A theft is a theft, regardless of how many fingers are involved. I believe the rash of openly walking out the door with armfuls of stolen goods is because it is so easy to do, and nobody is really going to catch you. Most stores have no to terrible security. I have been in Lowe's where there wasn't a clerk on the entire floor. I could have stuffed anything in my pants/shirt and just walked out. I noticed that if you bought a boxed item from Lowe's you had to open the box to make sure there was actually something inside the box, due to all the five finger discounts. Cameras, which show faces at eye level, rather than over head, and why not show shoppers how they look on TV by use of TV screens at the doors.