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Shoplifting on the rise

Thanks, not really being aware of fashion brands unless they're spelled out for me, I had read Yuwipi Woman's post as "I have no love for LG. I think they make cheap, ugly crap and sell it on to hypebeasts with more money than sense." and was thinking that no, their monitors and TVs are actually some of the best, and best value, in the industry.

LG once did a promotion for their new smartphone on social media (twitter I think) and underneath the post it stated:

‘sent from my iPhone’
 
In the huge Sainsburys in Cobham, the self service checkout area now has barriers where you cant get out until you have scanned your receipt, almost like a holding pen.

I'm not sure how safe, worthwhile or even legal that is.
Sainsbury near me doesn't do that yet although i have heard the local primark has a system like that now.
 
In the huge Sainsburys in Cobham, the self service checkout area now has barriers where you cant get out until you have scanned your receipt, almost like a holding pen.

I'm not sure how safe, worthwhile or even legal that is.
Have to say the self service checkout was fairly crowded at the sainsburys I was at
 
In the huge Sainsburys in Cobham, the self service checkout area now has barriers where you cant get out until you have scanned your receipt, almost like a holding pen.

I'm not sure how safe, worthwhile or even legal that is.

Same here in Farnborough. The Nepalese security team are not to be messed with either.
 
In the huge Sainsburys in Cobham, the self service checkout area now has barriers where you cant get out until you have scanned your receipt, almost like a holding pen.

I'm not sure how safe, worthwhile or even legal that is.

the sainsburys near wokingham has had them for a few months.

it's (here) only relatively small barriers, like at the entrance to most supermarkets, not huge gates. i've not tried it, but i'd have thought it's like the barriers in most supermarkets that will open (but sound an alarm) if you push them the 'wrong' way
 
£100k worth of handbags robbed.
They’ll only get £30k off fences.

These figures are from £200 worth of leather cut up and stitched into shapes and easily replaced.

People are mugs to rate brands so highly.

There's a guy who does "bag autopsies." He buys these brands and then runs some tests on them to see what quality they are. Here's his assessment of LV:



He figures up the cost of materials and labor are and compares it to the price. I have yet to see him suggest the LV is a good value. The weird thing is you can get custom leather goods, made to order, or better-quality materials, much cheaper.
 
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Sainsbury near me doesn't do that yet although i have heard the local primark has a system like that now.

They're also locking huge percentages of their stock up, so you have to have a clerk pull it out of the case for you. I've seen anti-theft designs for the future and none of us are going to like it. They complain that they can't get anyone in their stores and then they make them even more unfriendly to actual humans.
 
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In the huge Sainsburys in Cobham, the self service checkout area now has barriers where you cant get out until you have scanned your receipt, almost like a holding pen.

I'm not sure how safe, worthwhile or even legal that is.
I don't get the point of that? Surely the issue is people not scanning everything not people scanning nothing? Don't see how that helps Sainsbury much.
 
I don't get the point of that? Surely the issue is people not scanning everything not people scanning nothing? Don't see how that helps Sainsbury much.
There is one near me. I periodically drop in to see if they have one or two particular items that they have stocked in the past, but all too frequently they don't. So I end up with no purchases=no receipt and either following another shopper out through those gates before they shut or simply barging them open. No one seems to pay any attention to the consequent alarm: it's not even worth bothering generating spoof bar codes on the phone to facilitate exit.
 
In the huge Sainsburys in Cobham, the self service checkout area now has barriers where you cant get out until you have scanned your receipt, almost like a holding pen.

I'm not sure how safe, worthwhile or even legal that is.

Same here in Farnborough. The Nepalese security team are not to be messed with either.


Can see why in Farnborough :p, not here in Godalming, Cobham's a bit of a surprise, I guess John Terry's mum is the explanation there...
 
I don't get the point of that? Surely the issue is people not scanning everything not people scanning nothing? Don't see how that helps Sainsbury much.
They do random checks where they scan 3 items on the scab tills at sainsburys near me. So i guess they could also do that at the gate?
 
OK, so they try to save money by getting rid of manned tills and replacing them with self-service machines. But oopsy-poopsy, this means it's much easier and more tempting for people to steal or mis-scan items. So they have to hire extra security staff to check peoples' bags and receipts. But how is that not a false economy? It's my understanding that 1) security bods get paid a bit more than till jockeys and 2) they're hired through an agency rather than being employed directly by the supermarket, which brings in additional costs regardless because that external organisation will want their cut too. If they get supermarket staff to do the checking then there's nothing preventing a customer from just brusquely brushing them off and hopping or pushing through the barrier, especially since fewer people are going to be intimidated into compliance than by security.

