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I was just in my Sainsbury's Local a bit earlier getting a few bits and as I was walking in a bloke rocks up on his bike, legs it in to the shop and starts filling a bag up with steaks and meat, the staff ran up and were trying to get the stuff out of his bag but he escaped with a fair bit of it, apparently they can't touch these people (they had no security guard at the time) and he and his accomplices do the shop several times a day, they average nicking about £400 worth of kit every day. As I was leaving they were just doing the Co-Op over the road, total scuzzers.
The woman in the shop said she's had knives pulled on her so essentially they can't do anything. I had no idea this was going on in my local little shops on such a large scale every day.
It's fairly common - I'm told even in this sleepy little suburban town the charity shops get visited regularly! And I believe Police Scotland still treat it more seriously than many English forces. The odd bit to me is not that stuff gets nicked, but that there's enough of a market for nicked stuff to make it worthwhile. Who's buying nicked steaks? Who's buying charity shop clothes at enough margin to make it worthwhile?
They did a thing on Radio 4 the other week where they were interviewing retail staff in various shops who were recounting exactly the same story. Apparently assaults on retail staff has gone through the roof to the point where they are specifically told not to challenge shoplifters.
People are desperate, so will nick stuff themselves or buy stolen goods
The police are chronically underfunded and understaffed, with bigger fish to fry
The entire chronically underfunded legal system if totally ****ed, so your chance of ending up in court are zero, and even if you did the prisons are full so you won't be jailed. You could get community service or whatever but theres nobody to enforce it so nobody does it anyway
Who’s buying nicked steaks?
Just guessing, but probably people who like eating steak but don't want to pay full retail for it.
Common near me too - Aldi are raided often, local Co-Op too, and even Icelend, the latter two having security now.
What got me the other week, I was in there shopping, guy comes in and raids the first two fridges. It was full of 8 items for £10, so low value. He was out the store before the staff could reach him, although they gave chase and came back with some boxes the thief had dropped. It's the same people all the time.
I do wonder why I pay for stuff sometimes. Our two local co-ops get completely emptied as soon as they're re-stocked. All the meat is now in alarmed triggering package. Given that they walk in and steal it without a care, unsurprisingly it's not had much of a deterrent effect.
The street drinking community just help themselves in Greggs, they even browse.
Police do not GAF.
Who’s buying nicked steaks?
Two steaks are a tenner, minimum, so anyone who can't afford 10 quid plus for their evening meal. Thats an awful lot of people.
When I lived in Salford, I could sit in my local in the afternoon and there would be a constant stream of shoplifters in trying to sell you pretty much anything known to man, all with shop tags still on, where they'd just been lifted from
It's almost as if the police have been chronically underfunded for over a decade, had their numbers cut by 20,000 by the Tories in 2010 and have to live on wages which have fallen by 17% in real terms since Y2K with a predictable knock-on affect on recruitment and retention.
And that's not even starting on the fall-out from failing Grayling's privatization of the probation system.
The lady I was chatting to said the police won't attend anything that's less than £250 in a single theft, so no consequences for them whatsoever, coffee, red bull etc are prime targets too, they come in to the shop two or three at a time and split up, they sell it round the local pubs, apparently.
Staff shouldn't have to put themselves at risk, but they could be issued with tasers, that would be fun.
When I worked in a well known wine merchants 20+ years ago we had people walk in and pick up cases of champagne and walk out casually. It was far more common in London, but as our shop was close to a main road with good, quick escape routes they targeted us regularly.
I've got very expensive (locally reared, pedigree Dexter cattle) steaks and beef joints in my shop at the moment, they are the only thing we ever really have nicked..... 🤷♂️
See hatters point. End of story.
Remove the law, things become lawless
It’s all the same, single problem.
Is it really? As you say yourself:
some people take advantage, some are just desperate.
That sounds like two separate problems. And to make three problems, there is what Hatters said:
police have been chronically underfunded for over a decade, had their numbers cut by 20,000
So really it is several problems converging to cause this, each one of which needs to be addressed to fix it.
Who’s buying nicked steaks?
