Panman
I agree that there is a case that food that would ordinarily go to waste is not costing the company money and I also would say that choosing such a comparitively weak issue of surplus food the whole exercise has been counter productive.
Looking at the wider issue where is the line drawn? E.g. We have a rather unseemly rooting amongst the trolleys and ovens for unused food, then how about opening a carton of orange juice to go with it? Or taking some teabags to make a cup of tea, oh, and we need some milk for the tea. A paper to read would be good too.
Impossible to police.
It would have been a fairly easy task to reprimand any number of ground staff leaving the aircraft armed with milk, teabags, cups etc. For that matter search any crew leaving an aircraft and see what you find especially downroute.
The perception is that it is only a teabag or carton of milk but multiply that across the airline and 365 days per year it is a significant loss through theft.
As usual we have the traditional management style of going of half cocked and hitting somebody hard for a relatively minor offence and we now suffer the inevitable backlash.
Shame the management haven't heard of communication and education alongside Captains, FOs and CSDs setting a good example.
Ever wondered why your choice of newspaper isn't available in Club? Well on a 767 probably at least 12 newspapers have been taken by the crew.
Before anybody asks I usually buy my own on the way in or find a used one during the turnaround. I have stopped taking one off the aircraft as there is a strong rumour that the barcode can identify a paper as one of BAs. My job is worth more than 55p.