What have you shoplifted?

No....

I love shoplifting. I really enjoy a bargain.

I took a 60” TV by accident.

Details, please. R3

Yeah, really - how??

Cameras are everywhere now so it's really a risky thing to steal...but I imagine in the 70s it must have been much much easier.

A packet of cucumber seeds when I was about 7 years old. Mom made a big show about taking them back to the store and telling the owner what I did. Next time we were in that store I took a red Bic pen, which didn't catch her eagle eyes. And by the way, my mom was awesome.

I stole the 45 of the Bay City Rollers "Saturday Night" from the Wherehouse.

I didn't particularly want it, but it was the Special of the Week or something, so they had a display of it right there on the checkout counter, and I just couldn't help myself.

I had the TV on the bottom of my cart and forgot to give it to the cashier to scan.

A ChapStick, when I was around five. No idea why I even wanted it, but first I asked my mom to buy it for me and she said no. Then I grabbed it and awkwardly held it behind my back as we walked out. Of course the second she looked at me she knew exactly what I'd done. She accompanied me back in and made me tell the cashier what I'd done and apologize and I was so ashamed I started crying.

The first time I shoplifted was the last time. I was too sensitive for a life of crime.

I stole a crossword puzzle from a grocery store when I was 7 and a new immigrant. I thought they were free since they were displayed after the checkout lines near the door.

Any adults here do it consistently?

When I was 17 in 1965 I shoplifted a Metamorpho comic book in a neighborhood drugstore and got caught as I left the building. The son of the owner grabbed me by the arm and took me back inside and he and his Dad were angry and chastised me for stealing and to my complete surprise the owner told me I was banned from his store permanently and to leave. He did not call the cops on me! I was incredibly relieved and went home and felt an overwhelming sense of shame. I truly regretted what I did and vowed I would never do that again (and I didn't!) However...what the drugstore owner and his son didn't know is that I also had a paperback book stuffed down inside my pants which they never even suspected (The October Country by Ray Bradbury.) I only got caught for the comic book (I was a serious collector of comic books at the time.) I felt guilty that I got away with the paperback book but also thankful that they never knew I stole it as that might have pushed them over the edge to prosecute me. The whole incident left me with an overwhelming feeling of shame and regret for many years.

I stole a diamond ring once. Asked to try it on for my “wedding” and then walked out of the store after I switched it with a cubic zirconia.

Clothes mostly, as well as magazines, a few books, and of course ashtrays, cutlery and glassware from various bars and restaurants. I took an outdoor table from a restaurant once but returned it a year later. This was all in my teens and early 20s. Are we including shops where we've worked as well?

If I were to shoplift, which I don't, the only thing that I think is quasi moral to steal is garden seeds. You can use them to grow your own food or flowers to sell, and growing things is fairly easy as long as you stick with it.

[quote] I took an outdoor table from a restaurant once but returned it a year later.

Yes, outdoor restaurant furniture is very easy to take. Now most restaurants have outdoor parklets because of the pandemic so I’ve taken chairs, tables, heat lamps.

I used to do beer runs with friends when I was 16-20 years old. A few of us would go in and each grab a 12 or 18 pack on display and bolt out the door to someone waiting in the car.

We learned to only do it at chain stores like 7-11 or Circle K because the cashiers didn't care. The one time we did a store owned by Middle Eastern guys they chased us with baseball bats. We still got away because we were skinny teens and they weren't but it was quite frightening.

Souvenir fridge magnets an nasal spray. Good times.

A glass Playboy paperweight for my older brother (Christmas 1977, I think)

A Hallmark ornament for my Mom (78 or 79)

A March 1980 Playgirl, but I was caught and my parents had to come to the store (Jamesway). I was banned. And totally ashamed. Mostly because the centerfold was ugly!

Peter Gabriel's Birdy soundtrack on cassette from Tower Records in NYC when I was in college, probably 1984. I was drunk.

Sneakers. This was back in the early 90's. I would just try on a pair and walk out of the store wearing them, leaving my old ones behind in the box. I also stole leather belts and wallets similarly.

T12

You learned your lesson and didn't do it again. Don't beat yourself up....

Wait...weren't comics like 50 cents then?

Stupid, small stuff mostly. I stopped at about 17, but I did take one final item at age 25. It was a very expensive bottle of Chateau Margaux.

It sure was tasty.

I went had a one year period in my 20s where I shoplifted a ton. I'm still not sure why I did it. One thing that I can tell everyone is that it's really easy as long as you follow one simple rule: purchase something before you leave. Roaming an entire store without buying anything is really suspicious. I stole about $1000 worth of chocolate and truffle salt from Cost Plus World Market and A LOT of toiletries from Fred Meyers.

Worked at a retail store in my teens and stole clothes.. It was becoming too until I got caught and herded to the back of the store for taking a Walkman. I was so scared and ashamed that I thought it would follow me for life.

Im glad it didn’t because I became a cop in my twenties and thought stealing at the time would cost me from getting the job.

Lesson learned. We all do stupid things when we’re young and hopefully learn from our mistakes.

