Would you steal from a self serevice till?

[VectraMan]

I accidently stole something the other week and the staff was complicit

I got a "unexpected item in bagging area" error and called over the staff member who cleared it for me.
Only after she had gone did I realise that the bag of celery sticks I'd dropped in last hadn't actually scanned

I did exactly that with a bottle of wine from Tescos. It was only when I was walking out and realised that I hadn't had to get the assistant to come over and press the button that says I look over 18 that I twigged what had happened.

I was tempted to go back and pay, but didn't in the end.

[d000hg]

Do any supermarkets still have the self-scanners you carry around the store with you? Safeway used to, and then you'd put the handset back and get your receipt... randomly it would tell you you had to have your shopping re-scanned by a person on a checkout.

[pjclarke]

There was one of those 'How honest is Britain?' things on the telly a while back where they programmed an ATM to shove out money before you put your card in and put a hidden camera on it, waiting to see how many people walked away with the cash. Nearly all of them, it turns out.

But I was thinking - they're 'stealing' from the same banks who in those days would write to inform you you've slipped into the red - and charge you a £25 'admin fee' for the letter 'to cover their costs'. A moral conundrum.

And that was before they got a bit careless with other people's money and had to be bailed out with my taxes.

[ctdctd]

I've just come back from Sainsbury's having taken advantage of their 3 bottles of plonk for £12 and 6 bottles 25% off offers.

So, 6 bottles for £24 - 25% = £18.

BUT the lad only scanned 5 bottles so after complicated till maths I've ended up paying £24.98.

I am distraught - stole a bottle of wine AND ended up paying more

[Diver]

I've just come back from Sainsbury's having taken advantage of their 3 bottles of plonk for £12 and 6 bottles 25% off offers.

So, 6 bottles for £24 - 25% = £18.

BUT the lad only scanned 5 bottles so after complicated till maths I've ended up paying £24.98.

I am distraught - stole a bottle of wine AND ended up paying more

You could be the next prime minister

[ctdctd]

You could be the next prime minister

I resemble that remark

I did pinch some batteries from Woolworths when I was 14 though. Should have got me on the road to politics maybe?

[Freamon]

This may be apocryphal (It was told to me in the early eighties by someone that purported to know the gentleman concerned)

In the late seventies an IBM systems programmer in the UK devised a system of writing a certain percentage of large investment banking transactions to a hidden sector on the boot disk. He scarpered with something like £27 million but they gave him amnesty as long as

1) He told him how he did it.
2) He didn't mention the fact their banking systems were not foolproof.

Don't flame me if I'm wrong, I just remember it being a story I was told at the time.

Nope, one of the greatest films ever made* was based on this story.

*Office Space**

**Starring AtW

[Ignis Fatuus]

One third of shoppers admit stealing using self-service tills - Telegraph

Personally I have never even considered this (maybe I am a bit niave?). Seems to me that if(when?) you get caught the consequenes are not worth the risk.

I haven't considered it, but that's because I don't steal, not because I think it not worth the risk.