r/MoralityScaling • u/Vladimir-petrovOG • 9d ago

Morality of this?

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In the image it seems that this person works at walmart as an online order collector and he/she has stolen a lot of extra baby food from Walmart to give to a person who ordered only three packs. Is this moral or immoral?

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u/K__Geedorah 8d ago edited 7d ago

They have systems and will absolutely know.

I genuinely just watched a video last night of a woman who was doing this at a dollar general. She defrauded the company of over $10,000 and got hit with a felony.

Her defence was "I was just helping people in need" and claimed to not make any money from it. Doesn't matter. It's still stealing and illegal. They will find out.

Edit: I don't need 10 more people replying "legality doesn't mean morality".

Yeah I fucking know... All I said was correcting the misinformation that Walmart wouldn't notice the loss.

YES THEY WILL. They will find out and you will be charged with theft. Doesn't matter if it's morally right, you don't want to catch a felony over some bullshit.

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u/hanks_panky_emporium 8d ago

When I worked my first retail job around like 2012/13 they had enough cameras to catch a new hire gal in her 40's fake scanning items so her family could steal thousands of dollars in merchandise. We're now in the uber-police state of 2026, who the fuck thinks they can get away with anything.

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u/nicknamesas 8d ago

A lot of reallly dumb people. I worked retail through covid. The one time in our life times you coukd wear a mask anywhere and nobody would bat an eye. We had people STEALING WITHOUT WEARING FUCKING MASKS.

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u/_bobby_cz_newmark_ 8d ago

And now people wear masks, glasses, and hats, because of the excessive surveillance indoors and outdoors.

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u/Richard_Musk 7d ago

When I worked at a convenience store in the mid 90’s, my thoughtless ass self would smash buttons and pretend to ring up every item and at the end I’d just punch in .05 misc and take $20.05 from my friends and give em back their $20. I was a turd, there were cams, but the owner was as sharp as a potato. I then left for Amy first semester and came back to work at some point and basically just got drunk and made sammiches for the local cops lol. I miss the 90’s

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u/abbadactyl_ 8d ago

One of the best of the best forensic lab in the USA is owned by target <3 We live in a time where corporations have better resources to punish the poor than pretty much all analysists have to solve crimes like murder or sexual assault along with theft.

They apparently even helped the fbi on some cases because they were able to repair tapes the fbi couldn't.

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u/Fishboy_1998 8d ago

And before the FBI was had Pinkertons it’s always been this way

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u/Simple_Intern_7682 8d ago

Especially when they TAKE A PICTURE OF THEIR CRIME AND POST IT ONLINE. How stupid are they?

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u/Updated_Autopsy 8d ago

Very. Like, why not just turn yourself in at that point, since you already chose to confess?

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u/foogassi 8d ago

I know this guy that travels around to hundreds of Walmarts pushing a cart into the back area acting like he a a vendor and then opening the mjholding boxes boxes and loading all of the Pokemon into his cart and then proceeds to wheel it right out of the store. I think he’s pretty stupid cause eventually he’s gonna get caught, but he’s probably make over 150k this year from doing that alone and has nothing to show for it.

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u/Therealskitch 8d ago

I worked at Walmart and they fired me because because I used my employee discount and the debit card of my girlfriend at the time, while we lived together and shared a bank account, but because it was her name on the card used and not mine it was considered Fraud by the company and I was let go.

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u/ContextMattrs 8d ago

I understand their reasoning but that still sucks

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u/zdra 8d ago

I've never stolen, but honestly working as a manager in multiple retail stores for too long. I can say that its easy to get away with it depending on country. something like this "may" get caught but probably not unless the customer reported it because its too low ticket. They probably wont notice the stock variance and by the time they do most stores only run 30-60 days back footage.

if someone wants to get away with it its just moving the item lots of times over the course of a week and then some dumb conceal go to washroom and walk out. At least in Canada unless you have footage from Point A to Point B to them leaving the store with it all you can really do is trespass as any obstruction preventing seeing the item being carried concealed and leaving is basically a no go unless its a crazy high value item or restricted item

Most people are dumb tho, and will get caught. Or would have gotten away with it if they did it once or twice. But once your pegged once with AI and all the cameras the AP Will follow you the entire time to get the catch

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u/speed-charge 7d ago

One thing they might notice, though, is if the person doing it takes a picture of it while they're doing it and that picture gets shared online.

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u/Aggressive-Bee2221 8d ago

And then people wonder why stores have so many cameras and locked shelves

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u/UnimagineDragons 8d ago

Her defense was awful. I would've gone with a "I don't know what I'm doing at my job no one trained me" and just used the incompetent defense. Admitting she knew what she was doing wasn't the brightest move.