I used to arrest shoplifters for a living. OP, we usually called the cops on kids older than 12 or 13...depending on what they took and if they fought, etc. Most of the shoplifters we caught were adults though. And lots and lots of employees who think they are going to get away with it. We installed hidden pin hole cameras everywhere. Caught the manager of the shoe department once stealing $100 bills on one of those wee cams.

Is it possible to shoplift anymore with all the sensors at the door?

As a five year old I took a handful of individual Bazooka bubble gum from a small corner grocery store while shopping with my Nonna. The owner noticed and called me out on it and Nonna slapped me . The humiliation of the public smackdown ended any plans I had of a life of crime.

Lifted some dirty magazines from newsstands when I was too young to buy them. Thankfully never got caught, but my folks uncovered my stash one summer while I was away at summer camp.

On a school trip to Chicago. Our usual trips involved a relevant stop in the AM (museum, musical etc) then we got dropped off at some enormous mall in the burbs in the afternoon. My friends and I snuck liquor onto the bus and got shitfaced at the mall. I stole a pair of boxer briefs at a department store.

I once shoplifted a tube of Elmer’s Glue. By accident. I was about 8. Put it in a bag of things I’d already purchased elsewhere because my hands were full. Met a friend. Talked a bit. Forgot I had the Elmer’s. Went home. Unpacked the stuff my Mom asked me to get. Saw the glue. My codependent Midwestern heart stopped. Felt horrible, scared and anxious. Went back to the store. Snuck Elmer back on the shelf. Went outside. Walked around the building several times. Went back in. Bought the damn glue. Still felt guilty, so I put my allowance in the Humane Society donation jar next to the cash register. Felt bad the next 10 times I went into that store, convinced they knew my secret shame.

The only thing I've purposely stolen was a pair of slutty underwear. It was one of those instances of it being on a hanger in the clearance section, and I was too embarrassed to pay for it. So I went in the changing room, put them on, and walked out. I did buy other things, as someone mentioned above.

Unintentionally, there's been several times at Sam's where I either forget to scan something in my cart (like a case of water on the bottom of the cart), or the Sam's mobile app didn't compute the barcode on a scanned item. I've unintentionally gotten several free pizzas, etc in that latter instance. I also used the regular self check-out once and noticed a couple of days later that my entire purchase (nearly $300) had been refunded to my AmEx. I wanted to go back in the store and have them charge me again, but my ex talked me out of it and said it would just confuse them. In that purchase alone was a pack of 12 razor blades, a 10-pack of Burt's Bees, and a lot of food. I still have no idea why they refunded it.

After watching "Soul Man", I shoplifted a deep brown foundation when I was at the store with my mother. I took it home, and promptly went into my bathroom to apply it, so I could see how I looked as a black man.

R29 r31 the underwear thing - did it too. Was also too embarrassed to purchase the flashy colorful briefs that would scream "gay" to the cashier.

I've heard that kind of thing happens often at Victoria's Secret with younger girls wanting the sexy underwear but ashamed to be seen getting the sexy underwear.

I would buy a record from the cheap bin ($3.99). Once I bought it and got the bag, I'd walk around the store and slip other records in,

I did this until I got caught--and the emotional stress of getting caught, getting taken to the mall security office, having my parents come and get me, and being grounded for 6 months made me stop completely.

I had a klepto phase in junior high. Stole from the Eckerd's drug store around the corner on a weekly basis. Candy, CDs, CD players, VHS tapes

I once shoplifted a few sex toys from a sex toy store. Anal beads. A big double sided dildo. Vibrator. Stuffed em all in my snatch. Quite roomy down there.

I knew a police officer who told me about a fellow officer who would go into Home Depot,wearing his uniform, and walk out with things like a chainsaw, not paying. There was also a female police officer in my area who would go into groceries stores uniformed and walk out with a full cart of food.

I worked in a big box store and I remember you had to pass the security room to get to the break room and I'd often see crying teenage girls in there. It didn't take long to figure out who the plain clothes security officers were, if you had someone on the inside it would probably be pretty easy to shoplift and not get caught. It also seems like a waste of resources to go after kids stealing stupid little things or a senior stealing food when there's shoplifting rings stealing thousands of dollars worth of merchandise.

Oh I ‘forget’ to self-scan things all the time. I’m not made of money.

R38 I do that occasionally. Nothing big but $5 is $5

The trick is to put your thumb over the bar code so it won’t scan. Tee hee. 🤭

Now some self checkouts have cameras and screens so you can see yourself being filmed.

Honestly though who watches the footage of 2000 grocery store shoppers scan each item? Its not possible.

Can't the machine tell if you put something in the bagging area that you didn't pay for

R37

Having worked in retail, I saw those same teary confrontations. It was often the white teenage girls or the ethnic mothers with strollers. For two different reasons.

It was sad either way.

