Shoplifters of the world...

by Alan Tyers

The middle-classes, when not high on cocaine, binge-drinking or being given life in prison for getting a parking ticket, are now apparently mad for the shoplifting.

A report from snappily-named security and merchandising specialists Checkpoint Systems NCE reckons that shoplifting is up 20% - costing businesses an eye-watering £4.9 billion a year.

Says that company’s spokesman: “We are seeing more instances of amateur thieves stealing goods for their own personal use rather than to sell-on.

“This is epitomised in the recent uprising of the middle-class shoplifter, someone who has turned to theft to sustain their standard of living, and this is driving theft of items such as cosmetics, perfumes and face creams, alcohol, fresh meat, mobile phones, computer games and DVDs as well as small electrical goods like cameras, iPods and personal care gadgets.”

What can be done about these crazed fiends, with their insatiable desire for meat and cosmetics?

Seems to me that this is a result in the growing sense of entitlement that we all have: everyone wants a lifestyle rich in consumer goods and nice things, and the freely available credit of the last generation made it dead easy to get things on the never-never. Now credit is harder to get, but demand is the same, so we’ll have to nick what is rightfully ours. I blame The X Factor.

Aside from inflated expectations of what is our right, or even our need, some goods are just ridiculously overpriced and cartelised. Maybe people are just sick of forking over a fortune for products that they know are massively marked-up by greedy retailers.

If I wasn’t such a chicken, here are some items I would definitely nick from supermarkets: bin bags; tissues; razor blades. The items are not, despite what it might sound like, to form the basis of some horrific murder / clean-up kit, but rather just things that always seem staggeringly overpriced.

Oh, and I’d definitely trouser a few bottles of contact lens solution if I could get away with it. Five quid for that? Come off it.

Comments

[zebedee]

when will people realise super markets are ripping of everyone.yes they employ a lot of people but 80% are part timers. they did this they say because this is what the staff wanted.rubbish this was a way for them to avoide paying a proportion of national insurance stamp.before they enforced this on the workforce they were liable for the same ammount to the government of the day as the worker was charged in national insurance one big gain for the multi's no gain for joe; public as usual

[sam]

prices of things is way to expensive,prices need putting down money is tight for everyone so sort it out!!!!

[Alan]

The trouble is we allow the company's to rip us off.
We need to stand up to them,shop around for everything and barter, or get to the check out let the girl put it through the till, then walk out saying you don't want it, unless you get dicount for cash, got to be worth a try???lol. we have got to make a stand some time why not now!!

[deborah moore]

well I suppose now a lot of people have lost respect, if the MP's can steal and not turn a hair then why should any one else worry it seems the world is I want it so I take it...........

[jon]

The reason a company appears to make a loss is that they factor in depreciation of the fixed equipment EG. machinery, office equipment etc. After the profit has been added up, they then take away the depreciation and there by reduce the profit, and kidding us into the bargain that they are not making any money.

[harryh]

Stealing of anything is wrong FULL STOP
However, when the country is in such a state the basic human need to look after ones self and ones family comes to the fore. The materialistic, wealth driven society we now live in (something encouraged by government, large corporations and the media) pushes people into doing things which ordinarily they would not contemplate.
I sympathise with small business owners tho as their overheads and subsequent profit margins leave them very little room to soak up the loss of both stock and revenue.

[Iain]

Wages have not increased over the last 10+ years to keep pace with the rising cost of living. The banks and financial insitutions were quite happy to see Real Estate prices rocket because as long as they have your signature on the agreement hey will pursue you until your dying day to get their money. A majority of people were quite happy to kiss good buy to Unions when Thatcher crushed the Miners - Incidently with the help of the Media , who at that time were also heavily Unionised - Blair invented 'new' labour i.e. Tories in Red , he didn't re-establish the link with the Unions and you have the work place you see today. Wages that are lower than they were 10 years ago, high unemployment, no pension schemes because firms don't want to pay the cost. And surprise surprise, crime is going up and the extreme right are rising in popularity as a working and increasingly middle class majority feel alienated. Greed is not good, everything must not make a profit. Look at the profits of some of the shops people are stealing from ! Tescos are making Billions of pounds a year, Billions ! Thats is exploitation not capitalism !Rob from the rich not the poor.

[wrinkly]

There is no one that can hand on heart say they have not stolen something or other in there life time, it matters little if it's a pencil or a TV, you stole it! If you display goods in such a way as they do in shops now, some one is going to steal something, it's too tempting not to. And until we start putting counters back, and employing more staff again,to give service, it will get even worse.
So all you retailers, you holier than thou's, if you want to cut corners for profit through shear greed of allowing your customers to pick there own, then like picking strawberries it will be one in the basket and two into the mouth. expect the worst

[madkat]

BTW The mark up on a sofa may appear high but how much do you think that a large store has to pay by the way of overheads????? They have to mark up really high to cover their expenses, When a business says its making a loss thats usually because it is!!! It doesn't help that the councils keep putting our business rates up, mine has gone up by £2400 in 18 months,, talk about putting people out of business. If the government don't step in and help small businesses like mine then we are not sure how much longer we will be here.. I am the only shop selling what I sell for a 15 mile radius!

