With grocery prices up 25% since the beginning of the pandemic, Americans have found themselves making some serious sacrifices and putting off paying for necessities, such as rent or other bills, to afford groceries.
If you're literally shoplifting to get enough food, it shouldn't be too hard. Food staples are not especially closely guarded (the way electronics and whatnot are) and they're cheap enough that loss prevention people aren't going to focus too hard on it.
If I were in a food-precarious situation I would just make a habit of grabbing a chunk of extra food any time I'm buying food. Leave it in the cart or your own bag or whatever and if you get caught by Paul Blart well then you just forgot to ring up that one, no big deal.
I'd look up what amount of theft (in $ amount) constitutes a felony and then be careful to never steal more than that from one store, not even over a period of months or years. Cause those wannabe piggies will be more than happy to let you cross that line and then get the cops involved
Pretty sure $1000 is the line where it becomes a felony. Walmart has been known to keep track of theft and wait until they have enough evidence to bust you for a felony. "If we hit them with a felony, they go to prison and they can't steal anymore," is the justification. Really, they just don't see us as humans.
It was Target that was well known for doing this, tracking shoplifters and waiting until someone could get arrested for a felony when a minimum amount of dollar worth was stolen. I never did, but from my understanding, Target was the place shoplifters knew not to shoplift as it was and likely still is extremely aggressive this way and more likely to break the law itself by detaining you against your will (which in the US is technically not legal but that doesn't always stop them from doing it, especially if they think you don't know that). Walmart on the other hand, was actually surprisingly hands-off and one of the easiest of those kinds of stores to steal from, I was told. It's possible this has changed in the last couple years that I haven't kept up, but well into "post"-covid times, if you were shoplifting from one of the big box stores like that, a good bet was Walmart while Target was regarded as the hard-ass goon-hiring bastards and hence the one to avoid.
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EDIT: Removing a bunch of stuff I'm not 100% sure is wise to leave up
I will note here, that while these are among the laws you should know about and use to your full potential benefit, it doesn't mean that the stores necessarily will, know them or follow them. Regular grocery stores, from everything I know, really don't give a shit. The method I described above works so well because even if someone does eye what you're doing and get suspicious, it will be underpaid retail workers and grocery baggers that almost certainly don't care or are even glad to see that kind of thing happening. BUT other kinds of stores are not necessarily like that. Part of why Target was so bad is because they were known for not caring that they themselves and their thugs were the ones breaking the law. A time could be coming when even grocery stores start getting more like this, and there are probably ones that already do. It can't hurt to test out the situation on something light. A single bottle of shampoo. Get a feel for the store. Items do matter. Don't steal the alcohol. THIS is watched heavily in large part because of minors who frequently try to steal it for obvious reasons. I knew someone else who often stole from grocery stores literally by walking in, taking shit and walking out. None of this trying to look legit shit. He was shockingly successful until he tried doing it with liquor. That ended his shoplifting career. At least from grocery stores. In that town. For a little while.
I hope this has been a helpful comment.
Mods: If any of this shouldn't be here, I get it, no hard feelings if it's deleted. I'll also gladly be the creator who removes it if that's better.
You can probably only do that like once or twice before they post your picture everywhere and somebody bans you from the store (at which point they can bring the cops next time and have you arrested, talking US law here) but damn that looks satisfying lmao
In the music video? Yeah, that's not going to last for anyone, lol. But for what I was talking about above, I know people who have been doing that at the same stores weekly since covid began and have never had a single issue besides an evil eye stare.
Oh yeah definitely, more subtle food theft is no problem for the most part. Especially keeping in mind the thing you quoted about detention. Legally, nobody is allowed to keep you from leaving a store except, like, literally a cop if there happens to be one around. I've never intentionally shoplifted and I still just walk past receipt/bag checkers. Usually they don't even bother saying anything, if they do I just say "no thanks" and keep walking. It's my shit, not theirs, they got no right to rifle through it. And they can't prove that the same doesn't apply to you, unless you give them permission
Used to be one of those Paul Blart Mall Farts (it was either do a security guard course for indigenous guards or lose my Centrelink benefits). Back in the days before they put in sensor gates at the entries and exits, you could pretty much head straight back out the front and nobody could stop you. All we did was write down descriptions in a log that I'm fairly sure nobody read.
A few months before I quit, Coles got rid of us guards because they realised we barely actually did anything to stop people taking stuff. CCTV and facial recognition pretty much replaced guards.
(For the record, I'm very much a "If you've seen someone stealing, no you didn't" kinda guy now. Last straw for me at that job was when they wanted me to do a course for an army base gate guard. Fuck the troops.)
hey, nothing inherently wrong with being security. retail security sucks ass though since it's mostly looking for petty theft and then snitching. a lot of security is almost literally "i sit here and do nothing and then you pay me" which is kinda a sweet deal
Yeah, I currently work security at a casino. I have very few qualms with kicking people out, because it's not a healthy environment for the homeless to be at. It's a place full of addicts and chances are if they manage to get their hands on some money, it'll go straight to the tribe. We get pretty lax with kicking people out during the winter though, and will typically only do so if they're consistently causing problems or are actively barred already.
That's what concert security was like, except I was also hitting a dab pen the whole time and pretending not to see people's drugs in bag check. Man, what a great pre-covid gig
If you're literally shoplifting to get enough food, it shouldn't be too hard. Food staples are not especially closely guarded (the way electronics and whatnot are) and they're cheap enough that loss prevention people aren't going to focus too hard on it.
