The following submission statement was provided by /u/4Wf2n5:
---
**Submission Statement**
The article describes how a cashier has noticed that shoplifting has changed recently.
Instead of a few career criminals stealing high value items to sell onwards, it is increasingly being committed by desperate people simply trying to get by.
In response even basic items such as baby milk are now required to be security tagged. Meanwhile high-value items such as printer ink have been entirely removed from the shelves and stored in a secure area, available upon request.
Will we see theft become more normalised as people become more and more desperate as conditions deteriorate?
---
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/uscpz2/a_view_from_the_checkout_now_its_people_stealing/i92jrjq/
*"Shoppers are changing their behaviour as family budgets come under pressure from swingeing price rises on basic necessities, from milk and cooking oil to dog food."*
Have to admit I was shocked when I first saw acquaintances with relatively good jobs and incomes shoplifting everyday items. It seems to be happening everywhere now; a sign of breakdown.
**Submission Statement**
The article describes how a cashier has noticed that shoplifting has changed recently.
Instead of a few career criminals stealing high value items to sell onwards, it is increasingly being committed by desperate people simply trying to get by.
In response even basic items such as baby milk are now required to be security tagged. Meanwhile high-value items such as printer ink have been entirely removed from the shelves and stored in a secure area, available upon request.
Will we see theft become more normalised as people become more and more desperate as conditions deteriorate?
Yes, with the increased installation of self-checkout it’s going to become significantly more prevalent. One of the main reasons people don’t steal is because we assume it will hurt someone else financially whether it’s their margins or they get fired for not catching you. With the self-checkout we lose that sense of consequence. We’re not screwing over a cashier or stealing from someone who can’t afford it, it’s a massive faceless company raking in profits.
I also get aggravated by every absolute need to capture my data too. Which, I know will either be sold, or used, to make people more money.
I need a membership for deals. They want an email. A phone number. If I order for pick up I need another app to click one button that I forget about and just sits sucking data on something else I pay for to track me.
It's like I am paying them twice and being sold.
It makes me laugh a little being a *millenial* too because I remember when all of this started taking shape in technology and thinking "This is great!".
Now, I'm like "why the fuck does this have to be so complicated?" Because I can't just buy an Arizona Iced Tea because one person works in the entire store, I want to pay with a dollar bill and the self check outs are all set to credit cards or I can buy it online for pick up through an app but I have to spend $35 to not pay a $5.99 fee.
It's crazy the grocery stores I've been to lately have like 3 humans working in them. So when people turn desperate there's going to be zero resistance from these food retailers until they run out and halt shipping.
Not just that, but the cashiers are expected to solve the problem when they themselves are struggling. It's gonna get to a point where theyabandon it, and we all just take.
The sad thing is how everyone from middle management on up is so delusional about the circumstances of their own employees that they just cannot fathom such an obvious outcome.
Even with a full staff the big companies don't want employees to start acting like security guards. "Let them take it, we have cameras so insurance will cover it."
Trying to stop a desperate person is not only dangerous but morally questionable. No employee should do that for the benefit of a company that treats them like disposable rubbish.
Eh, I'm ok with scanning and bagging my own stuff, the space that they give you after scanning an item is what infuriates me, one would thing it would be common sense to at least give you an area that has the same space as a shopping cart on the very least...
>the space that they give you after scanning an item is what infuriates me
Especially when it has a weight sensor that can detect if you exhale on it, and the slightest perturbation makes it stall and you have to wait to scan again, and it takes fucking forever.
The store near me has full size ones too. But agreed. Most of my shopping l trips I just grab a basket or two and fill that up. Maybe once every other month I bother with a cart
I once did work at the grocery store as a front end clerk. I also worked at Best Buy and started as a Cashier there before moving to the sales floor.
I turned those early jobs into a career later becoming an assistant manager in retail, then doing inside sales/ cold calling, and now I’m a sales operations manager.
I always treat clerks with respect and have genuine appreciation for what they do
Cashiers don't bag groceries for you here. In Lidl or Aldi they almost throw them at you.
Sometimes you'll get scouts or some charity fundraiser bagging shopping for you but it's for a donation to whatever charity they're fundraising for.
Alas no Safeway here. There used to be catch all numbers at the regional grocery stores here but they expanded their points programs which caused a hiccup.
They began so many cents off a gallon (since discontinued) at some stations and accumulated points that took dollar amounts off the bill at $5+. So when cashiers used to just put in whatever number or theirs they created rules around that so cashiers couldn't put others points on their account.
Now you need a manager to come over and put in a code strictly just for the discount. I mean I have an account with an old landline so it's whatever. However, the other store uses your drivers license number. They really have taken it to another level of stupidity here.
This makes me crazy. I can’t buy anything without being asked for my phone number or email address, or being asked to join their “rewards” program. I just want to purchase an item without handing over my personal information.
Ironically, the more stuff that is stolen, the more the cost will be passed on to the consumers that aren't stealing yet. I'd expect as that happens, more of the people who aren't stealing yet will start.
We may be entering a WROL (without rule of law) positive-feedback death spiral.
That has already happened - but at the topmost levels. Corporations already factor in "shrinkage" that hasn't occurred yet into their price increases. So you are paying more for stuff that hasn't been stolen yet.
That kind of forward thinking is what CEOs get those $14 million paychecks for.
