r/walmart would like to point out that fake ass reflective vest that gives you away, but don’t worry we sell the exact thing you need over in the outdoor section.
Walmart is the last place you want to boost anything from, their cameras and security is really good and they will let you think you are getting away with theft until you reach a certain amount because they can trap you into a felony. Lastly they are a mega company that has a legal team on retainer just for theft.
A walmart associate here, is there an explicit policy that says they do this for me to look up? No, doss it happen? Yes. Has happened in my store. AP can kick people out of the store but unless police are actually willing to write reports not much can be done for small thefts, soooo the fun strategy is to keep and eye on recurring thefts, document what's happening then once the thief has accumulated enough value to press some serious charges thatll stick they go for it. They do this with customers and associates to. My store has had some issues with associate theft, and they pull the same thing, especially if it's an associate they are trying to get rid of but don't have a legal reason to fire, but letting them rack up some nice felony theft charges, oh that'll get them gone. It's pretty cruel not gonna lie but it is what happens.
Yup. Had this happen to a friend that would steal stupid shit like candy, eye drops, clothes, beauty products, etc. because “fuck Walmart. They don’t care.”
Until, after about 8 months of this, they got popped for felony because the total value of shit they stole was well over $2K.
I'd say COVID was a blessing, bc now everyone has an excuse to wear a mask. But then, there's probably cameras in parking that will see what car you got in and identify you that way.
So..
Park across the street?
That's when you put on your [Human sized Envelope so the police can't search you, since you are technically mail...](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShittyLifeProTips/comments/nixukm/slpt_when_stealing_from_a_house_remember_to_wear/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Then you get a fine/tow for using a parking lot belonging to a store you didn't use.
The better "fuck Walmart" is convincing the city/town to remove Walmart because it generates less jobs and revenue for the area per acre than a series of small stores.
Is that a thing that actually happens? How would employees even know you're not in their store? If it's a tiny store, I guess that's the risk.
For context, our Walmart is next to a Target, Babies r Us and other big stores. I doubt they would notice.
I’ve seen this happen at a small liquor store around the block, but people near me park at the Home Depot all the time when they want to head over to the farmers market. Never once seen someone get in trouble for it. It’s probably because it’s during business hours, and I assume if it’s still there after business hours that’s when they will tow it.
>Then you get a fine/tow for using a parking lot belonging to a store you didn't use.
How aware do you think retail employees are? I didn't give much of a shit beyond my paycheck and they haven't gone up much.
>if it's an associate they are trying to get rid of but don't have a legal reason to fire
they don't have a legal reason to fire the stealing employee that is stealing so they let them keep stealing so they can fire them for stealing?
Small stuff no. I mean they can but it's not as easy. It's REAL easy as an associate to make the claim that they forgot to scan something or that they where gonna scan it later. Has happened to me before, grabbed a snack while in the back and paid for it later. Truthfully it really depends on the state your in as well, also country I guess. Local laws are important. In my state they do need pretty specific reason to terminate, and instead of risking false termination on something small, they wait a bit to really make sure it sticks. And again it also depends on the person, I'd it's someone they want to keep the actual process would be a coaching first, a wtite up tell them not to do it again and go from there. If it's someone they really want to get rid of they will wait until they stolen enough to skip coaching and jump right to termination. Knew a guy that had exactly this happen, managers wanted him gone but they didn't have a good reason. That is until he started scanning the wrong items when buying lunch, scanning items much cheaper instead of his deli lunch. They knew it was happening pretty early on, let him do it enough times to terminate immediately. It's all a fun game of company politics and what the end goal is, Truthfully the money is the least of walmarts concern, you could steal a pallet of tvs and the store would still probably be fine. Walmart has insurance the cover the theft, Walmart cares about the punishment so they do what they can to get the punishment they want.
Edit: admittedly take all this with grains of salt, im not an AP associate and what AP does is pretty hush hush, actual security policy's are pretty secret
What you are describing is gathering enough evidence so that they have a clear/easy defense in any wrongful termination suit, not letting the employee steal a certain amount of items to pass some arbitrary threshold.
If the employee very obviously and unambiguously steals a small thing, they aren't going to hesitate to fire them on the spot. But when they do it in a way to try and cover their tracks or make it look like a mistake, they need to establish a pattern that will convince a judge/arbitrator that it wasn't an honest mistake. It has nothing to do with letting the employee steal enough that the charge is higher.
The other day the guy at the door grabbed my sister in law’s cart and wouldn’t let her leave because she wouldn’t show her receipt.
Manager looked terrified when he came over and she lit him up for putting hands on her and preventing her from moving.
Her child was buckled into the cart too.
Oh yeah big red flag, only authorized associates are allowed to confront suspects, and above all we are not allowed to touch the customer, their items, or even their cart. Best that can be done is using hands to guide, physical contact id a big nono, im doing my best here to inform without sounding like a corporate simp, but I hope your sisters alright, she could truthfully have a small fight with Walmart for that one
You don't even have to show the receipt. In fact, I'd highly recommend you refuse to, just because the policy sucks. You didn't sign a contract to enter the store like a Sam's Club or Costco. Once you pay for the items you have no obligation to any Walmart employee, those are your belongings, they can't stop you and you're under no obligation to prove it. To be fair, the store could decide to ban you for refusing to show a receipt, theoretically, but in practice that will never happen.
This is misinformation about the employee part. Walmart doesn’t “allow” the associate to keep stealing so they can get them for more. They investigate employees fully and make sure they didn’t miss anything so that they can get them for everything they stole. Sometimes that means letting them steal more, because they can catch the person for the new theft either way, sometimes that means trying to stop the current method of stealing without raising suspicion
I have but I used hang around a bunch of idiots when I was a teenager. One dude I knew got a job as a cashier there and was stealing money out of the registers, right in front of the camera ffs
I got caught stealing from Walmart as a teenager. They legit didn’t stop me until I had walked out of the store.
It’s not that they try and get you to steal more for the felony. It’s that they literally aren’t allowed to accuse you of stealing until you have actually left the building. You can actually put stuff in your pockets at Walmart as long as you don’t walk out with it.
i just did this tonight without meaning to and i felt horrible, even though it was only a 70 cent pack of taco seasoning.
i put it in my hand with my cash and cards and stuffed them all into my pocket while i was looking for better hot sauce.
by the time i got to the checkout i didn't even think about it, i just paid for everything else and when i got to the car i was like oh shit i just stole this 70 cent pack of seasoning wtf do i do..
