I'm with you salgal. It was stealing. I guess the others on the forum who agreed with her don't realize that we all pay for shoplifters in increased prices.

Yup, she stole them.

I wonder if they would say the same thing if they were the owner of a business.....large or small and theft was supported. Idiots.
It's a me, me world for sure.

It's sad that she could justify it in her mind, and also so sad that others agreed with her.

I agree...it's part of the me, me, me attitude along with the sense of entitlement.

if she only knew how much extra we pay for "lost goods"...dd1 worked loss prevention, and was one of 3-4 people in the store...(discount clothing) so take their saleries across the usa, and add that to the cost you pay...

Have you heard the story of the couple in Hawaii who got arrested for eating two sandwiches and not paying for them? The particular story I'm linking doesn't have many comments. Most people on other links supported the couple over the store. To me that is shocking. The more I read about this couple, the more I dislike them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Safeway calls cops on parents

I agree, she stole them. Maybe not intentionally to begin with, but she made the decision not to go back to pay for them. Because they wouldn't honor her coupons is not a valid reason for keeping an item she didn't pay for.

Classified as theft for sure.

When coupons are redeemed, the merchant sends them back to the manufacturer and gets reimbursed for the face value. Coupons don't cost the merchant.

i agree she stole them

Agreed, the saddest part is that they are passing this attitude on to their kids.

No matter how one chooses to justify such actions, stealing is stealing. And she is costing you and I $$. Wrong is wrong and shame on those who supported her actions. I abhor Walmart but I would never steal from them or anyone else.

Yep, she's a thief/after the fact.

I was in Walmart last week and woman came up to stand behind me in the check out line, from the wrong direction. She had a greeting card in her hand and we started chatting. She said as she was putting her groceries in the car, she lifted her purse and found the unpaid for card under it. Finished loading her car and came back in with the card to pay for it, and she brought her receipt to prove it wasn't paid for! That was so nice and honest of her and the cashier and I both were very impressed.

I agree that it was stealing.

Related question: If you didn't notice until after you got home that something wasn't rung up, would you go back and pay for it? Spending your own valuable time and gas money to do so when it was through no fault of your own? I'm curious if there's a distance limit or an effort threshold that makes it more acceptable. Coming back from the parking lot isn't a big deal but if you're talking an hour plus to round up the kids, lock up the house, drive back to the store and stand in line to do the right thing, it might change some minds.

I would not make a special trip to the store under those circumstances. But I would not make a special trip back to the drive thru next door to tell them I didn't get my fries either. I would, however, pick up the phone and call them. I just did this a month of so ago. The gal at the cosmetics counter at Nordstroms did not charge me for an item. I got home and realized it (home is nearly 2 hours away) I called and spoke to her the following day, gave her my credit card and she put it thru. This was an item that I had decided I was not buying, she put it in my bag in error, but it is something I use, just didn't need it quite yet.

maybe one of these days she'll do what I did...get out to my car and forget to take the stuff off the bottom I HAD paid for...like 80.00 worth of fireplace tools...and no...by the time I got back to the store 5 minutes later...they didn't know a thing about it and no one had turned it in nor had anyone tried to return it...I hope what goes around comes around for her cause she STOLE!!

Chi, If I got home before I noticed I would call the store. Assuming it is a relatively small amount - say less than $8.00, I suspect they would say thank you for your honesty...and let it go.
If it was a more substantial amount I would still call, but probably arrange to settle next time I am in the area.

If I was back home, I would just tell them the next time I was there.

Yes, I would wait until the next time I went to that store to settle up. The point isn't so much that they get the money that day, but that I would pay it for it eventually, hopefully sooner rather than later.

I guess I stunned a local quilt shop owner once when I showed her my receipt from my last trip to her shop and pointed out that she had under-charged me by $7 or something like that. And then I paid her. She had never been overly friendly to me before that (or to anyone else, really) but after that she was much nicer.

Adellabedella, I 100% agree with you on that story, anyone who eats food while still shopping is stealing. You haven't paid for it yet, you don't get to use it. I especially despise it when parents are shopping with their children and give the kid a box of cookies or something off a shelf to shut them up. Bring something from home to satisfy them, don't teach them illegal habits.

I don't know... I think the Safeway case could have been an innocent mistake. We have a deli in our store set up like that and I could imagine it easily happening. Nonetheless, I could see the police being called, etc... but an arrest with handcuffs to that extent seems kind of severe.

I also think in "most" cases parents do pay for the cookies or whatever they give their kids to eat in the store. I have never allowed my child to bring in their own food or candy into a store.. you could never prove it was theirs and not the stores. Do you follow these parents you despise to the line and watch them check out and not pay or mention it (have you said something?). I heard a mom yesterday tell the checker her son ate a banana so she had the checker weigh once she was buying twice... you may assume the parents are stealing, but they may not all be. Also, my main grocery chain gives a free bakery cookie to each child. Kids are just allowed to take and eat them in the store... no need to tell or pay. (I'm sure not every store does this, but some others may do this too).

"When coupons are redeemed, the merchant sends them back to the manufacturer and gets reimbursed for the face value. Coupons don't cost the merchant."
Not true. While many to most are redeemed and yes they get a face value plus a couple cents from the clearing house, many stores accept expired coupons, competitors' coupons and the like and are not reimbursed for this. They're not reimbursed by the manufacturers for store coupons except for the manufacturer initiated store coupons. Plus if anyone understands labor and retail costs, they would never suggest that the labor and costs of handling and submitting them is anywhere near a total reimbursement.

I was talking to the owner of a gas station a while back and he told me (albeit unverified, but why would he lie about it?) that when Shell puts out discount coupons and the like, the stations have to eat the cost. They are *not* reimbursed by anyone for them. I was shocked.

It's similar to the myth that checks (including Travelers Checks) are the same as cash. Hardly.

Coupons most definitely cost the stores money and they're added into the overhead costs, basically written off as advertisement. Believe it or not, stores do not just "absorb" the cost of shoplifting, coupons, wrong change, employee theft, etc. It's added to the cost of items. Factor in the coupon fraud, rejected coupons by the clearing house, lost or damaged coupons, it's not the same as cash. Why do you think Sam's, Aldi and a number of other stores don't accept coupons?

Forgot to mention, earlier today (well, technically yesterday I guess) I was reading an article about some fraudulent coupons being spread around. One is a "$9 Tide coupon" being circulated and trying to be redeemed at stores. Some stores are getting ripped off if they accept them. People are amazing at times. I hope they prosecute the people but I know they won't.

It is stealing even though it is unintentional. I had something similar happen to me; (not with the coupons, I just "procured" an item on the bottom of my cart). I didn't have time to go back and pay for it but I told the cashier about it the next time I went to the store and paid for it then. I knew if I didn't my conscience would bother me!

Doing private business/leisure on the computer during working hours comes out about the same, doesn't it?

And taking home pencils from work?

ole joyful