So, is this stealing?

[megster1123]

I'd say it was rude, definitely. But if she paid for the ones she walked out with, that's not stealing. If people were charged with stealing for leaving items in a store in unsaleable conditions everyone would be in jail.

But she didn't pay for what she walked out with, she paid for the original strawberries in the container and then stole the extra ones she added. The OP never said she replaced the rotten ones or took any out, she just overfilled her container.

Look at it this way, what if you were shopping for flowers and thought the prepackaged bouquets looked too skimpy. So you took flowers from other arrangements to make the one you bought look fuller. That would be stealing. I spent many years in loss prevention and what she did is definitely, exactly stealing by just about every retailers' standards.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Theft is theft is theft.

If she didn't like how they were selling them, prepackaged, then she shouldn't buy them.

 

[mom2rtk]

I must be thinking of a different kind of strawberry packaging. I buy a package most weeks, and while they aren't overfilled, there usually isn't room for any extra ones to be added.

Many weeks I walk right past them though since some of the ones inside look a couple days past their lifespan. Not worth the effort to repackage.

 

[Allons-y!]

Around here, strawberries are sold by the pack, not by weight, so you pay for the amount they put in there. Just because you *can* open the container doesn't mean you should add more to it. That's no different than opening up two boxes of cereal, filling one to the top from the other, and buying the full one.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

This post reminded me of an article I read on reducing your grocery spending. The article said you should bring a small paring knife with you to the grocery store. When you buy stalks/heads of broccoli, you should cut off the stalk, keeping and paying for only the head. You pay for broccoli by the pound, but the way most stores package it, you have to pay for the inedible stalk too. I have never done this, but I sometimes see just stalks in the broccoli bin, so I know some people do it.

The reason I don't do it is because at my grocery store the "heads only" broccoli is priced higher per pound than the "heads with stalks" broccoli. If your store only sold "heads with stalks", would you cut the stalks off so you didn't have to pay for the unusable part? Curious minds want to know!

 

[Squirlz]

That's Walmart for you.

 

[mnrose]

This post reminded me of an article I read on reducing your grocery spending. The article said you should bring a small paring knife with you to the grocery store. When you buy stalks/heads of broccoli, you should cut off the stalk, keeping and paying for only the head. You pay for broccoli by the pound, but the way most stores package it, you have to pay for the inedible stalk too. I have never done this, but I sometimes see just stalks in the broccoli bin, so I know some people do it.

The reason I don't do it is because at my grocery store the "heads only" broccoli is priced higher per pound than the "heads with stalks" broccoli. If your store only sold "heads with stalks", would you cut the stalks off so you didn't have to pay for the unusable part? Curious minds want to know!

Oh good grief! No! Just no. You should not be using a paring knife in the store to cut off anything. What's next. Trimming the meat even more. Deboning a chicken right there in the store? Sheesh.

Just wrong. The store has priced the items for sale AS THEY ARE PRESENTED. If you don't like it, don't buy it. Period.

 

[RedAngie]

This post reminded me of an article I read on reducing your grocery spending. The article said you should bring a small paring knife with you to the grocery store. When you buy stalks/heads of broccoli, you should cut off the stalk, keeping and paying for only the head. You pay for broccoli by the pound, but the way most stores package it, you have to pay for the inedible stalk too. I have never done this, but I sometimes see just stalks in the broccoli bin, so I know some people do it.

The reason I don't do it is because at my grocery store the "heads only" broccoli is priced higher per pound than the "heads with stalks" broccoli. If your store only sold "heads with stalks", would you cut the stalks off so you didn't have to pay for the unusable part? Curious minds want to know!

A local supermarket sells both broccoli stalks and broccoli crowns. When the crowns are regular price, like $1.99 per pound, they're well trimmed of the stalk. When they go on sale for 99 cents per pound, they often have a lot of stalk still attached.

The stalks are perfectly edible, but I prefer just the crowns. Sometimes I buy a pre-packaged bag of just the florets for about $3.99 per pound.

