You Just Witnessed A Person Shoplifting

Even most store employees will confront a shoplifter until they have left the store. It’s best for the average citizen to inform an employee and let them follow their guidelines. Most Walmart’s have their own Loss Prevention Officer in the store and the employee is trained to alert them to handle it. BTW, Walmart has reported shoplifting losses from $2-3 billion per year.

I was in a Nike store in Ohio a few years ago. A car pulled up in front of the store. Two young men jumped out of the car, walked very fast into the store, each grabbed two pair of shoes, ran out the door and took off. This is called ‘grab and run.’ I ran after them and was able to get a license number. I have no idea what the outcome was.
 

A small local store puts up pictures of thieves on the front door. They have it all on security camera. Bet there isn’t a person that doesn’t stop & check out the photos, even if briefly.
 
If a clerk is close-Yea, 'Hey that guy put a radio under his coat.'

If store personnel is not available it becomes a different situation.
Should you confront the thief--these days you don't know, is he a drug head desperate to steal
something he can sell or trade for a fix?

If we were all thirty years younger we might react differently, these days grabbing someone by the collar is a good way
for us to get our butt beat
 

fmdog44, I hope you won't mind adjusting your thread. I was wondering if anybody got caught shoplifting, or did you apply the five finger discount. Hey, the statute of Limitations is way over.
Err, yes, to both. I used to steal those tiny packages of postal stamps when I was kid. I had a stamp collection. And thanks to my thievery, a pretty nice one. And yup, I did get caught. I tried to steal a fountain pen, by sticking it up the sleeve my winter coat. I guess I was seen by the staff, because as I was walking out the door, this hand grabbed my shoulder. I don't think I would have made a good crook. I started screaming, "I didn't steal the pen. I didn't steal the pen. I didn't steal the pen." So much for 'omerta'- I spilled my guts. I was banned from McClellans.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
fmdog44, I hope you won't mind adjusting your thread. I was wondering if anybody got caught shoplifting, or did you apply the five finger discount. Hey, the statute of Limitations is way over.
Err, yes, to both. I used to steal those tiny packages of postal stamps when I was kid. I had a stamp collection. And thanks to my thievery, a pretty nice one. And yup, I did get caught. I tried to steal a fountain pen, by sticking it up the sleeve my winter coat. I guess I was seen by the staff, because as I was walking out the door, this hand grabbed my shoulder. I don't think I would have made a good crook. I started screaming, "I didn't steal the pen. I didn't steal the pen. I didn't steal the pen." So much for 'omerta'- I spilled my guts. I was banned from McClellans.
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Hopefully it was a quiet ban, one that never got back to the folks, or as I refer to it as... a butt saver. :)
 
Shopping at Walmart recently, I was in the check out with a talkative woman in front of me. The cashier was ringing her out and just before she finished, I said to the woman where the cashier could hear me, "Are you going to pay for the jacket and ball cap on your person too?" They still had Walmart price tags hanging off them, so I knew she was shoplifting. She gave me the strangest look knowing she was caught, never replied but did let the cashier ring those items up also.

After she left, the cashier thanked me, said she would have never known. I felt if that woman could have a total order of over $400 rang through, she could afford to pay for what she tried to steal.
 
Gemma said:
Shopping at Walmart recently, I was in the check out with a talkative woman in front of me. The cashier was ringing her out and just before she finished, I said to the woman where the cashier could hear me, "Are you going to pay for the jacket and ball cap on your person too?" They still had Walmart price tags hanging off them, so I knew she was shoplifting. She gave me the strangest look knowing she was caught, never replied but did let the cashier ring those items up also.

After she left, the cashier thanked me, said she would have never known. I felt if that woman could have a total order of over $400 rang through, she could afford to pay for what she tried to steal.
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Holy Cow!. Last week, my wife went to Walmart for paper products. When she came home, she told me that she was walking across the store to go pickup a 3-way lightbulb. She saw a woman about 30 y/o wearing a jacket with the price tag still on it at the left shoulder. She said that she told the woman, “Honey, you still have your price tag on your jacket.” (My wife is a bit naive.) The lady told her very quickly, “Oh, that’s OK. I’m going to buy it, but it’s a bit chilly in here, so I put it on.” My wife said she became suspicious when she noticed that the jacket was about 2 sizes too small, so she gave the clerk at the registers a heads up.
 
After my husband died, I walked out of Wal Mart with two 40 pound bags of solar salt a couple times. I had them in my cart but both the cashier and I forgot they were there. It became so bad that I had to quit buying conditioner salt there. I also walked out with items behind the salt. I usually just left them in the cart because I was too lazy to take them back to the store. Once I walked out with a sewing pattern right there on the bottom of the cart. That I took back the next time I went.

Wal Mart ripped me off several times on cat litter and cat food. Charged me twice for the same items. The salt covered that. I told my son, who was working there at the time, what was going on with me. He waved me off and said once a guy with a full cart ran through the back room and out the delivery doors while he was putting boxes in the balers, nobody cared then and I shouldn't worry about it. I don't watch what other people are doing so I wouldn't know if someone else is walking out with the store.
 
I would tell an employee so he could call security. My son works at Walmart and the employees all get blamed and lectured about "shrinkage." It also raises all our prices and it's not as if people are stealing milk for their babies (they have WIC coupons for that,) no one needs that DVD or lipstick. We're just paying for it for them.

During my first year as a bank teller, I accidentally cashed a check for $100 too much. I could tell by my machine tape who I had given it to so I went to her house after work and asked for it back. First she denied having it then she said she didn't care, "That bank has never treated me good." So I had to pay the $100 back out of my minimum wage which came to slightly less than $400 a month back then to support myself and my son. People always think the bank or the store can afford it but they aren't the ones footing the loss.
 
Pepper said:
Would the bank have approved your going to a customer's home? @Della, that took guts!
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I asked my boss first if it would be okay and he said he didn't see why not. I didn't have sense enough to be scared -- until her grown sons came out of the front room and started glaring at me. I presented it as, "I'm sure you didn't realize... It was my mistake..." but when I saw how she was going to play it I quickly said, "Okay then," and left.
 
Depends on state law. In Ohio a private citizen can only arrest for a felony, that is THEY actually tell the person they are under arrest.

'Restraint of Liberty' is a lesser degree of Detainment.
 
People actually watch what other people are doing? When I did demos in a certain store the loss prevention guy would stop by and brag about his job, pointing out who was doing what. He sounded like someone with more than a few screws loose.
 
I wouldn't say or do anything. I've worked in retail stores during my college years and was injured by a shoplifter when the store owner decided to confront him instead of calling security. The shoplifter pushed me, I fell and was injured so I say let it go. Store owners expect shrinkage. They're insured. It can be dangerous to confront a desperate person. :(
 
911 said:
I was in a Nike store in Ohio a few years ago. A car pulled up in front of the store. Two young men jumped out of the car, walked very fast into the store, each grabbed two pair of shoes, ran out the door and took off.
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That's one of a handful of misdemeanor's (value wise of course) that an officer can arrest without a warrant, relaxing the "in presence" requirement, but it has to be within a reasonable time after it was committed.
 

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