One In Three Britons Admit To Shoplifting, Research Finds

One In Three Britons Shoplift, Survey Says

Nearly one in three Britons has shoplifted from self-service checkouts, according to a study run by financial website watchmywallet.co.uk.

The poll found that 30% of those asked didn't see much wrong with taking small items from supermarkets, usually through deceiving self-service checkouts.

It is likely that the lack of supervision at the new checkouts and the ability for customers to manipulate the machines are two are the main reasons for the country's light-fingeredness.

The most common method of Shoplifting 2.0 is to select the cheapest available option when putting through loose fruit and vegetables. Half of those questioned by survey admitted to doing this at least once.

Another common practice is to slip other non-barcoded items into bags undetected by staff.

When asking why people shoplifted, the survey found that a quarter of respondents said the only reason they did not shoplift was fear of being caught, rather than disapproving of shoplifting itself.

The top five tricks for shoplifting were found to be:

  1. Selecting cheaper fruit/vegetables when weighing items
  2. Selecting 'small' when required to manually enter size
  3. Bagging without scanning
  4. Walking off without paying
  5. Tampering with scales
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