I witnessed shop lifting in Accrington's Holland & Barrett today

[stephec]

Perhaps I could have paused awhile, lingering by the fountains, listening to a string quartet, perhaps taken tea on a roof terrace before continuing my journey refreshed and ready to face the evils of Cumbria.

Sometimes it's better to never know what if.

 

[Accy cyclist]

There I was in Accrington H&B today, at about 4.45 when a woman bought some items costing about £20 each. She bought 3 of these things, then came back 10 minutes later saying her mother had noticed they were out of date. The H&B manager apologised and gave her a refund. Something told me this wasn't quite right. 20 minutes later the H&B in nearby Burnley phoned to ask if this woman had been in the Accrington store. When she was told yes the Burnley store's manager said she'd pulled the same trick in there. Then low and behold after the Accrington store's manger phoned the nearby Blackburn store she was told the woman had been in there earlier in the day and took these items back in there for a refund after saying they were out of date. It seems she has/had a job lot of these things which were past their sell by date and decided to pass them onto 3 different Holland and Barretts, pretending they were the ones she'd bought in these shops. She'd bought in date items for a fair price then returned the same product, but out of date ones. I'm still wondering how she made it to Burnley from Accrington in 20 minutes. Unless she had a twin sister and both were in on it. 🤔

 

[Icy Triker]

Wouldn't expect anything else from the masses these days...
Shops will soon close etc etc etc..

 

[Accy cyclist]

Just remembered, the Accy store's manager told me after that no way would H&B sell out of date stuff as it's all computerised stock taking/rotation now and if there was an out of date item the new tills they had installed a month ago would've alerted the one operating the till. Why the manager didn't put this to this dodgy customer when she brought these supposedly out of date items back i don't know. Maybe she just didn't want the hassle and thought the customer might kick off and thought it just wasn't worth it. So the one fiddling the 3 stores made £180 out of her dishonesty!

 

[MontyVeda]

Just remembered, the Accy store's manager told me after that no way would H&B sell out of date stuff as it's all computerised stock taking/rotation now and if there was an out of date item the new tills they had installed a month ago would've alerted the one operating the till. Why the manager didn't put this to this dodgy customer when she brought these supposedly out of date items back i don't know. Maybe she just didn't want the hassle and thought the customer might kick off and thought it just wasn't worth it. So the one fiddling the 3 stores made £180 out of her dishonesty!

a human still has to do the actual rotating of stock.

a supermarket i worked in 20 years ago... I pointed out the to manager that some bottles of beer were beyond their best before date. He showed me 'a little trick' as he called it and licked his thumb and wiped of the BB date. I wasn't impressed.

As for the till alerting the cashier to an out of date product... i doubt it. The bar code is just the product code. I don't think it has info regarding BB or Use By date held within it

 

[Accy cyclist]

a human still has to do the actual rotating of stock.

a supermarket i worked in 20 years ago... I pointed out the to manager that some bottles of beer were beyond their best before date. He showed me 'a little trick' as he called it and licked his thumb and wiped of the BB date. I wasn't impressed.

As for the till alerting the cashier to an out of date product... i doubt it. The bar code is just the product code. I don't think it has info regarding BB or Use By date held within it

Er, are you saying that woman didn't fiddle three H&B stores yesterday?!!

 

[MontyVeda]

Er, are you saying that woman didn't fiddle three H&B stores yesterday?!!

I'm saying the claim by the H&B manager that their 'computerised stock rotation system' and the till alerting the cashier to an out of date product might be nonsense spouted by said manager.

Enjoy your tea

 

[Accy cyclist]

I'm saying the claim by the H&B manager that their 'computerised stock rotation system' and the till alerting the cashier to an out of date product might be nonsense spouted by said manager.

Enjoy your tea

I wouldn't call it nonsense. She has a lot of hassle to put up with, mainly skank/druggie shoplifters! Anyway, the woman in question is on all three H&B branches CCTV. The next time she goes in one of those shops, she'll be informed that she's now banned.

 

[MontyVeda]

I wouldn't call it nonsense. ...

I would. The barcode doesn't carry BB date information, so how on earth could the barcode alert the cashier to anything but the product and its price? I'm not expecting you to provide an answer, because there isn't one.

I agree that the manager has a lot to put up with. The store i work in looses upwards of £100,000 a year to shoplifting, and that's just one store.

 

[classic33]

I wouldn't call it nonsense. She has a lot of hassle to put up with, mainly skank/druggie shoplifters! Anyway, the woman in question is on all three H&B branches CCTV. The next time she goes in one of those shops, she'll be informed that she's now banned.

And unless its done by an officer of the law its meaningless. All she'd be guilty off would be trespassing, which is a civil offence.

 

[Accy cyclist]

It's almost as if some would rather nit pick over the trivialities of bar codes and banning orders, rather than sit back and think about how these thefts affect the staff involved and the customers who have the company losses passed onto them. 🤔

 

[classic33]

It's almost as if some would rather nit pick over the trivialities of bar codes and banning orders, rather than sit back and think about how these thefts affect the staff involved and the customers who have the company losses passed onto them.

Speaking as a member of staff who spent over four hours taped to a spinal board stopping shoplifters I think I've a right to talk about things that affect shop staff.

I was in court nine times because of shoplifters. The person willing to make a statement and go to court if needed. You'll have given a statement to the police over the shoplifting you witnessed I presume?

Each of those appearances resulted in the banning notice being handed to them in the court.

 

[MontyVeda]

And unless its done by an officer of the law its meaningless. All she'd be guilty off would be trespassing, which is a civil offence.

Our managers have barred quite a lot of customers over the years. Some try to come back in and are told to leave, and they do. No police have been involved in any official 'barring' of customers and no barred customer has demanded they have a right to come in unless we get a court order.

 

[Accy cyclist]

You'll have given a statement to the police over the shoplifting you witnessed I presume?

Er, no, seeing as the plod aren't involved. That's because they are more or less useless when it comes to what they consider petty crime. If they were involved I'd willingly give a statement and if needed appear as a witness in court.

 

[Accy cyclist]

I think my goldsmith/jeweler friend has the best idea. Quote....If they try to get behind the counter I'll treat their head as a baseball. Meaning he has a baseball bat and isn't afraid to use it...all in self defence of course.