Almost stole milk today by accident

[Statest16]

I went for some light shopping today,just milk,bread and cereal.
I got back to my car and saw the milk was not in a bag,I always get my milk in a bag,with bags you can carry 3 or 4 bags in one hand by wrapping bag handles around your fingers.Without a bag,milk takes a whole hand to carry it.

I knew something was wrong when I saw the milk had no bag,so I checked the receipt and the milk was never paid for.I used auto-check out so there was no one to see the milk carton on the checkout counter.But no one Walmart employee in the auto-checkout section noticed me leaving without paying for the milk.

So I walked back inside the store with the milk bottle and non one noticed either,do people usually walk in stores with items?I went back to auto-pay section and paid for the milk and still no one noticed,then walked out again with the paid milk and receipt and no one noticed.

They really need to watch the customers better in auto-pay and the whole store in general,lucky for them I'm honest,but I could easily drove away with the milk and no one would have known.I have never shoplifted so I never knew how easy it is to walk out of a store without paying.

If they don'y pay attention it hurts honest customers because our prices go up to pay for the shrinkage.

 

[WildCat]

Yeah, it can be very easy for many reasons. Employees and even hired security can be way too occupied to notice someone walking out the door, more so when the traffic is high. Working in a grocery store myself, I know stories of customers who pass through the lanes with almost entire carts full of stolen goods and nobody doing a thing about it.

The store I work at now has plenty of security measures in place to keep this stuff from happening. The surveillance system got a massive upgrade a few years back for the high target areas, so I think that's discouraged a lot of the theft we used to have. Still happens of course, but it's become more difficult with those added measures in place.

 

[RESleight]

So I walked back inside the store with the milk bottle and non one noticed either,do people usually walk in stores with items?I went back to auto-pay section and paid for the milk and still no one noticed,then walked out again with the paid milk and receipt and no one noticed.

They really need to watch the customers better in auto-pay and the whole store in general,lucky for them I'm honest,but I could easily drove away with the milk and no one would have known.I have never shoplifted so I never knew how easy it is to walk out of a store without paying.

These things happen sometimes. Even forgetting to grab some items that you actually purchased. Only to realize later that you walked out with less items. I've done this several times. Busy mind thing...

Walking back into a store with an item (in this case a grocery item) is not unheard of and does happen. The frequency of such events vary by location. Some people will attempt to return the strangest of grocery items.

As for the issue of being noticed, it is very possible that the reason may be attributed to the fact that many people today are far too preoccupied with everything COVID in public places, to be bothered with noticing a grocery item.

 

[paloftoon]

Also, they might not want to make a big deal about one item. Sometimes it's better to let things happen and if it's a super big deal, eventually it will be found out about if it was a pattern rather than something done unintentionally.

 

[Statest16]

I guess I was just surprised,I've never been a shoplifter,so I fully expected that if I walked out with an item security would be chasing me and the police called.Sadly it's likely why people shoplift because it's easier than you realize.And Walmart prosecutes all shoplifters as company policy,smaller stores will usually just ban people found shoplifting because it's cheaper than taking a day off from work to go to court.

 

[Misery]

It's Walmart. I guarantee you, the employees are not being paid enough (nor are they treated well enough) to care much. I expect that quite a bit of theft probably happens at those stores, with or without the whole COVID thing going on.

What gets me though is that there is supposed to be a totally automated security device that goes nuts if something THAT obvious happens. You know, those bar things you have to walk between to get in and out of their stores? They didnt light up and freak out?

 

[Fino]

Oh yeah, you can definitely just walk out with things. I used to do it when the lines were too long, but that was when I abused a lot of drugs, I don't do that anymore.

What gets me though is that there is supposed to be a totally automated security device that goes nuts if something THAT obvious happens. You know, those bar things you have to walk between to get in and out of their stores? They didnt light up and freak out?

Those bar things are for items with security tags on them, such as alcohol. The cost of a security tag exceeds the cost of many items and so the majority of things in stores will not trigger the alarm.

 

[Aspychata]

We were told to just ignore it in gift shop but in liquor store, l prevented people from using bathroom because l knew they were lifting bottles. Plus fireball was right by the bathroom door. Really? Who puts fireball in the easiest place to steal. l really think that's why they didn't want me there. l was strict about that stuff. l don't tolerate stealing.

