Middle Class People Are Shoplifting, and Nobody Knows Why

[@Elc22]

One factor that might have been overlooked is the general feeling that many western nations feel like they are moving in a direction of becoming lower trust societies. When average people see high profile public figures blatantly get away with bad behavior, they are more emboldened to act poorly as well, as terrible behavior is more and more normalized.

[@MilosVuksanovic-sj8kj]

not so sure about that. in old day in europe kinks and nobility got away with all kind of crazy stuff

[@dynamitewolft4194]

@@MilosVuksanovic-sj8kj behind closed doors where normal poeple coudint see

[@ManlyTear]

@@dynamitewolft4194 Ya, lol. The peasants were largely convinced their rules are these God-chosen figures to lead them or something. Otherwise, no sane human, in any era would actually like these types. Now everything's just out there so ppl are wondering why even hold back.

[@chrispychicken9614]

If the next president is a thirty-four times felon why am I not stealing from Walmart? the worst part is the Christian hypocrites.

[@roberthoople]

This is such a huge part of a decline that the Rome Bros will never talk about, when they go off about how the Rome collapsed because the ungrateful (bad poor) people just up and randomly started destroying their great society, and not at all because the leaders and elites became so toxic that they completely poisoned the society in the centuries leading up to the collapse.

[@lilygoose4843]

I worked in retail for over ten years, in my induction they said if you as an employee stole a lollipop you would be instantly fired. Eventually it was discovered that they had not been paying over time correctly and they had to pay me $5000 in back pay, only because they were caught. It's a crazy double standard

[@wildfire9280]

@@lilygoose4843 It’s about time we start calling it economic warfare.

[@TheGlitterMan]

Bro. If you can sue them for abuse then everyone should be a millionaire.

[@bunbohue369]

corporations have double standards? hahahaha how typical is that?

[@ChrisF-jt1qf]

I worked at Amazon for 3 months as an in-between job. I remember seeing a sign saying they video monitored the blackboards to see if anyone stole the markers. After that I'd show up and not work and steal a bunch from the vending machines lol

[@nowknow]

I've seen this post on reddit so many times lol

[@justinvalentine2840]

It should say middle class people are shoplifting, and rich people don't know why.

[@firemaster2229]

More like working class.

[@Fishgod1216]

@@firemaster2229 Even middle class is now working class lol. I know middle class families that got their cars towed overnight, or struggle to give their kids braces. Shit is falling apart around us.

[@deadeye8843]

they can afford money for gates & facial recognition, but not lower prices. That's just mean.

[@distorted_heavy]

They can afford gates and facial recognition because it makes them more profit. Lower prices don't

[@Holion5604]

@@distorted_heavy Gee, at this rate more and more people will shop lift how will they going to make any profits?

@@distorted_heavy That's silly.

[@adamlowe8822]

Blame the crime deniers

[@303Thatoneguy]

@@distorted_heavyyeah cause they really need more money. I’m a firm believer people should only be allowed to have up to a billion. That’s dumb that a person has more money than a government

[@Drahko12]

When even middle class people start shoplifting you know the likelihood of a recession or depression is coming. The current economic system we have where the rich get more richer and middle and poor people get poorer is not sustainable. Not only is economic collapse but also a societal collapse happens.

[@kolelamont8728]

This is the main reason I decided to sterilize myself. I feel so much pity the future holds for the incoming generations.

[@mohammedjeffali1076]

The definition of societal collapse is : Food, clothes,medicine and shelter become so expensive to produce that 50% or more of people ppl. can no longer afford them.

[@TraysonBlain]

Scary

[@427skies]

The middle really sucks to be in because you're not rich enough to not worry but you're not poor enough for assistance. It's really just...smh.

[@coyoteblue4027]

They have always shoplifter. Like a lot. This is nothing new.

