Are you allowed to eat something in the supermarket before you’ve paid for it?
I regularly see it happening: people walking around the supermarket while already eating or drinking, even though they haven’t paid for the product yet. A bottle of water, for example, or a bag of crisps. By now, it doesn’t really surprise me anymore, but… Is this actually allowed?
AD looked into it and spoke to Jan Pieter Verkennis from the Juridisch Loket, who did know the answer.
Eating in the supermarket before paying
Verkennis explains: ‘If you’re hungry in a shop and don’t want to take any risks at all, first pay properly for the grape, slice of bread or biscuit. If you’re suddenly overcome by hunger, ask an employee whether you may have a bite before paying. Do remember that if it’s a product that needs to be weighed, you should weigh it first before eating any of it.’
It’s not quite so black and white
That sounds logical in itself, although I don’t think many people actually approach a supermarket employee beforehand to ask for permission. So you should do that; otherwise, you could potentially be committing an offence. ‘If you don’t ask for and receive permission first, whether you’re committing an offence depends on the circumstances of the case. There’s also the question of whether, as a customer, you want to let things get to the point where the police are called,’ says Verkennis. But he adds the most important point at the end: ‘Many supermarkets also have house rules, and you could potentially run into problems because of those.’
There’s nothing in the house rules
I investigated, but the house rules of the major well-known supermarkets contain nothing about this. Inconvenient. Fortunately, AD called both Albert Heijn and Jumbo. And what turns out? Neither of them considers it a problem, provided it concerns small products and you naturally pay for them afterwards. So you’re not supposed to start cutting into a Red Velvet cake in the shop, but a banana should be fine (just weigh it first).
And one more thing about that banana… If you eat it (or one from a bunch) and only weigh and pay for it afterwards, you are officially stealing and could get into trouble.
Also read:
- 10 supermarket irritations: is yours on the list too?
- 10x affordable supermarket favourites
- 10 things supermarket customers find really annoying about checkout staff
Source: AD.nl
