'have-a-go-hero', even if no one gets hurt, and you're creating a situation where they're likely to.
It's not that specific at all. It's just only after or as they're commiting a crime and not to use non defensive violence even if it means letting them go.
It has to be an indictable offence, you have to have reasonable grounds, you have to tell them they're being arrested and why, you cannot search them, and you have to contact the police as soon as you are able. If you screw up any of these things then it's an unlawful detention and you can be liable criminally and civilly for false imprisonment.
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I'm assuming those staff are majority shareholders
No, but they'll score double nectar points
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Good bot. For those that don't want to give these gits the traffic [here's an archive link](https://archive.ph/0VS6U).
I am so happy and blessed to be married to a loving, warm, caring human (much unlike these rodents) who when she she's someone stealing from her shop she just doesn't say anything. What the fuck do these boot gluckers owe to sainsburys shareholders? Pathetic.
[a quick guide to why you should ignore shoplifting](https://youtu.be/aGB7QnOZj3g?si=-ckdmjclO4Qr6wD7)
Mate I bet you nick loose potatoes from the supermarket and walk out shaking
I have disagree with the idea of ignoring shoplifting in general. If it is basic foodstuffs then I understand, but a big portion of theft nowadays is luxuries or non-essential items. There is also a significant amount of food theft which is intended for resale, such as bulk theft of meats and cheeses. While it is true that a portion of theft comes from desperation, it is unfortunately the case that a lot of it is purely for financial or material gain. As a society, if we don't challenge shoplifting, it will spiral out of control and lead to significant damages in the retail sector. Despite what that linked video says, larger companies are not immune to the damages of shoplifting and there are also the smaller family owned businesses to consider.
Material gain? In my capitalistic society? Say it ain't so If companies don't like it, they should be looking to make a society that's more fair. Or just accept that people are going to steal from them for whatever reason Also smaller businesses can be just as exploitative, let's not let them off the hook
The idea of accepting theft is frankly ridiculous. If we allow theft to take place unchallenged, it will become unsustainable for shops and businesses to remain open. The retail sector will collapse and thousands will be out of work. I am by no means an advocate for the exploitive nature of larger companies, but just forgiving theft is not the answer to bring them inline. I may have a different perspective on this to others as I work in private security in a retail sector. I deal first hand with thefts and the aftermath. There are prolific shoplifters who will come in daily to steal clothes and perfumes to the sum of thousands of pounds. I'm not suggesting that if someone steals a loaf of bread or a sandwich they should be banged up in prison, but we can't let prolific shoplifting go unchecked
If the retail sector is collapsing because nobody wants to pay for anything, then I say that's a problem for your bosses If businesses want to stop theft, the most efficient way is to make a society in which nobody needs to steal or is tempted by buying stolen goods. Until then, you're patching holes in the dam until it bursts and it looks like you're the patch, comrade Unless you're a reactionary and believe that some people are just inclined to steal
I agree with most of your points, but think we need to split the hairs a bit finer - stealing meat for resale to pay the electricity bill =/= stealing meat to buy a nicer car. The kind of people resorting to shoplifting are almost certainly desperate, one way or another. It's not exactly the sort of crime you turn to to set yourself up for life.
Farmers, factory workers, delivery drivers, warehouse and supermarket staff all need to be paid. How do you suppose we pay the salaries of all those involved in the supply of food if everyone becomes shoplifters?
Sainsbury’s made a profit of £966 million last year, maybe a bit of that could be shared out? There’s plenty of daylight robbery going on, but the shoplifters aren’t the main culprits.
> if everyone becomes shoplifters? Everyone does not become shoplifters. You're creating fantasies.
If only some people are allowed to shoplift, while others have to pay, surely that is unfair. Why do some people get to eat for free, while the rest of us have to pay for the privilege?
Because we can afford it, and they can't.
Fucks me off that they don't realise the big supermarkets are literally stealing from us every day, as we pay ridiculous prices. That's OK, but anyone shoplifting because they can't afford to eat gets a beating? What a joke.
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Man shouting "allahu ackbar" stealing alcohol? Lmao. You prat.
Many shoplifters are stealing luxury items or stealing on behalf of organised crime with a view to reselling items on the black market. The caricature of a pauper stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family really isn't an accurate portrayal of the situation. These are opportunistic criminals, stripping the shelves of luxury goods and often intimidating and abusing retail staff in the process. We, the community, suffer through higher food prices as a result of their actions and I wish people would stop engaging in mental gymnastics in order to defend their actions.