[madkat]

With comments like that about stealing its no wonder kids nowadays have no respect and our country is in such a state! It would kill my business if people stole from me!!! How can you say its ok to steal??? You obviously have no pride or a job!!!!! I have worked hard to have my own business so why should some piece of scum steal from me and take food out of my childrens mouths? Small businesses are always on the border of going bust and some make very little profit on items so stealing is NOT optional.. Did it ever occur to you that to survive you HAVE to have a mark up on goods? Yes some shops are very greedy but most aren't! As a shop owner you have to cover: rates, rent, wages, heating, lighting, insurances, water, phone etc etc etc etc....Just think about it before you steal, you could be putting someone out of business!!!!!

[Alan Pollard]

It is true that large businesses make huge profits, but one survives in business by succeeding profitably. People earn a living from the profiting from small and then large companies. No one is forced to shop for leisure items - they do so out of choice. Companies have a need to protect their goods for their industry and their employees. If you can't pay for an item, then you should save up until you can - dont shoplift!

[harryh]

Why shouldn't people steal? Our government has been stealing from us for years in the form of taxes and expenses. When caught they get a slap on the wrist and pay off whatever the debt is. Government leads the way and people follow. Enough said

[Sue]

The shops selling sofas make no profit on them. The sofas are just a catalyst for selling finance so watch the agreement like a hawk. I hear if you don`t meet the first payment the rate goes really high and often they simply don`t take the first payment when due.

[angry git007]

Living on the bread line is no big deal. Been there done that... Things change maybe for the worse or better, but it does not mean SHOPLIFTTING. You can wake up in the morning and scream, you can get drunk, you can drug up and you're problem is still there. Get real, get a life Welcome to your world.

[RIP OFF BRITAIN AGAIN]

What about one of the latest deals for a sofa.
They are now half price at £500 so why not have two?
Have FOUR years FREE credit and pay NOTHING for 12 months.
ETC ETC ETC.
So the sofa price is normaly £1000 BUT they can afford to let you have it for half price with all that free credit..

WHAT A LOAD OF COBBLERS.

WHY IS IT HALF PRICE?
BECAUSE IT WAS OVER OVER OVER PRICED AT £1000

WHO PAYS FOR ALL THE FREE CREDIT ? YOU DO.BECAUSE ITS ALL INCLUDED IN THE £500 BECAUSE ITS STILL OVER OVER OVER PRICED AT £500.

NO company can afford to drop prices by half and give 4 years credit if their items were PRICED FAIRLY AND HONESTLY.

That is from one of the BIG companies selling furniture .HOW does the OFFICE OF FAIR TRADING allow such a thieving company to trade??????????

MFI went down the pan because of all their rediculous claims of sale after sale after sale with cabinet prices at £300 reduced to £25.
The public must be sick of the lies and theiving of most companies but they just keep them in business.WHY WHY WHY??

[Brian Wylie]

From the general tenor of the comments, it appears it is OK to steal as itt is not the thief's fault, but, as usual in this day and age, it is someone elses.Pathetic

[winston churchill]

hang on now!!
council tax is only as high as it is due to the huge pensions rip off by those that are supposed to serve the community .
how can our local head of the council have a salary more than the prime minister ???
answer..... the good old council tax rip off of course !!

[j.loups]

It is no wonder people are tempted to steal from shops,particularly overpriced luxury items...For the last ten years Council Tax (excuse for Poll Tax) has increased annually far ahead of the Rate of Inflation & salary increases....To return to the
level of Inflation it means Council Tax should be frozen for the next five years! Only a 2 year freeze has so far been announced by Cameron.There are so many areas Councils can save money.....one hugely expensive area is underage mothers and parents not taking reponsibility for their
children up to the age of 18yrs.

[Beloved Stranger]

I think we should follow the leaders! (Of the country, that is) I mean, after all, what's the difference between stealing a packet of biscuits or stealing £X thousands of pounds for something equally as benign - like... er... having my moat cleaned!

I can't understand how the government expect the general public not to do something they are publicized for doing each and every day.

BTW, I've never stolen a thing in my life - if I can't afford something - I don't get it - IT'S REALLY THAT SIMPLE!

[CHAS]

I have worked in retail for more than 25yrs and yes these big stores do make profits on items being sold but that still does not justify the fact that their are people who shop lift.
You will find these people steal to sell on so they can buy drugs or even sell at car boot sales or even on market stalls.

[Lucy]

It's a bit of a shocker when your local Tesco has to put tags on cheese!

[RIP OFF BRITAIN]

Come off it how can anyone say the public is being ripped off by retailers.?

I worked for a National company that refilled ink cartridges and they never made a profit HA HA !!!

Cost of ink £10 per 1000cc bottle.
This retailed at £1 per cc so from a bottle of ink that cost £10 there was a profit of £990.

Usb Cables can be bought for 35p and retail for anything between £5 and £14.

Just check PC retailers for usb cable prices.

This huge profit is rife in all sections of retailing.

Shops today are getting as much as they can screw out of the public.

A sofa supposedly retails for over £1000 and is being sold for £399 .HA HA !! how can they afford to lower prices so much ? Its because they are grossly over priced to star with.

When a company states it is making a loss it really means that they DID NOT MAKE AS MUCH AS THEY WANTED TO MAKE..

If a company IS making a loss it goes out of business and closes.

That is why we are called RIP OFF BRITAIN.

[chris]

Money is tight, prices are high because its all about profits for the retailers.
Fuel,council tax etc all high and going up! Peoples wages are falling pay rises are not happing.
Its going to get worse! We will not get out of the recession for sometime yet!!