Woolworth’s. I took a copy of Stephen King’s The Shining - it was the yellow movie poster on the cover. Got caught. They let me go

It’s my time! I went through a phase when I was in college. Before they started checking receipts at the door, I would wheel entertainment systems and vacuums out of Walmart holding an old dupe receipt in my hands. Never got caught. I am from a high crime urban area and went to college in what was essentially Mayberry. They never knew what hit them. I used to steal out of just about every store in the mall (except Dillards, they had a decent security team). Me and all my friends would have retail jobs and let each other come in and play supermarket sweep. I would do false returns and pocket the cash. I did this at both Ross and Bed, Bath and Beyond. Incompetent managers who I suspected were stealing, too. I never got caught but I stopped because it was an addictive thrill and I was afraid my number would eventually come up. If you’re gonna steal, get in the store and get out as quickly as possible. Trying to buy shit to look innocent only gives the cops more time to get there. Run, gurl!

This was all around 10 years ago.

[quote] I did this at both Ross and Bed, Bath and Beyond. Incompetent managers who I suspected were stealing, too

How sad if someone is shoplifting from those stores

I shoplifted a jar of Dippity Do in 1987 from a Peoples Drug store.

I've never shoplifted, but I stole money when I was a cashier. I have no regrets, the job paid shit and I used the money to pay for school.

Candy, sunglasses. I was under 20

Azizas Seasonings is a Queen 👸🏻

A ‘prolific’ female shoplifter, 41, who stole $40,000 in merchandise from the same Target in 120 incidents over a one-year period. Stonestown Galleria shopping mall, was hit by the same person more than 100 times between October 2020 and November 2021.

It is unclear how much she stole in each incident, though she is only being charged with a felony in eight cases, along with 120 misdemeanor counts of petty theft. This is because, in San Francisco, charges of property theft less than $950 in value was downgraded from a felony to a misdemeanor in 2014. Graves carried out her scheme by using self-checkout kiosks to appear as though she were paying for her merchandise. She would scam the machine by scanning the items, but only submitting cash payments of $1, or sometimes even one cent.

She would then waltz out of the store without completing the rest of her transactions, officials said. Boudin said that Graves stole home goods like laundry detergent that are frequently stolen and resold for profit just a short walk from the looted store.

[quote] I shoplifted a jar of Dippity Do in 1987 from a Peoples Drug store.

I forgot about Peoples!!

When I was 5, I stole an onion. For the next two years I was afraid I was going to get caught. I learned my lesson and have never stolen anything again.

R42 Sometimes, but the cashier always just resets it without coming over.

I've never shoplifted but have kept some items that were shipped by mistake, including a 50" Samsung OLED TV.

I was so hungry that I ate a bag of chips while shopping...and never paid for it

I once accidentally walked out of a department store with a pair of sunglasses in my shirt pocket. I'd been trying glasses on and put them there out of habit. I actually did buy a couple other things at the store during that trip, all the time with the glasses in my pocket. I didn't realize this till I got home. I'd have brought the glasses back immediately, but by that time the store was already closed. Overnight I thought I might get a knock on the door from the police, thinking I may have been seen on their the store's security cam, and of course, they'd know who I was from my subsequent credit card transaction there. .. I brought the glasses back the next day, but put them back without telling anyone in the store, because I felt too stupid... lol

I worked retail in high school in the late 60's and loss prevention showed us a movie of shoplifters, one very full size woman in a full size dress, bent down over a 19 inch TV and this was back when TV's had the large picture tubes and were not thin and snatched that TV right up between her legs and walked out of the store, you couldn't even tell she had a TV under there.

R58, I don't see how larger women get away with that. Never in all my life would I...oh, never mind.

I didn’t do this, but a case I saw when I worked in the courts cracked me up.

A woman was told by a tree specialist that the tree in front of her house was dead and needed to be cut down. Not wanting to spend the money on that, she instead went to Home Depot and tried to walk out with a chainsaw in her tote.

I had a moment of opportunity and took it. This was years ago, at least a decade....I went to the fitting room to try on some slacks and shirts at Kohls. It was a very busy Saturday close to back to school time. The dressing room was filled with clothing and other oddball items people had left in it. There was a Dockers Wallet, exactly the bi-fold style I like. I ended up removing it from the box, which contained and security strip. I took it right on home and enjoyed it for several years.

But would you be reminded of your crime and guilt every single time you took out your wallet?

Had a fairly prolific shoplifting period as a teenager. It started as a few candy bars with friends and then escalated to CDs and records. This was when they put the electronic tags on the outside of the CD so we’d just peel it off while going up or down an escalator then slip the CD/record into a bag. As someone mentioned above the trick was to buy something first so you had a bag from the shop already. There was an art to pulling it off confidently too and not looking around too much or looking nervous. Got caught once and the security guard just made me pay for the one CD they saw me put in a bag, while I had about 6-7 other recently stolen CDs in there too. I took the CD back to another store of the same chain the next week and got my money back! Looking back we were idiots but we got quite addicted to the thrill of it I think. Morally we told ourselves we were taking from big name chain stores (I’d never have stolen from a small store) and we did also spend all our money on music too so never felt bad about it.

25/30 years on I do still get a bit nervous walking out of stores and then I remember I haven’t stolen anything and it goes.

