To all the people with the ‘Hark at me! I shoplift! Awesome!’ stories –
Do you really think you’re ‘sticking it to the man’? Do you really think that corporate will ever – EVER – take a wage cut owing to rampant shoplifting? Oh, Gosh, the fat man in the suit says, shoplifting is up. I’d better rethink that emerald toilet.

Of course bloody not. They’ll fire the single mum with the Saturday job. They’ll ditch the person who needs the money the most. You’re not acting as a modern day Robin Hood and I won’t pat your bloody back.

I don’t want to worry my pretty little head about the lawlessness, the morality or the general human indecency of theft –you’re fucking over people who need money more than you do. But go on, use your excuses about how Tesco has loss margins to cover your theft habit, maaaaaaaan.

You. You there. Shoplifters. You don’t know what it is like to be poor. You don’t know what it is like to be starving. You’re just stealing lipstick from Boots because you want to be pretty and you don’t want to have to pay for it.

When did this myth start that shoplifting is a good thing?
(TheSnark oh, c'mon, like you didn't see me coming, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 15:14, 22 replies)

I've been taking 2 bananas for the price of one at Tescos
will I go to hell?
( Finite "Aardvark sorted out my shit!" on, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 15:18, closed)

Yes.
Man, you don't wanna fuck with Jesus.
(TheSnark oh, c'mon, like you didn't see me coming, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 15:20, closed)

To be fair, though
That single mum was a bit of a slacker.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 15:21, closed)

I read that as...
...'slapper'.
(TheSnark oh, c'mon, like you didn't see me coming, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 15:33, closed)

Well, that as well, obviously
Otherwise she wouldn't be a single mum.

/Daily Telegraph
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 15:41, closed)

Don't you mean...

/Daily Mail

The Torygraph seems to be adapting well to the new social mores. The Chingford Skinhead writes a blog there once a week - I heard him once on the electric wireless, giving the most articulate and compelling argument for family contracts (as opposed to "gay marriage") I have ever heard.
(IHaveComeAmongThee__Twice Tissues on the left. Self-esteem on the right., Tue 22 Jun 2010, 6:12, closed)

I don't think they do fire employees as a result of shoplifting
certainly in the years I worked in retail this never happened, although I only worked in chain stores where they definitely do make budget allowances for it.

The staff never got blamed for shoplifting - managers saw it as a fact of life, and assistants can't physically tackle anyone inside the shop. They also know a lot of shoplifters are pretty cunning and that it would be pretty counterproductive to fire an employee every time somebody made off with a jumper.

Also, saying shoplifters don't know what it's like to be poor is making a rather odd generalised assumption.

Not saying shoplifting is a good thing, just think you've gone off-spec a bit here.
(jennymnemonic, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 15:54, closed)

I make concession...
...for actual starvation.

But I do wonder if these people are actually starving. If they're actually freezing. We have systems available in this country which should prevent that.

They don't punish the staff for allowing the shoplifting - it is that if budgets need to be cut, they won't be cut from suit-based bonuses, will they.
(TheSnark oh, c'mon, like you didn't see me coming, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 16:03, closed)

easier to steal
a couple of bananas and a packet of razor blades than try to negotiate 'the system'.
( Sextant goes to him is emotionally erect, on this day, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 16:21, closed)

True.
OK, I understand why some people do it, but others who claim to 'stick it to The Man' are fucking the wrong people over.
(TheSnark oh, c'mon, like you didn't see me coming, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 16:27, closed)

.
There's gotta be a joke about them getting 6 months with a man sticking it in them somewhere.
( Not Pineapple anymore, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 15:58, closed)

That would be...
'Sticking it IN The Man'.
(TheSnark oh, c'mon, like you didn't see me coming, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 16:44, closed)

K
the way I see it is that all the items are priced slightly higher than they would be if we lived in some magical world where nothing bad ever happened.

I am quite happy to pay 1 or 2 percent more, if it means that people will steal from shops rather than steal from me.

I think there is less harm in taking £50 worth of stuff from Tescos or Boots than there is in taking the same value from a private individual.

