Confessions of a shoplifter: As food costs soar and self-checkouts multiply, more people are stealing — and they’re not sorry

The wealth of billionaires is the accumulated wage theft of generations.

How will the robots support their families if people are stealing?

My SO says people aren’t doing the old style of shoplifting anymore where they try to hide what they are doing. They are just walking into stores, grabbing things off the shelf, and running away. They see this many times a week.

My biggest score to date: During the point (early winter 2021) where you had to wait in line in the cold to go into a grocery store/​Walmart it was FREEZING cold and I had to buy my then newborn baby formula (which sells for about $49+ tax) I decided to go to Shoppers instead.

There were no cashiers (it was late 11:30) so I had to go to self checkout. Formula wouldn’t scan. An employee came and glanced at the formula and manually entered a code. It rang in at $25 each!

In my sleep deprived / recovering from a c section state it was the BEST DAY ever.

If I forget to scan an item or two at the checkout, that's not on me. Maybe it didn't scan? Maybe it was a mistake. I have my headphones on, I couldn't hear the beep or lack of. Maybe hire a professional to do it for me? Seems more like a Loblaws problem and less like a me problem.

I do this all the time. It’s my hedge against inflation. 4011 for bananas and I have perfected a low whistle that sounds exactly like the beep of the self checkout machine. If you feel like you’re being watched by a staff member, drop a can or something at self checkout. If the go for it right away, they got eyes on you and consider aborting.

Buddy offered to sell me a $70 beef roast out of his backpack at Carleton and Jarvis the other day. Proved the price with the Loblaws sticker still attached.

Just make sure it's not a smaller store and I'll be sure to turn a blind eye. Support the smaller businesses that are being eaten up by the Walmart's of the world

Retailers are starting to get smarter with the technology. Even Dollarama has scales in their self checkouts that weight what's in the bag versus what you scanned and raises an alarm if it's off and you can't proceed. Same for Metro's self checkout and No Frills.

Wal Mart has new cameras over every self checkout and monitors what is passed over the scanner and what you have in your hands and stops the process if it 'sees' something different then what you scan into the system. It's not foolproof but they're doing what they can to combat it. All of this and they still place people at the exits to check receipts and I 100% get waived on because I'm a 6'3" average looking white guy!!!

Since moving to the city from North York two years ago,......

It's The Star - that's enough of an explanation I suppose.