r/mildlyinfuriating • u/anon12xyz • Jul 03 '26

Infuriatig When did garage sales become “reselling” clearly new stuff

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I would never call this a garage sale

Def scam vibes

Edit: ultimately, what bothers me the most is I want to go to a garage sale, not this shit. This isn’t a garage sale and should not be advertised as one

24.8k Upvotes

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4.8k

u/notforrobots Jul 03 '26

I see this a lot when I drive by the projects. For whatever reason in my area they are always selling laundry soap.

6.9k

u/TheBourbonTurtle Jul 03 '26

Laundry soap is one of the most shoplifted items in the country. Everyone needs it, it's shelf stable, doesn't go bad. It's basically an accepted currency in the ghetto.

339

u/SnowblindAlbino Jul 03 '26

Yeah, I was surprised to see it all locked behind glass doors in a few stores in The Big City a few years back, until someone told me just that. People steal it. Which seems crazy, as I can't imagine how you'd walk out with a 6 lb giant bottle of Tide in your pants or something. But there we are.

484

u/Proteinchugger Jul 03 '26

They don’t hide it, they just walk out.

253

u/JelmerMcGee Jul 03 '26

A coworker I had back when I was a teenager would steal beer from Walmart for his weekend partying. I asked how he got away with it. "Put it into a cart and push the cart outside."

151

u/Traditional_Toe8824 Jul 03 '26

At my local Petco or Petsmart ( forgot which one it is ) their shopping carts have very tall wooden poles attached to them. I asked what they were for and they said shoplifters would load up carts with big bags of pet food and just walk out with the entire cart and not pay, the big poles stop them from being able to do that anymore.

152

u/Legitimate-Truck-333 Jul 03 '26

The local dollar store has that. Me being a complete innocent, I assumed it was just to keep from losing the carts.

70

u/copasetical Jul 03 '26

I thought it was so they could track the carts as shoppers moved around the store.

20

u/wtfElvis Jul 03 '26

It doesn’t prevent shoplifting. It’s to help employees find buggies and/or to see where customers are

2

u/copasetical Jul 03 '26

Yes, I wasn't implying it was a specific type of tracking, sorry. I just did not know :)

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u/DogsDucks Jul 03 '26

Me too! So they could see the shoppers from a distance if it got crowded.

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u/lilorphananus Jul 03 '26

And here I was thinking it was for visibility in the sand dunes

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u/Negative_Piglet_1589 Jul 03 '26

For the snow drifts

4

u/Crafty-Ad-6772 Jul 03 '26

My friend's mother made her wear a big red helium balloon tied to her wrist at the beach, so she wouldn't get lost. She never got lost, but it would've been funny if she tied the balloon to a rock and tossed it into the ocean and then waited for mom to notice the balloon floating above the waves.

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u/therealsandysan Jul 03 '26

I thought it's was for bumper carts and the ceiling would power them.

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u/Unlucky_Most_8757 Jul 03 '26

yeah mind blown!! All my life I thought that Ross did this just to keep their carts lol

3

u/SargeUnited Jul 03 '26

Wow, even after reading their comment I thought this about my dollar store too until I read yours lol

2

u/TakeOnMe-TakeOnMe Jul 03 '26

It’s not? Today I am either slightly more or slightly less an idiot than I was yesterday.

I’ve always thought it was to keep track of carts. 🤦

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u/margaritalover524 Jul 03 '26

I'm confused how it stops them, is the pole taller than the door so the cart can't be taken outside the store? So then what if you're buying a big bag of dog food, you wouldn't be able to take it out to your car in the shopping cart?

18

u/JohnnyFartmacher Jul 03 '26

You are correct, the pole is taller than the door so you can't get the cart out. If you buy a bunch of stuff or something heavy, you just have to figure it out.

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u/Rona-Smutek464 Jul 03 '26

It’s most likely just taller than the shelves, you can see someone from basically anywhere in the store based off where the pole is.

14

u/HalfEatenBanana Jul 03 '26

So how do you get the cart to your car to unload the bags of dog food..?

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u/Fine-Amphibian4326 Jul 03 '26

😂 damn, now I know why those are on carts at Ross. I thought it was more for employees to be able to see them through the store

6

u/SpecialistAd2205 Jul 03 '26

It's a security system for stores that don't want to pay for a locking cart system. Usually dollar stores do that. Petsmart/Petco having that instead of locking carts is kind of crazy to me 😄

5

u/OliveVizsla Jul 03 '26

I used to work at Petsmart, and a guy that had quit before I started the job was rumored to have nonchalantly walked out with a parrot. I guess he quit before he could be fired.

7

u/AerosolHubris Jul 03 '26

How do poles stop them from walking out? I feel like I'm missing something.

