Money Moral Dilemma: Is pick and mix nibbling theft?

tifo

it is theft but what about parents who 'treat' their kids to sweets picked up in supermarkets and which haven't yet been paid for? I see this all the time and yet no-one seems to say anything, not even the staff. I never do this but why do others get away with it, just because the child may be annoying them slightly?

gaily

pasty_bill wrote: »

How about pyo strawberry farms? If I owned one I would weigh the people in and out, maybe that's the answer at the cinema!!!!

I'm picking myself up off the floor laughing here.

Nice to see a light hearted moral dilemma for once.

My 3 year old son has recently discovered the pick and mix stand at tesco. He's prone to running off, and we now know where to find him (he's got an internal sweetie compass) - if we don't catch him quickly enough, he's trying to stuff a huge - normally strawberry - sweetie in his mouth.

I make him clear his mouth out, and dispose (tidily) of the offending sweetie, but have not made any attempts to compensate Tesco for the loss of the sweet. He's 3, he gets told its wrong, and he doesn't get to eat the spoils. If it were his Dad, I'd be mortified and leave him to his own devices.

I've fed the boys food that I haven't bought yet before now, but always make sure its got a scannable bar code, and that always goes through the til.

WRT cinemas - I take my own, as i'd prefer not to pay the prices they charge. If it were a friend, i'd probably make some sort of comment - when they were far enough away from the til to be 'safe', but wouldn't do it myself.

I don't like the fact that Pick and Mix take no account of hygiene - you may have used the scoop, but did the chap before you? and did he wash his hands when he went to the loo??? It's the peanuts on the bar scenario.

reluctantworkingmum

taking my bunch of boys to the cinema is cringingly expensive as it is - no way would I pay their appalling prices for a few sweets as well ... I buy them earlier at Tesco and sneak them in - does that also make me a dishonest person whose friendship should be dispensed with immediately ( as the cinema bouncers drag me away screaming for my one phone call)......????

Annette_Jones

bigwigtom wrote: »

If someone I knew had the cajones to do this, I'd be very amused.

Cinemas take pride in charging us extortionate prices for tickets, sweeties and drinks. The rise in price of cinema tickets alone has grossly outpaced inflation over the last 10 years. I've no sympathy for them - they are screwing over their customers to rake in more profits, good on anyone who can in some small way give them a symbolic middle finger by nicking some sweeties.

Having worked in places like this, I can tell you the staff couldn't care less. The cinema probably loose kilos worth of sweets due to spoilage, stock errors and 'staff testing'. The cost price of these things is phenomenally low, especially at the volumes the cinema is buying in, and so you're really talking about a few pence worth of sweets. If a paying customer eats one or two (we're assuming they're not taking great handfuls) it will have no detrimental effect on the cinema whatsoever. In fact if they gave every paying customer a handful of sweets, they'd still be making a good profit (it would also be a good marketing ploy too!).

If somone is so hard-up and/or stupid to risk trouble with the police by stealing some sweets then really, they deserve our sympathy.

---

If people steal sweets in protest to high cinema tickets, why not boycott all snack & refreshment sales. I never buy refreshments from cinemas, surely people can go without snacking for a couple of hours? And yes, it is stealing, whether you try and justify it or not.

Ebenezer_Screwj

I doubt very much that the cinema would be concerned about the loss of a few sweets on open display and I'm certain the police wouldn't. For those reasons I would do nothing, but as the facts of this case demonstrate - it is an act of theft with nothing clever about it.

Cloudane

Of course it's theft. Just because it's petty, doesn't change that fact. (Plus it's a slippery slope where people can end up gradually stealing bigger and bigger things)

Think of it the other way around - let's say someone keeps stealing a penny from your wallet. Is it acceptable for them to do that? I mean it's only a penny, right? (Truth be told they'd be doing me a favour as the damn things breed, but somehow I think I'd object to them taking things from my wallet without permission!)

I love how people are justifying it by complaining about the prices, too. Just because you don't like the price doesn't give you the right to steal - it's not like they're forcing you to go to the cinema. Don't like what they charge, don't go there (vote with your feet!).

But regardless of all that, it is petty and not worth binning a friend over. Sure I'd call them on it and tell them that I don't approve, but I wouldn't go ruining their day/friendship and no the police would not be getting involved :rotfl:

relaxtwotribes

happyinflorida wrote: »

I am very angry that these places think they have a god given right to do what they are doing. Their prices for what they sell are too high. I haven't been to the cinema for years though as I don't like and won't pay that high a price.

More drivel. Yes, they do have a right (not god given though) to ask for whatever prices they would like you to pay.
Then you go and give your response in the very next sentence. Do you think you have a god given right to go to the cinema at a price that you think is reasonable?

freebiehunter_2

Correct, what they are doing is exceeding the bounds of custom, propriety, or reason - ie charging an exorbitant amount.

And one of the definitions of extortion is exactly that - an excessive or exorbitant charge.

Billionpounddreamer wrote: »

Cinema prices ARE extortionate.

What you have described is a "transaction at arms length" whereby in a free market the price of a product is the meeting point at which the seller is willing to accept for his/her product or service and what the buyer is willing to pay.

In a cinema, the company has a monopoly over the price of popcorn. There are no competitors offering it at a lower price. We cannot choose to go elsewhere as the cinemas enforce bans on bringing food in from the outside. And I feel sorry for the person who does not feel that popcorn and a drink are not a part of the cinema experience, so yes we have to buy it.

Therefore the cinema has total control over their prices without fear of loss of custom. Forcing people to pay heavy prices for such cheap commodities is, by definition, extortionate.

Do you know the profit margin on popcorn? According to a recent article on MSN, it's over 10,000%. That's higher than cocaine. Tell me that's not extortionate.

Not even the banks charge that kind of margin on overdrafts.

relaxtwotribes

Arcoiris wrote: »

However, if they don't allow you to bring your own so that you have to buy the sweets there, then it IS extortion.

Funny that - I've never been to a cinema where you have to buy the sweets there. Do such places exist?

relaxtwotribes

freebiehunter wrote: »

Actually, they're not extortionate, they're exorbitant. They are not forcing you to pay the price as you're free to not buy the goods, therefore they're not extorting money from you.

What they are doing is exceeding the bounds of custom, propriety, or reason - ie charging an exorbitant amount.

If that were the case, then they wouldn't sell anything. Or, it means that
anyone paying their high prices cannot see reason. That would explain some of the earlier posts.
How do you rationalize the people who do pay such prices, or are you saying they are nutcases?