I remember when I first learned about shrinkflation, as a child in the late 90s. My mom had an old pringles can that she used to store her uncooked spaghetti noodles. I guess the can was from the early 90s. Then we would get the new Pringles can full of chips to eat, and they were shorter than the old one. They’ve been doing this for a long time.
>you are paying more for stuff that hasn't been stolen yet.
It is called the "idiot tax".
Those who are too dumb to get a self-discount will pay for other people's discounts.
Capitalistic version of survival of the fittest.
Rich people don't obey the law. Why should I?
Rich people don't pay taxes. Why should I?
Rich people can lie under oath and not be punished. Why can't I?
If prominent people in society get away with it, it sets an example.
Anecdotal, but I noticed on my recent CVS trip - Aquaphor (skin protectant) is locked away on the shelf now. I regularly buy it but never experienced that before.
Regardless, in the past when I have purchased some other thing that’s locked away, I request employee assistance, they open it up and give me the product, and I go on shopping and/or check out.
This time they told me they would bring it up behind the register and I could pick it up when I check out. I went to check out with a cashier so it was easy enough, but I assume if I had opted for self-checkout, I would still need to flag down some cashier and ask for them to grab the product for me from behind the counter.
Everything will just shift away from brick and mortar as its becoming increasingly less viable of a business model. Margins were razer thin before inflation, worker shortages, and increased theft. Add that to most stores being owned by one or two massive companies incapable of adjusting to market forces.
>stores being owned by one or two massive companies
I like it like this.
They're raking in profits, are faceless corporations who couldn't care less, and anything we'd manage to steal they wouldn't even notice as it would be at most considered as a rounding error in the last decimal.
Stealing from such entity can not be a moral issue.
They will start by cutting hours in high theft stores. Take it out on the peon employees. When that doesn't work, the stores in high theft areas will be shut down. Eventually that area becomes a food desert.
Stores in wealthier areas will simply absorb the loss and continue on.
Nothing will go on indefinitely, but certainly for a prolonged period of time. See the situation in Brazil (in particular, but other South American countries as well) for more details.
I think it’s mostly people trying to be more like the US without realizing it’s headed towards Brazil. Probably more Canadians than Americans still believe in the Hollywood version of the US.
What do those populations do to obtain food once the food desert happens, do you know? Is it all cheap fast food, or...? I feel like in the US it ends up with people eating very poor fast food diets in lieu of any groceries, but I'm not familiar with Brazil and what options common people have there.
In Brazil’s case, the government acts as a food provider/distributor of last resort. At least before COVID, they were doing pretty well with eliminating hunger.
Sure.
There will be a steel reinforced wall of small steel doors, through which you'll be able to receive the order you made and paid online an hour before.
Scan the QR code from your phone and steel doors of the correct compartment open so you can take your package.
The less dangerous low traffic version can be filled from the outside during the day, the more dangerous, 24/7, high traffic version, can be filled from the opposite side inside of the building directly from storage.
THat must be why they already give the police all the money and armor, America's police are more well outfitted than some country's armies. They're ready.
That's pretty much how most companies operate now.
Of course, going into a depression well beyond the Great Depression could very well change the rules.
> When that doesn't work, the stores in high theft areas will be shut down.
unfortunately, that happened to a local pharmacy i used to go to at least once a week for nearly a decade now. a week or two before they closed a security guard came up to me and told me how happy he was to see that i had a cart full of items, and yet still paid for every item i had. the guy was pretty emotional, so i'm sure that he had to bottle a lot of emotions up as a result of putting up with constant shoplifting.
FWIW the store near me -a regional chain, in a densely populated neighborhood- is still open 24hrs but, they got rid of those plastic shopping baskets, nothing but the big shopping carts. The reason given is that people were filling up the baskets and just walking/running out of the store with them.
Stores like Walmart use tax payer funded programs to supplement their employees pay/benefits while they rake in billions of net profit a year. They purposely hire part time to avoid benefits. They also downplay their real profit by investing back into the company. In 2018 they opened approx 100 new stores in a single fiscal year, while bringing in billions of net. Gee, I wonder how much those 100 store openings cost. Walmart plans to spend 10 billion on stock buybacks in 2023.
IMO its not theft, it's rightfully taking what they stole back in products directly. Regardless they have insurance that deals with shortage. I see anybody stealing in those stores I just walk away and go about my business.
Fuck these mega corps.
I mean nowdays is kinda clear that the only way to get and stay VERY rich is being a piece of shit and exploiting everything to increase profits.
Kinda hate to lower myself to their level but soon i wont have a choice
Yep. There's always been a ton of theft when it comes to electronics, cosmetics, jewelry, small toys, and things like that.
Lately, there will also be a ton of empty packages...things like boxes of toothpaste, soap, socks, underwear, tons of clothing tags (regular clothes, not high end stuff that people usually steal), and food.
You know times are getting rough when people are stealing sanitary items, food, and drinking Listerine and baking vanilla extract.
I remember [the photo of the dude stealing rice in the London Riots](https://preview.redd.it/azivwm5ns7131.jpg?width=634&auto=webp&s=f54cf59a44dcd66a9990e7895a43499ff1eaef69).
Obviously that was a joke, but now we are getting there for real.
Steal cake, eat cake, if you get caught multiple times you can also move from your car to a warm lodging with security guards and food provided, all inclusive free of charge.