[@soliez0xff]

I used to work at a takeout restaurant where the owner would steal our tips. We had a tip jar at the front counter that the owner would empty out every night and keep. it was so bad that i would tell customers not too tip when they tried

[@VVVVV00]

The Department of Labor always takes the owning class' side in cases lately. No one is coming to help the working class.

[@ZorroFox2001]

There was this BBQ place in the tiny town I grew up that had really good burgers, but when people found out about the owners keeping tips, they closed down almost immediately. Word gets around fast in a small town, and nobody really wants to support that.

[@mandisaw]

@@VVVVV00 In the US, most labor rights are State-level. Some States are definitely better about workers' rights than others (Northeast, California in some sectors). South and the Sun Belt have been trying their best to recreate their *old* form of cheap, rights-free labor...

[@mcmlxii4419]

Why should a takeout restaurant receive tips? It's not like anyone's waiting your table!

[@adamlowe8822]

@@mandisawthe “pro labor” states are too busy releasing violent offenders and railroading the innocent like New York and Daniel penny for example

[@SaiWoebking-hw2jp]

Whilst not directly related to shoplifting, but the attitude towards theft at least in my social circles has been shaped by the idea that if buying isn't owning, then procuring it without paying isn't theft anymore

[@martymcfly-OG]

"YoU wOuLdN't DoWnLoAd A bLOcK oF cHeEsE"

[@trxxblx-wxs-hxrx]

​@@martymcfly-OGmaybe not chz but hella *cookies* BC the company website is offering them 😋

[@quirkyturtle4896]

That certainly applies to "intellectual property" but not to physical goods which you can actually buy and use however you like.

[@Content_Deleted]

@@quirkyturtle4896^

[@treetreeplant]

@@quirkyturtle4896 Maybe I am not buying a can of beans, but instead acquiring a license to consume a tiny fraction of the factory output.

[@fdm2155]

The self checkout thefts are customers taking their 'employee discount' 🤣🤣🤣

[@b-spiral8314]

Self-checkout "buy 1 get 1 free" promotion

[@gargoyle7863]

That's somehow reasonable actually. Or did they lower the prizes when they replaced the employees by machines?

[@somekid7]

Careful. A lot of these self-checkouts track this shit and keep records so they can build a case against you and have you arrested at any time they deem profitable.

[@somekid7]

Cameras track everything from your walk, your shopping habits, outfits and your eyes. I say all this cause any conviction makes it easier for the system to exploit you. Don't get me wrong. None of these corpos deserve our money. They actually owe us. Most of our necessities are already paid for by our taxes. Think about it. The entire economy has been corrupted for centuries.

[@risosk17]

In my country EVERY shop installed barriers that wont open withou a receit at self-checkout in last year.

[@ravi_oliver]

It's no surprise that the public feels little guilt about petty theft when they're being "legally" robbed every day. Food, transport, rent, and bills have all sky-rocketed while wages remain stagnant and corporations rake in billions.

[@treetreeplant]

The vast majority of cashiers have discretion to reduce the cost and give discounts if it's under $10 or $20 and the customer insist on it. As my own cashier, I will always give myself a discount. If I am negotiating the price of an item with myself as the arbiter of what I should pay, I am always going to win.

[@DoveJS]

​ @treetreeplant Unless there's a handy coupon, I always needed a manager to manually change the price in the past two decades. Then again, I haven't worked in any store which price-matched, so there's that.

[@Corpomancer]

The shareholder demands it.

