Why do they steal fruit and not candy or cheese?

Have you asked them? I wouldn’t steal the fruit, so I can’t imagine the justification going on there.

Maybe stealing fruit is less of a crime in those people’s eyes because they’ve become desensitized to the idea while plucking apple’s from a neighbour’s tree? There’s a weird grey area around fruit still on the tree in many (otherwise upstanding) citizens’ ethics.

It’s crazy! But yes, I did mention it in the thread. (It’s a long one.) Maybe I’ll address people individually. I have a feeling the excuse is that fruit is “healthy” therefore OK to steal….
Some of the excuses are “It stops my kid from screaming.”
“Do you know how much they throw out?”
“They won’t even know it’s gone.”

The most stolen Item in the world is a surprise. At 4% of the total made.

Some stores now have a open door policy that if shopping with toddlers etc they may give the child fruit of their choice to munch on while parents shop thereby giving the other shoppers relief from screaming kids.
What worries me though is the fruit washed and or wax taken off before giving to the kids?

I don’t have as much time to observe what other people are doing as you seem to. I’m generally going about my own business unless someone needs my help.

@janbb
Obviously you have not experienced temper tantrums in a store?
Sometimes kids throw themselves on the floor in your path or anyone’s path.

I always let my kids have a banana while I shopped. I gave the peels to the cashier, along with the bunch I was buying and asked her to just break off two and weigh them a second time to make up for what the kids ate. There was never a problem. There were times I would buy a bag of mini individual wrapped candies and let them have a few. Never a problem. The problem would be with adults eating fruits and not paying for them at all. That is plain stealing. I watched a man open a carton of jumbo eggs and a carton of small eggs and exchange the smalls ones for the large ones. I just thought…..it would really suck to be him.

While I understand what you are getting at in the question, I have to take the opportunity to say…
I despise people who steal.

@janbb I didn’t start the thread. Someone else did. But I have seen it too. Someone on the thread said he bought some peanut butter, got it home. When he opened the it protective seal was gone and there was a big groove through the peanut butter like someone had swiped their finger across it.
He returned it, and the gal said it happens all the time.
I just wonder what is wrong with people.

@Inspired_2write If it’s food you need to stop a temper tantrum, then you need to bring food into the store with you, not steal the store’s food, especially if you have no intention of paying for it.

@josie So do I, and people are coming up with the damndest excuses as to why they do it.
“Well other stores have free fruit the offer to the kids!” Well, go to those other stores then.
“I need to steal food so my kid will stop screaming.” Well, bring your own food in.
“They’re just going to throw it out!” Well, wait until they’re ready to throw it out.

@MollyMcGuire most fruits are sold by weight. If they’ve eaten the fruit they can’t weigh it to charge them.
You say you’d buy a bag of small candy…that’s cool, because all you have to do is give them the empty bag and they can still scan the bar code. Unlike fruit.

Little pieces of fruit have no wrapper, no evidence they have been eaten. And, the grocers sometimes allow a freebee or two to entice a sale and some who take advantage of those freebees REALLY take advantage of the grocers! (You know, “Give them and inch and they’ll take a mile.”)

@Inspired_2write My comment was a response to the OP, not to anything you said. I would have used the @ if it were.

@Dutchess_III I buy ten bananas; the cashier can weigh them and then take off two and weigh them again and come within pennies. That’s completely within the capability of even the modern supermarket cashier. No one has ever thought to sweat it….........except you.

And, I repeat, I am not the one who started the thread. I’m only one of about 20 people who are on it. Roughly half of us think it’s wrong, period, unless the store has actually offered you free fruit. The other half come up with the kinds of justification that you did, @MollyMcGuire. There were other justifications, such as other stores offer free fruit, so this one should too, even if they don’t.

As the conversation progressed I started to wondered why it was always fruit that they stole, and not candy or chips. As @kritiper pointed out, having actually answered the question instead of going into a Fluther emotional breakdown, it’s easy to get rid of the evidence.