And speaking of Tescos, what do you think happens to all that stuff that is passed its best before date or worse, stuff that is approaching the best before but is still in the warehouse? They throw it out. A friend worked at the warehouse with a Sudanese refugee who was close to tears when he saw it for the first time. £10,000's of perfectly good food thrown out daily. There's wastage there, too.

The whole systems fucked. Get used to it.
( Sextant goes to him is emotionally erect, on this day, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 16:29, closed)

It is fucked, yes.
But shoplifting isn't the cure.

I wish people would be honest about why they do it instead of coming up with a million excuses about how their criminal behaviour is acceptable.

People do it because they feel as if they are entitled to do it.
(TheSnark oh, c'mon, like you didn't see me coming, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 16:41, closed)

Or feel they can get away with it
Which tells you all you need to know about human nature
(Godwin's Lawyer is more evil than Hitler, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 20:55, closed)

There's also another cure for stealing from a private individual.
Most people don't like it. It is called 'helping out your fellow man'.
(TheSnark oh, c'mon, like you didn't see me coming, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 16:42, closed)

he's right you know
ok, I work in the glorious world of retailiness so here's the low down - yes, there is an "expected level of shrinkage" in most companies this includes shoplifting, internal theft, human error etc.

However, in terms of impact, store managers can lose their jobs if they do not meet acceptable shrinkage targets, if loss is severe enough companywide, yes, redundancies can happen, payroll is reduced (biggest controllable expense you know), staff get fewer hours making it harder to make ends meet sometimes.

The only "insurance" most retailers have is for stock damaged though flooding, smoke damage etc, not theft unless it's massive scale, and the excess for my company is £50,000 for any claim against loss so when you shoplift you will impact the little man, there is a victim and it's not big, clever or rebellious.

bathtub
(bathtub has renounced CS3 for paint.net, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 17:11, closed)

She.
Swearing is un-ladylike, but fuck it.

Straight from retail's mouth.

People want something for free, and they'll always attempt to use any excuse to claim what they do is right.

I work with destitute refugees and asylum seekers. They don't shoplift, so why do the Middle Class?
(TheSnark oh, c'mon, like you didn't see me coming, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 18:32, closed)

Shoplifting
is a very interesting subject and I think it almost fascinates people as much as it infutiates. I know a handful of middle-class blondes who thrive off it, it's a hobby for them. They never claim it's "right", they do it simply because they enjoy it and because nobody ever stops them; on the handful of times they've been stopped, they've been let off without punishment.

The Wikipedia article on shoplifting is particularly interesting because it details dozens of scams people do and almost instructs you on how to get away with stuff. I read through it with one of my mates once, and she was surprised because a lot of the stuff she figured she'd discovered - she thought she'd been so clever to invent an infallable shoplifting technique, but of course the security guards have seen it all before.

Recently there's been loads of newspaper and magazine stories along the lines of "diary of a middle class shoplifter", and even the b3ta newsletter recently called out for a 'guide to shoplifting' - there seems to be some sort of fascination for the subject.
(foxx, Tue 22 Jun 2010, 22:45, closed)

Hmmm
I worked at a large store once and the majority of shoplifters that we had in were junkies who would steal anything that was not nailed down. They mostly had a liking for booze and expensive clothes and could be found around the more scroaty areas of town selling the goods to buy scag with. One of my mates worked in the CCTV room and they once caught a scaghead bird who hid a pair of scissors (for cutting lables off) in her manky knickers so they had to wait for the police to arrive to search her. Ahhhh the good old days... Oh, and working in CCTV they compiled the legendary "Slips and Trips" video which was mandatory viewing for anyone who wanted a fucking brilliant laugh watching people fall down escalators and walk into glass doors.
(Beaverman Opulence, I has it., Mon 21 Jun 2010, 19:25, closed)

Shoplifting, like racial bigotry, is only acceptable if it's done by politically-conscious upper-middle class graduates.
Yes, I know "upper-middle class graduates" is a tautology.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 23:52, closed)

YES.

(TheSnark oh, c'mon, like you didn't see me coming, Tue 22 Jun 2010, 10:48, closed)