Then there's the much less quantifiable but still present thing where relations between supermarket and customers become increasingly degraded and antagonistic because the service is becoming ever more impersonal, and more and more of the interactions that do occur are predicated around staff checking that customers aren't being thieves. Which doubtless encourages more customers to shoplift and mis-scan, thus requiring further measures from the supermarket to protect their stock, alienating customers even more and does this look like a vicious cycle to you?

But then again I've noticed these kinds of self-reinforcing robbing Peter to pay Paul kinds of arrangement have become more common within latter-day capitalism, and I'm an idiot so I very much doubt I'm the only one to spot this. But this kind of pointless self-defeating bullshit gets imposed from on high by upper management because mUh sHoRt-tErM pRoFiTs.
 
OK, so they try to save money by getting rid of manned tills and replacing them with self-service machines. But oopsy-poopsy, this means it's much easier and more tempting for people to steal or mis-scan items. So they have to hire extra security staff to check peoples' bags and receipts. But how is that not a false economy? It's my understanding that 1) security bods get paid a bit more than till jockeys and 2) they're hired through an agency rather than being employed directly by the supermarket, which brings in additional costs regardless because that external organisation will want their cut too. If they get supermarket staff to do the checking then there's nothing preventing a customer from just brusquely brushing them off and hopping or pushing through the barrier, especially since fewer people are going to be intimidated into compliance than by security.

Then there's the much less quantifiable but still present thing where relations between supermarket and customers become increasingly degraded and antagonistic because the service is becoming ever more impersonal, and more and more of the interactions that do occur are predicated around staff checking that customers aren't being thieves. Which doubtless encourages more customers to shoplift and mis-scan, thus requiring further measures from the supermarket to protect their stock, alienating customers even more and does this look like a vicious cycle to you?

But then again I've noticed these kinds of self-reinforcing robbing Peter to pay Paul kinds of arrangement have become more common within latter-day capitalism, and I'm an idiot so I very much doubt I'm the only one to spot this. But this kind of pointless self-defeating bullshit gets imposed from on high by upper management because mUh sHoRt-tErM pRoFiTs.
I’d bet that a supermarket has lots of metrics like dividing daily store revenue by number of staff hours or something. Get rid of some checkout staff and hire outsourced security instead and Boom! You’ve gone from an Amber to a Green on the scorecard
 
Then there's the much less quantifiable but still present thing where relations between supermarket and customers become increasingly degraded and antagonistic because the service is becoming ever more impersonal, and more and more of the interactions that do occur are predicated around staff checking that customers aren't being thieves.

Yes I feel that.

Went to my local Marks and Spencer late after work recently to buy some socks.

Only self service tills open that time of evening.

Paid and walking out alarm went off. Showed my receipt. Security said I need to de tag it. I could see no security tag. I do not know how they do it but it was tagged in way that was not visible.

I was tired and this set my off. The security guard obviously altered the manager. Who suddenly appeared.

I asked why alarm went off. Id paid for it. She said I paid at "wrong" till and should have paid at front till. I said that no one on front till that time of night and the self service till did not say authorisation needed. No notice in store to tell one that either.

It then got heated as I was so pissed off with being treated with the "you should have known" angle. Also its fucking socks Not some high price item. Ive bought socks before in M and S and not had this. So this must be recent.

I went home and could not find obvious security tag. So really dont know how they tag stuff like this.

They were starting to accuse me of being aggressive in the passive aggressive way that petty up themselves management do. Like its a privilege to be in the shop and Im supposed to be grateful. So I kept it "civil" as I could.

And yes it makes me antagonistic. What you say is spot on about how customer relationship is going.
 
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I’d bet that a supermarket has lots of metrics like dividing daily store revenue by number of staff hours or something. Get rid of some checkout staff and hire outsourced security instead and Boom! You’ve gone from an Amber to a Green on the scorecard

I don't doubt that at all. But I also reckon that whatever metrics and shit they're using don't take into account the complete picture and/or the longer term corrosive effects of the policies and practices they're attempting to justify.
 
Yes I feel that.

Went to my local Marks and Spencer late after work recently to buy some socks.

Only self service tills open that time of evening.

Paid and walking out alarm went off. Showed my receipt. Security said I need to de tag it. I could see no security tag. I do not know how they do it but it was tagged in way that was not visible.

