So I’m doing the weekly shopping in Aldi. If you have an Aldi near you and haven’t tried it out, you might just want to give it a go. Prices are good, products are good, why not? Because you can’t write a check or use a credit card? Hmm. Seems a strange reason for not saving money, but if that’s your choice, that’s okay by me.
In any case, the cashier of my particular lane suddenly shows no small amount of distress. She’s frantically waving, trying to get the attention of someone further back in the store. Turns out she was trying to get the manager-type, which she finally did, and he came up to find out what was going on.
The story was that a group of people had been packing up their groceries (at Aldi, you pack ’em yourself), and at some point therein had decided to go back to the freezer section, pick up some more food, and pack it up. You may have noticed that they didn’t pay for their new items in that process.
While I don’t know if this actually happened, as I was busily checking to see if there were any good impulse purchases around, it’s possible. If it wasn’t done by the group in question, it could certainly have been done by someone else. Which made me think about stealing in general.
What is it that people hope to accomplish? One would suspect that people steal because they can’t – or won’t – pay the posted prices for particular items. Fair enough. So they take it instead. Which means that the manager of the store then has to spend time dealing with the issue, new security measures are put into place, and in no time, prices have gone up, resulting in – you guessed it – even higher prices. Anyone see a pattern beginning to form?
Comments
48 responses to “Why Do People Steal?”
I have a dilemma and I don’t know how to confront it or what to say? My boyfriend of 4 years, who I’m very much in love with, stole $100 from my mother; and she found and confronted him about it. He lied twice saying he didn’t take it then finally returned it to her. I’ve actually seen him steal things and make him but them back. He told my mother that he didn’t mean to do it but says he doesn’t know why he does it. I think that him losing his parents when he was younger and not having an “adult” figure in his life and growing up really poor has something do to with it. I don’t think he learned the right values as a child. I don’t know how my mother and I can trust him again. I don’t know if he’s ever stole from me…but? I had plans to marry him and I don’t know if this means I should break up with him or stay with him and get him help. I should talk to him about it ,make him apologize to my mother and give him an ultimatum of fixing it or I’ll leave him. I ‘m not sure what to do and I’m devastated..its all I think about. I’m going to confront him soon. I think this is the first time he’s actually been caught.
This is my comment to Cale…
Cale, this is all a choice! You choose to become this! You can’t honestly believe people when they call you names. People bring other people done in order to make themselves feel better, not becuase what they’re saying is actually true. You need to have more pride in yourself. You’ve got talents, you’ve got a purpose and you’ve got so much potential to be whatever the heck you want! The only person who can stop you and bring you down is YOU! No one else. Being addicted to stealing and drugs is a choice! You can’t blame it on someone else, they never made you do anything, they sure as heck could make you feel like crap, but in the end it’s your choice to be happy or not. If you’re happy being a miserable idiot then you go on and keep gettin arrested, but if you want to face up to reality and know that you’re life is how you want it to be, then you’ll stand up for yourself. You’ll fess up to the crap you’ve pulled, you’ll take responsiblity for your actions and YOU’LL CHANGE! I know changeing is hard!!! That’s the definition of Change, but it’s so so so worth it in the end. Cale, I’m only 17, I havn’t been through half the crap that you have. But I do know that you can do this, you can choose to be happy! You can turn your life around and you can become the person you really are! Drop the act, and stand up and be a MAN!
Now as a comment for the stealing, I’m a staff writer for a newspaper called the Forkaster, and I’m writing an article on theft. These thoughts have all been very illuminating! It’s good to have honest people who can think for themselves.
Cale, thanks for being honest. You can do this, I know you can, and now you’re probubley thinking that i’m just some stupid girl who dosn’t know anything about you or whatever, and that’s true, but you know you. I believe you can do this! Just stop. I know that there are people who love you and only want to best for you. Take comfort in that and it’s time to stop complaining and it’s time to start again. You can do it.
Believe it or not, with love, Christina
Yo, Here’s a straight answer. People steal cause, they can’t afford to pay for the things they want, and the things they need at the same time. They know they are gonna face consiquences if they get caught, but usually people don’t steal if they kno they’ll get caught. Y’heard?
