# ‘It’s very brazen’: retail workers and shoplifters on the UK’s record theft statistics

Staff tell of thieves costing stores thousands, while shoplifters say soaring living costs drove them to crime

* 

It was about 8pm in Tesco Express and Katherine* was alone with her younger colleague when she noticed a man acting suspiciously in the aisle containing home goods.

The section – which stocked items such as laundry detergent and fabric softener – is behind plastic security barriers, so “he basically ripped it out the shelf, swept it into a duffel bag and walked out,” Katherine said.

The incident in 2023 is part of a trend Katherine has noticed in recent years working for the supermarket chain, of more common – and more flagrant – shoplifting. She said starting at Tesco 10 years ago, shoplifting was “absolutely nothing compared with what it is now”.

The incident in 2023 is part of a trend Katherine has noticed in recent years working for the supermarket chain, of more common – and more flagrant – shoplifting. She said starting at Tesco 10 years ago, shoplifting was “absolutely nothing compared with what it is now”.

The incident in 2023 is part of a trend Katherine has noticed in recent years working for the supermarket chain, of more common – and more flagrant – shoplifting. She said starting at Tesco 10 years ago, shoplifting was “absolutely nothing compared with what it is now”.

The incident in 2023 is part of a trend Katherine has noticed in recent years working for the supermarket chain, of more common – and more flagrant – shoplifting. She said starting at Tesco 10 years ago, shoplifting was “absolutely nothing compared with what it is now”.

Katherine said for her store, shoplifting contributed to about £3,000 of “shrinkage” (lost, damaged or missing stock) during the last six-month stock take, with common missing items including baby milk.



Some shop staff say they feel they have been let down by their employers. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Paul, a team leader for a village grocery store in Perthshire, said his colleagues recently saw a woman load a suitcase with alcohol and walk out, which they suspected would be sold on the hidden market. He said stealing alcohol occurs about three times a week, even in his small community.

“It’s literally impossible to keep an eye on this level of theft,” he said. But Paul also said one of his duties is changing the store’s grocery prices each week, “and it’s very noticeable how much things have gone up in the past few years”.

The Guardian also spoke to small-scale shoplifters who said they had been forced to steal the odd item regularly to survive amid the cost of living crisis and spiralling prices in recent years.

In north-east England, 45-year-old George* said he had been driven to shoplifting because his welfare payments are not enough to live on. George, a former electrician who said he had been off work for seven years because of mental health struggles, gets £783.78 a month in universal credit.

But he said after covering rent (£475), electricity (about £170) and council tax (£20), he was left with less than £120 a month for groceries. George said he used a local food bank, but visits were limited to once every four weeks, and he shared custody of his 10-year-old daughter with her mother.



*Some names changed*

Amid the cost of living crisis, “I’ve had to shoplift much more than I used to,” George said. “Only ever food, and only ever after my universal credit has run out … I hate doing it. It brings me no joy. I dread getting caught, but hunger is hunger.”

He’ll usually go to a big supermarket, pay for a basket of things but conceal a few items. “I’ve got a big coat with big pockets,” George said. “I don’t go mad, I only nick like a packet of sausages or a block of cheese, something like that.”

George used to feel bad, but no longer does. “Now I just feel like it’s something I’ve got to do,” he said. “Everything’s more expensive, like the price of a chocolate bar has doubled for my kid.”

However, others who admitted to occasional shoplifting said their motives were driven more by opportunity and convenience. Jaqueline*, a 57-year-old administrator in Surrey, said the first time she made off with an item was an accident after her M&S self-service kiosk failed to scan properly.

Jaqueline said she realised with self-checkouts how easy shoplifting of small items was – easier, she feels, than attracting the attention of an overworked staff member when it malfunctioned. “I haven’t paid for quite a few things in the past couple of years.”

She will sometimes take a lunchtime salad, vegetable or Boursin cheese – “I put it in my bag and walk away.” Jaqueline doesn’t feel guilty, partly because of recent cost rises. “They charge twice as much while giving us half the service,” she said.

But watching shoplifters target his local Co-op left Tommy Cooper, a 63-year-old in Doncaster, feeling “very unsettted” about society.

One morning at about 10.30am, a young man was browsing the aisles, picked up a pizza and crate of beer and “just sauntered out of the store without paying,” Cooper said. Cooper, a retired market trader, spoke to the cashier, but she told him the police probably won’t be interested.

“It’s the relaxed and carefree manner of the theft that is gnawing away at my mind,” Cooper said. “It seemed like a small act of anarchy – like watching society unravel.”

*Some names changed*
```