My company's stores (a C-store chain) sells bananas. Now they're priced by the piece, 49c each. And an employee separates each banana from the bunch. Years ago, when they were sold by weight still as a bunch, some people would try to save .00001 of a cent by ripping off the stem, ruining three or four other bananas in the process.

I'll admit to a peculiar practice with produce. Often I don't want the entire bunch of asparagus held together with rubber bands. I'll take a dozen stalks out, and put them in 3 or 4 other bunches. Or I'll take three or four stalks from various bunches until I have what I need and put them in a plastic bag.

 

[Rhie]

But she didn't pay for what she walked out with, she paid for the original strawberries in the container and then stole the extra ones she added. The OP never said she replaced the rotten ones or took any out, she just overfilled her container.

Look at it this way, what if you were shopping for flowers and thought the prepackaged bouquets looked too skimpy. So you took flowers from other arrangements to make the one you bought look fuller. That would be stealing. I spent many years in loss prevention and what she did is definitely, exactly stealing by just about every retailers' standards.

Actually, the OP doesn't make it clear whether or not she paid for the strawberries before she put together her custom box. And, whether its overflowing or not doesn't really matter because (at least at my Walmart) its priced by weight at the checkout. So whether or not the container is overflowing is irrelevant to the price.

And, if I took flowers from various displays and put together a bouquet that was by weight or by number of flowers, and then paid for it, no it wouldn't be stealing at all. Its only stealing if the woman paid for a box of strawberries or a bouquet of flowers and then added new ones and walked out without paying for the new ones. If I were just replacing, say, one rose with another rose, that wouldn't be stealing, either.

 

[Rhie]

But she didn't pay for what she walked out with, she paid for the original strawberries in the container and then stole the extra ones she added. The OP never said she replaced the rotten ones or took any out, she just overfilled her container.

Look at it this way, what if you were shopping for flowers and thought the prepackaged bouquets looked too skimpy. So you took flowers from other arrangements to make the one you bought look fuller. That would be stealing. I spent many years in loss prevention and what she did is definitely, exactly stealing by just about every retailers' standards.

Well, the OP isn't clear about when the woman opened the packaged and put together a custom one, or how the strawberries are priced. If its a priced per package and she did that after paying, yes that's theft. Where I live, its all by weight, so it doesn't matter how you put it together. You're still paying for all them. Same thing with the flowers.

And, a lot of retail loss isn't actually theft. And a lot of what stores think is theft is not actually theft. Such as drinking water while shopping and then paying for the bottle when it's empty.

Yea, I worked retail too.

 

[megster1123]

Actually, the OP doesn't make it clear whether or not she paid for the strawberries before she put together her custom box. And, whether its overflowing or not doesn't really matter because (at least at my Walmart) its priced by weight at the checkout. So whether or not the container is overflowing is irrelevant to the price.

I guess your markets are different. All of the markets here in Michigan (from Meijer to Kroger to Trader Joe to Plum Market) sell berries in pre-packaged little plastic containers that sell for a set price. It's not a mix and match "custom" anything kind of situation.
At the end of the day it seems obvious (to me at least) the woman taking the strawberries knew what she was doing was wrong.

 

[megster1123]

Well, the OP isn't clear about when the woman opened the packaged and put together a custom one, or how the strawberries are priced. If its a priced per package and she did that after paying, yes that's theft. Where I live, its all by weight, so it doesn't matter how you put it together. You're still paying for all them. Same thing with the flowers.

And, a lot of retail loss isn't actually theft. And a lot of what stores think is theft is not actually theft. Such as drinking water while shopping and then paying for the bottle when it's empty.

Yea, I worked retail too.

I'm not sure why you're getting so defensive/upset about this?

 

[robinb]

My first thought: the customer was a stereotypical "People of Walmart."

At a Walmart in Florida this past week, I noticed a woman letting her kids eat the grapes from a package. I'm pretty sure they were sold by the pound, so yes, I consider that stealing. The strawberries in the above example? Tacky, but not necessarily stealing.