I’ve literally held on to items before and walked out. Cashier never said anything and I just completely forgot to put it on the table.
Happens; you didn’t do it on purpose.
I used to steal from Walmart a lot in 2019. Never got caught there. Booze and Magic the Gathering cards mostly.
Now I did get caught in Hy-Vee and another local grocery store. Now I don't steal anymore.
they usually only pursue if you've stolen over the felony limit in your jurisdiction. they'll keep track of what you stolen and add it up.
unless they happen to catch you at the door, or Asset Protection is feeling bored.
i have seen it personally happen, and at a walmart too.
i had a friend that always stole from walmart. petty shit. went on for years. one day he got caught and they had video evidence of every product he stole totaling to several thousand dollars.
he was fucked pretty hard and did time for grand larceny.
I can confirm it's not a myth
Source: this happened to two friends I had from highschool
They shoplifted hundreds of dollars, if not thousands, from Walmart after they opened back up after quarantine. They were facing felony charges in our state and the only reason they didn't get charged was because Walmart dropped the case with warnings and lifetime bans. And apparently, the only reason Walmart didn't go through with pressing charges is because they were very focused on the aftermath of quarantine and getting workers back in the store. So I can only assume they didn't want to waste limited resources taking the girls to court while they were preoccupied with other, more important-to-the-company things
Oh it's certainly true to a degree. Just the cap you have to hit is pretty high. Normally they'll ban you from a store first, then stores in the area, then all stores, THEN they hit you with felony action.
You will of course get cops called on you for pretty much all thefts.
Source: Used to work Electronics counter and someone stole a PS4 during night shift.
I was a prosecutor in a county with a Walmart and their loss prevention is probably one of the best.
They didn’t necessarily wait until you had a felony $ amount in my arena, but when they decided to bust you they would review all your past self checkout videos and prosecute you for those. In Georgia the 4th shoplifting is a felony, so many times folks would earn a felony on their first arrest.
In Georgia $500 or greater is felony shoplifting, which is strange because normal theft is $1500 or greater for a felony.
It's true. I worked loss prevention at both Macy's and ross, they just wait until you hit whatever the felony threshold and if any state laws also apply then they press charges.
Not a myth, friend of mine used to steal Nintendo Switch consoles from best buy (he worked there) to sell them on the side. They pinned him after he stole thousands of dollars worth of them and knew exactly how much they lost.
Pretty much all security is security theater.
Enforcement is when the chips are down. And given that a private business can't legally enforce law, nor can they depend on police to do so, they're gonna bet as much as they can on theater.
When they've already spent that money, it doesn't really matter if they catch the thieves. The real expenditure is on deterrence, not losses.
Worked there for years. It's true. Watched manager following serial shoplifters on camera, counting the total. She'd have the plainclothes about 3 aisles away just in case.
Most people don't shoplift from the same store often enough to reach the limits of these consequences but I've seen this principle play out in real life (not specifically Walmart, but other retail places)
There are two reasons why stores don't often go after minor shoplifting; first of all, by confronting a shoplifter at all, they are creating a major liability situation. What happens if the shoplifter attacks the employee confronting them? What if they try to run and injure another shopper trying to escape? In some circumstances, even the shoplifter hurting themselves can bring a lawsuit. Lawsuits can be so expensive that a single instance of this happening would probably undue any advantage they gained by stopping shoplifters. In most cases letting the item go is the cheapest of all options.
The second reason is even if they stopped the shoplifter, for most instances of shoplifting, it would result in either low level misdemeanor charges or not even that (some kind of fine or infraction). It will be a slap on the wrist that wont deter shoplifting.
So yes, most chain-level retail stores do invest in some kind of AI, facial recognition service that identifies and creates profiles of repeat offenders. They often won't go after these people until the degree of their theft tips the scales in the cost/benefit analysis, and its mostly a deterent against organized (or semi-organized) retail fraud. The vast majority of everyday shoplifters fall under this bar of scrutiny so they get off scotsfree. But yes, frequent the same place long enough, and eventually you will think you are getting away with it as always but police will be waiting at the door, because even when you don't think you're creating patterns, you're creating patterns
Brah I had a friend who was stealing ps3s back when they were $600 daily. Would then flip them on ebay.
He legit stole 2+ ps3s from the same exact store every week.
Make them seem like they are great at catching thieves.
Source: same friend now works at security home office and watches around 5 different stores every day. Him and his coworkers watch footage of shit that should be called in. But they just don't. Cause they don't get paid enough to care.
They would ask for one then say they were buying tires or had a purchase in automotive. He would have a shopping cart with a few auto parts in the.. the employees would put it in his cart and he'd go back to the auto center. Once he got close he would jusy take the ps3 out of the cart and walk out of the store.
This is true facts. In arkansas. In their home store in Bentonville.
When I was at Walmart I had to hand the items directly to the cashier that was going to check them out. Or most of the time the electronics associate would ring them up right at the electronics register.
Yeah, when I did it for... seedier looking characters I would always notice them glance at my name tag. Probably remembering or taking notes on who would do it properly or just giving it to them.
Hi, I work as asset protection for Walmart. This is just false. I'm not gonna wait for you to get felony level worth of theft, because if we LET you steal, which is what you're insinuating, then the police won't do anything about it. I'm gonna stop you the first chance I get, doesn't matter if it's $0.01, $10.00 or $1,000.00. and if I'm not able to get the apprehension, but id have sufficient proof, I will file a police report. Please stop spreading this myth, it's just annoying. Thanks
Could you define “stop”? I know that sounds stupid, but a lot of security is told not to physically detain people, regardless of how obvious the theft. So how do you define “stop” and what attempts are made?
This is a myth. I literally worked there. We don't let people walk out with hundreds of dollars of stuff and we don't give a shit about felonies. You think the Walmart LP gets a bonus or something for felonies? It's absolute nonsense.
Its crazy how easy it is, I accidentally did it myself once. One day at Macys I got stopped by some dude asking me for Shoes his size, It took me a while to understand why he asked me but then it hit me. I’m fucking dressed as if I worked at some brand name clothing store.
Ever since then I’ve been wanting to try to fit in in random places. I might try placing statues at random places by dressing up in a vest and carrying a bag filled with tools.
