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‘It’s organised looting’: UK in grip of a shoplifting epidemic, say store owners
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
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United Kingdom
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What do you expect when so many people can’t even afford basic needs?
Not really a surprise when you consider just how bad the cost of living crisis is to some people.
The fact that the article is mostly focused on stores selling food and essential items is telling (compared to things like USB cables, wrenches and succulent plants). Sure, there is a segment of young teens and pensioners that steal because nothing is as exhilarating. Decreased affordability, stagnant wages, more of the population left hungry or a paycheque away from being hungry encourages theft and illegal resale of essential goods.
If people were well-fed and prices were reasonable, there would be no need to steal these things and there'd be little demand for stolen food goods. To an extent, if jewelry cost £1 to buy then who would bother stealing it anyway?
Back to the main issue, what's a hungry person on the street supposed to do, if begging for spare change barely gets you anything? Pick berries? Hunt squirrels, pigeons, raccoons and cook them over a rubbish fire? Food bank lines are getting longer, while other supports (like health and mental health support, employment resources, disability payments) are difficult to navigate and sometimes impossible without access to technology nowadays.
Our local big Sainsbury's supermarket has installed airport-style barriers everywhere and you now have to queue and scan your receipt to get out.
As a kid, I always wanted to live in some science fiction futuristic society. I never thought that I'd actually grow up to live somewhere where I had to scan to get out a supermarket only to be under threat of attack by ravaging killer dogs.
sci fi is about the present. Atwood said that everything that happened in The Handmaids Tale happened in real life — just not to white people.
So too, cyberpunk dystopias were happening while being made. Yes Akira has people with magic powers — but delinquent kids, government experiments on children, a brutalist police force that murders without question: all modern day.
Those gates are so fucking stupid. They barely work, usually one of the two actual gates doesn't open, and the gates stay open long enough that multiple people can just walk through. I kinda really hate having to prove I've just paid for the things I've just overpaid for.
How does this work if you don't get a receipt? Haven't shops been pushing not to print paper receipts for a few years now
I don't know. There's always a queue because the scanner wasn't reading the receipts properly and wlll only accept the receipt scanned once. We had to be helped through by a shopworker who checked we had paid. It was super-frustrating to wait and the gates were too strong to push through. We've just stopped going to Sainsbury's now and just use our nearest Aldi.
I was actually in my local co op last week (edit - time flies, no, it was a few weeks back now!) When a group rushed in, literally ransacked the place - openly filling up their bags, then brazenly quickly walked out. Absolute cunts.
Staff couldn't do anything. Said it's happened numerous times before. In this case it was a lot who were parked up on the local field before being evicted and moved on.
Staff couldn’t do anything.
Neither should it. The wares are insured, there is no need for them to bring themselves in danger.
I used to work at a fuel station and I was told to back off if something remotely dangerous was happening. The station was insured and we had cameras all over. Let them rob, then report to the police.
Now, of course, this necessitates that the police does something, which I am aware, is a bit of a coin toss in the UK right now.
Well yes, of course they couldn't do anything. I used to run a large convenience store before leaving retail for good around 15 years ago - I know the score. But it didn't stop ruining their day, and making them feel helpless.
The issue is the knock on effects. One of my staff members back then had her ribs broken in one shoplifting attack, and that was unprovoked. Police never caught the guy.
Yeah, I am not saying that they're not right to be afraid. I luckily was never robbed, but two of my co-workers were.
The British police are in an unacceptable state.
Most of the nicking I’ve seen has happened in co op as well.
From what I’ve noticed they seem to be the least likely shop to have a security guard, so maybe that’s why.
The onestop down the road from me locks the shop up after 9pm and individually lets people in, as they don’t have a security guard.
Our local co-op now sporadically has a security guard. Dude's about 5ft and looks like the average 12 year old could beat him up though.
Being willing to catch a battery charge is different than being willing to shoplift. Any guard provides that new red line (zero consideration for the guards health though lol)
This is why people don't want them parking up on the local field before being moved on. They want them to drive past without stopping at all. And they'll fix their own driveways and gutters.
Hey the guardian, you spelled "poverty" wrong.
When people steal the latest iPhone they should go to jail
When people steal a bread they should be given the help they need
just wondering aloud here (genuinely - i'm not trying to be an ass)
are iphones sold from local shops? or just apple stores.
i think a lot of small business owners sell bread.
can buy a lot of bread after stealing an iphone
What % of stolen iPhones do you think are sold for food money
And what about bottles of alcohol, toiletries and meat to be sold at the local pub?
I’ve definitely seen a lot more shoplifting over the past few months. From what I’ve seen, they don’t go to the big shops they go to the Tesco Extras, Sainsburys local etc.
One time I was stood a metre away from some guy openly just heaving stuff off shelves into a backpack.
He ran out of the shops and called one of the workers a cunt when she got in his way. She was obviously quite autistic and very distressed by the situation.
I swear everything about this country is getting worse.
Underfunding the police, all mental health and social support, and having leaders who constantly, openly cheat, steal and lie for a decade.
This makes the country and people's behaviour worse? Surprised Pikachu
I feel like the UK is falling apart and half the population is doing their best to fuel the flames.
Yeah, it’s all gone to shit.
In a way I’m kinda hopeful for the future though, it feels like more people are gradually acknowledging the country is in a poor state, and some Brexit people even acknowledge it was a mistake.
Unlike in the US where people seem to double down on the country being great when things are actually getting worse.
People steal mostly because they can’t afford shit tho.
I don't know if organised gangs do. Did you see the videos in the article? The first video was just a bunch of teens being cunts, the second video they were just stealing alcohol, not exactly a priority when you're in need.
Either way, it's all part of the same problem. The populace is getting poorer and more desperate, and more crime ridden. Seems to be a common problem across a lot of the western world recently.
💀
You could know that staff at your shop
All a bit weird because it’s the same narrative in the US at the moment
You are on to something.
If you are careful and observant, you''ll notice that things that we think "only happen here" seem to happen across Western countries at the same time.
It only seems to take someone like capitalist edgelord, Tim Gurner to reveal things are often coordinated.
Mafia is the NWO.
I worked out last night that the points program in my local pub means I have to buy 33 drinks if I want a free drink of equivalent price. That's daylight fuckin robbery mate
This is the best summary I could come up with:
In recent months, David, the manager of a Leeds Co-op store, and his staff have been threatened with razors, knives, screwdrivers, needles and hammers by shoplifters who have become more brazen and aggressive.
Paul Gerrard, the chain’s director of public affairs and a former customs officer, described some of the shoplifting as “organised looting”, saying gangs would climb over kiosks and brazenly empty shelves into rucksacks, construction bags and even wheelie bins.
Earlier this week, Laurence Guinness, the chief executive of the Childhood Trust, told the Big Issue: “I have spoken to many children, some as young as seven, who have resorted to taking food from shops because they are hungry.”
In Cambridge, Ronnie, a convenience store owner, said in the last week alone shoplifters had stolen five £7.99 steaks, 15 packets of chicken and lamb, 25 chocolate bars and fruit chews, 15 cans of energy drink and six bottles of wine.
The company said it had been forced to spend more than £200m to counter criminal behaviour, with measures such as body-worn cameras and headsets for staff and “dummy” packaging for items such as £6 boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolates and £6 jars of Kenco coffee to deter thieves from looting or “bulk-shoplifting”.
James Lowman, the chief executive of the ACS, described the levels of theft as “unprecedented” and said official crime figures “barely scratch the surface” due to underreporting.
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