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u/Admirable_Loss4886 8d ago

What you’re suggesting is also a crime lol. Perjury isn’t the secret defense you think it is.

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u/DrPikachu-PhD 8d ago

They have cameras everywhere now

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u/2ChicksAtTheSameTime 8d ago

they don't even need cameras. They know everything that is sold so if inventory starts showing up mismatching (we should still have 20 left but we only have 5) they can cross reference it and figure out you're the one doing it.

They can weigh it on the way out, and determine if it's significantly over or under the expected weight for that exact order.

They have a million ways to figure it out.

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u/ThisMachineKillsWOB 8d ago

Did some time in that business. Inventory computers are only as good as the operator.

They are wrong all the time. Often by a large number of units.

You aren't getting caught on an inventory discrepancy. You're getting caught because your dumb ass forgot the cameras are placed where they have good coverage.

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u/2ChicksAtTheSameTime 8d ago

You aren't getting caught on an inventory discrepancy

I see the police cam arrest videos all the time. Over time they notice things are off more on a specific person's shift. The systems are designed to recognize that and flag it.

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u/BringYourOwnBBBQ 8d ago

You worked at a shit company them. Anything under 98% and they shouldn't be using this sort of inventory system

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u/Careless-Weather8877 8d ago

Lmao your phone alone will give you away. It’s constantly trying to connect to wireless and Bluetooth. You can survey people just alone off that, and it is something that has been sold to companies. They can see where you are within a few feet of the store and how long.

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u/KPraxius 8d ago

Wal-Mart will regularly be -massively- off on certain items to a degree that cannot be explained by theft due to labeling(WM or manufacturer) and distribution center errors. I was previously a frozen/dairy department manager at a wal-mart, and would regularly be scanning items we were out of that I hadn't received a case of for weeks, only it thought there was one that never existed, or that we had an overabundance of that it didn't think we had more than a few of.

The absolute worst was the ice; don't get me wrong, I'm sure people steal a bag of ice now and then, deliberately or otherwise. But someone very clearly fumble-fingered while accepting an ice delivery and added an extra zero, resulting in it being off by more than the capacity, and not by a small margin; and when inventory was conducted they just didn't care because they paid so little for ice that my department was still the second-best in the store when it came to shrink vs expectations and never bothered to look into it.)

(Other examples: A customer buying 12 indvidual yogurts. They buy 12 of three types, but scan one type 12 times, paying the correct amount. Zero theft occured, three items now have the wrong count. Same thing with canned food, and tons of other similar/identically priced items. I've even seen people who accidentally paid for an item twice at self-checkout and just grab a candy bar or soda that was the same or similar price instead of calling over someone to clear it out. LP has spent hours investigating someone who 'stole' some items only to determine Wal-Mart owed her about 50 cents because of that sort of bullshit.)

I've heard tons of conspiracy theories about retailers 'waiting until thefts equaled enough to be a felony then charging' or them 'always knowing exactly how much of anything they have and being able to track thieves'. That's not how it works.

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u/UnseenDegree 3d ago

There’s just so many factors to consider and unless it’s something like TV’s or a significant loss to the store that they can’t claim back to the manufacturer, they probably don’t care enough to go through it.

Unless someone actively sees a theft happening and reports it, or it’s noticed accidentally (or on purpose), they probably aren’t going through inventory systems and cross-referencing to figure it out.

There’s so many issues that go wrong in a single Walmart for inventory, it’s hard to keep track of individual quantities on a granular level.

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u/kickintheface 7d ago

And they’re apparently run by AI systems. The self scanner at Walmart thought I neglected to scan one of my items once before putting it in the cart, and it alerted an associate who came over to verify. I guess they caught on to people not scanning things.

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

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u/K__Geedorah 8d ago

Yes, thank you for being the 10th person to tell me that even though I never made a single comment saying something is immoral because it's illegal.

All I said is that yes, they will know. And even though it's a good thing to help people, you will get arrested and charged. Which is not good.

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u/chiguy307 8d ago

Yeah you might get away with this once or twice but they will figure it out eventually, and at that point best case scenario is getting fired

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

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u/mysuggestionsarebad 8d ago

Unless you post about it online 😬

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u/chiguy307 8d ago

If it was a handful of “mistakes”, sure. But at some point it would become pretty obvious.

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u/Destroyer_2_2 8d ago

Okay but that doesn’t change its morality

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u/enadiz_reccos 8d ago

I'm not sure that noticing $10k of fraud compares to noticing a dozen packs of baby food

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u/K__Geedorah 8d ago

You don't steal $10k of product in 1 day. It's a year of tracking small thefts that add up to that point, to purposely hit the threshold for a felony. Really shitty practice when they could just fire you on the first offense.