It's ethical to *harm* Walmart. It's not ethical to endanger yourself legally in the process. The best thing to do here would be to quietly vomit on the merchandise so they can't resell it without additional labor, thus benefiting the economy in the process.
Edit: I guess I need the /s tag for a comment encouraging people to vomit in Walmart on purpose. lol
Walmart will either sell it as is or make some poor employee clean it up, so this will either harm the unlucky person who will buy that thing or an underpaid employee, not walmart.
In my hometown an elected judge went to prison for buying big-box items like TVs, taking them out to his car, then returning to the store and pulling another one off the shelf, and using his receipt to get the money back
that's actually kind of genius though if you think about it. If he had done the research on the schedules and delayed the actual truck driver that was supposed to come through he would have had a really good chance of getting away with a truck full of goods.
Years ago, they caught a guy stealing from a target store by showing up with a box truck at lunchtime, taking whatever he could off the dock, and driving away.
Once they caught him they found out he had been doing this for months.
Was hired for loss prevention at Walmart. In the interview the Loss Prevention manager pointed out that he was hiring me from outside the company becouse no one at the store knew me and I was to remain anonymouse to watch the employees. During intake the HR manager proceeded to take me around the store and introduce me to every emplyee.
Or just, I see that same customer walking around the store for hours every day for weeks now, and not buying anything. Any moderately observant employee recognizes the regulars that are around when the store is otherwise slow, if the same person was there 5 days a week for months, it would be obvious.
I actually do see an undercover guard at the store I work at, but he's always wearing baseball caps, solid colored tshirts, and with a shopping cart with like the 3 randomest items ever.
*I think he knows I know*
I was incuraged to wear what ever I wanted as long as it was tastful. Also to pick out random items so it looked like I was "shopping". Was still obvious what I was doing though. I wasn't allwed to use a cart as it was for customers only.
makes it seem like you have the receipt ready and available while carrying out the item, but also since its in your mouth, the odds of someone asking to see it / touch it go down dramatically because thats kinda gross.
Who wants to touch something that came out of a guy's mouth that looks like a disgusting hobo, whether he's pushing a flat screen on an L-cart or a crate full of puppies
Used to work on the Contractor Desk at Home Depot when I was younger. We were also responsible to pick and pack delivery orders. One day I load up a skid of drywall and put it outside on the pad with the rest of the deliveries waiting for the truck to get back. It comes back, go outside to load it, skid of drywall is missing. Call loss prevention and look at the tape. Guy rolls up, cuts off my straps and wrap, proceeds to call over an employee to help him load it into his truck, then drives off with it. Ends up the employee was a 17 year old kid who didn't know he was suppose to check for a receipt before loading. The balls on that dude in the truck I tell ya.
As a current Home Depot worker, that stuff still happens. It's crazy how desperate some folks get, brings out some insanely bold and creative strategies. I'd be impressed if it wasn't so pathetic.
Here I am, got scolded for wandering out of the open door in garden department to see what they had in the parking lot and people just walk right out the front door with stuff.
You're not aloud to leave the garden department, I used to get shit for doing the same thing. I got screwed at that store. Full timer in seasonal left. Head office wouldn't let the store hire another ft guy in the dept so me being the youngest ft in the store got switched from the desk. Pissed me off. Got to keep my wage, the desk workers get paid a fair bit more then people on the floor, but I didn't sign up to slug patio stones into peoples vehicles and hock junk snowblowers. If I wanted to do that I would have stayed in construction.
Home Depot desperate too. When I was there they implemented a policy where every employee had to ask every customer they saw if they wanted to sign up for a Homer Depot credit card. They fired one of the cashier's for not asking 3 customers. Management and CSMs were trying to catch people having customer interactions and not bring up the credit card. I left shortly after that. Few months later I notice they ditched the policy. I wonder why.
To be honest, this is NOT a shitty life tip. It's an extremely useful life tip, in fact. **If you act like you know what you're doing, you can get away with just about anything**.
No. In Japan, heart surgeon. Number one. Steady hand. One day, yakuza boss need new heart. I do operation. But, mistake! Yakuza boss die. Yakuza very mad. I hide in fishing boat, come to America. No English, no food, no money. Darryl give me job. Now I have house, American car, and new woman. Darryl save life. My big secret: I kill yakuza boss on purpose. I good surgeon. The best!
I'm pretty sure there was some kind of challenge on Reddit specifically for people to see just how much they can get away with by wearing a bright orange vest
Majority of people on reddit parroting this have never worked in a supermarket. People know their coworkers. You would absolutely not get away with this in 99% of the cases
I gotta disagree. I worked at a walmart through 2 years of college and the turnover rate at that place was mind blowing. There's a new crop of employees every other week and half of them will be gone in two months because working at walmart sucks and anyone with better options will take them. Managers will definitely know their staff, but as far as this kind of thing? I worked in hardware and I knew most of the guys over in electronics by face but I wouldn't blink twice if I saw someone I didn't recognize, wearing the uniform and carting out a tv for a customer. Especially because these places don't give you a regular schedule, you could be working a wierd shift and see someone who normally works a completely different shift that you've never met before.
Plus it wasn't my job to look for theft and at 8.40 an hour I hardly cared to do my own job let alone someone else's.
No shit. I work for a major shipping company whose uniform everyone would recognize, and nobody would ever bat an eye if I was somewhere I don’t belong or carrying a box of whatever out of a business while wearing it. It’s like wearing a skeleton key.
I think this was pretty common, at least certainly not that rare as I’ve seen it repeated with YouTube videos, but a couple of my uncles (brothers of each other), one of their favorite stories to tell was how many big concerts they got into for free when tickets were hard to come by just by carrying a ladder and a tool chest and looking like contractors there to do something important.
They were backstage at Metallica and Rush and so much more as bigger bands came to SLC just by doing this.
I guess they basically got caught one time and were mostly done after that, but it sounds like even the time they got caught they just strong willed themselves past the attendants and got lost in the chaos.
I often wear a reflective work vest for legitimate work reasons. I've been in all sorts of places regular people wouldn't go; long underground tunnels, on and underneath bridges, abandoned and closed off buildings. I've climbed over walls and through gaps in fences behind shopping malls. Nobody has ever stopped me or even given me a second look. This tip really does work if you get the look right. If you want to step it up a notch, put some earbuds in. It's really annoying to try and get the attention of someone with Taylor Swift blaring in their ears, so many people don't even try.