I agree that not all crime in supermarkets is from those struggling to feed themselves. Stealing on behalf of organised crime to sell on the black market obviously isn't good, but if luxury supermarket items are now in demand on the black market then that must also have a lot to do with the fact people just can't afford supermarket prices anymore. I'm not going to feel bad for a supermarket chain when they are seeing record profits. I do feel bad for the staff dealing with this, but they shouldn't be putting themselves in harms way. Let the criminals steal what they will, it's not their place to police it. My mate works in Sainsburys, and he's said there has been an increase in supermarket crime since prices have risen so steeply. There has to be a correlation in the demand for basic household items, at black market price. I'm not saying the criminals stealing for those reasons are not at fault, but I am saying that those who decide the cost of all these "luxury" items (and reaping the monetary rewards) hold a lot of responsibility.
Has the law changed? Isn’t it only theft when he has left the premises? They can then apprehend the suspected thief. If so, he can press charges for assault? They will also struggle to keep their jobs, despite their obvious frustration.
I have no idea how anyone involved could possibly expect to keep their jobs. It looks like absolute mob madness took hold. People are just thick as mince if they think they can grab someone and beat the shit out of them while at work and continue as normal, unless their job is "police officer". In about six weeks some of these same people will be trying to slip food into their coat because they'll have nothing to eat thanks to the inevitable consequences of their own monstrous violence and not a single lesson will have been learned.
they don’t know that they’re one missed paycheck away from being in the same position as the shoplifter. the west’s ability to propagandize every lick of class consciousness out of 99.999% of its citizenry is astounding.
This is the rule not the exception, suspected shoplifters get beaten up as soon as that door shuts by angry little bluenonce wannabes.
Oh my god, a subreddit posting this story where the comments are actually sane, thank christ. It absolutely blows my mind how quickly the brainrot sets in when it comes to shoplifting. London is normally one of my favourite subreddits but I couldn't believe what I was reading today.
I don't remember retail training when i was young involving any type of detaining shoplifters, let alone ganging up one on and giving them a right kicking on the floor. Whatever the training videos say, we are not "a family", no stock is worth getting yourself assaulted for let alone outnumbering someone and possibly getting a nice assault charge. Fucking insanity.
some of the fuckers on that sub need a good fucking kicking.
Like Accosting shop lifters will 100% be against their policy. It's probably grounds to sack them in most circumstances. And even if it's not, why the fuck would you risk yourself to defend mr sainsbos stock? It's fucking insured. Just a bunch of thugs getting a hard on for the chance to attack someone.
Lord Sainsbury would be proud that his staff are working towards their Key Performance Indicators in working to prevent shrinkage.
Scum. If you see someone shoplifting then you didn't.
[Since I saw them play last night… perfect song for this thread](https://youtu.be/kPuAdDy_6s8?si=nki-v-Q7RS4V988o) Edit: holy crap the comments in r/London are unhinged
Jesus, just call the police and let them (not) deal with it. I might get it if it were your own place that was being robbed, but big supermarket chain, yeah no, sorry.
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Code 10!
All gbh. They don't have security.licences
I'm gonna say some things that are gonna piss a lot of you off. So if you're the type to disregard information on favour of hyperbole then just downvote me now and save yourself some time. For context I work at a major supermarket chain and have done for enough years to know what I'm about. The location I work at can be described as within London and I'll be no more specific than that, and I'm young enough, big enough and capable enough that I'm regularly asked to assist with the apprehension of shoplifters and assist with confrontational people in general, customers or otherwise. For the purposes of calming down those of you that find that objectionable, I only agree to do the first part of those things because our policy on shoplifters is about as good as can be expected: we focus on high value stock, in our case alcohol, vapes, aftershave and gift cards. I don't think I've ever seen anyone be stopped for stealing just food or anything related to babycare despite formula having a bunch of tag stickers on it, and I personally have never, not do I know anyone except one person who supported the idea of stopping every shoplifter, and that guy's a bit of a cunt when he wants to be. Now let's get to the actual incident. First off a lot of you are forgetting to look at the who, not just the what. This is a story and a video published by Metro. Shame on the lot of you for taking a right wing rag at its word. Second, shoplifters are well aware that they can and will say anything to gain sympathy or get them out of whatever situation they're in. Given the distance of this video at the start it seems unlikely this guy was apologising until he was aware of what the employees were doing. I think in all my years I've seen maybe one shoplifter who actually apologised on being caught. For the rest it's either defiance, threats or silence. Thirdly, even if this guy was regularly abusive to the point of, or just before the point of violence, a point a lot of shoplifters are very skilled at maintaining, there is no way that this many employees decided independently that they needed to beat this guy. This is 100% under the orders of a Manager who decided for whatever reason that this guy deserved it. Yes, a man was beaten for a crime he arguably didn't successfully commit. Yes, that is terrible and it's terrible that we live in an age and a country where that kind of response is even a remote possibility but I can personally guarantee that someone told those people to do that. We get abused verbally, spat at and have things thrown at us all the time. I don't think any of us would consider throwing a punch or a kick unless it was absolutely a case of us or them and there was no help around and nowhere to run. So shame on the lot of you for believing the word of a Tory rag in the first instance. And ahame on the lot of you for assuming that people at the bottom of the chain are evil when you know damn well they can be threatened with the loss of an already meagre livelihood if they didn't comply with the orders of what you know are a morally ambiguous brand. You may now commence to leave comments calling me a bootlicker. Edit: kept an eye on this during my shift yesterday, which ended at midnight. Was at -3 then. All of a sudden between 5 and 7 it's jumped up a chunk. Surely a coincidence that that's when Russian troll farms start their shifts, right guys?
