Middle-class shoppers who have been hit by the recession are stealing hundreds of millions of pounds of expensive food in an effort to maintain their high standard of living, according to a new survey.

Quality cuts of meat, fresh fish and high-priced cheeses are being taken by mostly middle-class women from specialty food and convenience shops, where thefts have risen sharply in the past year. Thousands of retailers have found that luxury foods are being stolen for individual use rather than to be sold on.

The information comes from more than 42,000 shops in Europe with combined sales of £262 billion, who were questioned by the Centre for Retail Research, an independent organization, for Checkpoint Systems, the retail security specialists.

COMMENTS

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2 responses to “We are all criminals”

1. Sean Norris says:

   11/13/2009 at 11:03 am

   I totally have a clepto streak in me. The most disgusting example is the fact that back in my freshman year of high school I stole a guitar strap, but it wasn't just any guitar strap. It is red with a graphic of the cross on it. Talk about irony! I still use it today. In fact, I wear it whenever I lead worship music in church. It reminds me all the time (in more ways than one) that I need His cross desperately.

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2. Jeff Hual says:

   11/13/2009 at 2:42 pm

   Wow, Sean. Really, Wow.

   Thanks for pointing this out John. Human nature at the very core. Not stealing because we're hungry, but stealing to maintain the lifestyle we're accustomed to, or feel we're entitled to.

   "We are all beggars."

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