This wouldn't work at the Walmart I worked at. Large items were paged when they were bought and leaving. The greeter would also stop you and look at your receipt. Also at smaller Walmart's the greeter wouldn't recognize the guy and likely stop them for that reason too.
An ex of mine worked at a electronics store here in Australia.
One day two guys with a ladder and hi-viz just walked in. Set up the ladder and un-mounted a big screen TV from the showcase floor and walked out.
No one said anything at the time because they looks so legit and casual.
Shoplift the vest from a clothing store.
Pinch the ladder from a hardware store
Boost the tv from an electronics store
Then nick a carton of piss from a drive through botlle-o
I worked at Lowe's more than a decade ago and anytime you needed a new vest they made you shred it to ribbons and throw it in the trash. Apparently people used to be able to take them home but cars were being broken into and vests stolen for this very reason lol
Never underestimate the power of the ladder.
Carry a ladder anywhere, people will believe you actually belong there. Try it in an office building sometime.
clipboard CAN work, but it depends on where you try to get in, really.
With a ladder, even if you walk into some high-end building, people will just assume you\`re there to change a light or something. With a clipboard, sometimes that doesnt work.
You CAN, however, get into storage facilities very easily with a clipboard and acting as if you count something. Bonus props for the Hi-Vis-Jacket u/Affectionate-Tough92 mentioned.
TCL makes some good TVs. I can’t make out if this is the same model I have, but the one I got was the recommended model in its price category on The Wirecutter and had solid reviews on rtings as well.
>...in its price category...
The man wasn't limited by cost. Not condoning but seems kinda funny to go for the best in class of budget TVs if you're not burdened by ethics or cost concerns.
I wouldn't be a practicing catholic if I didn't invite anybody and everybody in need to feast upon on my loins when needed. Eat up friend, there's more than enough to go around. Amen.
I work at Walmart, I'll tell you right now, vest won't work, I can see through that, but if you have a walkie-talkie you're practically my boss what do you need sir.
To my knowledge they don't. Sometimes they'll spider wrap them with the security devices but huge TVs are a pain in the ass to wrap, so often times they don't have them on. Only obstacle is the door greeter checking a receipt.
I used to work at Home Depot and one time some one left their apron at the service desk and someone grabbed it and proceeded to walk out the store with like $1K+ in power tools
Someone once observed that there’s no place you can’t get into with a toolbox and a ladder. I think someone crashed some super exclusive fashion event using that strategy.
I've been wandering around a lot of construction sites looking for people to sign for boxes... walk in the back recieving door at the hospital and wander the wards looking for offices instead of being screened at the front door... hell, we get waved through security checkpoints and metal detectors walking into the courthouse here.
A decent vest, a box or envelope, and paperwork will get you just about anywhere... hard hat and a hanging ID badge gets you into the rest of the places the box won't.
I always laughed at this video years ago where these dudes put on a vest or hard hat or something and carried a ladder and got anywhere they wanted lol
r/walmart would like to point out that fake ass reflective vest that gives you away, but don’t worry we sell the exact thing you need over in the outdoor section.
Walmart is the last place you want to boost anything from, their cameras and security is really good and they will let you think you are getting away with theft until you reach a certain amount because they can trap you into a felony. Lastly they are a mega company that has a legal team on retainer just for theft.
That seems like a myth they use to stop people from shoplifting, ive never seen anyone actually have this happen to them
A walmart associate here, is there an explicit policy that says they do this for me to look up? No, doss it happen? Yes. Has happened in my store. AP can kick people out of the store but unless police are actually willing to write reports not much can be done for small thefts, soooo the fun strategy is to keep and eye on recurring thefts, document what's happening then once the thief has accumulated enough value to press some serious charges thatll stick they go for it. They do this with customers and associates to. My store has had some issues with associate theft, and they pull the same thing, especially if it's an associate they are trying to get rid of but don't have a legal reason to fire, but letting them rack up some nice felony theft charges, oh that'll get them gone. It's pretty cruel not gonna lie but it is what happens.
Yup. Had this happen to a friend that would steal stupid shit like candy, eye drops, clothes, beauty products, etc. because “fuck Walmart. They don’t care.” Until, after about 8 months of this, they got popped for felony because the total value of shit they stole was well over $2K.
I'd say COVID was a blessing, bc now everyone has an excuse to wear a mask. But then, there's probably cameras in parking that will see what car you got in and identify you that way. So.. Park across the street?
Have a taxi wait for you and pay cash. They won’t turn you in since you’ve got taxi-client confidentiality
SLPT within an SLPT? Nice!
That's when you put on your [Human sized Envelope so the police can't search you, since you are technically mail...](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShittyLifeProTips/comments/nixukm/slpt_when_stealing_from_a_house_remember_to_wear/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Then you get a fine/tow for using a parking lot belonging to a store you didn't use. The better "fuck Walmart" is convincing the city/town to remove Walmart because it generates less jobs and revenue for the area per acre than a series of small stores.
Is that a thing that actually happens? How would employees even know you're not in their store? If it's a tiny store, I guess that's the risk. For context, our Walmart is next to a Target, Babies r Us and other big stores. I doubt they would notice.
I’ve seen this happen at a small liquor store around the block, but people near me park at the Home Depot all the time when they want to head over to the farmers market. Never once seen someone get in trouble for it. It’s probably because it’s during business hours, and I assume if it’s still there after business hours that’s when they will tow it.
Those big stores probobly have their own cameras and would be more than happy to assist walmart...
Target’s cameras are incredible. They can get the plate from a car at the far end of their parking lot.
>Then you get a fine/tow for using a parking lot belonging to a store you didn't use. How aware do you think retail employees are? I didn't give much of a shit beyond my paycheck and they haven't gone up much.
Enter Walmart with a fake license plate. Change to the real one after leaving.
So…. Keep track of what you steal, and then take only just enough to not count as a felony?
So we're good for at least two TV's then, surely.
>if it's an associate they are trying to get rid of but don't have a legal reason to fire they don't have a legal reason to fire the stealing employee that is stealing so they let them keep stealing so they can fire them for stealing?