I would imagine that not every single butcher's market stall is 100% legit. If they know that the supermarket up the road has no steaks in stock, I'm sure they won't mind buying a couple more in at well below market cost, unwrapping them and sticking them on display
Who’s buying nicked steaks?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/dec/22/leeds-shoplifters-customers-black-market
The consequences need to be more severe.
Put the meat on the top shelf, then the steaks will be too high.
as I was walking in a bloke rocks up on his bike, legs it in to the shop
Have you seen the cost of bikes these days? Cycling's an expensive hobby, so a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do to feed the n+1 habit
it’s shocking that this is what is becoming of society in some places.
I agree it's shocking that our society can't provide the jobs, benefits and public services that enable people to live healthy and secure lives without having to resort to crime and the black market. We get what we 'pay' (we don't actually pay, the govt does) for, and right now that's an everyone-for-themselves anarchic shitshow.
And yet some people seem to be doing just fine.. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/10/when-17m-isnt-enough-ftse-firms-plead-to-pay-bosses-millions-more
People with little cash who are offered it cheap? Been going on for years.
Yeah I realise that - but I'm just surprised that there's enough people who will buy steaks from someone "unknown" and "a bit dodgy" down the pub rather than just have some other cheap food from a trustworthy source instead... I've heard of whole shopping trolley's worth of stuff getting nicked - how many "end customers" do you need to offload that stuff before it needs chilled etc?
Two steaks are a tenner, minimum, so anyone who can’t afford 10 quid plus for their evening meal. Thats an awful lot of people.
BUT 1. they can afford whatever the nicked price is? and 2. they can afford to be wherever you get approached by nicked meat suppliers? I realise not everyone has my moral compass but tucking into a nicked steak whilst you wonder where the money for the leccy meter tomorrow is going to come from is a bit odd. I dare say some of the customers could afford the full-price product but just want a "bargain".
When I lived in Salford, I could sit in my local in the afternoon and there would be a constant stream of shoplifters in trying to sell you pretty much anything known to man, all with shop tags still on, where they’d just been lifted from
i'm not going to the "right" pubs! But clearly threy have a bunch of customers willing to buy it, a landlord who must know whats going on and other pub customers who aren't buying but are neither so morally outraged to complain nor to stop going to that pub... ...we'll blame the shoplifters, but actually there's a bigger chunk of society all complicit.
a landlord who must know whats going on and other pub customers who aren’t buying but are neither so morally outraged to complain nor to stop going to that pub…
Must be nice in your world. If I didn't drink in pubs where dodgy stuff went on I'd spend my entire life sat in front of the telly.
but are neither so morally outraged to complain nor to stop going to that pub…
You try being morally outraged in Salford 6. You’d have no time for owt else. And complain to who? It was the only pub in the vicinity (flat roof with two Alsatian’s on it, obviously) you could drink in and stand a reasonable chance of making it out of alive. I wasn’t going to jeopardise that, was I? 😂
Agree J-R, my point was really really sloppy!
What I meant, is that they're all manifestations of scaling back of investment in social fabric.
The continued approach of GDP over national welfare as the benchmark of 'success' leads to chronic failure in every area.
Must be nice in your world. If I didn’t drink in pubs where dodgy stuff went on I’d spend my entire life sat in front of the telly.
My world is nice. I don't feel obliged to go to pubs at all and certainly not to ones where dodgy shit is going on. I don't spend my time in front of the telly - too much fun to be had arguing with people on here!
The consequences need to be more severe.
Put the meat on the top shelf, then the steaks will be too high.
Marvellous. I don't care if you nicked it from Twitter.
Friend managed a high end sport shop prone to shoplifters. Caught one and dragged him out the back door and beat the living crap out of him. Shoplifting problem stopped.
Actions and consequences. Doubt the Coop staff can do it though which is a pity.
The continued approach of GDP over national welfare as the benchmark of ‘success’ leads to chronic failure in every area.
We've not done very well in terms of GDP either.
We've had 14 years of chaos where all that was used as a benchmark was the personal ego of a few ex Eton half wits playing one up man ship against each other.
there would be a constant stream of shoplifters in trying to sell you pretty much anything known to man
I once observed (with some amusement) a pissed Irishman purchase a duvet and two pillows in a pub in Longsight in Manc. Must have been some sort of peace offering to his Mrs to show that his afternoon hadn't been wasted.