I was tired and this set my off. The security guard obviously altered the manager. Who suddenly appeared.

I asked why alarm went off. Id paid for it. She said I paid at "wrong" till and should have paid at front till. I said that no one on front till that time of night and the self service till did not say authorisation needed. No notice in store to tell one that either.

It then got heated as I was so pissed off with being treated with the "you should have known" angle. Also its fucking socks Not some high price item. Ive bought socks before in M and S and not had this. So this must be recent.

I went home and could not find obvious security tag. So really dont know how they tag stuff like this.

They were starting to accuse me of being aggressive in the passive aggressive way that petty up themselves management do. Like its a privilege to be in the shop and Im supposed to be grateful. So I kept it "civil" as I could.

And yes it makes me antagonistic. What you say is spot on about how customer relationship is going.

I had similar with a box of strawberries at Tesco once, the security guard wanted to search me in the car park. The easiest thing is just to state that you paid for everything and walk away in silence, anything else just ends up boiling your piss.
 
Kind of their own fault also though. They used to provide jobs to the communities they extracted profit from but all that has been replaced now with serve yourself machines and CCTV checking you're not nicking anything and some door staff as hired muscle.
Pretty amusing that the cops aren't being given the funding to police these understaffed profit vehicles in communities, those that can no longer afford to shop there because of the lack of jobs these establishments provide.
I didn’t realise this was an old thread and have basically just repeated what I said on page 1 🤦‍♀️
At least I’m consistent on this I suppose.
 
Article on history of shoplifting in 1700s


This sounds like now:

Shop thieves came from the most economically vulnerable sections of society, seeking to weather an urban economy of low-paid and insecure work; many were older women or children.

Despite growth in luxury goods most shoplifters concentrated on goods that could be sold on in the working class communities they lived in.

Due to the slave trade/ sugar plantations some in 18c had large disposable income to spend on luxury goods.

London then was as divided as it is now. If not more so. There are parallels between then and now.

Getting caught was serious. As could lead to hanging. But shoplifting was part of poor community economic survival. The goods were basic ones that people needed. Not luxury goods.

It was part of the economy of the working class communities.

Reminds me of some of my older born and bred Londoners colourful pasts they recount to me. Pilfering or a bit of thieving was considered ok. But it was luxury goods such as handbags for the missus. Shared out.

Back in 18c thieving from high price shops was not easy as shopkeepers could tell by accent etc if someone was not "genteel"

More recently in the good old days prior the sophisticated tagging one could dress the part and just walk out. It was having the front to do it ( Ive been told) that enabled one to get away with it. This was one technique. This was admired and socially accepted in certain circles.

Shoplifting/ pilfering has been a part of economic life of the less well off since the advent of consumer society and capitalism Id say.
 
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Article on history of shoplifting in 1700s


This sounds like now:



Despite growth in luxury goods most shoplifters concentrated on goods that could be sold on in the working class communities they lived in.

Due to the slave trade/ sugar plantations some in 18c had large disposable income to spend on luxury goods.

London then was as divided as it is now. If not more so. There are parallels between then and now.

Getting caught was serious. As could lead to hanging. But shoplifting was part of poor community economic survival. The goods were basic ones that people needed. Not luxury goods.

It was part of the economy of the working class communities.

Reminds me of some of my older born and bred Londoners colourful pasts they recount to me. Pilfering or a bit of thieving was considered ok. But it was luxury goods such as handbags for the missus. Shared out.

Back in 18c thieving from high price shops was not easy as shopkeepers could tell by accent etc if someone was not "genteel"

More recently in the good old days prior the sophisticated tagging one could dress the part and just walk out. It was having the front to do it ( Ive been told) that enabled one to get away with it. This was one technique. This was admired and socially accepted in certain circles.

Shoplifting/ pilfering has been a part of economic life of the less well off since the advent of consumer society and capitalism Id say.
A mate of mine was a shoplifter par excellence and saw it as a challenge. He would pop round the squat we were living in and say “Anybody want anything while I’m in town?”
We were invariably stoned so would shout out things like “A pack of C90 cassettes”, “Nice jacket in Topshop I quite fancy”, “Bottle of vodka”, “Dirty magazine”, “Pair of slippers”, etc. and he’d be back a couple of hours later with the lot.
He just had incredible confidence and “front” and was never (to my knowledge) caught but it was the 80s and security wasn’t what it is now.
 
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