‘I eat food at supermarket before paying for it – but I’m not sure if it’s legal’
An argument about whether it’s illegal or not to eat unpurchased supermarket food has divided shoppers, as some supermarkets say ‘it’s considered ‘grazing’ while others ‘frown upon it’
It has sparked a debate online (stock photo)(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
We’ve all seen people eating food at the supermarket before they’ve paid for it but can a shop call the police and have people arrested for stealing? A person sparked a huge debate on Quora when they asked, “Is it illegal to eat packaged food whilst in a supermarket and pay for it when you get to the counter?”
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One commenter admitted they’re a repeat offender, saying: “I’ve eaten packaged items while standing in the checkout lane and given the wrapper to the cashier to ring up with no problem. “When I worked as a cashier, I had someone bring a banana peel. Although I appreciated the gesture, bananas were sold by weight. I didn’t want to hold up the line by getting a similar banana to weigh so I told the customer we could chalk it up to being a sample as we had the discretion to do so.”
Another checkout worker agreed this was the case in her store, “As long as you scan the package or tell the cashier to ring it up it’s not stealing at the supermarket I work at.” Another could not decide if it was legal but said they always do it and it was fine for them, “I’ve done it several times without any problems. I just put the empty container on the belt for the clerk to scan, and they put it in the waste bin after scanning.”
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But one more commenter singled out an actual term for this act, “Some stores like Walmart consider it “grazing” and frown on the practice while other stores like small town grocery stores don’t mind so much. It can be considered illegal since you are consuming something that you haven’t paid for but it’s a really weak case because they can’t prove that you didn’t intend to pay.”Get More of Our News on GoogleSet Daily Mirror as a ‘Preferred Source’ to get quicker access to the news you value.
Warning that shops might play the long game to catch repeat offenders, “Just remember stores do have video surveillance and they are watching so if they see you doing it a few times they will be watching closely when you enter the store again.”
Another ex-store worker agreed but revealed they never actually punished anyone for doing it, “While working in Ohio I was told that opening and consuming a product even while in line waiting to pay is considered shoplifting and if a cashier wanted to be a jerk, they could technically call the cops on you. I never bothered because it seemed stupid. As long as they paid eventually, they were good in my book.”
One more ex-worker was dead against ‘grazing’, “It’s called stealing! Until you buy that product it isn’t yours. I used to work for a supermarket. Security would watch people doing this.” Some people chimed in with legitimate medical reasons why they’d need to consume supermarket food to balance out their sugars, “I was in Aldi and I suddenly felt my blood sugar beginning to drop.” Wrote a commenter.
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“I opened a chocolate milkshake and began to drink it. It worked and my blood sugar began to stabilize, so I carefully and slowly finished the rest of my shopping and I went to the till to pay for my trolley. I paid for the milkshake, and I explained why I had consumed it before I left the shop, so this way there was no accusation of theft.”
Another said it was a great parenting hack to keep youngsters happy during the shopping trip but it could sometimes prove troublesome when it came to paying. “I have twin boys, and I would take them shopping with me to the grocery store. I would almost always pick up a bunch of bananas as one of the first items in my cart.
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“About halfway through shopping, the boys would start to fuss, so I would peel a banana and give half to each. They would then be content for the rest of the time at the store.” The father said that he’d show the peel to the store clerk and get them to weigh another banana twice, essentially paying for the eaten banana.
He said some workers would understand straight away and charge up the eaten banana and some would get very confused and didn’t end up charging him after a huge fuss. “Eventually, the twins grew out of needing to snack on a banana while I was shopping, and I could just set the bunch of bananas on the checkout line without making the universe tilt.”
Couple tricks Walmart cashier to get away with $6,400 worth of items, deputies say
By WRDW staff and Emily Van de Riet
Published: Dec. 7, 2022 at 11:01 PM GMT+7
GROVETOWN, Ga. (WRDW/Gray News) – Two people managed to get away with stealing $6,400 in merchandise and gift cards from a Walmart in Georgia by confusing the cashier, officials said.
The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office said the theft happened at a Walmart in Grovetown on Nov. 30.
Deputies said a man and a woman selected many expensive items at the store and took them to the checkout counter. They made several different credit card transactions with the cashier for all the merchandise, which also included gift cards.
According to deputies, the pair also asked the cashier to use the “cash” button on the register in order for their credit card to work. This allowed the register to ring up the sale as if cash was being paid, so the credit card ultimately was not charged.
Authorities said the thieves left with about $3,400 in merchandise and $3,000 in gift cards, having paid for none of it.
The suspects are still on the run and have not yet been identified by authorities. The sheriff’s office released surveillance photos of the suspects, and they are asking anyone with information to contact investigators at 706-541-2800.
Copyright 2022 WRDW via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Walmart cashier who walked 9 miles to work gifted car after officer posted about giving her ride
By Amy Lieu
Published May 24, 2019 5:15pm PDT
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SLIDELL, La. – A Walmart cashier who reportedly walked nine miles to work was gifted a free car after a dealership saw a police officer’s Facebook post about giving her a ride to work.
Anita Singleton received a brand new vehicle from Matt Bowers Chevrolet Dealership in Louisiana, and it was all because of a Facebook post written by Slidell Police Officer Brad Peck about giving her a ride to work.
“An innocent message posted by Slidell Police Officer Brad Peck, went viral over the last couple of days,” the Slidell Police Department said. “Matt Bowers, the owner of a local Chevrolet dealership saw the story and is surprising Ms. Anita Singleton with a car this afternoon… This is truly an inspiring story.”
Peck picked her up from Walmart and drove her to the car dealership to pick up her new car, the department said.
The officer wrote about the hope that Singleton inspired in him in a Facebook post.
“Let’s talk about being grateful for what you have for (a) moment. Also let’s talk about blessings,” Peck said. “This morning at around 0530 my shift was coming to an end. As I was driving over the Hwy 11/Front Street bridge that crosses over the train tracks (if you’ve drive on it you know how dangerous and narrow it is) I seen a female walking on it.”
Peck said he “quickly whipped around.”
Singleton told Peck that she worked for the Walmart in Slidell on Northshore Boulevard.
“I said mam, that’s a really long walk, jump in and I’ll give you a ride. We talked the whole way about life lessons, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and joked about other things. I learned that she is 52 years old and had as much energy as my two year old,” Peck said.
“’I thank God everyday when I put my key in the door’ she told me. ‘So I have to keep going to work no matter what,'” Peck said Singleton told him.
He said she was ready to walk 9 miles down “some pretty busy Slidell roads” to make it to work at 7 a.m., while her walk began at 4:30 a.m.
“That spoke volumes to me. She told me when she can’t get a ride she has to do what she has to do. We shook hands and she went into work. That brief moment of me getting to spend some time with her made my day so much better,” Peck said. “I don’t think she knows how much hope she gave me and valuable life lesson she taught me.”
Matt Bowers and his dealership let Singleton choose between two vehicles, and then paid the chosen car’s fees as well as one year of insurance.
Bowers had tweeted on Wednesday in response to Peck’s initial post, saying “If someone can track this lady down I will give her something to drive.”
“Some unknown force allowed Anita Singleton to capture Officer Peck’s attention and that set off a chain of events that ended at one of my car dealerships,” Bowers said in a Facebook post. “Maybe it was luck, maybe it was fate, faith, karma or all of the above, but whatever it was it was special.”
“Ultimately this was a story about a police officer that noticed a lady walking alone over a dangerous bridge and went out of his way to offer his help to a stranger,” Bowers said.
This story was reported in Los Angeles.