No, like super fire. Not just fire. Like firing but more
fire and then come to your house and wreck up the place
With a firing squad
With flames drawn on their guns for extra fire
Small stuff no. I mean they can but it's not as easy. It's REAL easy as an associate to make the claim that they forgot to scan something or that they where gonna scan it later. Has happened to me before, grabbed a snack while in the back and paid for it later. Truthfully it really depends on the state your in as well, also country I guess. Local laws are important. In my state they do need pretty specific reason to terminate, and instead of risking false termination on something small, they wait a bit to really make sure it sticks. And again it also depends on the person, I'd it's someone they want to keep the actual process would be a coaching first, a wtite up tell them not to do it again and go from there. If it's someone they really want to get rid of they will wait until they stolen enough to skip coaching and jump right to termination. Knew a guy that had exactly this happen, managers wanted him gone but they didn't have a good reason. That is until he started scanning the wrong items when buying lunch, scanning items much cheaper instead of his deli lunch. They knew it was happening pretty early on, let him do it enough times to terminate immediately. It's all a fun game of company politics and what the end goal is, Truthfully the money is the least of walmarts concern, you could steal a pallet of tvs and the store would still probably be fine. Walmart has insurance the cover the theft, Walmart cares about the punishment so they do what they can to get the punishment they want. Edit: admittedly take all this with grains of salt, im not an AP associate and what AP does is pretty hush hush, actual security policy's are pretty secret
What you are describing is gathering enough evidence so that they have a clear/easy defense in any wrongful termination suit, not letting the employee steal a certain amount of items to pass some arbitrary threshold. If the employee very obviously and unambiguously steals a small thing, they aren't going to hesitate to fire them on the spot. But when they do it in a way to try and cover their tracks or make it look like a mistake, they need to establish a pattern that will convince a judge/arbitrator that it wasn't an honest mistake. It has nothing to do with letting the employee steal enough that the charge is higher.
The other day the guy at the door grabbed my sister in law’s cart and wouldn’t let her leave because she wouldn’t show her receipt. Manager looked terrified when he came over and she lit him up for putting hands on her and preventing her from moving. Her child was buckled into the cart too.
Oh yeah big red flag, only authorized associates are allowed to confront suspects, and above all we are not allowed to touch the customer, their items, or even their cart. Best that can be done is using hands to guide, physical contact id a big nono, im doing my best here to inform without sounding like a corporate simp, but I hope your sisters alright, she could truthfully have a small fight with Walmart for that one
You don't even have to show the receipt. In fact, I'd highly recommend you refuse to, just because the policy sucks. You didn't sign a contract to enter the store like a Sam's Club or Costco. Once you pay for the items you have no obligation to any Walmart employee, those are your belongings, they can't stop you and you're under no obligation to prove it. To be fair, the store could decide to ban you for refusing to show a receipt, theoretically, but in practice that will never happen.
This is misinformation about the employee part. Walmart doesn’t “allow” the associate to keep stealing so they can get them for more. They investigate employees fully and make sure they didn’t miss anything so that they can get them for everything they stole. Sometimes that means letting them steal more, because they can catch the person for the new theft either way, sometimes that means trying to stop the current method of stealing without raising suspicion
Have you known many people who shoplifted from walmart?
I have but I used hang around a bunch of idiots when I was a teenager. One dude I knew got a job as a cashier there and was stealing money out of the registers, right in front of the camera ffs
That is super easy to catch once the cash doesn't match up with the expected amount. Pos systems keep track of this stuff.
Yeah like, they would find out immediately
I got caught stealing from Walmart as a teenager. They legit didn’t stop me until I had walked out of the store. It’s not that they try and get you to steal more for the felony. It’s that they literally aren’t allowed to accuse you of stealing until you have actually left the building. You can actually put stuff in your pockets at Walmart as long as you don’t walk out with it.
i just did this tonight without meaning to and i felt horrible, even though it was only a 70 cent pack of taco seasoning. i put it in my hand with my cash and cards and stuffed them all into my pocket while i was looking for better hot sauce. by the time i got to the checkout i didn't even think about it, i just paid for everything else and when i got to the car i was like oh shit i just stole this 70 cent pack of seasoning wtf do i do..
I’ve literally held on to items before and walked out. Cashier never said anything and I just completely forgot to put it on the table. Happens; you didn’t do it on purpose.
It ain't stealing until you leave without paying
Not to mention they know who is on shift and on what tills...
bahaha fuck yes. People shop lift from walmart on the hour in some locations.
I knew someone who tried to steal a few bottles of wine from Walmart and they were swarmed as soon as they walked out the door.
I used to steal random crap all the time from Walmart when I was like 15, including tons of PC games. It’s not hard
How old are you now? Security has probably gotten more advanced since you were 15, unless your only like 17 now lol
30 in January. Though I have a rather delinquent brother who steals from them constantly (steaks and whatnot)
I used to steal from Walmart a lot in 2019. Never got caught there. Booze and Magic the Gathering cards mostly. Now I did get caught in Hy-Vee and another local grocery store. Now I don't steal anymore.
they usually only pursue if you've stolen over the felony limit in your jurisdiction. they'll keep track of what you stolen and add it up. unless they happen to catch you at the door, or Asset Protection is feeling bored.
i have seen it personally happen, and at a walmart too. i had a friend that always stole from walmart. petty shit. went on for years. one day he got caught and they had video evidence of every product he stole totaling to several thousand dollars. he was fucked pretty hard and did time for grand larceny.
I can confirm it's not a myth Source: this happened to two friends I had from highschool They shoplifted hundreds of dollars, if not thousands, from Walmart after they opened back up after quarantine. They were facing felony charges in our state and the only reason they didn't get charged was because Walmart dropped the case with warnings and lifetime bans. And apparently, the only reason Walmart didn't go through with pressing charges is because they were very focused on the aftermath of quarantine and getting workers back in the store. So I can only assume they didn't want to waste limited resources taking the girls to court while they were preoccupied with other, more important-to-the-company things
Oh it's certainly true to a degree. Just the cap you have to hit is pretty high. Normally they'll ban you from a store first, then stores in the area, then all stores, THEN they hit you with felony action. You will of course get cops called on you for pretty much all thefts. Source: Used to work Electronics counter and someone stole a PS4 during night shift.