If I were in a food-precarious situation I would just make a habit of grabbing a chunk of extra food any time I'm buying food. Leave it in the cart or your own bag or whatever and if you get caught by Paul Blart well then you just forgot to ring up that one, no big deal.
I'd look up what amount of theft (in $ amount) constitutes a felony and then be careful to never steal more than that from one store, not even over a period of months or years. Cause those wannabe piggies will be more than happy to let you cross that line and then get the cops involved
Pretty sure $1000 is the line where it becomes a felony. Walmart has been known to keep track of theft and wait until they have enough evidence to bust you for a felony. "If we hit them with a felony, they go to prison and they can't steal anymore," is the justification. Really, they just don't see us as humans.
It was Target that was well known for doing this, tracking shoplifters and waiting until someone could get arrested for a felony when a minimum amount of dollar worth was stolen. I never did, but from my understanding, Target was the place shoplifters knew not to shoplift as it was and likely still is extremely aggressive this way and more likely to break the law itself by detaining you against your will (which in the US is technically not legal but that doesn't always stop them from doing it, especially if they think you don't know that). Walmart on the other hand, was actually surprisingly hands-off and one of the easiest of those kinds of stores to steal from, I was told. It's possible this has changed in the last couple years that I haven't kept up, but well into "post"-covid times, if you were shoplifting from one of the big box stores like that, a good bet was Walmart while Target was regarded as the hard-ass goon-hiring bastards and hence the one to avoid.
-- EDIT: Removing a bunch of stuff I'm not 100% sure is wise to leave up
I will note here, that while these are among the laws you should know about and use to your full potential benefit, it doesn't mean that the stores necessarily will, know them or follow them. Regular grocery stores, from everything I know, really don't give a shit. The method I described above works so well because even if someone does eye what you're doing and get suspicious, it will be underpaid retail workers and grocery baggers that almost certainly don't care or are even glad to see that kind of thing happening. BUT other kinds of stores are not necessarily like that. Part of why Target was so bad is because they were known for not caring that they themselves and their thugs were the ones breaking the law. A time could be coming when even grocery stores start getting more like this, and there are probably ones that already do. It can't hurt to test out the situation on something light. A single bottle of shampoo. Get a feel for the store. Items do matter. Don't steal the alcohol. THIS is watched heavily in large part because of minors who frequently try to steal it for obvious reasons. I knew someone else who often stole from grocery stores literally by walking in, taking shit and walking out. None of this trying to look legit shit. He was shockingly successful until he tried doing it with liquor. That ended his shoplifting career. At least from grocery stores. In that town. For a little while.
I hope this has been a helpful comment.
Mods: If any of this shouldn't be here, I get it, no hard feelings if it's deleted. I'll also gladly be the creator who removes it if that's better.
Fuck it, just do what these guys do:
Do your bit, Rob the Supermarket
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wqUJ0go5Pww
https://piped.yt/watch?v=wqUJ0go5Pww
You can probably only do that like once or twice before they post your picture everywhere and somebody bans you from the store (at which point they can bring the cops next time and have you arrested, talking US law here) but damn that looks satisfying lmao
In the music video? Yeah, that's not going to last for anyone, lol. But for what I was talking about above, I know people who have been doing that at the same stores weekly since covid began and have never had a single issue besides an evil eye stare.
Oh yeah definitely, more subtle food theft is no problem for the most part. Especially keeping in mind the thing you quoted about detention. Legally, nobody is allowed to keep you from leaving a store except, like, literally a cop if there happens to be one around. I've never intentionally shoplifted and I still just walk past receipt/bag checkers. Usually they don't even bother saying anything, if they do I just say "no thanks" and keep walking. It's my shit, not theirs, they got no right to rifle through it. And they can't prove that the same doesn't apply to you, unless you give them permission
Good shit, thanks for the advice
I think the Walmart felony thing is definitely true. They'll wait and then have a detective visit you when you cross that 1000 mark.
Used to be one of those Paul Blart Mall Farts (it was either do a security guard course for indigenous guards or lose my Centrelink benefits). Back in the days before they put in sensor gates at the entries and exits, you could pretty much head straight back out the front and nobody could stop you. All we did was write down descriptions in a log that I'm fairly sure nobody read.
A few months before I quit, Coles got rid of us guards because they realised we barely actually did anything to stop people taking stuff. CCTV and facial recognition pretty much replaced guards.
(For the record, I'm very much a "If you've seen someone stealing, no you didn't" kinda guy now. Last straw for me at that job was when they wanted me to do a course for an army base gate guard. Fuck the troops.)
hey, nothing inherently wrong with being security. retail security sucks ass though since it's mostly looking for petty theft and then snitching. a lot of security is almost literally "i sit here and do nothing and then you pay me" which is kinda a sweet deal
Yeah, I currently work security at a casino. I have very few qualms with kicking people out, because it's not a healthy environment for the homeless to be at. It's a place full of addicts and chances are if they manage to get their hands on some money, it'll go straight to the tribe. We get pretty lax with kicking people out during the winter though, and will typically only do so if they're consistently causing problems or are actively barred already.
That's what concert security was like, except I was also hitting a dab pen the whole time and pretending not to see people's drugs in bag check. Man, what a great pre-covid gig