By the way, this was Sunday May 1 at about 1130pm. The place was packed, many people with small kids. Shouldn't they be asleep at that hour? DH pointed out that it was most likely the day EBT cards were refilled.

Your DH is probably right. It was the first day those parents could buy food for their kids after last month's EBT ran out. Skip Walmart around the 1st of the month next time if it bothers you.

ETA: I think making your own package from existing ones is rude but not stealing. I assume WalMart employees could put together another package of strawberries if they wanted to from the leftovers.

 

[Missy1961]

I guess your markets are different. All of the markets here in Michigan (from Meijer to Kroger to Trader Joe to Plum Market) sell berries in pre-packaged little plastic containers that sell for a set price. It's not a mix and match "custom" anything kind of situation.
At the end of the day it seems obvious (to me at least) the woman taking the strawberries knew what she was doing was wrong.

That's how they sell them here in Long Island, NY, too. They may be a pint or a pound, but they are pre-weighed so if someone opened a package, took some out and put them in the package they are purchasing, they are stealing some and short changing someone else, so they're being dishonest twice.

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

Well, the OP isn't clear about when the woman opened the packaged and put together a custom one, or how the strawberries are priced. If its a priced per package and she did that after paying, yes that's theft. Where I live, its all by weight, so it doesn't matter how you put it together. You're still paying for all them. Same thing with the flowers.

And, a lot of retail loss isn't actually theft. And a lot of what stores think is theft is not actually theft. Such as drinking water while shopping and then paying for the bottle when it's empty.

Yea, I worked retail too.

Op here, just to be clear. The strawberries are sold in individual containers. Each container weighs the same and is the same price. What she did was open up several containers and take berries from them to top up the container she was buying, thereby making her container weigh more and the ones left behind weigh less. At the cash register they are not weighed just charged by container. This is stealing because she is getting free berries just as if she had put them in her pocket or purse. In addition she left several containers of berries open with less produce in them. I would not buy those open containers, would you? So, chances are good that the store has to eat that loss.

 

[Missy1961]

Op here, just to be clear. The strawberries are sold in individual containers. Each container weighs the same and is the same price. What she did was open up several containers and take berries from them to top up the container she was buying, thereby making her container weigh more and the ones left behind weigh less. At the cash register they are not weighed just charged by container. This is stealing because she is getting free berries just as if she had put them in her pocket or purse. In addition she left several containers of berries open with less produce in them. I would not buy those open containers, would you? So, chances are good that the store has to eat that loss.

Exactly. And these sort of things are what drive prices up.

 

[robinb]

Exactly. And these sort of things are what drive prices up.

Well, that and trying to sell packages of strawberries with bad fruit which are passed up by consumers because the fruit is so bad.

 

[Belle0101]

If the packaging is what I think it is, it looks like this photo. The fruit is in a clamshell container, is weighed before it reaches the store and is priced per container. One of the stores I shop at had blackberries on sale this week at 2 (containers) for $6.00. I forget the exact ounces. It isn't weighed again at the registers so if you (the general "you") added more, or took some out, the price is the same.

 

[MagicaDeSpell]

Sounds like theft to me. I shop with my kids and I tend to use that kind of encounter as a "teaching moment" about how to behave. Although I don't raise my voice or point at people in the act, I'm sure that I've been overheard before when I thought the culprit was further away than they turned out to be. Nothing has ever come of it beyond a dirty look or two. I'm not sure how I would have responded if the person in question snapped back at me like in the OP's case. I wish I could summon up the teacher's I'm-judging-you-and-you're-doing-poorly stare that my husband's grandmother could pull off.

 

[AP1209]

This is so obviously theft. We can't have people opening up packages all willy nilly because it's not full enough for them. Buy it like it's packaged or don't buy it. Very simple to do. Its not like she was stealing the Hope diamond but theft is theft.