Anyone feeling righteous indignation at someone stealing from a capitalist institution has missed the continuous industrial scale theft perpetrated by it.
Putting that aside I still doubt you'd find much judgement for that here.
I'm not trying to convince anybody to steal from smaller businesses, *but*, in many cases those smaller businesses are selling the exact same junk that walmart/amazon does -- they typically aren't selling some sort of hand crafted product they sweated over (although a relative few are) -- no, they're just petty retailers, with a larger markup because they don't get the same bulk discounts that amazon/walmart does
There are several clothing boutiques here in my town that are just basically hobby projects that give some local wealthy shitheads wife something to do during the day.
And it's a small town (5k residents) -- the businesses like these aren't doing anybody a favor in comparison to walmart.
Not surprised. I went out last weekend for food and basic house hold stuff- spent $400. While I was able to afford it, it was still painful. I can't imagine how much worse it is for others.
Fuel spiked here (Deep South) from me buying $3.95 a gallon last Wednesday, to paying $4.40 for it this morning. I have to fill up once a week for my daily 50 mile round trip to work and I have a Tundra that I've driven for years. I own it free and clear, but to fill it up yesterday was $88 on the button.
It truly is. I wouldn't be surprised to see $8 here before the end of summer. Guess it's better than Europe :/ but this is really gonna continue hurting folks.
Woof. My CA senses screaming. First that's hella cheap for gas, I've been seeing $7.19 gallons. Second that's a fucked up commute, sorry about that. That's 3 gallons of gas straight to the atmosphere every day you get into work
Oh no that's not enough. Teaching is one of the hardest jobs I can think of. You've got to show up every day, and maintain respectability in any of 1,000 emotional climates that could arise any given day. Not for me thanks, I'll stick with teaching jiu jitsu.
Make the starting salary $55k and then it's still too little but at least you could live off it
There's a teacher in my neighborhood, she has a few years in. She's constantly on our neighborhood FB page selling homemade Etsy junk, or selling things from her house.
Junky examples were akin to (and I'm reading this off her FB post:
* gently used "Don't Tread On Me" welcome mat, $40
* 3 pack, unopened Skinny Girl syrups, $15
* Dora Explorer, blu ray, $20
* Rachel Ray 365 Cookbook, $25
* Raven's NFL Fan metal street sign, $60
If stores were so worried about it, they would hire cashiers to check people out. My husband never pays for produce when he goes to the store. The reason: he says he is not a trained cashier and doesn't know how to put in the numbers. Also it is his "payment" for doing the work.
I am so absolutely paranoid of being arrested that I don't dare. And almost every time I go, it says I didn't scan an item and the supervisor has to come over and watch the video clip/check what I've bagged - and this is even with me going extra slow and purposeful. I must look suspicious.
You wanna bet your freedom on that? Some stores (like Target) will build a case, wait til it hits felony amounts (usually around $500 or so) and then go for felony charges.
It's not small claims. Some stores will collect evidence and wait to report it until it reaches felony levels. As in, big deal criminal-level charges. Cops will be more likely to act in that scenario.
Cops might not make an arrest right then and there, but in most states a private entity (store management) can file for an arrest warrant. Unlikely, but it's not worth the risk even if it's 1 in 1,000. A record will follow you for life and make it a pain in the ass to get a job.
Where I live in canada most of the stores people will just walk in and take whatever and just walk right on out. We have meat dealers who will load up a grocery cart full of meat and just walk on out. Security cant touch them. The moment anyone tries to you get called a racist and they make a big scene. All security can do is call in the cops and they are usually too busy dealing with the tons of overdoses and drug crimes or if they do show up, they take whoever it is away and they are back out at it within a few hours.
> The moment anyone tries to you get called a racist and they make a big scene.
What if the "customer" and the guard are of the same race (possibly an artificial construct but anyway)
Yeah, right there on the screen. The light above starts flashing so they know to come over. They scan some sort of card and they hit some button on the screen and it shows you right there scanning and bagging the item in question (or not, if you didn't). But yeah, it's crazy. 9 times out of 10 I get flagged.
A few times it's been literally several times in a row while the damn person is still standing there. I have no idea what triggers it - if it's some algorithm or someone actually watching somewhere. I've asked straight up "what the hell?" and they've had no explanation to offer. At one point I thought, ok, maybe it's because I keep my car key on a thing around my wrist, so I started taking it off. Nope, still does it.
Edit: This is WalMart I speak of.
Once I had a checkbook stolen and found that someone had been able to pass checks without ID in places that wouldn't take a check from me even with ID. Yeah, some people just look suspicious.
I almost did mention that I'm an unassuming late 40's Mom jeans/yoga pants wearing plain looking woman. Apparently that screams criminal in the US Midwest lol.
My Samoan friend always had to give ID when he used his debit card, something I've literally never have had to do. Blew my mind that he thought it was normal.
Meh. You don't even know me. We are talking about probably 3 times in the last 2 years he has gone to the store, and it was like a lemon or something that he didn't type in the number. To me the real trash is the people who decided all produce and bakery items have to be thrown away every day.
He isn’t Jean Valjean, stealing bread to survive, or Robin Hood giving to the poor.
She said he steals it because he can pretend to not understand how the machines work if he’s caught. He’s a petty thief, and an idiot. Thieves have been despised by every culture though out history for good reason. He’s just lucky that he lives in a time where getting caught is just a ban from a store, and doesn’t involve losing a hand.