Um, @dutchess_III, you were the OP so doesn’t that mean you started the thread?

You really tend to think the worst of everyone, don’t you, @Dutchess_III? I have, more than once, given an upset toddler a piece of fruit, then told the cashier about it, they estimate, and I pay. It’s not stealing if you pay for it. It is a not unusual thing. And to answer your Q as written, we do fruit because it is better for the kids, and because of the fructose, satisfies a hunger pang pretty quickly.

How we judge others often reflects how we, ourselves, behave.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-the-questions/201410/10-reasons-stop-judging-people

Did I say I was the OP? Let me check. No. I don’t think I did. The OP was a guy who had noticed the stealing from his local grocery store and he started the debate. He and I were on the same page. It’s wrong, it’s stealing, unless it is offered to you.

That sure looks like you up there at the top.

@Dutchess_III is referring to the thread on Facebook, not the one on Fluther.

Oh, bullshit, @Dutchess_III. Is this why you eat at MacDonalds? Because you pay before you eat? You don’t want to do it, don’t do it, but pushing your narrow views on every one else is obnoxious. I have actually asked, in regions where I’ve lived, what the policies are. The managers I’ve talked to have (every one of them) said, “oh, that’s fine, just tell the cashier.”

Something is not wrong simply because you say it is. <eyeroll>

[Mod says] Please remember to disagree without being disagreeable.

Oh, sorry. I meant the original question was asked on Facebook, but not by me. There were a LOT of comments and somewhere in the middle I just wondered why it’s almost always fruit and not other stuff.

Here is the original question from FB. It has over 300 responses:
Am I just too old fashioned or being a Boy scout? I just saw 4 different people eating fruit in Dillons without paying for it. Is this the new “Normal?” That’s stealing where I come from!”

http://www.abc12.com/content/news/Children-get-free-fruit-to-snack-on-while-parents-shop-at-Spartan-Stores-478799283.html
Here is one store of many that are encouraging kids eat healthy food while parent shop.
This fruit is displayed as such so no misunderstandings.

That’s cool, if they’re offering it @Inspired_2write. From my understanding, the store in question did NOT offer free food to the kids. The parents were just grazing along in the produce section.

I was eating grapes at the store 35 years ago.

I actually emailed my mom and asked her the justification. She said it was to shut me the fuck up.

So maybe you should be grapefull that parents are keeping the kids mouths full so you don’t hear them screaming about how they will die if they don’t get Doritos.

They should bring their own food, from home, into the store.

@Dutchess_III
“Take Coal to Newcastle”
They’re going to buy food at the store.
Like bringing a sandwich to the McDonald’s drive thru because it takes so long.

Um. No. A grocery store is not a restaurant.

That’s a good point though. Why not grab a loaf of specialty bread, go to the deli and get some freshly sliced turkey, grab some cheese and mayo, and make the kids a sandwich so they don’t starve while you’re shopping. You have a physical record of how much everything costs and you can pay for on when you check out.
But no…they’re going to steal the fruit. Why the fruit? Why not things they can actually pay for?

It’s usually just a banana, a few grapes, a few cherries. They throw away much more than that every day. In some cases it’s not that the kid is really hungry, it just gives them something to do besides scream while at the store.

@chyna, good point. And I actually answered the Q that @Dutchess_III wrote. maybe if she read it, she wouldn’t keep asking.

I’m really surprised at your answer @chyna. If small things started showing up at your house, and it turned out your kid was swiping small, inconsequential things from other people’s houses, could they get by with “What’s the big deal? They’re just _______.” ?

@Dutchess_III Don’t you think we’ve done this question to death by now? We get that you think it’s a big deal and others don’t. Is this why Rick is hard of hearing?

Well, apparently some want to keep talking about it, @janbb, because they keep responding. And you disappoint me when you lower your self to insults, just because others are doing it.

Hahaha…today a grape in a grocery store, tomorrow Grand Theft Auto!!! :-D