Marvellous. I don’t care if you nicked it from Twitter.
Not Twitter, I suspect it's older than that!
A slightly repurposed Tim Vine joke I think perhaps.
me neither, but that's where it goes on (apparently) Someone I know was telling me only last week about a guy who goes round the pub on a Friday night taking orders, you come back on Saturday afternoon and pay half of the labelled price for whatever he's got you!!i’m not going to the “right” pubs!
My late partner would regularly come home from her shift at B&M and tell me about yet another trolley runner having it away on their toes with a load of stuff, often alcohol, going out the door. Also regular stories about young kids coming to the till with a couple of items worth a couple of quid and trying to pay with a £50 note.
Staff were told to never attempt to stop any runners, and £50 notes were refused regardless of who was holding it.
I don’t know if trolly runners are still an issue, as I don’t have a connection to the store.
Two steaks are a tenner, minimum, so anyone who can’t afford 10 quid plus for their evening meal. Thats an awful lot of people.
What is the black market price for a couple of steaks that RRP for £10? £4 maybe? Question is, if they can afford £4 for their evening meal, is there another £4 legit meal they could buy instead, but they prefer the steak and are too numbed by their life experiences and the culture they live in to seeing anything wrong in making that choice?
When I moved to Sneinton in Nottingham in 2005 I walked into town past a pub that had a massive printed sheet of paper that said
NO SHOPLIFTERS
I never drank there
Last time I was in the UK there were security tags on steaks, butter and the booze was locked away.
What a shit-show
Doubt the Coop staff can do it though which is a pity.
I dunno, they've done it in the past.....😁
Story behind the picture is that the kid had been walking in stealing alcohol, getting drunk with his mates in the park opposite. Manager called the police, who wouldn't attend, I think the above is about attempt/shopping trip no 5 of the day for the kid.
Unfortunately for the manager it made national (and international) news, kid was 16.
When I worked in a well known wine merchants 20+ years ago we had people walk in and pick up cases of champagne and walk out casually.
I grew up in the next town along from Tilbury.... The off-licences back then had nothing but a service hatch and after 7pm they would only serve you via the outside hatch.
When I was in my teens I worked in a restaurant. One of the chefs came in and had a pair of white woman's trainers for sale. Beth the old kitchen porter asked if he had them in a size 6. Henry said he didn't steal to order. This must have been '98 so it's far from new in my experience and far from new overall. Why do folk buy stolen steaks? Same reason folk buy stolen bikes, stolen blockbuster videos.
The shoplifting that is going on would make your eyes water if you saw just how bad it is getting. It is one of the reasons I am getting out of retail after 35years. My store loses just under €500k a year. I heard a company stat a few years ago that we lose more money than B+Q makes. And you wonder why prices are going up. I spend half my time dealing with it and it's soul destroying. Look at how many shops in the States are pulling out of places due to theft, it won't be long until it happens here. For many it's just not worth it anymore.
What is the black market price for a couple of steaks that RRP for £10? £4 maybe? Question is, if they can afford £4 for their evening meal, is there another £4 legit meal they could buy instead, but they prefer the steak and are too numbed by their life experiences and the culture they live in to seeing anything wrong in making that choice?
Have you ever had any actual contact with the real world as lived by a significant chunk of this countries population?
Millions of people are on the absolute bones of their arses
I doubt steaks represent even the tiniest fraction of the food shoplifted from supermarkets. Lots of people are buying food off shoplifters because other than food banks it’s the only way they can feed their families
Got to love reading threads like this, welcome to middleclasstrack world.
Have you ever had any actual contact with the real world as lived by a significant chunk of this countries population?
I doubt steaks represent even the tiniest fraction of the food shoplifted from supermarkets. Lots of people are buying food off shoplifters because other than food banks it’s the only way they can feed their families
Not saying that's not a real thing....
But you live as self confessed a middle class life as I do - what marker jockey doesn't ? Is your life not 'real world'. I'd say it's absolutely the real world. It's just not a hand to mouth version of real.
But why don't you have a guess at answering the question anyway - what is the black market going rate for a couple of steaks do you think? It's not going to be free is it? There will be cheaper options, even if they are equally dodgy. So your black market steak buyer is not buying those instead of a food bank & there will be options between the two.