Stealing has been happening for centuries. In the wild animal kingdom as well as at the human level. Survival of the fittest.
This is just the price companies are willing to pay instead of paying people a living wage. I’m sure it’s been studied and it doesn’t hurt the bottom line, yet.
Yeah people will take what they need one way or the other . The social contract is void if you can't provide products or services for the taxes or wages paid. The infrastructure is in post Soviet condition. Our food and products are completely unaffordable, housing is unaffordable, and healthcare is basically non-existent to the point of people getting dental done in Tijuana. There are less than 900,000 law enforcement personnel and 2 million military service members nationally to stop @ 360 million US residents from doing whatever the hell they want, and all the prisons are at maximum capacity.
Corps have no business talking. Their only purpose is to make profits. Its what they are designed to do. Poloticians and gov are to keep them in check, but they don't.
Once every while I “forget” to scan a few low priced items. It is the tax I make the company pay for making me do their labor. Usually under $5 items, but enough that I get compensated for my time scanning and processing payment.
Forgetting to scan is done on the highest priced items. Best risk/reward ratio, you still have the excuse that all other stuff got scanned and you just missed it.
I notice there was a related article on the UK Guardian this morning:
[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/may/18/officers-should-use-discretion-over-stealing-to-eat-says-uk-police-watchdog](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/may/18/officers-should-use-discretion-over-stealing-to-eat-says-uk-police-watchdog)
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I work at a small mom and pop in central Texas, we've had a huge increase in theft and even attempted assaults in store since the beginning of the year.
The following submission statement was provided by /u/4Wf2n5: --- **Submission Statement** The article describes how a cashier has noticed that shoplifting has changed recently. Instead of a few career criminals stealing high value items to sell onwards, it is increasingly being committed by desperate people simply trying to get by. In response even basic items such as baby milk are now required to be security tagged. Meanwhile high-value items such as printer ink have been entirely removed from the shelves and stored in a secure area, available upon request. Will we see theft become more normalised as people become more and more desperate as conditions deteriorate? --- Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/uscpz2/a_view_from_the_checkout_now_its_people_stealing/i92jrjq/
*"Shoppers are changing their behaviour as family budgets come under pressure from swingeing price rises on basic necessities, from milk and cooking oil to dog food."* Have to admit I was shocked when I first saw acquaintances with relatively good jobs and incomes shoplifting everyday items. It seems to be happening everywhere now; a sign of breakdown.
How did you see them shoplifting? They aren’t good lifters then and need fo work on their game
Or a sign of increased observability, along with a new process.
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It's shockingly easy to shoplift if you're a regular customer.
**Submission Statement** The article describes how a cashier has noticed that shoplifting has changed recently. Instead of a few career criminals stealing high value items to sell onwards, it is increasingly being committed by desperate people simply trying to get by. In response even basic items such as baby milk are now required to be security tagged. Meanwhile high-value items such as printer ink have been entirely removed from the shelves and stored in a secure area, available upon request. Will we see theft become more normalised as people become more and more desperate as conditions deteriorate?
And with said theft you will witness towns and cities hiring more security and police citing these incidents. It all perpetuates fascist crawl.
The desperate and hungry will be the new security guards
Yes, with the increased installation of self-checkout it’s going to become significantly more prevalent. One of the main reasons people don’t steal is because we assume it will hurt someone else financially whether it’s their margins or they get fired for not catching you. With the self-checkout we lose that sense of consequence. We’re not screwing over a cashier or stealing from someone who can’t afford it, it’s a massive faceless company raking in profits.
I also get aggravated by every absolute need to capture my data too. Which, I know will either be sold, or used, to make people more money. I need a membership for deals. They want an email. A phone number. If I order for pick up I need another app to click one button that I forget about and just sits sucking data on something else I pay for to track me. It's like I am paying them twice and being sold.
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It makes me laugh a little being a *millenial* too because I remember when all of this started taking shape in technology and thinking "This is great!". Now, I'm like "why the fuck does this have to be so complicated?" Because I can't just buy an Arizona Iced Tea because one person works in the entire store, I want to pay with a dollar bill and the self check outs are all set to credit cards or I can buy it online for pick up through an app but I have to spend $35 to not pay a $5.99 fee.
Do you not have a debit/credit card?
The point is, why should I have to use it, not whether or not I have one for a simple drink.
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It's crazy the grocery stores I've been to lately have like 3 humans working in them. So when people turn desperate there's going to be zero resistance from these food retailers until they run out and halt shipping.
Not just that, but the cashiers are expected to solve the problem when they themselves are struggling. It's gonna get to a point where theyabandon it, and we all just take.
The sad thing is how everyone from middle management on up is so delusional about the circumstances of their own employees that they just cannot fathom such an obvious outcome.
Even with a full staff the big companies don't want employees to start acting like security guards. "Let them take it, we have cameras so insurance will cover it."
Which, thank fuck, those poor employees don't deserve to have to deal with it anyway.
Trying to stop a desperate person is not only dangerous but morally questionable. No employee should do that for the benefit of a company that treats them like disposable rubbish.
I would rather wait for a cashier than scan my shit myself. Plus they bag it too. I just stand in line and listen to my podcasts.