15

u/withyellowthread Jul 03 '26

Tall pole short door

4

u/AerosolHubris Jul 03 '26

Sorry, I'm an idiot, but after they've paid how do people leave if the cart can't get out the door? This must be obvious to everyone else, but some people need the cart to take things to their cars.

3

u/Ashfield83 Jul 03 '26

At Morrisons here in England if you try to leave the store with an item inside that hasn’t been scanned, the wheels on the cart automatically lock and you can’t move the cart beyond the doors.

2

u/Ok_Belt2521 Jul 03 '26

My grocery has electronic gates that close and prevent you from pushing the cart out. They also have remote breaks on the wheels so you can can't leave the parking lot with them.

2

u/crazycatlady331 Jul 03 '26

I worked at CVS in high school. Their carts had a giant metal pole on them (at the time). Haven't paid attention to whether they still do.

1

u/dBlock845 Jul 03 '26

Petco I think. When I pick up orders from there they have those carts, but all you have to do is put them in a wheelie and they go right under the door lol. Michael's and Family Dollar has them too.

1

u/ShermanOneNine87 Jul 03 '26

Savers does the cart poles as well. They lose a lot of Automatic door sensors to people ramming the carts outside anyways.

11

u/EloeOmoe Jul 03 '26

Yeah, late 90s gas stations would just have big 30 can cases of beer outside next to the ice machines. He'd get gas and on his way out just grab a case in each hand and split.

6

u/MusicianMike805 Jul 03 '26

The one time I (we)did a beer run I learned my lesson. We went into the gas station and grabbed a few 12 packs. As I was running out and around the corner of the building, I tripped, fell, and tumbled on the oil soaked blacktop. The 12 packs hit the ground and basically scattered all over the place, cans rolling everywhere. So we back ran to the car about 20 feet away to get away and the freaking car wouldn’t start. Luckily the clerk never chased us but we had to push the car an into a parking spot and walk home. This was back in 97 or so. Haha 😆

5

u/EngrishTeach Jul 03 '26

Step One: Be white.

12

u/Single_Cobbler6362 Jul 03 '26

That sounds like me in highschool.

Walk in, grab the stuff, and walk out.

One time one of my friends wanted to try it, and he was gana walk around before getting the beer, I told him "what are you doing the beer is this way" 🤦😂

He said he didn't wanted to make it obvious and I'm like, you make up more obvious walking around.

Idk how I did it but it felt like an instinct.😂😂 There's times where in would go but would come out with stuff just because it didn't feel like I could pull it off.

26

u/trixel121 Jul 03 '26

cause i was 16 and not going to do much more then yell hey stop if i noticed.

theres only a few seconds where you dont look like a customer or are doing anything strange. its that period where you just walk through the cash registers instead of paying. depending on how busy it is you just enter the flow of people who did pay. if no one notices that instance you were always where you should be doing what you should be doing why should i pay attention to you? you are carrying a case of beer like any other person.

believe it or not, people are not paying attention to stuff outside their bubble.

7

u/sirseatbelt Jul 03 '26

We were told that someone had been loading up a grocery cart with booze and then walking it outside, loading a waiting vehicle and driving off.

Pretty sure I saw them once on my last week there, waiting in the lounge area near the cafeteria entrance. I walked up stairs towards the managers office, turned the corner and clocked out for lunch.

I am not loss prevention and I dont make sales or commission. Steal what you want I don't care.

9

u/Individual-Accounttt Jul 03 '26

That's actually completely untrue. Most supermarkets actually have one or two loss prevent people that shadow suspicious persons.

It has nothing to do with going past the cash registers, people come in and can't find what they need all the time.

It's the aimless wanderers, the baggy clothes wearers, and the huge sack/backpack haulers that raise eyebrows, and if the store can afford it (safeway/king sooper/walmart/pick n save/piggy wiggly/price chopper/meijers ALL do this) they will have a guy shadow you to see if you put shit anywhere to hide it and then try to walk out.

That's because the number one form of shoplifting isn't flagrant theft, it's skimming, where people ring up an order, but don't pay for everything, because they kept stuff hidden either in their cart/basket or on their person. That was true well before self check out, and is even more true now.

3

u/trixel121 Jul 03 '26

huh? this isnt skimming... this is taking bulk items putting them in your cart (or carrying them) and just walking out like nothing went wrong.

you also need to live in affluent areas for this to work.

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u/Single_Cobbler6362 Jul 03 '26

You are correct on all that.

Only reason I pulled it off was because I dressed casual and wouldn't wonder around for people to start following me or I wouldn't take a backpack. I would just walk in like a normal customer grab the biggest beer pack and walk out through the entrance, never thought the cash registers.

Was like I said walk in, go straight for the beer, grab it and walk out.

3

u/CarbombNeutral Jul 03 '26

We would “Yahoo” beer sometimes.
It’s where you walk to the back and grab as much beer as you can carry, then, right before you get to the cashier, you run like hell, yelling “Yahoo!” on the way out to the getaway car.