 

[Statest16]

It's Walmart. I guarantee you, the employees are not being paid enough (nor are they treated well enough) to care much. I expect that quite a bit of theft probably happens at those stores, with or without the whole COVID thing going on.

What gets me though is that there is supposed to be a totally automated security device that goes nuts if something THAT obvious happens. You know, those bar things you have to walk between to get in and out of their stores? They didnt light up and freak out?

I bet clothing and utility items are coded and have to be paid for for the bar code to be released but food items can't be fitted with such devices,but I get what your saying.

 

[Karamazov]

Doesn’t Walmart have every self-service till equipped with a big weighing scale that doubles as a bagging shelf then?

(British: all the big chain grocers here do)

 

[UberScout]

Hey don't beat yourself up, we all make mistakes.

You could bring your own custom shopping bags next time. That makes it really easy to--

I mean uh, yeah man, Walmart sucks and stuff.

 

[Ezra]

I "accidentally" left with a six-pack of beer and a pack cigarettes the other day

Spoiler

that was a joke.

 

[Misery]

Doesn’t Walmart have every self-service till equipped with a big weighing scale that doubles as a bagging shelf then?

(British: all the big chain grocers here do)

Yes, but they tend not to work right. Not any of the ones I've used in those stores, anyway.

 

[hatfullofrain]

I've done that with carrots before. Back when stores in the UK had tiny plastic bags with handles for the veg, I bagged 2 carrots and hung the bag round my wrist for ease of carrying as I was only getting a few things and didn't have a basket.

Didn't realise I had stolen them till I went to start the car and was still wearing the carrot bag as a bracelet.

I went back in and paid for them.

 

[Kalinychta]

Well, they stole it from the cows first, so I wouldn’t have felt too guilty about the near theft if I were you.

 

[Statest16]

Doesn’t Walmart have every self-service till equipped with a big weighing scale that doubles as a bagging shelf then?

(British: all the big chain grocers here do)

Yea, but no scale just a bag shelf

 

[Karamazov]

Yea, but no scale just a bag shelf

Ah... yes: over here they all have them, there’s a red light above the till that comes on if anything doesn’t add up, or if you buy alcohol/restricted quantity meds, and at least one (sometimes two or three) attendants.
As @Misery says: they don’t always work that well, usually the scale is too sensitive and thinks the bag itself is an item that hasn’t been scanned, but I’ve had ones that couldn’t cope with variable weight products such as loose veg or bakery as well.
@hatfullofrain: never occurred to me that that was possible! Do remember the news proclaiming there was a big problem with people running more expensive loose veg through the scale as carrots or potatoes a few years ago.

 

[Statest16]

Ah... yes: over here they all have them, there’s a red light above the till that comes on if anything doesn’t add up, or if you buy alcohol/restricted quantity meds, and at least one (sometimes two or three) attendants.
As @Misery says: they don’t always work that well, usually the scale is too sensitive and thinks the bag itself is an item that hasn’t been scanned, but I’ve had ones that couldn’t cope with variable weight products such as loose veg or bakery as well.
@hatfullofrain: never occurred to me that that was possible! Do remember the news proclaiming there was a big problem with people running more expensive loose veg through the scale as carrots or potatoes a few years ago.

I think we have scales too,I never buy fruit or food produce,I but all my food pre bagged or frozen.I have never used the scales,I never noticed but come to think of it the auto check out have scales.

 

[Karamazov]

I think we have scales too,I never buy fruit or food produce,I but all my food pre bagged or frozen.I have never used the scales,I never noticed but come to think of it the auto check out have scales.

Ah, over here you have to put all the bagged, frozen or otherwise prepped and packaged goods on the big scale plate together. (or set the red light off )

 

[All-Rounder]

Shoplifting is usually dealt with on the cameras [i saw a dog caught on camera shoplifting dog chews and going home, eventually they found the owner and he paid], but in a store i worked in we were always so stressed about shoplifters so just looking carefully at everyone, despite having cameras.

I tend to think cameras were more so for us so we wouldn't be sitting down at the workplace, lol.

I think Walmart especially has a high amount of customers so ppl can't really watch them all. Here in what would be our Walmart we have someone checking to see if we get everything right. But even so she can't watch everyone and even when there are 2 staff ppl at the fast scan line, despite my city not being that populated.