I only shoplift at a small store around the corner from my luxury condo. It’s a mom and pop shop so no cameras. There’s only a little old lady running the counter so when her back’s turned I help myself to all the candy and gum I want. And when she asks, “Will there be anything else?” I say yes give me a Advil from the top shelf. And then I stuff more stuff into my pockets.

Wokeness.

I stole a little book about England from a bookshop that specialized in old books. I still feel a tinge of. guilt.

Playgirls

TONS of playgirls

All you shoplifters better not bitch when someone steals stuff from you.

Oh my god. You don’t even want to know. In the dark ages when I was a teen. Never got caught and wouldn’t do it now.

R67 bring em over to my house after school - I want to see!

The real shoplifters aren’t spilling because all the “I stole a piece of gum when I was 5 and never did it again” people took over.

Now we’ll never know.

Fat whore things. After heading home from the bar with my bf we would stop at this particular gas station and I would pocket mini donuts, snack crackers, candy bars. I was 30. The gas station is closed now because of a fatal shooting.

closed surely because of FAT-el shooting

When the self check-out lanes became popular, I realised all the vegas casino noises coming from the machine shouldn't have been ignored. Upon reviewing my receipt, I noticed I'd accidentally nicked a wedge of St. André and a small jar of pesto.

I didn't make restitution, but I vowed to not use those lanes anymore. I also thought better on the matter: that they might eventually phase out an unskilled occupation, which we really shouldn't contribute to.

R21 In 1965 comic books were only 12 cents. That would be like a dollar in today's money. But it wasn't the value of the thing I stole that the drugstore owner and his son were angry over, it was the fact that like with all small Mom & Pop stores they don't want to have shoplifters. This was an old fashioned, independent neighborhood drugstore, the kind that probably does not exist in America any more.

I did finally stop feeling so bad about the humiliation of getting caught but I've since realized that I'm glad I was caught as that broke me of doing that. It was stupid of me, although I did it because I was too poor to afford the things I stole.

R21 "Wait...weren't comics like 50 cents then?"

Comic books in 1965 were 12 cents. That would be like a dollar in today's money.

R45, a guy I knew used to work in a supermarket and would 'forget' to scan certain items like a turkey when waiting on his friends.

R77 when I worked at a retail store this one cocky/cute guy got fired for doing the same thing and pretending to scan items his friends were buying when he actually wasn't.

R75 and r76 thanks for the perspective.

R64, not that there's a good person to steal from but....a little old lady?

When I was 14 I noticed that a display case in the Childrens Museum was only held shut by 3 screws. Next time I came in I brought a screwdriver .The museum was a ghost town during the weekdays, so I had ample time to unscrew the case,lift the lid and steal several small silver items and 8 silver doubloons. I was able to pull that off 2 more times,then one day all the cases had new locks on them. This was of course before cameras were everywhere.

I stole from a museum once too but instead of locks they had lasers, just red beams shooting all across. The only way to get to the Jewel was from above. Had to use wires to suspend myself down.

I never shoplifted - I took food occasionally from places I worked, and once stole a bit of money from a job - I was immediately fired but thankfully they let me pay them back and did not press charges.

Not a thief but those were my early 20s post coming out and being estranged from parents....a girl's gotta eat, so....

Apparently it's perfectly fine nowadays to walk into stores and take several hundred dollars of whatever you want and walk out.

I knew so many queens that were thieving whores. One claimed to have gone to Chicago's Magnificent Mile, into a high end men's shop, tried on a suit, and folded it up so small that he basically shoved it into the crack of his ass and walked out with it.

How do you wear a suit that been inside your ass? Do you have to get it steamed and dry cleaned?

Nothing.

I have never shoplifted.

Good on you R85.

A can of caviar

I discovered an old friend was a rabid shoplifter, because he got caught and spilled the beans. I never looked at him the same way. REFUSE to let him in my house….and TBH, talk massive shit about him any chance I get. I think shoplifting is fucking low.

Adult diapers

I stole from all my retail jobs. Prada, MAC, Kenneth Cole, Fred Segal - It was just too easy. Now I'd never do it, to much risk, cameras, high-tech registers.. God, the more that I think about it, I was a total thief. I think I justified it because the jobs were so awful.

I have never shoplifted, and I am appalled and depressed that so many of you have.

As my grandma would ask, "Ain't you had no fetchin' up?"

what was it like working at a Prada store, r90? It seems like it would be more fun than working at a regular store. Probably a lot of standing around.

I stole a bunch of comics-- Richie Rich, Casper, Little Lotta, Archie

Nothing!

R91 Tell your memaw to stuff it in her hooha.

I stole a couple Playgirls from a giant country store in the middle of nowhere Michigan. I slipped the magazine up my pant leg and tucked it into my sock so it wouldn't fall out when I walked out.

I also used to bust shoplifters all the time when I worked in a mall store. They would set off the door alarm, I would chase them down, and then when I asked to see what was in their bag, THEY WOULD SHOW ME. It's not like I'm a cop, dummy, just refuse! Then when they would produce the item they'd look at me like, "Take me away, officer," and I'd whisper, "Just leave the item and run."

I ain't got time for the paperwork.