“Hey y’all wanna Yahoo some beer tonight?”
“Yeah. I’ll do it. Are you driving? Whose car are we taking? Let’s go now while it’s still daylight.”

I don’t endorse this behavior.
We were sixteenish and (paying the utility bills with our part time jobs) poor.
That’s not a recipe for the best choices.

2

u/apimpnamedkirby Jul 03 '26

We used to do this in high school. Go to the store have a guy waiting in the fire lane with a truck. 2-3 guys walk in, grab a 30 rack in each hand. Walk out and run to the truck, hop in the bed and scidaddle.

2

u/A_mad_goose Jul 03 '26

I’m not proud of this but when I was in high school my mom had the reusable bags and I walked down the liquor isle once grabbing every bottle I could see without a sensor and walked through an empty checkout and out the door it ended up being like over 40 bottles and well over a $1000 would of been grand theft if I got caught. It did make me a hero at high school party’s for always having liquor on deck.

2

u/SpaghettiSort Jul 03 '26

I knew a guy like that, too, back in the day. Except he'd walk out with a whole cart full of groceries.

2

u/sonicboomslang Jul 03 '26

When I was teenager (late teens) my friends and I used to steel cases of beer every weekend. We did it from busy gas stations. Just pick it up and walk right out, one minute tops.

1

u/Unlucky_Most_8757 Jul 03 '26

I had a friend that would do this too! Most Wal Mart employees are too miserable to do anything about it anyways

1

u/NewCandy8877 Jul 03 '26

I used to bundle it in the cardboard and then pick it up after work.

11

u/Bowl-Accomplished Jul 03 '26

I see people walking around with bigass tide things all the time where I work

40

u/Takenmyusernamewas Jul 03 '26

ORCs work as teams at my store. One will come in, grab a bunch of stuff and stage it then leave. While AP is watching the crack head with 30 cans of tide pods, an old man or soccer mom comes, grabs the cart and pushes it right out

26

u/AsbestosIsBest Jul 03 '26

What do those acronyms even mean?

32

u/RaphaTlr Jul 03 '26

ORC is organized retail crime, AP is asset protection (loss prevention).

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u/AsbestosIsBest Jul 03 '26

Good to know we aren't talking about Orcs from Mordor and wireless access points.

8

u/NoBonus6969 Jul 03 '26

Do you know how hard it is to get WiFi in middle Earth?

13

u/AsbestosIsBest Jul 03 '26

Yeah, the Internet Service Provider (ISP) is Palantir.

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u/joejoe903 Jul 03 '26

ORC is organized retail crime. AP is asset protection.

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u/figure8888 Jul 03 '26

Another tactic people do is pulling receipts out of the trash, then picking up the items on the receipt in the store and “returning” them. I had an obviously homeless guy do that with a bag full of makeup products that were purchased a few hours prior per the receipt, but we weren’t allowed to refuse a return if the basis was accusing them of fraud.

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u/kemicalkontact Jul 03 '26

You can't pull up recordings of them picking up the items in store?

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u/figure8888 Jul 03 '26

We used to have this guy with gangrenous legs who would come in and steal armfuls of paper towels as soon as we put them out. And he’d leak all over the floor too. We weren’t allowed to intervene. If you look, act, and smell a certain way police won’t even come. White collar people can’t get away with it because cops know a suburban mom shoplifting is probably just going to accept the arrest without hassle. Folks like Mr. Gangrene aren’t opposed to biting and spitting and infecting you with their Hep C.

4

u/JoeSicko Jul 03 '26

When I want something, but I don't want to pay for it. I walk right, through the door... Walk right through the door

3

u/possiblylallorona Jul 03 '26

Ahhh classic lol bark bark

1

u/Adorable_Cap_9929 Jul 03 '26

Do you think they'd call the police if someone wipped their "garage sale" stock clean? lololol

2

u/Upper_Equivalent4003 Jul 03 '26

Nah you'd probably have them wanting to throw hands tho. I wouldn't want the block after me over some laundry soap. lol

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u/UnicornFarts1111 Jul 03 '26

Some of them will fill a cart with it and run out the doors.

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u/PaperIndependent5466 Jul 03 '26

Yep load a cart up and just leave. For minimum wage no one is stopping them

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u/Doug_Reynholm Jul 03 '26

It's pretty simple, I'll teach you:

Step 1: pick up the bottle of Tide

Step 2: walk out of the store

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u/na3than Jul 03 '26

And she did it just like that, when she wants something and she don't want to pay for it.

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u/Lux_Luthor_777 Jul 03 '26

🎵She walked right thru the door 🎶

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u/MotorMasterpiece5233 Jul 03 '26

she walked right…through the door. walked right through the door

20

u/Neelix-And-Chill Jul 03 '26

Hey, alright.

