Hoarding | “This is going to be a bad feeling” – Sami, in his thirties, pinches himself every week, and he is not proud of it

In a person I think he has the right to steal food if he can't afford food due to poverty or cuts in social benefits.

This is what one person who responded to HS's shoplifting survey says.

HS news last week about a phenomenon that has led to the restriction of the opening hours of self-service cash registers in one grocery store. Also from other stores was toldthat abuses have increased.

HS publishes the answers anonymously due to the sensitivity of the topic. The identity of all those who submitted or interviewed answers used in the story is known to the editor.

Only few admitted to pinching themselves. The majority who admitted doing so said they were students.

For one respondent, snacking was a way to get more versatile and varied food, which the student budget would otherwise not stretch to: extra fruit, parmesan or whipped porridge.

I'm a student and I can admit that I've pinched myself from time to time. Always and only food, and only when I see no other option. It's embarrassing to ask parents or friends for food money, so in my own eyes it's a lesser evil to pick up something small from a big supermarket.

The respondents who indulged in tinkering saw that large companies were able to offset the losses caused by tinkering with the margin obtained from the products sold.

Thirty The same is one of the HS survey respondents who regularly steals from the store. Sami says that he gets caught up on a shopping trip every week, but not on every shopping trip.

“It might be diapers, bread toppings or, for example, oat drink. Usually, it's about products that a family with children can't do without,” says Sami, who lives as a part-time parent of two children.

Sami is working, but partly due to the family situation, the work consists of part-time jobs and various gigs.

Pinching has been a way to fix the budget for the past year. Sami does not see the economic situation getting any easier in the near future. For example, at the turn of the year, Sami, who lives in a rented apartment in the city of Helsinki, will see an even higher housing cost.

“I'm doing this out of necessity. I don't enjoy going to the store if I have to take something away,” says Sami.

Principally Sami, who steals through self-service cash registers, has never been caught. The consequences are worrying, but Sami doesn't see that he has any options.

“I'm not proud of this and it doesn't feel pleasant to be pinched. It affects the conscience”, Sami describes.

Sami finds the position of sellers problematic. He tries to change the stores he steals from.

“I think about the merchants, but at the same time I also think about the government and, for example, my landlord Heka. I don't think that anyone steals willingly, and instead of the actions of individual people, we should look at stealing from the perspective of the social situation,” says Sami.

He believes that, for example, the savings made from social security will be reflected in a decrease in well-being and an increase in pinching. It also affects how other people relate to low-income people, Sami believes.

“I would rather buy the product myself and not get excited. This gives me a bad feeling,” says Sami.

Nearly all the respondents had witnessed the dishonest behavior of other customers: eating fried products in the store before checkout, adding products to the bag after weighing.

Many saw self-service checkouts as the root cause of the problem. They were seen to enable easy tapping, and a few respondents saw self-service checkouts as a way for merchants to save on costs.

I've never stolen from an ATM before, not even as a child. From the beginning, I have been of the opinion that when cashier work is outsourced to the customer, there should also be a discount.

One respondent said that he himself made the mistake of scanning the same product twice and therefore accidentally paid more. Another respondent saw that the salesperson's job changed from customer service to pleasing customers with self-service cash registers.

However, the vast majority of over a hundred respondents had never pinched themselves.