R96 That gives me bad flashbacks to the Checkpoint system we had at Barnes & Noble. We had training on it several times and I may have said in one meeting that I would happily alert a manager, but that I was not paid nearly enough to stop a thief at the door. Many of them took books from us and tried to return them for cash or credit elsewhere, a process they'd repeat until they could hound *someone* to give them cash.

Meanwhile, one of our department supervisors stole some ungodly amount of money by processing returns that never happened, AND by putting the zippered cash bag into her cooch, or so we heard.

R92. It was so fucking boring standing around waiting for an Asian to come in with a picture and point to what they wanted to buy. I worked at the Bellagio store, so the hours were fucking awful. The cashier and the stock girl were working a scam by ringing huge sales that were to be delivered to the front desk of the casino. The stock girl would drop the merchandise off at the hotel front desk. They would have a 3rd person pick up the merchandise under their name with a paid sales ticket attached. The Cashier would then cancel the sale in the register. They didi this for months! The ONLY reason they got caught is because the stupid stock girl asked the hot Latin stock room co-worker if he wanted in on the scam. He immediately went to the Manager. The next time the girls pulled their scam, the casino security was waiting for the them. They told us all this because we had to do an emergency inventory in the store. The fact that those girls got caught worked in my favor. I had taken so many wallets. key rings, credit card holders, etc but EVERYTHING got blamed on those girls! Dodged a bullet. They were supposedly prosecuted.

Off and on throughout my life but thankfully don't plan to ever do it again. As a kid, it was books from a mall B Dalton Bookstore. Then as an adult off and on when times were tough money wise. Stole a few toiletries I needed from a neighborhood chain drugstore here in Brooklyn. Got caught by an plain clothes security guy as I tried to leave the establishment. He took me in the back and got a store manager. They threatened to contact police but instead made me show ID and they filled out some paperwork and barred me from every store in the chain. I got caught with a few grocery items at a supermarket on 9th Street in Park Slope. The manager who caught me was an attractive Puerto Rican guy who I'd complained to in previous visits about how rude the deli staff there behaved. He just took the items from me and told me not to return. My biggest thievery however involved my love of clothes and fancy European magazines. Hudson News store on the main level in Grand Central Terminal was horribly designed in terms of preventing theft. All the expensive European magazines were displayed in racks in two alcoves which offered complete privacy from the rest of the store. When I worked nearby, I'd steal 5 or 6 magazines at a time. This went on for a long time. Also, I learned that thrift stores were the easiest clothing stores to steal from. I'd regularly hit a Salvation Army in South Brooklyn. And when i was in the city, I'd sometimes hit Housing Works. In general, they had higher end/ more fashionable clothes on offer than the Sal Army.The irony is I knew the CEO of Housing Works from when I was younger. He was the best friend of a guy I had dated approx 20 years earlier and one time we even had a three way together.

Airplants and succulent petals to use as cuttings from Home Depot, because why pay for that shit??

I took cuttings from a plant at a garden centre.

R99, that’s so sad— shoplifting from thrift stores

R96, what would happen if they didn't show you what they stole?

I once stole a car. Just drove it home after the test drive after I pushed the person out halfway through.

I was a brazen little boy of 11. We were poor and I wanted an aquarium. One day, I walked into Woolworths department store, walked right into the pet department and picked up a ten gallon aquarium. I jut picked up the thing and walked out the front door just like I bought the thing. No questions. I wasn't worried until I got home. Mom asked me where I got a brand new aquarium. I was very good at lying, as well.

Don't steal now, though. Not unless the cashier of overwhelmed.

As I got older I started doing it I would Target stores where all the employees are millennials preferably minorities. I can well afford purchase the items but I find it compelling to go into the stores be ignored by the personnel and then make my moves no one suspects a white dumpy looking Elder gay as a shoplifter. I've netted over $20,000 of merchandise over the last year. I've given most of it away as gifts. Screw all of you that dismiss me because of my age.

I don't know if this can be called stealing but it is easy in some stores to not pay for some items at self checkout.

I never did it deliberately but if I try to ring something up 3, 4, 5 times and it isn't working, and Miss Cashierina is busy, then that's on the store, not me. I tried, bitches.

R107 Really? You don’t know if that’s considered stealing?

Batteries. Everyone steals batteries.

[quote] [R107] Really? You don’t know if that’s considered stealing?

Why would it be considered stealing?

I don't know if this can be called stealing but it is convenient in some stores to put things in my voluminous winter garments while I'm shopping then to forget to pay at the crowded and covid dangerous self checkout.

I can’t believe all you lowlives stealing things. Did you not have parents? How do you sleep at night? Shame on you!!!

I sleep very well, thank you very much. And I’m richer for it. 💸💵💰

[quote] I don't know if this can be called stealing but it is convenient in some stores to put things in my voluminous winter garments while I'm shopping then to forget to pay at the crowded and covid dangerous self checkout.

That’s why it’s good stores have banned plastic bags. People now bring their own bags and put items directly in them and then empty them at checkout. I just skip the checkout. It’s so much better now that I can openly put items into my bag instead of sneaking them into my pockets.