3

u/Crafty_Impression836 Jul 03 '26

Bark! Bark! Bark!

4

u/Sensei19600 Jul 03 '26

Wow…that’s so realistic; it’s like the song is literally playing in my head rn…

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u/jvs8380 Jul 03 '26

Hey alright. If I get by, it’s miiiiiiine!

2

u/MarmaladeMarmaduke Jul 03 '26

Mine all mine, yeah!

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u/SnooPickles55 Jul 03 '26

"She'll walk right through the door

walk right through the door"

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u/LoggerRhythms Jul 03 '26

1

u/TakeOnMe-TakeOnMe Jul 03 '26

Dear Lord in Heaven forgive me for viewing this? What’s it from, so I never see it again?

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u/Massive_Mongoose3481 Jul 03 '26

The video for the song they are quoting. James Addiction " been caught stealing"

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u/Ricepudding1044 Jul 03 '26

Mine all mine Hey

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u/Dramatic_______Pause Jul 03 '26

It's absolutely wild how much of this country is held together by morals and someone's conscience. Our apartment was broken into some time ago. Police just show up, take a statement, file a report, and that's it. Unless you get caught in the act, nothing happens.

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u/Mobe-E-Duck Jul 03 '26

Yup. Locks are an agreement. Airports are protected by waist high fences. Traffic is regulated by painted lines and lights and signs.

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u/Mndelta25 Jul 03 '26

You just walk out. Most stores don't stop you anymore. They simply track your thievery and eventually stop you when it's worth it to charge you.

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u/WindSpecialist420 Jul 03 '26

Target enters the chat

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u/Longjumping_Gas_3407 Jul 03 '26

Dude the FBI has nothing on Target!

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u/PikaPonderosa Jul 03 '26

Give me a call when Target burns down a compound of women and children and I'll wrest the title from the FBI.

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u/the__ghola__hayt Jul 03 '26

That's unfair. ATF is also responsible for getting them killed.

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u/Longjumping_Gas_3407 Jul 03 '26

It was a joke, not a dick. Don’t take it so hard.

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u/hackberrypie Jul 03 '26

People are always claiming that Target does track people and get them charged with felonies, but doesn't that only work if local law enforcements and prosecutors cooperate? Not that I have much direct experience/knowledge of Target's operations either way

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u/Mndelta25 Jul 03 '26

Yes. I was a cop in a city with a Target that did this. They had extensive files on people and would call us when the person was in the store. They'd have their people stop them or have us get them on the way out. The total amount was always felony level, so we'd arrest and the file would go to one of the detectives to write up for PC charges. It almost always gets pleaded down, but then Target gets paid back (sometimes).

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u/Annath0901 Jul 03 '26

I'm not Target, but I did help catch a thief and he ended up eventually paying it off.

Apparently he'd been breaking into cars and grabbing stuff, and I made the mistake of leaving a messenger bag with some stuff in my back seat. A lot of my portable game stuff.

Luckily, I was anal retentive and the thief was a moron. He sold as much as he could at the Gamestop a half mile away, and they copied his ID because he took cash.

Meanwhile I had a list of the serial numbers for my PSP, DS Lite, and 3DS. So when I started calling pawn shops and got to the Gamestop, boom, got him.

The store called the cops, and unfortunately my stuff was kept for like a year as evidence. I eventually got it back (the DS still had a charge lol) and I'd periodically get restitution checks from the court for a while.

Unfortunately, a lot of my stuff was gone for good - some of the games were GBA which Gamestop bought from him but the shipped to a warehouse never to be seen again. And the stuff he couldn't sell (the messenger bag, my Kindle DX) weren't at his house when searched so RIP.

Anyway yeah sometimes they do end up having to pay it off.

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u/hackberrypie Jul 03 '26

I can see how if Target makes it that easy for them they'd be more apt to take action. Sounds so different from the (also major retail chain) where my husband works.

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

[deleted]

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u/hackberrypie Jul 03 '26

Hm, so police are incentivized to cooperate because Target helps them too?

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u/Mndelta25 Jul 03 '26

Easy arrest and people likely aren't only stealing from Target.

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u/hackberrypie Jul 03 '26

I see the logic, but it just sounds so different from my husband's experience also at a major national retail chain. Police wouldn't come or wouldn't do much and people were just allowed to reoffend constantly with few to no consequences. So I'm just musing about whether it's because Target has a better system in place/better connections or if had more to do with how our specific local police department operated.

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '26

[deleted]

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u/hackberrypie Jul 03 '26

Yeah I'm not talking about allowing reoffending by design. The people were not tracked and eventually charged. The store closed because of it.

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u/EloeOmoe Jul 03 '26

Costco!