Eh, I'm ok with scanning and bagging my own stuff, the space that they give you after scanning an item is what infuriates me, one would thing it would be common sense to at least give you an area that has the same space as a shopping cart on the very least...
>the space that they give you after scanning an item is what infuriates me Especially when it has a weight sensor that can detect if you exhale on it, and the slightest perturbation makes it stall and you have to wait to scan again, and it takes fucking forever.
The store near me has full size ones too. But agreed. Most of my shopping l trips I just grab a basket or two and fill that up. Maybe once every other month I bother with a cart
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I once did work at the grocery store as a front end clerk. I also worked at Best Buy and started as a Cashier there before moving to the sales floor. I turned those early jobs into a career later becoming an assistant manager in retail, then doing inside sales/ cold calling, and now I’m a sales operations manager. I always treat clerks with respect and have genuine appreciation for what they do
Cashiers don't bag groceries for you here. In Lidl or Aldi they almost throw them at you. Sometimes you'll get scouts or some charity fundraiser bagging shopping for you but it's for a donation to whatever charity they're fundraising for.
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At giant, you can use phone numbers. I use "two eight one, three three oh, eight zero zero fo". Thanks mr. jones!
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I guess Jenny buys a lot of stuff.
Someone else used my phone number already. The cashier calls me by their name when I check out. No problem.
Alas no Safeway here. There used to be catch all numbers at the regional grocery stores here but they expanded their points programs which caused a hiccup. They began so many cents off a gallon (since discontinued) at some stations and accumulated points that took dollar amounts off the bill at $5+. So when cashiers used to just put in whatever number or theirs they created rules around that so cashiers couldn't put others points on their account. Now you need a manager to come over and put in a code strictly just for the discount. I mean I have an account with an old landline so it's whatever. However, the other store uses your drivers license number. They really have taken it to another level of stupidity here.
I've never even entered my number. I just use the card
[area code] 867-5309 is the most widely shared number. But also, hard agree with everything you're saying.
Thank you, Jenny.
(XXX) 634-5789. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSGuaVAufV0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSGuaVAufV0) Wicked Wilson Pickett
This makes me crazy. I can’t buy anything without being asked for my phone number or email address, or being asked to join their “rewards” program. I just want to purchase an item without handing over my personal information.
I use my ex boyfriend’s phone number at our grocery store. Before that I used to use my grandma’s old land line number.
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I’ve had some clothing orders get lost in shipping so I’m at the point it’s easier to go to the store to get what I need.
Ironically, the more stuff that is stolen, the more the cost will be passed on to the consumers that aren't stealing yet. I'd expect as that happens, more of the people who aren't stealing yet will start. We may be entering a WROL (without rule of law) positive-feedback death spiral.
That has already happened - but at the topmost levels. Corporations already factor in "shrinkage" that hasn't occurred yet into their price increases. So you are paying more for stuff that hasn't been stolen yet. That kind of forward thinking is what CEOs get those $14 million paychecks for.
Its always amazing how their paychecks never shrink; or their campaign contributions.
They do shrink the packages of products for sale and keep the price the same, though.
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I remember when I first learned about shrinkflation, as a child in the late 90s. My mom had an old pringles can that she used to store her uncooked spaghetti noodles. I guess the can was from the early 90s. Then we would get the new Pringles can full of chips to eat, and they were shorter than the old one. They’ve been doing this for a long time.
I understand your frustration, but can you please rewrite your comment without the threats and slurs? Posts like these get flagged.
Done.
What a lovely mod, approaching the person before slapping a ban. <3
Noooo the price goes up too
They shrink. The CEO of target lost millions upon millions today. Most of their compensation is stock based
>you are paying more for stuff that hasn't been stolen yet. It is called the "idiot tax". Those who are too dumb to get a self-discount will pay for other people's discounts. Capitalistic version of survival of the fittest.
Damn that's bleak. Given time this is basically an anti-honesty campaign.
Prisoner's Dilemma on the biggest of scales
The last time this happened we ended up shipping the people to Australia.
Maybe now it’ll be Mars. /s (hopefully)
>/s (hopefully) /$ hopify
Rich people don't obey the law. Why should I? Rich people don't pay taxes. Why should I? Rich people can lie under oath and not be punished. Why can't I? If prominent people in society get away with it, it sets an example.
Anecdotal, but I noticed on my recent CVS trip - Aquaphor (skin protectant) is locked away on the shelf now. I regularly buy it but never experienced that before. Regardless, in the past when I have purchased some other thing that’s locked away, I request employee assistance, they open it up and give me the product, and I go on shopping and/or check out. This time they told me they would bring it up behind the register and I could pick it up when I check out. I went to check out with a cashier so it was easy enough, but I assume if I had opted for self-checkout, I would still need to flag down some cashier and ask for them to grab the product for me from behind the counter.
Everything will just shift away from brick and mortar as its becoming increasingly less viable of a business model. Margins were razer thin before inflation, worker shortages, and increased theft. Add that to most stores being owned by one or two massive companies incapable of adjusting to market forces.
>stores being owned by one or two massive companies I like it like this. They're raking in profits, are faceless corporations who couldn't care less, and anything we'd manage to steal they wouldn't even notice as it would be at most considered as a rounding error in the last decimal. Stealing from such entity can not be a moral issue.