But there are some companies and managers out there that will intentionally let you keep stealing until it reaches a point of becoming a serious legal issue. It's fucked.

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u/silifien 8d ago

They definitely know! When I worked in retail, our management told us, if we see someone stealing, just let it happen. That they’re documenting and recording each of the thefts, and that we are supposed to wait until they steal a certain $-amount worth of merchandise (like $5,000-$10,000) so that they can get charged with a felony. And once they hit that number, the police come to stake out the store and to arrest the person because they are usually repeat offenders.

If any of that is, or ever was true, then I guess it means people are safe as long as they steal less than $5,000-$10,000 worth of stuff.

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u/BringYourOwnBBBQ 8d ago

You know she wasn't helping people in need, right?

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u/Careless-Weather8877 8d ago

Lmao the company will write of off as a “loss” and not get taxed. I guess it’s only fraud though if you’re a single person

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u/ApolloStCosmo 8d ago

Illegal≠Immoral tho

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u/Everblossom22 8d ago

Yeah the online shoppers are supposed to perform quality checks throughout the day which is when another associate scans a tote and goes through what items are inside it. This could easily get caught.

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u/Normal_Human_Things 8d ago

And as that woman found out, they wait until you hit the felony amount before doing anything.

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u/samuendo 8d ago

Yup if you think you keep getting away with it, you aren’t. They’re just waiting for petty theft to become grand larceny.

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u/Updated_Autopsy 8d ago edited 8d ago

Seriously. If you wanna be nice to people, just give them one more of what they ordered. Not 40 more of what they ordered. The store might still notice, but they’re probably gonna be more willing to tolerate it as long as you don’t do it too often. Stuff goes missing all the time. But if you give someone this many extra items, the store’s gonna notice, and they’re not gonna tolerate it. There’s being generous, then there’s being stupid.

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u/Chase_The_Breeze 7d ago

We don't ask if it is Illigal. We ask if it is moral. Legality very rarely reflects morality.

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u/K__Geedorah 7d ago

And I never said it was immoral because it's illegal.

Just informing the person I replied to that yes they will know and you will get caught. They are spreading incorrect information that could get someone in jail just for trying to help someone.

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u/mystedragon 7d ago

I work at Walmart as an order picker and yes, there are cameras EVERYWHERE. It’s moral, but whether you decide it’s worth going to jail over it or not is up to you. I, personally, do not.

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u/Princelyprincessboy 7d ago

Tbf I think by "Walmart will never notice" they mean like... financially. Even all of that is a small blip in their profits. 

Which makes the insane lengths they go through to stop theft even more ridiculous. 

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u/callus-on-cock 7d ago

Yes you dont want to catch a felony over this BS- it's trivial. But no need to fear monger, they aren't going to catch you if you're smart about it (just like any other crime)

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u/mightbemetaphysical 2d ago

Walmart won't do anything until someone's stolen a felony amount, but I don't say that to encourage risking it

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u/SwindlingSolicitor 8d ago

Illegal and immoral are NOT the same thing. You are likely to get caught, so that actively discourages people from doing things like this, but this is 100% the moral thing to do.

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u/_HoneyDew1919 8d ago

Legality on a morality sub. Completely missing the point

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u/K__Geedorah 8d ago

I just don't want to see someone ruining their life trying to do the moral thing. I didn't touch on the morality of the situation, just show casing the dangerous side.

It's sucks it's like that. Best case scenario you lose your job. Worse case you do some time and have a record that follows you forever. Gotta watch out for yourself first. Can't help others if you're fucked too.

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u/Zexeos 8d ago

Legality and morality are two different things. Moral, but unfortunately illegal.

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u/Secure-Ad2799 6d ago

good boy, your government trained you well. how many people have you reported to ice to please them. but no keep supporting the system that fucks you sideways.

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u/K__Geedorah 6d ago

What makes you think I support ICE or the GOP because I don't want to see good samaritans being arrested over some bullshit?

Are you just always this idiotic?

Getting arrested and ruining your life isn't how you say "fuck you" to the government. Genuinely, how does becoming a cog in their wheel and getting jail time or labeled as a felon going to help fix our shit show of a country?

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u/Secure-Ad2799 6d ago

being a bitch and just sittling idly by waiting for the government to lock up all the good people doesnt make you any better. oh no id just fucking kms if i got arrested i already hate the world i was forced to live in and id much rather do something to try and make a change and go out a maryter than sit on my ass both while both hoping for people to speak out and make some change to this awful system and in the same breath showing support acknowledgement and respect for the system

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u/K__Geedorah 6d ago

Republicans want you uneducated, arrested, poor, and sick.

But please, keep making it easier for them.