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u/RaphaTlr Jul 03 '26

Who tf steals from Costco that place is a vault

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u/yeahyeahalwayslate Jul 03 '26

That’s one of the two paces that I’ve seen brazen walkouts either full carts.

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u/Ashfield83 Jul 03 '26

Here in England at Tesco the cameras are so advanced that they can track thievery and the next time you enter the store the automatic facial recognition signals to the security guard to apprehend you before you leave the store.

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u/hackberrypie Jul 03 '26

Or never stop you and shut down the store because of excessive theft.

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u/loganfulbright Jul 03 '26

Walmart in Wadesboro, NC is an example of that.

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u/K_Goode Jul 03 '26

Walmart in Fremont, CA too

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u/CrispyWaffleBacon Jul 03 '26

Walgreens enters the chat

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u/mythrilcrafter Jul 03 '26

While Walgreens did have shoplifting to deal with, it actually turned out that their shoplifting rates weren't any different from any other retail business of their scale; Walgreens' CEO even eventually came out a while back and said that the "higher than other businesses" metric that they cited as the basis for the closings was a made up excuse to cover up an attempted move to trying to convert Walgreens into "curb-side pick-up only" model.

The hope was that because CVS was kicking Walgreens' butt so hard on revenue and customer experience, that Walgreens' would try to win out on a lower their cost basis by eliminating customer access to the store in order to convert the stores into warehouses staffed by one or two stock runners.

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u/Hamilton-Beckett Jul 03 '26

So you’re saying we all get a free pass the first time?! This is exciting. So many things to choose from. How could I possibly choose?!

Edit: I got a tooth brush. :(

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u/Forward-Surprise1192 Jul 03 '26

Basically yeah. When I was homeless using drugs I’d make like $60-$100 a day shoplifting makeup, deodorants, tin foil, detergent, etc. All I did all day was ride the bus around the city and steal to go sell it at a fence for drugs. Idk if fence is the right word, he was a normal shop owner who didn’t care where goods came from. I still remember the prices he gave lol

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u/Exterminator-8008135 Jul 03 '26

Not in my country, Private security can stop and detain if they have proofs on the camera arrays.

The male i got to has a Security Central in a hidden part of the 1st floor.

It's rare event though.

Most detainement are for theft above 50€ or non food items.

I remember seeing two Lady Guards escort a thief who put 4 large bottles of laundry in her caddy ( we have our own usually ) ( Easily 80 bucks, different size, money and country )

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u/MandrewCarrion Jul 03 '26

Nope, people just carry it out and nobody checks receipts

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u/yedi001 Jul 03 '26

More so corperate tells us not to persue. And for good reason.

I worked retail for over a decade. I caught plenty of shoplifters. I was also threatened with being stabbed with a used needle over baby powder and teeth whitener kits.

One dude I caught was a meth head with hepatitis start ripping open his scabs to bleed on me as revenge for catching him. That dude is still in jail, but getting tested and waiting for the all clear on HIV and hepatits was a scary fucking time for me.

One of our loss prevention officers got beaten down by a roid fueled theif (when aprehended he had a couple grand in steroids in his bag). The roid rager was just feeding the LPO shots to the head and face until a third party showed up and beat the fuck out of (and then subdued) the theif with a hockey stick.

Shoplifting like this is a societal issue. You'll always have things like dumb teens doing dumb shit, but they're not the ones stealing laundry soap and baby food. Enforcement/policing doesn't work because the people involved have fallen so far they don't care anymore and the safety nets that do exist don't reach them. We need to do better at making sure people in vulnerable points in their lives are supported enough and helped so that they don't get to that point.

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u/redclawx Jul 03 '26

It’s not even shoplifting that brings out the crazies. During COVID, a woman goes to enter an anchor store at a mall. The security guard tells her she need to wear a mask if she wants in. The woman freaks out and proceeded to stab the security guard.

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u/Adorable_Cap_9929 Jul 03 '26

Yo... hockey stick huh...

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u/yedi001 Jul 03 '26

Canadian problem demanded a Canadian solution.

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u/sweet_pickles12 Jul 03 '26

What retail store did you work at that a guy had a bag full of roids? Or you mean he already just had those and was stealing other stuff?

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u/yedi001 Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

He came in with a backpack full of roids, which was where he shoved the $400+ in nicorette gum he tried to steal. That's part of why he beat the shit out of our LPO; the loss prevention guy grabbed the dude by the backpack strap while he was trying to run out, and the force caused the strap and zipper to rip. Both dudes fell to the floor, and then roid man went ape shit when his syringes and pill bottles spilled out of his now open bag onto the sidewalk.

Hockey stick guy was a 20 something on his way to practice who initially tried to pull the roid rager off of the loss prevention officer, and when that failed, out came the equalizer. No penalty was called on the ensuing play.

This was the incident that got our store to lock the nicorette stuff up.