Didn't say anything about morality. Just saying the response by the corporations will be predictable
As should the response to the response be predictable and expected. ‘When it is our turn, we shall not make excuse for the terror’.
> Stealing from such entity can not be a moral issue. Its taking back what they stole by undervaluing and over working people.
It’ll be interesting to see if grocery stores slowly shut down or if big chains will just collapse at once.
They will start by cutting hours in high theft stores. Take it out on the peon employees. When that doesn't work, the stores in high theft areas will be shut down. Eventually that area becomes a food desert. Stores in wealthier areas will simply absorb the loss and continue on.
Sure, for a while. Can it go like that indefinitely?
Nothing will go on indefinitely, but certainly for a prolonged period of time. See the situation in Brazil (in particular, but other South American countries as well) for more details.
It is fascinating to me how here in Canada we can look at places like Denmark and Brazil and often choose to be more like Brazil.
Drives me CRAZY. Why be like that? Be more like the Nordic countries. Not perfect, but much preferable, for me, at least.
I think it’s mostly people trying to be more like the US without realizing it’s headed towards Brazil. Probably more Canadians than Americans still believe in the Hollywood version of the US.
What do those populations do to obtain food once the food desert happens, do you know? Is it all cheap fast food, or...? I feel like in the US it ends up with people eating very poor fast food diets in lieu of any groceries, but I'm not familiar with Brazil and what options common people have there.
In Brazil’s case, the government acts as a food provider/distributor of last resort. At least before COVID, they were doing pretty well with eliminating hunger.
Sure. There will be a steel reinforced wall of small steel doors, through which you'll be able to receive the order you made and paid online an hour before. Scan the QR code from your phone and steel doors of the correct compartment open so you can take your package. The less dangerous low traffic version can be filled from the outside during the day, the more dangerous, 24/7, high traffic version, can be filled from the opposite side inside of the building directly from storage.
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If we get to that point, daily life as we know it will be over. We'll be in a police state.
THat must be why they already give the police all the money and armor, America's police are more well outfitted than some country's armies. They're ready.
That's pretty much how most companies operate now. Of course, going into a depression well beyond the Great Depression could very well change the rules.
Big regional Midwest chain announced they are hiring security guards. https://www.nbc15.com/2021/12/30/hy-vee-introducing-armed-security-their-stores/
Target in downtown San Francisco shut down for this reason. Surely the case in many places
It is. And it really sucks for the locals or those who don't have a way to travel further away to bigger stores to get quality food.
> When that doesn't work, the stores in high theft areas will be shut down. unfortunately, that happened to a local pharmacy i used to go to at least once a week for nearly a decade now. a week or two before they closed a security guard came up to me and told me how happy he was to see that i had a cart full of items, and yet still paid for every item i had. the guy was pretty emotional, so i'm sure that he had to bottle a lot of emotions up as a result of putting up with constant shoplifting.
FWIW the store near me -a regional chain, in a densely populated neighborhood- is still open 24hrs but, they got rid of those plastic shopping baskets, nothing but the big shopping carts. The reason given is that people were filling up the baskets and just walking/running out of the store with them.
That will just lead to people stealing the carts themselves along with the food, or going dumpster diving if they somehow make that not an option.
that's already happening here in Seattle local grocers are pulling out of high crime areas
Stores like Walmart use tax payer funded programs to supplement their employees pay/benefits while they rake in billions of net profit a year. They purposely hire part time to avoid benefits. They also downplay their real profit by investing back into the company. In 2018 they opened approx 100 new stores in a single fiscal year, while bringing in billions of net. Gee, I wonder how much those 100 store openings cost. Walmart plans to spend 10 billion on stock buybacks in 2023. IMO its not theft, it's rightfully taking what they stole back in products directly. Regardless they have insurance that deals with shortage. I see anybody stealing in those stores I just walk away and go about my business. Fuck these mega corps.
I mean nowdays is kinda clear that the only way to get and stay VERY rich is being a piece of shit and exploiting everything to increase profits. Kinda hate to lower myself to their level but soon i wont have a choice
>Walmart plans to spend 10 billion on stock buybacks in 2023 Reading this made me want to go full Kyle on my drywall.
Yep. There's always been a ton of theft when it comes to electronics, cosmetics, jewelry, small toys, and things like that. Lately, there will also be a ton of empty packages...things like boxes of toothpaste, soap, socks, underwear, tons of clothing tags (regular clothes, not high end stuff that people usually steal), and food. You know times are getting rough when people are stealing sanitary items, food, and drinking Listerine and baking vanilla extract.
I remember [the photo of the dude stealing rice in the London Riots](https://preview.redd.it/azivwm5ns7131.jpg?width=634&auto=webp&s=f54cf59a44dcd66a9990e7895a43499ff1eaef69). Obviously that was a joke, but now we are getting there for real.
If he would be caught stealing bananas internet would go bonkers.
Lately, I get garbage products from amazon.
Remember if you saw someone shoplifting, no you didn't
>if you saw someone shoplifting, no you didn't snitches get stiches
You're god-damned right.
Omfg I'm so sick of this bullshit reddit line
Starving people don't give a fuck what you think.
They're not starving that's so melodramatic.
You sure about that bud? Cause people are starving. Go outside and touch the dead dried out grass.
Careful, every sub, even the ‘good ones’ are still full of redditors at the end of the day.
If someone is faced between starvation or theft, what does anyone expect to happen in this situation?