[@luketj]

exactly. they steal from us, we steal from them. it's only fair

[@surgeonnamedbub3510]

​@@treetreeplant I've worked retail for most of my adult life and I'm in my 40's. In my experience this isn't accurate, in most cases cashiers would get a discussion in the office for giving out discounts without managerial authorization or applicable coupons. Even price-matching like the other commenter said requires manager auth at the places where I've worked. Repeatedly doing this will fall under loss prevention and if it's a bigger corporation like Target, LP can get on you for it, potentially risking your job. Having said that, screw these grocery corporations. These jobs are a dime a dozen and they treat employees like we're absolutely disposable, so if I see someone stealing food you can be sure I'm going to immediately suffer from a bout of short-term memory loss. In most of the major grocery retailers now they're using multiple cameras at the self-checkouts to look for any discrepancies. For example, if you ring up a watermelon and input the code for bananas (PLU 4011), some stores will immediately flag your order as suspicious because the cameras recognize that a watermelon is not a banana. Similar thing goes for items left in your cart: if you try and end your self-checkout while there are still items visible to the cameras in your cart, your order will likely be flagged. As an example, Wally world is notorious for both of these "features" and likely have many more LP features that I'm not familiar with. If you've ever had your self-checkout experience paused automatically and had to wait for an employee like me to come by before you could continue, it's most likely because the system flagged it and thought it was suspicious. And yeah, you guessed it: sometimes it's really accurate and sometimes it's completely unreliable. If companies want to crack down on grocery theft, they should lose the self-checkouts, hire more cashiers, and pay us a living wage. As a cashier I'd love some backup from fellow co-workers, and it would sure be nice to get paid enough to care about the company I work for. At this point based on the way we're treated, I don't even want my company to succeed, I'd love to see it go under. They do not care about us even when we're drowning, so why should we care about them?

[@colinrussell2017]

I work in the industrial food complex and remind coworkers that if a confrontation with a shoplifter goes sideways and someone gets hurt, the company will FIRE the employee for putting the staff and public at risk. Don't be a hero over some groceries. Let Batman deal with that shit.

[@nerobruno]

Batman? Oh please... ... it's more like a job for Daredevil or Wonder Woman. 😒

[@horsemeat1776]

Why would you try to prevent someone from stealing from a grocery store? Your life is not worth over priced food 😂 God, I love your comment because it actually resonates with me. I don't even know why Walmart even bothers.

[@horsemeat1776]

@@nerobruno bro, are you having a schizophrenic episode? 😂

[@zenboy1612]

batmans parents were rich, thats why he beat up the poor

[@colinrussell2017]

If the public saw how much food grocery stores throw away (and donate) it would blow their minds.

[@neilmcdougall4927]

Indeed

[@turtleanton6539]

Yes indeed

[@turtleanton6539]

​@@neilmcdougall4927faxx😮

[@liamneels8197]

All restaurants and cafes too! I worked at a bakery and we had to crush up all the extra food we made, and we couldn’t take any home because “it would compromise the price” and was technically “theft”. Trust, as your employee wasn’t going to eat your $12 cookie that at most cost about .12¢ each since I do the spreadsheets, but sure.

[@sparfRF]

I worked at a bakery and we would just give all of our bread away for free to customers each week when they were a week old and all the bread would be replaced with fresh loaves the next day

[@Hop_Off_N7]

I love how they don't want to pay employees, so they implement self-checkout. Then as a result, shoplifting explodes. It's so great, it's always nice when businesses get punished for being greedy.

[@Fancysymbol]

Theft is a crime that lands you in jail. if a corporation commits a criminal offense, such as stealing from employees, that corporation should be shuttered as long as a jail sentence would have been. It is the only fair way, and to treat corporations differently is to say human life is worth less than corporate profit. Period. Which we all know is how our leaders see it.

[@aprildawnsunshine4326]

Unfortunately that would put a ton of people out of work and basically punish them for the bosses bad behavior. I think we need to punish the decision makers and put them in jail (and not rich people jail either) and the business gets put on probation. I also think we need to limit max pay to 50x the min pay and limit profits to a percentage of revenue and require the increases get shared equally among all employees. I imagine if we make it to 2050 this will be our reality 😊

[@SaHaRaSquad]

That wouldn't be viable. What has been proven to work, however, are fines that are calculated based on the company's yearly revenue. It works miracles even with giants like Google, as doing things the correct way is suddenly a lot cheaper.