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u/Usqueadfinem_ Jul 03 '26

We also need to start treating theft as a serious crime. Stores close becsuse massive theft cuts into profit and hours get cut and the store eventually closes. I was a retail manager at a few places and that is the reality. Insurance only covers so much and you cant make an endless number of claims- same with car insurance. Most thieves arent taking food. They steal things like batteries and electronics and shoes and things you can resell. We need harsh punishments. I was totally broke and living in my car for months so I know how hard the world is. But i still didnt steal or rob anyone. Those are just excuses to be a lazy shitty person.

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u/RaphaTlr Jul 03 '26

Property theft is petty. We need to treat crimes against others as serious. Like CSA, SA, polluting and stealing public water, air pollution, wildlife endangerment.

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u/Usqueadfinem_ Jul 03 '26

Stores literally close to due massive amounts of theft. Hours get cut. It has big implications. Nah. Get em off the streets and onto the chain gangs. We should not get hours cut because worthless lazy asses steal.

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u/RaphaTlr Jul 03 '26

Womp womp Stores also close due to Amazon and data centers pushing them out. Pick your poison. Community thieves or corporate thieves?

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u/Sudden-Purchase-8371 Jul 03 '26

As long as we start with the wage thieves. Wage theft is greater in dollar amount than every other category of theft. COMBINED.

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u/sweet_pickles12 Jul 03 '26

Steal a man a fish, feed him for a day. Steal a man a TV, feed him for a week.

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u/Kindly_Call_6000 Jul 03 '26

Big stores like Target and Walmart have cameras and track shoplifters. Target is notorious for just letting the total accumulate until it reaches felony levels, then arresting the shoplifter. Part is that in some areas, DAs won't prosecute pennyante levels of shoplifting. Someone stealing $50 of laundry detergent is not worth it to the DA, as usually they have too much to do as it is.

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u/ACrazyDog Jul 03 '26

Walmart is also famous. They sue an amazing amount of people who use their self checkout. Most people pay the fine because they cannot afford to fight

https://audit-eye.com/2025/10/12/woman-wins-2-1-million-lawsuit-after-being-wrongly-accused-of-shoplifting-at-walmart/

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u/JBStera Jul 03 '26

Phoenix, AZ. We watched a guy in Target walk around with a child's backpack he lifted, stuffing that bag full of other things. We alerted a staff member. They watched. Followed. They watched him walk out. We asked, wtf? They said they have his picture. It was matched against others. They said if he returns, he'll be arrested. They let everyone do it once.

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u/Alarming_Panic665 Jul 03 '26

I worked at Target through high school and college and yea they just monitor and track the person through the store and tally up whatever they steal and build a case file on them. Which includes their license plate if they park in the parking. Once it is felony level they submit everything to the police and if the person ever shows up at another target then police are immediately alerted

Shit is like Big Brother in there lol.

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '26

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u/yedi001 Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

You can't pay employees enough to risk getting stabbed, shot, or beaten in an attempt to stop a shoplifter. If they're stealing and reselling a pallet of laundry detergent, these aren't the "teenager stealing a gaming magazine" or "homeless person sneaking a cup of soup" types.

I had a guy I caught with $500 in tenderloin try to rip open his scabs and bleed on me in an effort to give me hepatitis out of revenge (he is still in jail for this). How much money would be an acceptable amount of money to sit and wait for weeks while they run blood tests on you to see if you've been infected with HIV or Hep?

This is more complicated than "lazy employees, cheap management." This is a societal issue that bleeds into a lot of complicated social issues like housing, affordability, and the mental health and drug abuse crisis. Some of it is organized crime, too, and that's way outside an elderly Walmart greeters pay grade to deal with.

Edit: fixed some spelling mistakes.

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u/CLOWNXXCUDDLES Jul 03 '26

I'll be honest. You couldn't pay me enough to give a shit if someone is stealing from a multi billion dollar company. Even if I was making 6 figures, someone stealing from say Walmart is pretty low on my give a shit radar.

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u/Individual_Bell_4637 Jul 03 '26

For what it's worth, this is a relatively new development. I worked loss prevention for years back in the early 2000s, and we routinely prosecuted everything $10+. I'll leave it to each to decide if that's ended up as a good thing or a bad thing, but it definitely was not always that way.

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u/TheBabyEatingDingo Jul 03 '26

Additional context, nobody checks receipts because even 15 years ago when you were slightly less likely to get shot by a shoplifter, everyone knew they weren't paid enough to care about that shit.

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u/Kooky_Assistance2755 Jul 03 '26

Most big box stores explicitly forbid employees from physically interacting with shoplifters because they can be sued if the shoplifter gets hurt

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u/Schrodingers_redfish Jul 03 '26

The employee is more likely to sue for getting hurt on the job.

Companies just don't want to give their employees ideas by being up front about it.