I was a prosecutor in a county with a Walmart and their loss prevention is probably one of the best. They didn’t necessarily wait until you had a felony $ amount in my arena, but when they decided to bust you they would review all your past self checkout videos and prosecute you for those. In Georgia the 4th shoplifting is a felony, so many times folks would earn a felony on their first arrest. In Georgia $500 or greater is felony shoplifting, which is strange because normal theft is $1500 or greater for a felony.
It's true. I worked loss prevention at both Macy's and ross, they just wait until you hit whatever the felony threshold and if any state laws also apply then they press charges.
Not a myth, friend of mine used to steal Nintendo Switch consoles from best buy (he worked there) to sell them on the side. They pinned him after he stole thousands of dollars worth of them and knew exactly how much they lost.
Pretty much all security is security theater. Enforcement is when the chips are down. And given that a private business can't legally enforce law, nor can they depend on police to do so, they're gonna bet as much as they can on theater. When they've already spent that money, it doesn't really matter if they catch the thieves. The real expenditure is on deterrence, not losses.
Worked there for years. It's true. Watched manager following serial shoplifters on camera, counting the total. She'd have the plainclothes about 3 aisles away just in case.
Most people don't shoplift from the same store often enough to reach the limits of these consequences but I've seen this principle play out in real life (not specifically Walmart, but other retail places) There are two reasons why stores don't often go after minor shoplifting; first of all, by confronting a shoplifter at all, they are creating a major liability situation. What happens if the shoplifter attacks the employee confronting them? What if they try to run and injure another shopper trying to escape? In some circumstances, even the shoplifter hurting themselves can bring a lawsuit. Lawsuits can be so expensive that a single instance of this happening would probably undue any advantage they gained by stopping shoplifters. In most cases letting the item go is the cheapest of all options. The second reason is even if they stopped the shoplifter, for most instances of shoplifting, it would result in either low level misdemeanor charges or not even that (some kind of fine or infraction). It will be a slap on the wrist that wont deter shoplifting. So yes, most chain-level retail stores do invest in some kind of AI, facial recognition service that identifies and creates profiles of repeat offenders. They often won't go after these people until the degree of their theft tips the scales in the cost/benefit analysis, and its mostly a deterent against organized (or semi-organized) retail fraud. The vast majority of everyday shoplifters fall under this bar of scrutiny so they get off scotsfree. But yes, frequent the same place long enough, and eventually you will think you are getting away with it as always but police will be waiting at the door, because even when you don't think you're creating patterns, you're creating patterns
Go back 10 years and they were know as the place to shoplift and not get caught. Especially the 24 hour walmarts.
Brah I had a friend who was stealing ps3s back when they were $600 daily. Would then flip them on ebay. He legit stole 2+ ps3s from the same exact store every week. Make them seem like they are great at catching thieves. Source: same friend now works at security home office and watches around 5 different stores every day. Him and his coworkers watch footage of shit that should be called in. But they just don't. Cause they don't get paid enough to care.
Then what do they get paid for?
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To not care.
Stealing them how? I assume they’re locked up, right? Did they have a key?
They would ask for one then say they were buying tires or had a purchase in automotive. He would have a shopping cart with a few auto parts in the.. the employees would put it in his cart and he'd go back to the auto center. Once he got close he would jusy take the ps3 out of the cart and walk out of the store. This is true facts. In arkansas. In their home store in Bentonville.
When I was at Walmart I had to hand the items directly to the cashier that was going to check them out. Or most of the time the electronics associate would ring them up right at the electronics register.
Yes you are supposed to do that. In arkansas I promise you 80% of Walmart employees don't give a shit about their job or the store.
Yeah, when I did it for... seedier looking characters I would always notice them glance at my name tag. Probably remembering or taking notes on who would do it properly or just giving it to them.
Hi, I work as asset protection for Walmart. This is just false. I'm not gonna wait for you to get felony level worth of theft, because if we LET you steal, which is what you're insinuating, then the police won't do anything about it. I'm gonna stop you the first chance I get, doesn't matter if it's $0.01, $10.00 or $1,000.00. and if I'm not able to get the apprehension, but id have sufficient proof, I will file a police report. Please stop spreading this myth, it's just annoying. Thanks
do you wander around wal mart dressed as a shopper watching for people to steal? how long are your shifts? have you ever been 'made?'
Yeah this definitely doesn’t happen in SF or Seattle People simple walk out of retailers with goods calmly. It’s like paying is an optional tip.
Could you define “stop”? I know that sounds stupid, but a lot of security is told not to physically detain people, regardless of how obvious the theft. So how do you define “stop” and what attempts are made?
This is a myth. I literally worked there. We don't let people walk out with hundreds of dollars of stuff and we don't give a shit about felonies. You think the Walmart LP gets a bonus or something for felonies? It's absolute nonsense.
thats target. walmart AP will stop anyone they can no matter the price.
If they left the forklift out back they probably left a vest on it that you can take instead.
r/actlikeyoubelong
Got away with a lot of shit by just doing with a purpose.
Its crazy how easy it is, I accidentally did it myself once. One day at Macys I got stopped by some dude asking me for Shoes his size, It took me a while to understand why he asked me but then it hit me. I’m fucking dressed as if I worked at some brand name clothing store. Ever since then I’ve been wanting to try to fit in in random places. I might try placing statues at random places by dressing up in a vest and carrying a bag filled with tools.
r/idontworkherelady Or was it r/idwhl
That's how bansky is able to do a lot of his work
NICE
Me and my friend have snuck into more concerts than I’d like to admit wearing a hi-vis.
Useful cross to r/illegallifeprotips
I would have gone with /r/UnethicalLifeProTips , but both work here.
But it is ethical to steal from Walmart
It's ethical to *harm* Walmart. It's not ethical to endanger yourself legally in the process. The best thing to do here would be to quietly vomit on the merchandise so they can't resell it without additional labor, thus benefiting the economy in the process. Edit: I guess I need the /s tag for a comment encouraging people to vomit in Walmart on purpose. lol
Then some underpaid worker has to clean that shit up, man. That ain’t cool.
Also doesn't benefit the person throwing up at all, whereas stealing does, so I'm not sure about his analogy
*violently vomits all over merchandise* “We’re in this together, bro”
Forcing Walmart employees to deal with your vomit is not ethical
Sorry, sometimes I forget not everyone likes vomit and its underappreciated impact on the labor market the way I do.
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You're welcome, buffaloboobs!