I don't know if this can be called stealing but the florist at my supermarket never has a cashier and it's so inconvenient to return to pay so I just figure it doesn't really matter to them and take a bouquet or two on my way out the door.

I can't believe there are so many nellie prisspots on this thread!!!!! The maiden aunt brigade strikes again!!!!

Its not stealing if I scan the low priced item 3 times to cover the 2 luxury items. The white tuna in olive oil is so overpriced its their own fault. Everybody does it. Don't be such prisspots!

I eat the organic vegetables and wild alaskan salmon poke bowl while I'm shopping, so I wouldn't call that theft. I didn't leave the store with it in my bag, just in my stomach. Fair is fair.

A book at a book signing. It was an accident. I totally forgot I had taken one to be signed for a relative. Didn't realize I walked out without paying until I was two blocks away. No, I didn't go back and pay for it. The friend I was with said the story is better without paying for it.

[quote] I eat the organic vegetables and wild alaskan salmon poke bowl while I'm shopping, so I wouldn't call that theft. I didn't leave the store with it in my bag, just in my stomach. Fair is fair.

Same here. Eat while you shop. The bulk nuts are expensive but not if you eat 2/3 of them before checkout. Whole Foods hot bar is expensive. Just eat while you shop and it will weigh next to nothing at checkout.

Hey guys. I found a new pink iPhone 13 on the counter in Selfridges in London. I don't really know how shops work in foreign countries, its so confusing!, and I don't speak the language in London, but I guess nobody wanted it so its mine now.

Is it shoplifting if I leave my old shoes on the rack after I put on the new shoes and walk out the door? Hardly seems so.

No, that’s called swapping.

I don't know if anyone else has used one of the Amazon Go convenience stores. There are a couple in Manhattan now. It's basically a 7/11, but you scan to enter with a QR code, just take whatever you want from the shelf, and walk out. The first time I did it, I felt like I was shoplifting.

Just go to an Amazon Go store to satiate your need whenever a shoplifting urge comes on.

I tried to steal a wind-up mouse toy when I was seven. I wanted a pet mouse but was not allowed, so this was to be a consolation prize. I held it behind my back, which of course didn't work.

My mother's initial reaction of anger and outrage had me equally angry and defiant. But then, she pulled a genius move and started crying and telling me she didn't want me to go to jail. I felt so guilty for scaring her and making her cry, and any criminal tendencies pretty much evaporated. Clearly, I am not made for the life.

R125 ain't bout that life

I just thought of other places i used to shoplift from that i forgot about.

The Syms on Trinity Place just south of the World Trade Center. Easy peasy. Nobody monitored the men's fitting room and counted the amount of items you brought into it. You'd just put some of the articles of clothing you brought in to try on under the clothes you wore in and walk out. There was no electronic tag sensors being used there so you didn't have to worry about any the clothes setting off any sort of alarm detector as you exited the store. BTW, The men's changing room was just one large space that everybody trying on stuff used together at the same time. It was never very busy but I never saw any come-ons for sexual activity when there with others in there with me.

Daffy's, specifically the Herald Square store, also had just one dressing room shared by everybody and with floor length  mirrors covering all the walls. Unlike Syms, there was tons of sex going on in there. You could also steal from Daffy's but it wasn't nearly as easy as Syms. The fitting room attendant was supposed to count the number of clothing items you were bringing in and then count again to make sure the number was the same whe you came out. However, some of the employees were too lazy to check themselves so if you told them you had three items when you really had six they believed you.

To illustrate how I no longer engage in any stealing at all in my life nowadays, I was at the supermarket tonight scanning my food items and I entered a semolina bread roll manually and the price popped up on my bill as as 70 cents so i called an employee over to add 45 cents manually because i had seen a sign on the container i took it from indicating each one was $1.15.

R99. You’re a piece of shit. In case no one ever told you…..ALLOW ME!

I just borrow things you know.

In my early 20s, I used to steal food, books and cosmetics. I was friends with anarchists and this was done to stick it to the man. Also because we had no money. I didn’t do it often because I’m a wuss. At one department store, I got caught. They took me to a back room and I started crying. It was so humiliating I never shoplifted again. They let me go because the item I took probably cost $15.

I only shoplift high end stores like Louis Vuitton, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom’s, Macy’s, Lulumelon.

R 128, I bet is a close personal friend of Marcy Syms.

When I was at uni, I used to walk through the herb garden adjacent to the local war memorial and surreptitiously break off herbs when I planned to cook chicken that night.

I was 12 and first shoplifted. It was nail polish at Woolworth, didn't need it or want it. I continued to shoplift until I was caught at age 17 stealing a book at Gimbels. I was so grateful for my parents not being notified, I never stole anything again!

A shirt from JCPenney as a teen.

I felt so guilty the entire day I wore it, and then the next day I lost it and never saw it again. I was thrilled.

I still think about that incident sometimes and feel guilty and trashy about it.

R135 How did you lose it?

I have no idea, r136. I’m assuming I put it in my hamper, but I just never saw it again.

Karma.

R137 If you were a teen and put it in your hamper, weren't you afraid your mom would question it? I apologize if being forward but I remember my mother not questioning any of the shit I shoplifted. She'd just put it back in the closet. So maybe it was just thrown away by whoever was doing the laundry?