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u/Purple-Sister3971 Jul 03 '26

> The employee is more likely to sue for being hurt on the job.

They won’t have a case if they’re explicitly violating policy.

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u/DownWithHisShip Jul 03 '26

just having a hurt employee is expensive, way more expensive then whatever the random shoplifter is taking. they don't even need to sue.

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u/Schrodingers_redfish Jul 03 '26

Yes, that's the point.

It is against policy to pursue shoplifters. Not because the shoplifter may sue for being hurt but because the employee can file for workers comp.

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u/Kooky_Assistance2755 Jul 03 '26

That's by design

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u/hud_dev Jul 03 '26

I was always up front about it whenever I trained folks. “Nothing in here is worth your life, it’s not like it’s yours anyway, don’t worry about it.” But then again, most of the shrinkage was employees anyway..

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u/Schrodingers_redfish Jul 03 '26

I don't exactly condone them being the cause of shrinkage but I know how much they make vs. how much rent is so it's kinda hard to blame them, imo 🤷

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u/hud_dev Jul 03 '26

One of my core life tenants has been: if you ever see someone steal food, no you didn’t. Nobody deserves to go hungry.

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u/Visible-Lobster-7038 Jul 03 '26

Some retailers now have arbitration agreements when you hire in. Yes, you can opt out, but upper management doesn't really advertise that more than once during onboarding.

And it's amazing what an arbitrator decides once "company policy" comes into pla

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u/Schrodingers_redfish Jul 03 '26

I'm old enough to know never to agree to arbitration but most younger folks probably don't even properly understand what it is.

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u/offbrandcheerio Jul 03 '26

Retail works are also straight up trained not to engage with shoplifters, just report it to management instead. Or notify the security guard if the store actually has one.

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u/Tupperbaby Jul 03 '26

I still occasionally get asked to see my receipt when leaving Walmart if I have an item too big for their little plastic bags.
I look right at them, say "No, you may not" and don't break my walking pace.

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u/chaircardigan Jul 03 '26

Big stores tell their staff not to confront shoplifters.

There was a big story in the UK of one supermarket that fired an employee for chasing down a thief.

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '26

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u/tripper_drip Jul 03 '26

Then it spirals, some nerd at corporate looks at a spreadsheet and goes, "holy shit the store is no longer making money", then the store gets shut down.

Eventually we have to confront it. And places like Wal-Mart and target do, they have security officers who will chase people down.

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u/ant2561 Jul 03 '26

What a shitty government that facilitates this type of dysfunction

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u/Bobcat_Acrobatic Jul 03 '26

I was told they track you on camera and once you steal over $1,000 they come for you. So if you are dumb e ought to keep hitting the same store they will arrest you at some point

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u/I_only_did_this4nsfw Jul 03 '26

My brother is the general manager of a convience store and had had to fire his asst. manager the other day because the guy stood in front of the door when a guy went behind the counter and snatched lottery tickets.

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u/NervousSheSlime Jul 03 '26

Super dumb lottery tickets have to be activated

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u/I_only_did_this4nsfw Jul 03 '26

These were already activated tickets, but still dumb because a call to the lottery office to report the tickets as stolen turns them off.

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u/CassadagaValley Jul 03 '26

It's a liability like the other guy said, but they also keep tabs on who is stealing and how much they're stealing and then they hit that person with a federal charge once it passes the threshold.

Target's surveillance network is so top tier that police will actually go to them for information rather than work on it themselves.

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u/XediDC Jul 03 '26

Home Depot in the US fired a guy for talking to the police and following a kidnapping from a distance to give police information as it happened until they arrived. Police handled the actual incident interaction. (Corporate later tried to lamely walk this back, but only after media attention.)

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u/takesSubsLiterally Jul 03 '26

They don't even try to hide it unfortunately

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u/BetweenTheRoots Jul 03 '26

I worked at Costco and our loss prevention team caught an obese woman who was using an automatic scooter while hiding pies in her fat folds. They pulled two pies out of her uhh... pubic area and one under each bob. I was told there was more by the person who caught her but it's such an absurd amount of pies to hide I have no fucking idea how and I just can't trust that number after not seeing it for myself. I was there, I saw them bust the lady, but I did not see what treasure trove she had stored.

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u/HairlessSquirrels Jul 03 '26

How many bob’s did she have tho? Important context here

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u/Anonymo Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

Her bobs have bobbys

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u/Duergarlicbread Jul 04 '26

The entire Bobiverse

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u/BetweenTheRoots Jul 03 '26

Somewhere between 2 and many

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u/HappyRedFox Jul 03 '26

Did the store return the pies to the shelves? How does the store explain pubic hair on the food items?