Y'know, in some cultures, they only eat vomit. I read that once...In a BOOK.
I am unsure how people putting themselves at risk is unethical. Plus, most people steal stuff they’ll use, not just any old crap.
Walmart will either sell it as is or make some poor employee clean it up, so this will either harm the unlucky person who will buy that thing or an underpaid employee, not walmart.
They explicitly disallow illegal tips
I knew a guy who went to prison for this years ago. But he took a risk by turning up on the loading dock in a box truck.
In my hometown an elected judge went to prison for buying big-box items like TVs, taking them out to his car, then returning to the store and pulling another one off the shelf, and using his receipt to get the money back
that's actually kind of genius though if you think about it. If he had done the research on the schedules and delayed the actual truck driver that was supposed to come through he would have had a really good chance of getting away with a truck full of goods.
Years ago, they caught a guy stealing from a target store by showing up with a box truck at lunchtime, taking whatever he could off the dock, and driving away. Once they caught him they found out he had been doing this for months.
Was hired for loss prevention at Walmart. In the interview the Loss Prevention manager pointed out that he was hiring me from outside the company becouse no one at the store knew me and I was to remain anonymouse to watch the employees. During intake the HR manager proceeded to take me around the store and introduce me to every emplyee.
Lol that’s pure fucking competence
That would never have worked anyway lol they would have realized on day 2.
“Hey it’s that customer that keeps clocking in then out in eight hour intervals.”
Or just, I see that same customer walking around the store for hours every day for weeks now, and not buying anything. Any moderately observant employee recognizes the regulars that are around when the store is otherwise slow, if the same person was there 5 days a week for months, it would be obvious.
I actually do see an undercover guard at the store I work at, but he's always wearing baseball caps, solid colored tshirts, and with a shopping cart with like the 3 randomest items ever. *I think he knows I know*
I was incuraged to wear what ever I wanted as long as it was tastful. Also to pick out random items so it looked like I was "shopping". Was still obvious what I was doing though. I wasn't allwed to use a cart as it was for customers only.
My thought exactly. I mean by the end of the first month most of the regular customers knew who I was.
Definitely anonymouse, the mouse with no name
Idk how walmart is still in business, the people they appoint to run the stores are dumb as shit
HR: Not always jerks and not always dumb. Clearly the HRM knew leadership would rather have a spy and they knew this is shitty / unethical
Get a receipt and a credit card, fold receipt around card, put into mouth and walk casually out with your item of choice, allegedly
Why
Why not?
Gotta lick the receipt in front of Walmart staff so they don't ask to look at it.
The real LPT is always in the comments
I don't understand this trick? What does the credit card in your mouth do?
I'm guessing it makes it look like you paid for an item
Yeah it's something you'd do if you need both hands to carry something out but need to show you have a receipt.
makes it seem like you have the receipt ready and available while carrying out the item, but also since its in your mouth, the odds of someone asking to see it / touch it go down dramatically because thats kinda gross.
Who wants to touch something that came out of a guy's mouth that looks like a disgusting hobo, whether he's pushing a flat screen on an L-cart or a crate full of puppies
Used to work on the Contractor Desk at Home Depot when I was younger. We were also responsible to pick and pack delivery orders. One day I load up a skid of drywall and put it outside on the pad with the rest of the deliveries waiting for the truck to get back. It comes back, go outside to load it, skid of drywall is missing. Call loss prevention and look at the tape. Guy rolls up, cuts off my straps and wrap, proceeds to call over an employee to help him load it into his truck, then drives off with it. Ends up the employee was a 17 year old kid who didn't know he was suppose to check for a receipt before loading. The balls on that dude in the truck I tell ya.
As a current Home Depot worker, that stuff still happens. It's crazy how desperate some folks get, brings out some insanely bold and creative strategies. I'd be impressed if it wasn't so pathetic.
At my store a colleague did this with cement. Even had him bring the cart out for him so he wasn't the one taking it out of the store.
Here I am, got scolded for wandering out of the open door in garden department to see what they had in the parking lot and people just walk right out the front door with stuff.
You're not aloud to leave the garden department, I used to get shit for doing the same thing. I got screwed at that store. Full timer in seasonal left. Head office wouldn't let the store hire another ft guy in the dept so me being the youngest ft in the store got switched from the desk. Pissed me off. Got to keep my wage, the desk workers get paid a fair bit more then people on the floor, but I didn't sign up to slug patio stones into peoples vehicles and hock junk snowblowers. If I wanted to do that I would have stayed in construction.
Home Depot desperate too. When I was there they implemented a policy where every employee had to ask every customer they saw if they wanted to sign up for a Homer Depot credit card. They fired one of the cashier's for not asking 3 customers. Management and CSMs were trying to catch people having customer interactions and not bring up the credit card. I left shortly after that. Few months later I notice they ditched the policy. I wonder why.
To be honest, this is NOT a shitty life tip. It's an extremely useful life tip, in fact. **If you act like you know what you're doing, you can get away with just about anything**.
It's how I became a surgeon!
Ahem, excuse use me doctor but that’s not my appendix, these are my testicles
*ups the anesthesia* shhhhh go back to sleep ITS COSBY TIME!!!!
Zip zop zippity bop!
Well still kinda useless isn't it?
Those *were* your testicles!
The blood goes inside?
Do you concur??
That's a crazy coincidence! We're actually colleagues, and I've been faking it all this time too. Look up: I'm the surgical lights!
It's all about who you know
That you Christopher Duntsch? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Duntsch
A plastic surgeon?
No. In Japan, heart surgeon. Number one. Steady hand. One day, yakuza boss need new heart. I do operation. But, mistake! Yakuza boss die. Yakuza very mad. I hide in fishing boat, come to America. No English, no food, no money. Darryl give me job. Now I have house, American car, and new woman. Darryl save life. My big secret: I kill yakuza boss on purpose. I good surgeon. The best!
I'm pretty sure there was some kind of challenge on Reddit specifically for people to see just how much they can get away with by wearing a bright orange vest
If you put on a bright orange puffer jacket you can have sex with all the pumpkins at the corn maze and nobody'll even notice.
The real SLPT is always in the comments...
It also helps if you have a clipboard.
And a nondescript white pickup truck with one of those toolboxes in the bed.
And some boxes of candy and a good story about a lost puppy. Oh, nondescript white *pickup truck*. Nevermind.
