Is this shop lifting?

I would never consider eating anything until I had purchased it, and left the store. Something quite rude about it.

I would rather eating in store was banned all together actually, but maybe that's just me.
 
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Meh, Ive done it in the past where I have eaten an item whilst doing the shop due to being chuffin starving. I left the packaging in the basket and paid for it at the end.

I can understand why everyone is kicking up a whohar about it though.


Edit: Item being a wrap (found in the lunchtime snacks shelving by the entrance to the store)
 
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Basher said:
How is eating a banana in store any less hygienic than eating it at home?
Click to expand...

i was talking in general not just about the bannana, and i was not talking about at home just in a food store.

Depends what there eating as well if its say a chicken drumstick the person will have smelly drumstick fingers which he will get on other items he has bought then the checkout assistant will get smelly drumstick fingers without knowing and so on...............
 
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Got bored reading after a page and a half so I don't know if this has been mentioned.

In my local Tesco there are now signs around the place telling people they should not consume food before they've paid for it. It's clearly company policy and the security herbert was doing the right thing.
 
I'd imagine consuming goods counts as "removing" them. So yes, it is technically stealing.

Even if it didn't, the banana is now useless to anyone else. If you were to go into Tesco and break stuff on the shelves they'd ask you to pay for it.

But meh, my mother used to give my an iced finger from the bakery in Sainbury's when I was a little'un and pay for it as we left.
 
Although technically grazing isn't shoplifting in legal terms, it is a sackable offence if you're staff and the simple fact is it does costs stores hundreds of millions every year, because so many people are dishonest and don't pay for what they eat (apparently everyone in this thread is an exception), thus they have a no grazing policy which they can enforce. The reason most shop floor staff won't challenge grazers is because it usually ends with said worker receiving a volley of verbal abuse or if you're at the till the last thing you want to do is go and make a scene about it.

They have a single blanket rule for a reason. Firstly because if you allow it, where do you draw the line, both with what people consume and how much they consume? If it's okay to walk around eating a sandwich, is it okay for me to make one? What if I go in, eat about 10 different things and present the cashier with nothing but empty packaging? Would I only do this at a big supermarket or is this acceptable at a newsagents or corner shop?

Additionally, because it's hard enough to spot people grazing and not paying for items, relaxing the rules would make it even easier for people to steal. Grazing and not paying is much easier to get away with than stuffing items into your clothes or bag, because while the former will only draw the ire of some of the public, the latter is usually reported by other customers to staff because it's obvious they're trying to steal. The more people eating on the shop floor, the easier it'd be for dishonest people to blend in and the lower the chance of being confronted about it/getting caught. They already lose enough money from it, it'd be mad to encourage behaviour that would increase lost revenue, they already get rinsed by traditional shoplifters as it is.

Grazing
Customers who eat and drink items in shops without paying - known as 'grazers' - are also costing stores an estimated £207 million a year.
£207 million
Estimated cost of 'grazers' who eat items without paying
The poll found 8% of Brits admitted failing to pay for consumed items when they reached the checkout.
Click to expand...
http://www.which.co.uk/news/2007/12/britons-admit-to-stealing-at-self-scan-tills-127519/

They don't have 'items must be paid for before being consumed' signs up just to be spoilsports, thieving is a real problem in this country. Walking round eating stuff makes it easier for those doing the same thing who don't intend to pay to get away with it.

You're enablers!

P.S. where's Gordy!?
 
Yep she absolutely was stealing. She hasn't paid for it and yet she is eating it. Whether she planned to pay for it or not is irrelevant - She could have just eaten it, and left the store.

This used to wind me up when I worked on the tills. People would openly be eating grapes at the tills when grapes were priced on weight. So they were effectively stealing right in front of me :p
 
Somnambulist said:
Although technically grazing isn't shoplifting in legal terms, it is a sackable offence if you're staff and the simple fact is it does costs stores hundreds of millions every year, because so many people are dishonest and don't pay for what they eat (apparently everyone in this thread is an exception), thus they have a no grazing policy which they can enforce. The reason most shop floor staff won't challenge grazers is because it usually ends with said worker receiving a volley of verbal abuse or if you're at the till the last thing you want to do is go and make a scene about it.

They have a single blanket rule for a reason. Firstly because if you allow it, where do you draw the line, both with what people consume and how much they consume? If it's okay to walk around eating a sandwich, is it okay for me to make one? What if I go in, eat about 10 different things and present the cashier with nothing but empty packaging? Would I only do this at a big supermarket or is this acceptable at a newsagents or corner shop?

Additionally, because it's hard enough to spot people grazing and not paying for items, relaxing the rules would make it even easier for people to steal. Grazing and not paying is much easier to get away with than stuffing items into your clothes or bag, because while the former will only draw the ire of some of the public, the latter is usually reported by other customers to staff because it's obvious they're trying to steal. The more people eating on the shop floor, the easier it'd be for dishonest people to blend in and the lower the chance of being confronted about it/getting caught. They already lose enough money from it, it'd be mad to encourage behaviour that would increase lost revenue, they already get rinsed by traditional shoplifters as it is.


http://www.which.co.uk/news/2007/12/britons-admit-to-stealing-at-self-scan-tills-127519/

They don't have 'items must be paid for before being consumed' signs up just to be spoilsports, thieving is a real problem in this country. Walking round eating stuff makes it easier for those doing the same thing who don't intend to pay to get away with it.

You're enablers!

P.S. where's Gordy!?
Click to expand...

The bigger problem is people who are putting premium Krispy Kreme's through as standard ones (or as carrots) on the self service check-outs. Apparently this is costing Tesco's along £1Tn per year.

Serious stuff.
 
I hate people who do this. What if you pay by card, and your card is declined? You can't pay for your shopping and so have to leave? You can't exactly regurgitate the food.

You shouldn't be eating the food until you've paid for it. It's like me going into GAME and playing the game to completion. "Oh yeah, but I was going to pay for it anyway."

I've seen people eating food from a shop and then not paying for it, so I would consider it unacceptable and the security guard was doing his job properly.

It's like when people complain about the £12 lost ticket charge in our carparks. Sorry love, but it clearly says £12 charge, so shut up and give us the money. "Rah rah rah security guards terrible rah rah rah prices rah rah rah"
 
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