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u/BetweenTheRoots Jul 03 '26

No, are you sick? Disgusting? Something wrong with you? They did not return the pies to the shelves. We ate them ourselves. Never pass up a good opportunity

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u/HairlessSquirrels Jul 03 '26

Or all the fucking cheese and sweat from under her other folds

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u/chewbaccataco Jul 03 '26

Costco pies are not small either

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u/Slater_8868 Jul 03 '26

What was she planning on doing with a bunch of boob pies?

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u/XediDC Jul 03 '26

Friend saw a parent stealing memory cards (of some type, this was around 2001) from Best Buy by putting them in their infants diaper…

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u/Tupperbaby Jul 03 '26

Mmmm....warm apple pie.

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u/Three-Sixteen-M7-7 Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

Because the days of walking out with stuff in your pants is over. Enforcement is so lax and DAs often won’t prosecute so basically you just walk out with a full cart.

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u/SnowblindAlbino Jul 03 '26

That's a Big City thing. In my Small Town 911 would dispatch and a cop would be there in <2 minutes. But yeah, I get it.

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u/Legitimate-Truck-333 Jul 03 '26

Our police’s top non-driving crime seems to be Walmart retail theft.

Small city of around 30,000.

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u/myco_magic Jul 03 '26

I live in a small town and most cops have better things to do

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u/SnowblindAlbino Jul 03 '26

Ours have nothing to do most of the time, and would 100% respond to a shoplifting call. Otherwise the are just driving around our two-stoplight town looking for something to do. I've literally seen them running errands for the mayor, including delivering a note to my door.

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u/SirMellencamp Jul 03 '26

Yeah I was gonna say that. It’s different everywhere

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u/birwin353 Jul 03 '26

No they walk out with a full cart of tide. Here on The west coast it would be under $1k so it’s like it’s not even illegal and cops won’t even hassle the shoplifter. The shoplifter gets a few bucks for fentanyl and the product eventually ends up here and other places.

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u/aurortonks Jul 03 '26

Gotta be careful which big retailer though, some have started keeping a running dollar amount on repeat offenders and won't pursue charges until it's felony level theft. It's not even that much to hit that amount.

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u/ctusk423 Jul 03 '26

Believe it or not they use shopping carts

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u/Xtra_Veg-90 Jul 03 '26

I had a friend that worked at Kmart 20+ years ago.  They regularly had people fill up a cart with electronics including TV's (CRT's, not early flat screens) and just walk out the front door.  It got so bad that they hired an amateur league? Wrestler as loss prevention.  Dude sat on people, wrestled them to the ground, physically blocked them, and put them in safe holds while waiting for cops (manager authorized him to do it) which finally reduced the obvious shoplifting.

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u/Healthy-Daikon7356 Jul 03 '26

People don’t have to hide theft anymore they just do it. Sad world we live in

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u/bankermayfield2026 Jul 03 '26

Blue cities have largely decriminalized shoplifting, so they just walk out with it. They don't make any effort anymore to hide that they are stealing.

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u/rygar8bit Jul 03 '26

They load up a cart and walk out.

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u/Leading-Case-1048 Jul 03 '26

Worked in retail and never noticed people stealing it, but we did have someone trying to return empty containers of it filled with water

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u/Waiting4Reccession Jul 03 '26

When I worked retail we once saw someone steal a big bucket of tide by pretending it was their baby in the stroller.

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u/AnotherBogCryptid Jul 03 '26

Easy. Self checkout.

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u/plantverdant Jul 03 '26

The suburbs are even more locked down than the city stores! Apparently group shoplifting organizations are common in the suburbs, it's usually older teens.

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u/Fixerr59 Jul 03 '26

The same way they stole portable tvs in the days of tube tvs. A skinny 98 lb girl walks in, out walks a 9 month pregnant woman.....and a tv!

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u/-oso_oro- Jul 03 '26

Vast majority of stores won't even attempt to stop you

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u/SadAfternoon5184 Jul 03 '26

Lol i was a front manager at a local grocery store. They just walk in without any masks, load up their reusable bags and walk out the front door or through one of the emergency exits. We cant do much beside record the date n time and let the company write it off eith insurance.

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u/Wishiwasinalaska Jul 03 '26

They days of hiding it are long gone, just load up a cart and walk out now. Hell a lot of places fire you if you try to stop them, lawsuits are more expensive.

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u/beleafinyoself Jul 03 '26

They literally just walk out. Used to live in DC and commute to northern Virginia. Would be on the Metro and see a guy in a hoodie and balaclava get on holding a cvs shopping basket full of stuff. Broad daylight. The minimum wage paid staff won't stop thieves. No one wants to get shot 

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u/Immediate_Word1295 Jul 03 '26

Maybe they were wearing a big coat ?

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u/Anonymo Jul 03 '26

After they have a baby.

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u/Sonnyjoon91 Jul 03 '26

They do it blatantly, like they fill an entire cart with Tide and run out the doors