Disgusting supermarket habit

[leggzz66]

Happens all the time, they even did a bit about it on everybody loves raymond. it was sick! i think they did on married with children also.

[cindyg86]

i was with a friend once shopping and he just opened up a box of poptarts and started eating them... i think he had about 2 packages and then put the box on the counter. i was so dumbfounded i didn't know what to say!

[zakity]

When my oldest was a baby, I did give him a banana in a store. He was throwing a fit because he wanted one. I picked out one that was about the same size and asked the cashier to weigh that one twice. I hated to do it, but he was throwing such a fit. I figured it would be nicer for everyone in the store (including me) to do it that way.

[TomWills]

Yuck... I have bought sweets like this before, makes you feel kinda sick

[ScrimpAndSave]

Totally GROSS!

[braxton]

Bulk Candy = Germ & Bacteria breeding ground.

[antiver]

I've seen this happen at my local grocery store. I've also seen managers and employees stalking customers and kicking them out for such behavior.

[Angio333]

The fact that people are reachuing into the bins with their bare hands doesn't bother me. I'm not a germaphobe. I think that people sometimes make too big of a deal out of people touching their food with bare hands.

However, it is the theft part that makes me mad. No one has the right to steal from a story even if they feel that the store is overpriced. Shop somewhere else if you don't like the prices.

I guess some people don't consider it stealing if they steal a piece of bulk candy or something small. It still is stealing.

I saw something similiar this weekend. My wife and I went strawberry picking. They charge you $6.95 for a huge basket that you can fill yourself. It was a huge basket too. There were a few other customers who were picking strawberries. At least two of them ate a few strawberries whiole out in the field. That is stealing just like if you stole a single tootsie roll out of a bulk bin.

[eisor]

Originally Posted by sweeps

For the record I don't have a problem with opening a package and eating some, if you pay for it at the counter. I give my son the heel from the loaf of bread that we're buying to eat in the store.

Eating things that come in bulk or by weight though, obviously that's stealing. And again, putting your grubby hands on something that someone else is going to eat, that's not right.

I don't think I've ever eaten anything, but I often get a water and drink it while I shop. I always take the bottle with me and pay for it.

Originally Posted by Exile

The main difference here seems to be between those who open packages and pay for it at the checkout stand vs. those who take food like bulk candy without paying at all. There's not much excuse for the former because those customers often expect the cashier to take and dispose of their sticky Coke cans, snack wrappers, etc., which is pretty inconsiderate.

But for thse who just take food without paying, no matter how little--even if it's just one piece of bulk candy--that's just plain theft, and no rationalization that the store "can afford it" can justify it. And what kind of lesson are parents teaching their kids when they let them get away with this, or worse yet, do it themselves!

And that crap about getting hungry and long lines? Gimme a break. What about eating before going shopping? That's not exactly rocket science.

I think you made a generalization. I never give my trash to the cashier. If I have something to throw away, I often look at the register behind me to see if there is a trash can. If so, I throw it away, if not, I hold onto it.

[GoodBuyGirl]

I once seen a mother give her baby a package of hotdogs to teeth on. Then instead of paying for them when she left she put them back on the shelf for someone else to buy.

[stressedmama]

I have not really seen people eating from the candy bins, but I do see people now and then "sampling" from the produce. I have seen people eating a handful of grapes. Last time I looked grapes were $2.99 / lb. Those people probably just ate about 50 cents to a dollar's worth....same as a candy bar. I guess it's easier to justify eating a few grapes vs eating a whole candy bar. It's all stealing in my book.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by eisor

I think you made a generalization. I never give my trash to the cashier. If I have something to throw away, I often look at the register behind me to see if there is a trash can. If so, I throw it away, if not, I hold onto it.

My OP is based on what I've seen from many years of shopping, eisor. If you personally discard your own trash, then more power to you, but surely you must have also witnessed the behavior of other customers who are not as considerate.

[peanutbutter8204]

That's Just wrong!!!!

[Greer]

That is foul and wrong.

[myrdale]

A thief is a thief, no matter how they try to rationallize it.

I wonder about the supermarkets thoughts on the matter. I would imagine they just ignore it, knowing it is going to happen no matter what.

[SoCalifrugal]

I did this as a kid because my mom did so. I didn't realize that it was wrong until I took more than she normally did and she called it stealing. I was like....oh. It is, even just one piece.

I don't buy candy. Whatever I get for free by other (legal) means is enough. I try to be healthy.

[SnoopyCool]

Originally Posted by Angio333

I saw something similiar this weekend. My wife and I went strawberry picking. They charge you $6.95 for a huge basket that you can fill yourself. It was a huge basket too. There were a few other customers who were picking strawberries. At least two of them ate a few strawberries whiole out in the field. That is stealing just like if you stole a single tootsie roll out of a bulk bin.

The "U Pick It" place I go to every year for blueberries openly states that we can eat as many blueberries as we want while we are picking them for our baskets. Do you think the strawberry place has a similar policy?

On a similar note as the original theme of this thread: one time my daughter pulled a jar of baby food off of the shelf and broke it. I hunted-down a clerk so I could get supplies to clean up the mess and pay for the jar. She told me that I needn't pay for it, as the store carried insurance for such things. Do you think that a certain amount of theft is grouped into this "insurance", as well?

[floridaharris]

Well that's the last time I buy anything from a bulk container! Yuck!