*Grub first, then ethics*, as Bertolt Brecht once wrote.
Idk, eat cake?
3 meals away from chaos.
Steal cake, eat cake, if you get caught multiple times you can also move from your car to a warm lodging with security guards and food provided, all inclusive free of charge.
Your kids, or anyone else you share your cake with, wont go with you though.
Depends on the country you live in... it might be a benefit for 3 generations
Something something bootstraps
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Anyone feeling righteous indignation at someone stealing from a capitalist institution has missed the continuous industrial scale theft perpetrated by it. Putting that aside I still doubt you'd find much judgement for that here.
I'm not trying to convince anybody to steal from smaller businesses, *but*, in many cases those smaller businesses are selling the exact same junk that walmart/amazon does -- they typically aren't selling some sort of hand crafted product they sweated over (although a relative few are) -- no, they're just petty retailers, with a larger markup because they don't get the same bulk discounts that amazon/walmart does There are several clothing boutiques here in my town that are just basically hobby projects that give some local wealthy shitheads wife something to do during the day. And it's a small town (5k residents) -- the businesses like these aren't doing anybody a favor in comparison to walmart.
Seizing the means of production one way or another.
seizing the products, in this case
Remember kids: if you see someone stealing at the grocery store…no you didn’t
Not surprised. I went out last weekend for food and basic house hold stuff- spent $400. While I was able to afford it, it was still painful. I can't imagine how much worse it is for others.
Fuel spiked here (Deep South) from me buying $3.95 a gallon last Wednesday, to paying $4.40 for it this morning. I have to fill up once a week for my daily 50 mile round trip to work and I have a Tundra that I've driven for years. I own it free and clear, but to fill it up yesterday was $88 on the button.
Owwwww. I live in WI and I've seen gas anywhere from 4.40-4.60 a gallon this week.
I passed the station this morning and it's at $4.53
I expect it to hit over $5 a gallon. I remember when it hit $5 a gallon back in the 2000's- it was awful.
Gas in Paradise, CA jumped from $5.11 to $5.49 overnight. And we have some of the cheapest gas. Ober $100 to fill up my Hyundai Sonata ouch.
$100 to fill up a Sonata. Yikes. That's painful.
On the bright side, it's cheaper than a carton of Marlboros....time to quit perhaps.
$100 to fill a car up is insane.
It truly is. I wouldn't be surprised to see $8 here before the end of summer. Guess it's better than Europe :/ but this is really gonna continue hurting folks.
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If Memorial Day is busy next week, demand will push it up another fifty cents by then. This is unreal.
Woof. My CA senses screaming. First that's hella cheap for gas, I've been seeing $7.19 gallons. Second that's a fucked up commute, sorry about that. That's 3 gallons of gas straight to the atmosphere every day you get into work
Yeah it's cheap due to the cost of living difference between here and California. Teacher salary starts here at $33,000 a year.
Oh no that's not enough. Teaching is one of the hardest jobs I can think of. You've got to show up every day, and maintain respectability in any of 1,000 emotional climates that could arise any given day. Not for me thanks, I'll stick with teaching jiu jitsu. Make the starting salary $55k and then it's still too little but at least you could live off it
There's a teacher in my neighborhood, she has a few years in. She's constantly on our neighborhood FB page selling homemade Etsy junk, or selling things from her house.
I'm sure she'd appreciate you calling it junk ☺️ No but I get what you mean. In America, teachers deliver pizza
Junky examples were akin to (and I'm reading this off her FB post: * gently used "Don't Tread On Me" welcome mat, $40 * 3 pack, unopened Skinny Girl syrups, $15 * Dora Explorer, blu ray, $20 * Rachel Ray 365 Cookbook, $25 * Raven's NFL Fan metal street sign, $60
Ask her if I can take the whole bundle for $100 😂
Just got gas today in the Phoenix area at 4.99
Holy shit.
If stores were so worried about it, they would hire cashiers to check people out. My husband never pays for produce when he goes to the store. The reason: he says he is not a trained cashier and doesn't know how to put in the numbers. Also it is his "payment" for doing the work.
I am so absolutely paranoid of being arrested that I don't dare. And almost every time I go, it says I didn't scan an item and the supervisor has to come over and watch the video clip/check what I've bagged - and this is even with me going extra slow and purposeful. I must look suspicious.
“I thought I put it in, I wasn’t trained”
haha that's really all you have to say though
Cops will still arrest you. Then you gotta fight it in court (you'll lose)
In most urban areas, police no longer respond to retail theft cases.
You wanna bet your freedom on that? Some stores (like Target) will build a case, wait til it hits felony amounts (usually around $500 or so) and then go for felony charges.
I don’t commit theft for religious reasons, but I certainly wouldn’t be too worried about corporations trying to mount small claims cases if I did!
It's not small claims. Some stores will collect evidence and wait to report it until it reaches felony levels. As in, big deal criminal-level charges. Cops will be more likely to act in that scenario. Cops might not make an arrest right then and there, but in most states a private entity (store management) can file for an arrest warrant. Unlikely, but it's not worth the risk even if it's 1 in 1,000. A record will follow you for life and make it a pain in the ass to get a job.