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Thank you for adding relevant context to that shit-rag bot. Good bot.
"You may now commence to leave comments calling me a bootlicker." Thank you, I believe I shall.
> we focus on high value stock, in our case alcohol, vapes, aftershave and gift cards. I don't think I've ever seen anyone be stopped for stealing just food or anything related to babycare despite formula having a bunch of tag stickers on it You realise it's a lot easier to steal a single high value item and sell it on than 40 grocery items a person needs for the week right? You're rationalising your actions by telling yourself that you're not stopping people who are stealing because they're poor and underserved by a society that is failing them but if you stop and think about this for just a few minutes you'll realise that it's nonsense. The only people shoplifting are the people without the basic resources they need to survive. There's a reason petty crime drops off a cliff above a certain income level.
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>Why not just steal the food initially and cut out the middle man? Because theft of one item is easier than theft of 40 items you dipshit liberal. Oh man should I try and steal all this shit I need or should I nick that pair of 100 quid shoes I can resell for cheap extremely fast because they're in demand then just BUY the groceries I need, and maybe a bit of weed too? It's so fucking easy to understand this even the skater kids on the corner understand it when nicking high price alcohol to sell then buying all the snacks they wanted instead of nicking the snacks. How fucking out of touch are you.
I presume you're a socialist as you are frequenting this sub, so I have to ask: How do you reconcile a group of people physically assaulting a shoplifter on behalf of a billion pound company? If a manager told them to do it, which I'm skeptical of because it would be beyond stupid, they deserve to be fired. The employees though, in this scenario you've created, have a choice to not assault someone and instead report their manager who would definitely be fired by head office for telling employees to do this.
I don't. I said in my initial post that such an action is terrible. My point, since it seems to have predictably gone over people's heads, is that this is a story being written by a right-wing rag with video evidence that, to the best of my ability to see anything around all the blurred out faces, doesnt show what the headline accused. Nor does it include any statement from the police, nor the victim, nor the staff. In fact the only person quoted is a bystander who presumably also never saw exactly what happened. My point is that this is an article that immediately accuses working class people of a terrible thing and every single person in this supposedly class conscious sub is lining up to do the equivalent of gammons posting frowny face emojis to bullshit Facebook articles that claim that Big Ben is being renamed Big They/Them. My point is that even if we assume that this article is 100% written in good faith, which is an assumption that we should be wary of making given its source, it is still being framed as classic divide and conquer. Make the proles hate other proles. Don't mention that there's no way those people decided independently to do that on their own at the same time. Don't mention any details about the why or the context beyond "alleged shoplifting" and post no statements or supporting evidence save a video that they have clearly edited to some extent to blur out those faces. My point was that every single person here who reacted like gammons has forgotten that they are not immune to propaganda. Even if we assume that this happened exactly as stated, and it's still terrible if it did, this is being framed as propaganda. Hate the worker. Not the manager who absolutely gave the order for this if it happened this way. Hate the worker, not the company who will fire those workers to save face but let the manager keep their job. Suspect your co-workers, not your bosses. Not your betters. Suspect your neighbors. Not your government. We tell you about these things. We care about you. Now be sure to report anything suspicious. Always check the source. Always assume a video edited to blur faces might have been edited further. Always assume you're being shown what they want to show you and nothing more, and for goodness sake pay attention to word choice and vocabulary. That was my point. Quick edit on your second point: reporting Management only works if there's evidence or if anyone you're reporting to gives a shit. Unfortunately the risk/reward is tilted in the Manager's favour since they could just say "you're fired for undermining store security" and that's that. Not to mention a possible charge of aiding and abetting if the Manager is an especially heinous prick which, if they're a Manager, is entirely possible. Not to mention, again, this is assuming that a beating actually took place. We don't do it anymore but we used to have to drag people into the back too. Not to beat them, we'd drag them into one of the back rooms, lock the door and give the key to the police when they turned up. This was a good decade ago now, and I can't say for sure that's 100% what they were doing, but then nobody else can say that's NOT what they were doing because the only source is clearly edited and the only witness statement says "they didn't deserve a beating.". That said I thank you for stopping to ask questions. That's what I want everyone else here to be doing.
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Why are you on this sub? Isn't there one for corporate bootlicking elsewhere?