[@Fancysymbol]

@@aprildawnsunshine4326 we see repeating history as our modern gilded age builds into political unrest and global war, i think it is optimistic to assume things will improve by 2050, im hopeful things are at least starting to swing back toward humanistic values by then

[@aprildawnsunshine4326]

@@Fancysymbol I actually did the math based off the previous cycles all the way back to the reformation and 2050 came out as the most likely year for the next stage, aka the enlightenment. Unfortunately the permafrost is melting, faster than expected, which will double the greenhouse gasses and humans are extremely unlikely to survive it. We're basically already in our extinction event, we just don't know it yet.

[@andreaslind6338]

Better idea, just freeze the holding companie's bank account. Money can go out, just not in. The employees still have a job, consumers their orders, everything proceeds as normal, but the corp looses even more than the lost business.

[@kiefershanks4172]

"If you overvalue possessions, people begin to steal" -Lao Tzu

[@foogriffy]

the Dao De Jing was a critique of the Chinese government at the time. it contains many obvious parallels to our modern governments. i suggest everyone take an hour or so to read it

[@youbetyourwrasse]

@@foogriffy Shold they take the 100 days or so to understand it?

[@rumplstiltztinkerstein]

@@foogriffy I want to read it so much. I heard that the translations are often not very good though. When a philosopher is smart enough to spark a revolution, we know they are cooking

[@christopher9727]

..... Do you know Jesus Christ can set you free from sins and save you from hell today Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell Come to Jesus Christ today Jesus Christ is only way to heaven Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today Romans 6.23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Mark 1.15 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Jesus

[@ArksideGames]

Oh wow, that's a great saying.

[@custos3249]

I haven't stolen. Yet. But having just paid nearly $10 for a bottom tier 2lb brick of shitty Walmart cheese while the dairy industry is the single most (last I checked) subsidized industry in the US, I absolutely get it.

[@mattwhaley1865]

Yep and we quite literally have caves filled with trillions of pounds of cheese

[@chiquita683]

You dont need cheese

[@tommacpherson9456]

​@@chiquita683well sure you can single out any food individually and say you don't need it, but arguably cheese is one of the top tier, versatile and calorically dense food sources available, and food sources as a category are indeed one of the very few things you actually need to remain alive, which makes your comment somewhat stupid. There's a reason why governments of countries stockpile it.

[@custos3249]

@@chiquita683 I'll make you a deal. I'll stop with the cheese if you stop with the oxygen.

[@Scapestoat]

Is it a monopoly thing? Here in the EU, cheese is good, varied and cheap. I've only been to the US once, but goodness, the things sold as "cheese" there were dreadful! :p

[@Mal-ey7td]

I used to work in retail. I would never watch for people stealing. If they steal I'd rather not know. One time the manager asked me to keep an eye on teenage girls in the makeup section and all I could think was....I'm not about to be a creep like that NO WAY. Ruin my small-town reputation for life why don't I huh...

[@TheMAM]

What an out-of-touch thing to say to you. Managers with lacking social tact or employee empathy are the worst.

[@turtleanton6539]

​@@TheMAMindeed 😊

[@agapitoliria]

​@@TheMAMmost managers I had in retail were complete psychos. I believe it's that kind of person the company specifically wants, as they are the only ones willing to enforce their crappy policy.

[@Madamoizillion]

I recently visited San Francisco for the first time. It was a beautiful city and I felt very grateful to visit, but it definitely was hard to see the very stark class distinctions. I had to duck into the Safeway in Japantown and it was the most store security I have ever seen. I know this wasn't to protect against "middle class thieves" and more so prevent people in poverty from stealing, because it's heartbreaking to see the entirety of the personal care and baby aisles locked behind glass and needed a store associate to open them. You can tell a lot about society if the things people are stealing are baby formula and shower gel. 😞

[@tlg-]

HAd this same experience visiting in June. I already live in a high cost of living area in Canada. I was shocked. The working class seemed stressed and very unhappy.