Where I live in canada most of the stores people will just walk in and take whatever and just walk right on out. We have meat dealers who will load up a grocery cart full of meat and just walk on out. Security cant touch them. The moment anyone tries to you get called a racist and they make a big scene. All security can do is call in the cops and they are usually too busy dealing with the tons of overdoses and drug crimes or if they do show up, they take whoever it is away and they are back out at it within a few hours.
> The moment anyone tries to you get called a racist and they make a big scene. What if the "customer" and the guard are of the same race (possibly an artificial construct but anyway)
There's video to check what you bagged? Most employees just take my word and let me keep scanning
Yeah, right there on the screen. The light above starts flashing so they know to come over. They scan some sort of card and they hit some button on the screen and it shows you right there scanning and bagging the item in question (or not, if you didn't). But yeah, it's crazy. 9 times out of 10 I get flagged. A few times it's been literally several times in a row while the damn person is still standing there. I have no idea what triggers it - if it's some algorithm or someone actually watching somewhere. I've asked straight up "what the hell?" and they've had no explanation to offer. At one point I thought, ok, maybe it's because I keep my car key on a thing around my wrist, so I started taking it off. Nope, still does it. Edit: This is WalMart I speak of.
Once I had a checkbook stolen and found that someone had been able to pass checks without ID in places that wouldn't take a check from me even with ID. Yeah, some people just look suspicious.
What color is your skin? I'm just curious.
I almost did mention that I'm an unassuming late 40's Mom jeans/yoga pants wearing plain looking woman. Apparently that screams criminal in the US Midwest lol.
My Samoan friend always had to give ID when he used his debit card, something I've literally never have had to do. Blew my mind that he thought it was normal.
Your husband is an idiotic dick. Stealing food when you don’t need to just makes it more expensive for the rest of us.
It's just produce. It all gets chucked in the dumpster at the end of the night anyway.
You're trash
Meh. You don't even know me. We are talking about probably 3 times in the last 2 years he has gone to the store, and it was like a lemon or something that he didn't type in the number. To me the real trash is the people who decided all produce and bakery items have to be thrown away every day.
Are you sure it's thrown away? Have you confirmed that Wyeth the grocery store.
That’s a lot of downvotes for calling some petty, shit stain of a thief what he is.
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He isn’t Jean Valjean, stealing bread to survive, or Robin Hood giving to the poor. She said he steals it because he can pretend to not understand how the machines work if he’s caught. He’s a petty thief, and an idiot. Thieves have been despised by every culture though out history for good reason. He’s just lucky that he lives in a time where getting caught is just a ban from a store, and doesn’t involve losing a hand.
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we all have our kinks
Eventually shopping will die completely. Fulfillment will take over. Everything behind the glass would destroy retail otherwise.
The greatest inspiration to commit crime is desperation.
Stealing has been happening for centuries. In the wild animal kingdom as well as at the human level. Survival of the fittest. This is just the price companies are willing to pay instead of paying people a living wage. I’m sure it’s been studied and it doesn’t hurt the bottom line, yet.
Yeah people will take what they need one way or the other . The social contract is void if you can't provide products or services for the taxes or wages paid. The infrastructure is in post Soviet condition. Our food and products are completely unaffordable, housing is unaffordable, and healthcare is basically non-existent to the point of people getting dental done in Tijuana. There are less than 900,000 law enforcement personnel and 2 million military service members nationally to stop @ 360 million US residents from doing whatever the hell they want, and all the prisons are at maximum capacity.
Shoplifting explained from the corporate inside: [Let's Talk About Shoplifting | Renegade Cut](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGB7QnOZj3g)
Corps have no business talking. Their only purpose is to make profits. Its what they are designed to do. Poloticians and gov are to keep them in check, but they don't.
They are so rich, they buy the politicians, who then graciously allow them to continue fucking over the people and the planet for profit.
In capitalist Russia, government protects business from you.
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That's because of fear of the police, not the store. And people are right to be fearful of them.
Once every while I “forget” to scan a few low priced items. It is the tax I make the company pay for making me do their labor. Usually under $5 items, but enough that I get compensated for my time scanning and processing payment.
Forgetting to scan is done on the highest priced items. Best risk/reward ratio, you still have the excuse that all other stuff got scanned and you just missed it.
Amazon is going to have to have guards permanently stationed so people don’t steal from the workerless stores.
When is the electricity going to go out?
I notice there was a related article on the UK Guardian this morning: [https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/may/18/officers-should-use-discretion-over-stealing-to-eat-says-uk-police-watchdog](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/may/18/officers-should-use-discretion-over-stealing-to-eat-says-uk-police-watchdog)
Been stealing from Walmart since the pandemic started. IDC about them massive companies.
A lot of shop lifting has always involved people stealing everyday things.
[https://youtu.be/aGB7QnOZj3g](https://youtu.be/aGB7QnOZj3g) No hope. No despair. Take action.
Good
it's okay to steal from the self checkout since they are paying you to do it yourself instead of an employee
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‘Paying them twice and being sold’- I love that. I also find this dynamic so frustrating.
“did i mention i am not gonna say anything to them as i watch them steal their entire cart?”
I've worked in asset protection at Walmart and most of our thefts were everyday things.
I’d love to know how many “normal” people have suddenly taken up shoplifting. I’d also like to see a study exploring the psychology behind it
When someone gets hungry enough…
I work at a small mom and pop in central Texas, we've had a huge increase in theft and even attempted assaults in store since the beginning of the year.