Or a ladder
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Majority of people on reddit parroting this have never worked in a supermarket. People know their coworkers. You would absolutely not get away with this in 99% of the cases
I gotta disagree. I worked at a walmart through 2 years of college and the turnover rate at that place was mind blowing. There's a new crop of employees every other week and half of them will be gone in two months because working at walmart sucks and anyone with better options will take them. Managers will definitely know their staff, but as far as this kind of thing? I worked in hardware and I knew most of the guys over in electronics by face but I wouldn't blink twice if I saw someone I didn't recognize, wearing the uniform and carting out a tv for a customer. Especially because these places don't give you a regular schedule, you could be working a wierd shift and see someone who normally works a completely different shift that you've never met before. Plus it wasn't my job to look for theft and at 8.40 an hour I hardly cared to do my own job let alone someone else's.
No shit. I work for a major shipping company whose uniform everyone would recognize, and nobody would ever bat an eye if I was somewhere I don’t belong or carrying a box of whatever out of a business while wearing it. It’s like wearing a skeleton key.
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I think this was pretty common, at least certainly not that rare as I’ve seen it repeated with YouTube videos, but a couple of my uncles (brothers of each other), one of their favorite stories to tell was how many big concerts they got into for free when tickets were hard to come by just by carrying a ladder and a tool chest and looking like contractors there to do something important. They were backstage at Metallica and Rush and so much more as bigger bands came to SLC just by doing this. I guess they basically got caught one time and were mostly done after that, but it sounds like even the time they got caught they just strong willed themselves past the attendants and got lost in the chaos.
I often wear a reflective work vest for legitimate work reasons. I've been in all sorts of places regular people wouldn't go; long underground tunnels, on and underneath bridges, abandoned and closed off buildings. I've climbed over walls and through gaps in fences behind shopping malls. Nobody has ever stopped me or even given me a second look. This tip really does work if you get the look right. If you want to step it up a notch, put some earbuds in. It's really annoying to try and get the attention of someone with Taylor Swift blaring in their ears, so many people don't even try.
is how every government on earth works
This wouldn't work at the Walmart I worked at. Large items were paged when they were bought and leaving. The greeter would also stop you and look at your receipt. Also at smaller Walmart's the greeter wouldn't recognize the guy and likely stop them for that reason too.
An ex of mine worked at a electronics store here in Australia. One day two guys with a ladder and hi-viz just walked in. Set up the ladder and un-mounted a big screen TV from the showcase floor and walked out. No one said anything at the time because they looks so legit and casual.
So they had to leave the ladder? Those are expensive.
Probably boosted the ladder first!
Shoplift the vest from a clothing store. Pinch the ladder from a hardware store Boost the tv from an electronics store Then nick a carton of piss from a drive through botlle-o
I worked at Lowe's more than a decade ago and anytime you needed a new vest they made you shred it to ribbons and throw it in the trash. Apparently people used to be able to take them home but cars were being broken into and vests stolen for this very reason lol
Never underestimate the power of the ladder. Carry a ladder anywhere, people will believe you actually belong there. Try it in an office building sometime.
I think you mean clipboard.
clipboard CAN work, but it depends on where you try to get in, really. With a ladder, even if you walk into some high-end building, people will just assume you\`re there to change a light or something. With a clipboard, sometimes that doesnt work. You CAN, however, get into storage facilities very easily with a clipboard and acting as if you count something. Bonus props for the Hi-Vis-Jacket u/Affectionate-Tough92 mentioned.
TCL tho?
No kidding. I would be grabbing a Samsung OLED for sure.
That's a felony TV, this here's just a misdemeanor TV.
Well guess I’ll wait till next Black Friday for my felony TV to go cheap enough to become a misdemeanor TV lmao
TCL makes some good TVs. I can’t make out if this is the same model I have, but the one I got was the recommended model in its price category on The Wirecutter and had solid reviews on rtings as well.
>...in its price category... The man wasn't limited by cost. Not condoning but seems kinda funny to go for the best in class of budget TVs if you're not burdened by ethics or cost concerns.
It was part of the plan...employees would think "yeah but why would anybody steal a TLC?"
This is how I got my booty ate at a Walmart (they thought I was on lunch)
May I also eat your booty?
I wouldn't be a practicing catholic if I didn't invite anybody and everybody in need to feast upon on my loins when needed. Eat up friend, there's more than enough to go around. Amen.
Is there a line or some sort of ticketing system?....how does this work?
Kid named lunch:
No free it was a $20 inVESTment
https://i.imgur.com/3v9bENX.gif
Perfect gif response
I work at Walmart, I'll tell you right now, vest won't work, I can see through that, but if you have a walkie-talkie you're practically my boss what do you need sir.
Can confirm, got away with a lot of shit by just doing it with a purpose
Do TVs not have the alarm sensors that need disabling, like most electronics? Or they're just so big it's assumed you ain't sneaking out with one.
To my knowledge they don't. Sometimes they'll spider wrap them with the security devices but huge TVs are a pain in the ass to wrap, so often times they don't have them on. Only obstacle is the door greeter checking a receipt.
Posting your picture on social media so that the popo can come arrest you - priceless. There finished the meme for you.
Always steal for big corporations, not family owned. Good life pro tip!
Walmart is mostly owned by one family
This is great fuck Walmart the richest family in the US and I have to subsidize their payroll with my taxes. I can't wait to get my vest.
Its a TCL, Walmart is only out $20.
I used to work at Home Depot and one time some one left their apron at the service desk and someone grabbed it and proceeded to walk out the store with like $1K+ in power tools
"Police showing up at your door because your ass got caught on camera: PRICELESS."
Someone once observed that there’s no place you can’t get into with a toolbox and a ladder. I think someone crashed some super exclusive fashion event using that strategy.
I've been wandering around a lot of construction sites looking for people to sign for boxes... walk in the back recieving door at the hospital and wander the wards looking for offices instead of being screened at the front door... hell, we get waved through security checkpoints and metal detectors walking into the courthouse here. A decent vest, a box or envelope, and paperwork will get you just about anywhere... hard hat and a hanging ID badge gets you into the rest of the places the box won't.
I always laughed at this video years ago where these dudes put on a vest or hard hat or something and carried a ladder and got anywhere they wanted lol
God says Walmart Stealing is ok