Well I think alot of you have a little right. PLEASE GO ON AND READ MY STORY!!! I’ve been stealing since I was 12 years old and am now 19. I first got arrested when I was 12, and my dad was going to spank me with a belt but by the time he was to my room I had called my mom and told her and said dad was going to spank me and gave him the phone she told him not to and he didnt although he was pissed. Maybe if he took something of mine I might not steal nowadays maybe something like my tv or the sheets and comforter to my bed. but I dont know it didnt happen. I have been arrested 7 times since the age of twelve and have been on probation 3 times and am currently on probation. I also started smoking marijuana and cigarettes and drinking alcohol when I was 12. I am a middle kid, not a lot of attention or money in my family, and I was always called “dumby, retard, idiot, stupid f&*k, fat a$$, and much more.” Seriously I love to steal and do not know why! Any time I go to a store I wont leave without stealing, I may buy something that I want and also steal something. sometimes I fill a whole cart with groceries to the top and walk out the door at my local wal-mart (that was when I had my own apartment last year – I also did not pay any rent legitimately I would steal “Rapala” fishing lures from Gander mountain and i’m talking buckets full over 2,000 lures and would sell them on ebay in lots of 100-200 and get $300-$600 cash for them. I made over $10,000 off of stealing the past year and have nothng top show for it but a shitty car, a 42″ HDTV, a Playstation 3, a Xbox 360, a nintendo wii, and a $1,500 engagement ring for my girlfriend. I could have payed off my $5,000 worth of tickets easily but I decided to get what I want and buy drugs. I am now sober and have been since I got out of jail in june- I went to jail for stealing and was there for a month on warrants I figured shit I am a month sober and it will be easier if I just dont do it when I get out so there is one thing I am proud of. being sober from weed and alcohol for 7 months, although I still smoke cigarettes and steal whenever I leave the house. I dont know what to do or how to stop stealing but maybe I will have stronger will power in the future to stop stealing and then move on to the Cancerous Cigarettes. Thank you for reading and Merry Christmas. LOOK UP MY MYSPACE IF YOU LIKE AND JUST SEARCH THE NAME “CALE” I AM FROM WISCONSIN AND THERE CANT BE TO MANY CALES IN THE WORLD.
I can’t believe it. I got caught stealing today in the department store. i’ve been stealing for over 3 years now. All over the place- Mervyn’s, Macy’s, the Gap… and I never got caught until now.
I know it’s wrong. The act of stealing. It doesn’t feel good at all. There’s nothing natural about it. I come out every time with a load of clothes and jewerly in my bag, knowing that I did something wrong- and ironically, still going to fellowship and church and calling myself a freaking Christian. I mean, I am 18 now. I could get into huge trouble for doing something like this. Everytime, I keep on telling myself that it’ll be the last time. But I know it won’t be. The urge is just so strong.
I don’t know why I couldn’t stop it. Perhaps it was the yearning of thinking that if i had the right stuff, I would be more accepted, more popular. But everytime I did it, it made me feel even more depressed. Knowing that I sinned. I keep telling myself that I’m a bad person. It lowered my self-esteem. I know I hurt people, I know I was hurting myself.
When I got back home today, I searched for “why do people steal,” on the internet, thinking I could go in depth with learning how to deal with my addiction, yes- addiction.
I swear I need to go into rehab for stealing. I just never realized that materialistic things won’t make you feel any better about yourself. It won’t make you feel more complete. Moreover, it shatters you, because everytime you do it, you lose a piece of yourself.
This all is so psychological. Is there something that I don’t have control over in my mind, that some other people do? I just need to keep on looking for an answer. In the mean time- I just need to keep on telling myself that stealing insn’t the answer. That I can’t go on like this. I need to stop. Stop. STOP.
Different people steal different things for different reasons.
Some people steal from their lovers or friends, or shoplift meaningless crap from stores frequently, it is my opinion this is mostly a psychological disorder (lack of self-control or passive-aggression or underlying distress or whatever).
Professional thieves steal what can be sold, to sell it, for money, that’s why — usually they are part of a ring or gang or at least “connected” enough to move stolen goods. It’s more of a total criminal lifestyle than an individual compulsion.
And some people just find stealing fun — the thrill of “getting away” with something, subverting the oppressive corporate regime, something for nothing, pure adrenaline, whatever.
Likewise some thieves are kleptos, some are opportunists, and some are armed robbers.
Lack of empathy, underlying psychological dissatisfaction, and lack of legitimate means to material success are all frequent, but not necessarily required, elements in stealing.
About a month ago I got caught shoplifting in Claire’s with one of my best friends. I always knew that it was wrong but I kept doing it. I felt like if I stole something that I would feel better about myself but I really just felt worse.
I know now that it is a sin and I shouldnt do it. I just hope that everybody that I know will learn from my leason and stop if they are doing it, because even if you think you can get away with it someone will always catch you.
you are headed nowhere fast with this person you love ‘so so much’. wise up and get rid of him and move on.
someone i know has stolen money from someone else. they are both very close to me. both of them have jobs and earn enough to pay for their life. this person has always had a problem with stealing…like an impulse. last summer this person had alot of money stolen from them…from a family member. we all thought that person had learned but it turns out that that person didn’t. just putting in my word.
I had my boyfriend steal almost 3k from me! I don’t know why people steal. If he needed the money or my attention, he could have done it another way. He said he did it on purpose to hurt me, cause I talked about money all the time. (Bills) I pressed charges against him, that was really hard for me and he is doing time for it in prision right now. He did it with my ATM and by writting a fradulent check. I had his baby a few months ago and I am torn between working it out with him (family reasons) or moving on without him? Any advise?