Shoplifting survey

[Jonathan]

~ I posted this on my Facebook page and got quite the response... so I'll post it here for my DeLorean friends ~

A quick SHOPLIFTING survey: Who thinks there is any difference whatsoever between STEALING a handful of cherries or grapes for you to eat while browsing thru the produce dept and going back to electronics to STEAL a $20 DVD? Had a little discussion with a thief at Wal-Mart tonite.

[Roman Legion]

If I am thinking about buying a product, I want to sample or test if first.. Now if you just flat out took those grapes with no intentions to buy, then I would say that is stealing. I buy music and movies, but I will steam them first before I buy them and the same goes for cars, I am not going to look at a car from afar and buy it on looks alone, I will drive it. Just my opinion..

[Karin]

In a sense, it would be okay to taste the fruit you're going to buy in case it tastes funny so you don't buy them and then later discover you wasted money on contaminated fruit. However, tasting something just to have something in your stomach and leaving it alone afterward is inconsiderate.

I remember the can of Pringles I was going to buy one day and noticed it was already opened and the can was about half empty.

[Jonathan]

Most of the time I see this with the fruit, it's people that just casually grab a few to eat but don't have any intention of buying them. I disagree with sampling the fruit/food first. Test driving a car? Yes. But you wouldn't open up a box of cereal you might buy and try some first. Why is it different just because there is no packaging to tear open? It's this kind of behavior that makes it more expensive for the rest of us. Just like from fraudulent insurance claims and stealing satellite tv signals.

[Dangermouse]

It seems to be the size of the fruit that matters. Grapes, strawberries, cherries seem fair game to some people, but I would never see them take an apple of banana.

Some stores near me have an "open-fruit" policy. They will set a pint of berries or grapes on a small table to all patrons to sample them.

[yellowmxwheels23]

I worked at a grocery store when I was in high school and they encouraged "grazing" the produce dept. You could even go to the deli and sample whatever they had.

[Jonathan]

I like this grazing or free sampling idea. Maybe a bit like how most bookstores nowadays encourage you to pull up a chair and leaf through the books and magazines before you buy them.

[Mike C.]

I was a produce jockey back in my Sr. year of high school. Everyone always pilferred the grapes and cherries. :dunno:

I do think there is a difference between a .02 cent grape if you are going to buy grapes and a $20.00 DVD.

[08087]

You go to an ice cream parlor (old school name) and they give you a free sample.
You grab a cherry or 2 to see if they are worth the money they ask
Dunkin Donuts will give out samples of new product so you can see if you'd like to buy more in the future.

On these small items Grapes etc. the taste changes from crop to crop, and that makes a difference to me. Now if I have no intention of buying I don't sample.

[DMC3165]

Here's one for you to ponder.

I work in trucking, petroleum specifically (gasoline, fuel oil). Anyway when tanker trucks are loaded gallons are temperature corrected to 60 degrees F. During transport the product will tend to heat or cool depending on the ambient temp. During the summer with the sun beating on the tanker, gasoline expands to the point where an entire truckload could register 100 gallons more then what was actually loaded. So to compensate for this all manifests will give a net and a gross gallons when loaded. But it is never 100% accurate. The company I work for has a strict policy in regards to "skimming" for employees as well as contractors (me) that would result in immediate termination for anyone caught doing this. But there are a lot of small companies and even independent guys that skim regularly. All have the attitude that no one's going to miss 10-20 gallons out of 12000 especially when they already got 100 more on a hot day. So is it stealing? Because I'm barred from doing this I say yes, but many say no.

Just thought i'd throw it out there.......

[crazycro]

I love cherries, I will pay top dollar for the yellow ones as well as the red if they are sweet. However if I pay 8 bucks for a big package from Costco and they are sour I'd be pretty pissed off. So I try 1 or 2 from the package I intend to buy. It's that simple.

Someone mentioned cereal, that's a great example as far as taste except cereal doesn't spoil, nor does a DVD nor does anything else obviously that's not in the produce section.

Many of the supermarkets in my area will actually give you a slice from the deli dept. before actually cutting up your amount desired.

I guess this is one of those gray area things that has no real right or wrong, morally anyway.

[dhaney]

There is one owner we all could answer for... the guy who "borrowed" the trunk release handles off a couple of rental cars so he could create back up cable releases for his bonnet and engine cover...

I'd say he thinks you should go for it...

Me I usually grab a bag of M&M's or something similar and munch and them and I may even grab a soda, then just pay for the whole lot when I hit the check out counter.

Stealling is stealling... just like cheating is cheating it doesn't matter what the definition of "is" is.... OH sorry I hope I don't get in trouble with the DMCTalk thought police for that one...

Dan