I get the karma reference, that's why I can't steal to this day,

Never shoplifted from a store. When I was about 15, I had some medical issue going on and my dad took me to a specialist. I was looking through the waiting room magazine rack for something to read, and on that rack was a copy of the INTERNATIONAL MALE catalog. I had never seen anything like it! I slipped it in a TIME or NEWSWEEK, sat across the room from my dad and looked at it. I felt flush. When they called my name, I stuck both magazines at the back of the rack.

After my exam and while my dad was paying, I grabbed them from the rack and slipped to the bathroom. I shoved the catalog down the back of my pants, untucked my shirt to cover it, and rode the hour home with it sticking to my ass. I kept that thing hidden in a Trapper Keeper at the back of my closet for YEARS (along with the US magazine containing the pictures of Gregory Harrison as a male stripper). I spilled a lot of seed looking at that catalog over the years!

This was the one:

Did anyone ever actually buy anything from International Male?

Oh I sure did R140 ! Several things,but my favorite was a collarless silk peasant shirt ! I also loved a red velvet vest . I wore both till they fell apart.

When I was 13 my 14 year old friend shoplifted a Playboy magazine. We looked at it together in his room when his parents were out and jerked off. I was looking more at him than the magazine.

R113 karma is truly a bitch.

Nothing from a shop but lots from the office -- sticky notes, tape, staples

Yes. A candy bar from a Circle K. I had money but not enough for it so I stole it. I was five and still feel guilt over it.

Extra large and wide Tampons for my overly used hole.

A pound of Brie

Plecos

I browsed at Macy's....

but

I *shoplifted* at Alexander's!

I took a designer purse for my mom, LV. And then she didn’t even wear it out.

A rhinestone bracelet and a lace glove off a department store mannequin when I was 12. My mom and sisters were busy shopping.

As a teen a Playgirl magazine I was too mortified to buy so I slid it into a newspaper and paid for the newspaper.

I don't know what my problem was, but I stole TONS from Kenneth Cole when I worked there back in the day. We had this asshole for a Regional Manager named Roger. The minute I knew I was leaving, I went on a month long rampage. We had just completed inventory, so I knew they wouldn't catch the shortages right away. EVERYONE I knew got shoes, purse, jackets. This was at the store they had in Las Vegas. IN fact, I remember one time the alarm went off and they called me at 2:00 am. I had to drive to the fucking store to switch everything back on. I loaded up a bunch of bags and walked out of the store, thru the casino with all my stolen merchandise. I justified it by saying, "thats what you get for CALLING ME AT 2:00 IN THE MORNING"

R153

Wow, hahahahahaha! Trashy, but funny. How the hell did you get jackets out unnoticed though?

R147 same. I would leave it at the bottom of my cart under my bag or the flyer or something. Lucky I was never caught. It was always a small half circle, maybe 6 bucks worth, but definitely more than I could afford.

Shame lingers.

R153 hi this is Roger I knew you stole items, so did I.

When I was in college I was the manager of a chain store that sold high-end boating supplies. They were an incredibly profitable company, but announced one year that they would no longer pay for a Christmas party for employees, which everyone actually looked forward to since they were usually at one of the local yacht clubs and were great fun. We had to do random inventory counts every week, so whenever I found too many of an item on hand, I just returned them for cash, and the inventories would agree. By Christmas I had about $2500 and we had a hell of a party. No regrets.

R156 Roger spent all his time in the Caesars sports book when he'd come into town to visit the store.

I wonder sometimes if shopkeepers know certain kids or people steal but don't call them out on it out of pity or compassion.

Plenty of Mom and Pop stores have hidden cameras. Imagine knowing certain people are stealing from you over and over....must be depressing.

Wonder breads

In college, my friend worked at a coffee shop that had a vending machine outside, accessible even when the shop was closed. The machine was in an area off the main drag, so couldn't be seen from the street.

One day he called me and told me to hurry up and meet him at the shop. Someone had broken the glass of the machine and taken a few candies. Before he called the police, he and I took the remaining candy from the machine (a good 80% of the whole thing) and took it home.

I used to shoplift sometimes when I was young and at school, but once I started working I stopped. I retired early at 52, and though I don’t need to over the past few years have slowly started started shoplifting once again, I can’t seem to stop myself. In the past week my haul is a shirt £75, underwear £23, chinos £50, jumper £40, leather passport holder £30 plus several smaller low cost items. I’ve heard that there is a shoplifters anonymous group and I am think of checking it out.

R161. If there’s a group called “I’m a piece of shit”, …..JOIN THAT.

^^ This is a thread about shoplifting, if you don’t like the subject matter then don’t read it you thick cunt.

I shoplifted as a teen and thought I was cool and it made me feel cool. Eventually I figured out most of my impulse control issues and tried to stop all the ones I could, and did so successfully. A few remain. I also have OCD. Its mostly managed. It runs in the maternal side of my family but is not super common in the family. But I think it comes from my maternal grandfather's family and there weren't all that many of them around when I was growing up. Impulse control may have weeded them out or dispersed them? My material grandmother and her parents - I knew them - as great grandparents, and they were rock solid German Americans and the opposite of impulsive. I thank god somehow I got a dose of those genes as my life would have been a disaster otherwise.

