As of: March 14, 2024, 3:28 p.m
By: Elisa Buhrke
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Shopping with your own bag or reading newspapers and then not buying?
A TikToker shows in her video how customers in the supermarket can even commit a criminal offense.
Stuttgart - Laura Simon likes to drink half the bottle in the supermarket.
Even if she then of course buys them, that is actually not allowed, she explains to her community in a TikTok video.
“Who tries it first haha,” responds one user with amusement.
In fact, her tips also include a few things that everyone has probably done secretly or as a matter of course.
For this article, BW24 researched what you should stay away from in the supermarket in the future.
1. Test products before purchasing
Whether deodorant or shampoo: Especially when it comes to hygiene products, customers prefer to know in advance whether they like the smell.
In fact, a trial sample is even allowed – as long as the packaging can be resealable properly and nothing leaks out.
But as soon as you damage the closure, for example by removing an adhesive strip, or remove some of its contents - for example by spraying deodorant - you are obliged to buy it.
A sniff of a shampoo, for example, is permitted as long as the packaging can be resealable properly and nothing leaks out.
(Symbolic photo) © IMAGO / Panthermedia
The same applies to leafing through newspapers: Although the store management certainly doesn't like it, customers only have to purchase the goods when they leave visible signs of wear and tear, such as creases.
2. Shop with your own bag
No more baskets?
However, it could still be seen as attempted theft if customers use their own bags in the supermarket.
Since the staff cannot see what is inside and whether you actually put everything on the checkout conveyor, you are not allowed to use your backpack or jute bag for shopping.
“I won’t get a shopping cart for 5 things,” writes a user under Laura’s TikTok video.
Maybe she should do it in the future.
3. Panic buy
Who remembers the days when you looked in vain for toilet paper and flour in the supermarket?
In order to avoid empty shelves, customers should actually only buy in normal household quantities.
However, there is no set rule as to how many products this actually corresponds to.
The consumer advice center considers five packs of butter or 100 oranges to be “normal for household use”.
How much you are allowed to buy ultimately depends on the individual rules of the supermarket.
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4. Touch things - and then don't buy them
Customers are allowed to check fruit and vegetables for bruises and as long as the goods are tightly packed or washable, they are allowed to put them back on the shelf.
However, this rule does not apply to baked goods such as bread, which are usually only available for sale for one day.
For hygiene reasons, customers must buy these as soon as they touch them.
5. Snack in the store
Try to see if the fresh strawberries even taste good?
Or crack open a bottle before you get thirsty?
“Grapes and stuff,” says TikToker Laura.
This is not allowed because as long as the goods have not passed the checkout, they officially belong to the supermarket.
The staff certainly shows goodwill here too: one user writes that she makes an exception for drinking bottles if her “daughter is extremely thirsty and/or it is very warm outside.” Anyone who has children of their own will probably forgive her.
6. Exchange goods
If you have purchased too much food or if you don't like a product, you have no general right to return it.
Unlike clothing or technology, goods cannot simply be exchanged in the supermarket.
Unless there are clear defects on the product such as pressure marks or mold or the best-before date had already expired when purchased, as was the case with this branch in Heilbronn, as bw24.de reported.
7. Keep lost money
Rejoiced too soon: coins or bills lying around on the floor officially belong to the supermarket.
If customers find these, they must hand them over to the operator from a legal perspective.
Otherwise they will be liable to prosecution.
8. Take the shopping cart with you
Actually, this rule should be clear.
But occasionally shopping carts can be found in rivers or house entrances.
Of course, these are owned by the branches and may not be stolen.
But a TikTok user knows the tricks here too: “When I go to the shopping cart, I let the cashier know,” she writes, “I’m a regular customer and I live one street away.” A little bit of vitamin B definitely helps here.
9. Pay with excess change
Sometimes the cashier is even happy about the extra change.
Nevertheless, customers should not overdo it if they want to get rid of their coins at the checkout: According to the ergo.de insurance company, up to 50 coins per purchase are legally permitted.
In individual cases it could also happen that a store accepts even less.
Editor's note
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Many readers were particularly interested in it.
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10. Put damaged goods back
If goods fall down or are otherwise damaged, customers have to pay for it, explains Laura Simon in her second TikTok video.
Since her first supermarket video was apparently well received, she created a follow-up.
However, this only applies to the amount that a supermarket had to spend to purchase the product, not the one advertised.
But here too, many customers could be lucky.
“Things that break don’t have to be bought,” contradicts a user who says she works as a saleswoman herself in the TikTok post.
“A supermarket is insured for that.” Many customers could be lucky here too.