We used to clean up at the mall back in high school until my stupid friend Sandra got caught and fingered the rest of us. We were like 14-15 so no arrests, just grounded. I stopped for several years but the self checkout just leaves way too much opportunity, especially with the price gouging nowadays.

R165, I don't suppose it ever crossed your mind that part of the reason for price gouging is to cover losses through shoplifting?

Anyone who has worked retail can tell you that losses through shoplifting/shrink is huge.

R13 We all do that.🙄

Self checkouts are usually watched via CCTV.

I worked for a very short while in that area, and it was shocking how much they see (and the detail)

I worked at Nordstrom in college, and robbed them blind. I once put on a very expensive leather jacket and walked out of the store on my lunch break. I put the coat in the trunk of my car. I now switch tags when I shop for clothing. It’s very easy to change tags at department stores. I have also got $3-4k worth of free stuff by ordering things online and telling the business that it didn’t arrive. I like nice things, but don’t want to spend my money. I like the thrill of getting a bargain too.

R163. Eat shit, thief

Years ago - Cadbury Creme Eggs.

I like to do the self-check outs, and if an item doesn't go through I just take it. The employees are never around to help in a timely manner, so they aren't going to stop me from stealing in a timely manner either.

I do it constantly tbh. Total thief. Have done it throughout my life. Did it at Christmas again. It was something like 60 quid at the airport

When I was about 8-9 years old while I was with my mom at the supermarket I broke into a cereal box and stole the free toy prize.

Michael Jackson’s OFF THE WALL cassette from Sears. I was 14.

Some of you had terrible parents. I hope you get ripped off.

Y’all are NASTY

R176 shoplifting has nothing to do with parenting.

Stealing from individuals or small businesses is shitty. I don’t care about stealing from large corporations.

I've done it at the second hand store a little (not a vintage shop, just Salvation Army type places). Their inventory is completely donated so...they're making 10 bucks profit off of something someone else gave away for free. Or more.

I'm not saying I'm right to do it, but I don't feel too badly sneaking a 2nd shirt in with the one I'm buying, you know?

One time, I really needed sneakers and had no budget for any, so I found a pair at the donation shop and crammed it into my bag, hands shaking. Surprised no one saw me. Walked out of there hoping I wouldn't get stopped. I felt really trashy and low, but those shoes lasted me two years and saved me 80-100 bucks.

I like paying for things, I do, but when you're barely scraping by....you do stuff you aren't proud of.

Your potential net worth was probably stolen from you, so I think its OK to steal some shoes from the charity shop for your cold feet.

I went to a charity shop for the first time in 4 years today and the staff were complete nasty dried up old cunt women, miserable and miserly about everything down to the sheets of newspaper they could SPARE (very very few) to wrap a couple cache pot I bought.

A paperback book, from Korvettes. I don't remember the name of the book but I'm sure it had something to do with being gay, otherwise I wouldn't have shoplifted it.

I got caught - apprehended in the parking lot - was given the 'let's scare the shit out of this kid' treatment, but ultimately only forbidden from ever entering another EJ Korvettes for the rest of my life. Which I found funny even then.

I had to be at least 16 because I was driving.

EJ Korvettes was a discount store - think something like Target but in the 50s/60s/70s - on Long Island, in New York state.

When I was at school (pre barcode scanning) I would go to my local record shop and change the cd covers and inserts in the cases for cheaper cds and then leave them in the racks for a couple of weeks before going back and buying them.

But I never shoplifted.

Oh thinking about it I'm not sure this counts as shoplifting but a friend of mine worked at a middle of the range homeware store, and I'd go in and say what I liked and he'd bag them up and I'd collect it at the end of the day when he was locking up.

Technically that's stealing isn't it?

I used to love Shoplifting& stealing from stores, and other places. When I was working with a client in Philly, I use to stay at the 4 Seasons Hotel on Logan Square (the old one) in the late 1990's, I was bored a lot & look for ways to entertain myself. I found out that the fire stairwells throughout the Hotel did not have cameras on the inside of the stairwells (only on the outsides) During a major money wedding (billionaires' daughter), I pulled a fire alarm, of course, they had to evacuate the Hotel, wedding guest and all. I got to the coat room, "borrowed 4 large fur coats& men's expensive topcoat" (46 L). I went up the back stairwell, noticed they left the Bridal suite door open, so being me, I went in to look around-everyone was outside. All her jewelry was there& his stuff (2 omega watches, Cartier watch, cufflinks, triple-strand black pearls, white pearls, diamond-ruby sets, one with emeralds-other with Sapphires), They left the key in the wall safe, it was open!!. I locked it, took the key!! Never got caught!! When security did the count, saw I wasn't outside, they knocked on my door, entered the room found me asleep naked in bed. I had earplugs in, so I didn't hear shit.

Never anything ever.

R185, that’s some Oceans 11 shit!