[@TheDragonfriday]

Lots of homeless living everywhere. I use to live there. There was way more before I move back with my parents

[@death31313]

Baby formula is actually a really common target for organized retail crime. I worked at a store before they used to put it in security boxes and one day a group of people with out of state plates came through and stole all of the formula in all 3 of the large chain stores in town that I worked for. They loaded it into rubbermade totes and ran out the doors with the stuff. After that our store started puting anti-sweeping features on the formula and put each container in its own little security box. People still steal it but they can't as easily wipe out the whole section in one go. Edit: the stores also had to put in a rush emergency order for more formula because those stores were some of the only places in town people could buy formula. They lost like $20k worth of formula in one day.

[@acardinalconsideration824]

@@death31313I was just going to comment this. There are multiple videos here on KZbin of formula bandits clearing out drug stores like CVS and Walgreens

[@alexandraw6264]

Just the fact that a black market for baby formula even exists is such an indictment of our society 😢

[@Julathegreat]

Company layoffs followed immediately by CEO and shareholder bonuses is why I imagine people would start caring a whole lot less

[@lukepaul7931]

CEO of woolies making millions every year, imma not judge if swim takes a lil cheese lol But if it’s an iga store (independent grocers Australia) nah that’s mum and pop store

[@Tymbus]

i'll tell you why : many middle class people are having to use food banks. Shrinkflation and inflation combined have the feel of excessive profit taking while stores are sacking staff in favour of self service machines. As one shopper put it - shouldn't we all get to go to your staff party as we are doing the work of staff?

[@qwerty777FFF]

Oh please. Americans are the fattest on Earth. 75% of us are fat or morbidly obese and you're complaining about shrinkflation of food packaging. We all eat too much. RFK is right. Stop justifying being a dirty thief. Hold your politicians accountable instead of doomscrolling on tiktok for 6 hours.

[@jaynycha1705]

No such thing as middle class. that's a marketing word, like "the cloud"

[@singleproppilot]

@@jaynycha1705Indeed. Middle income does not mean you’re middle class.

[@turtleanton6539]

Inde3d😊

[@CalliNightmare]

Oh my god this is incredible 😂❤

[@FellTreeZ]

Imo people feel fine shoplifting because they feel like they're being ripped off by being charged amounts that aren't justified for what they're getting and the quality of it.

[@mtrest4]

Many people look at banksters and politicians collecting Trillions in bailouts & bonuses from taxpayers after having committed financial fraud and do not feel guilty. They realize they are being g scammed with bailouts, too big to fail, money printing, market rigging, "stimulus".. etc and realize honesty is for suckers.

[@LokiBeckonswow]

don't forget that the minimum wage in most countries hasn't really risen since the 2008 gfc... getting less is all many of us younger people have ever known.

[@kalef1234]

It's rob or get robbed

[@thomaswalton9089]

I have no problem with me or anybody else taking from a multi-billion dollar company that does not give too dams about you or me I'm all for it actually they have been stealing from us for decades

[@Disthron]

@@LokiBeckonswow In a lot of places the minimum wage hasn't kept up with inflation since the 80's!

[@ChiekoGamers]

Stagnant wages. Increasing cost of living. Billionaires and shareholders insane profits.

[@Nightwalker86]

Stagnant wages. Increasing cost of living. Billionaires and shareholders insane profits. And the police don't care about any kind of theft*.

[@rumplstiltztinkerstein]

The fines are just cost of doing business

[@ultimatewinfestation7194]

The system is unsustainable. Eventually there is going yo reach a breaking point.

[@azurewitch]

Let's not forget government, Taxes and inflation

[@GLVSCOW]

​@@azurewitchsolidarity

[@djentleman8116]

When most people struggle for their entire lives, it's very difficult to have sympathy for people like the Walden family (owners of walmart).

[@huener]

*Walton

[@ivanestades5903]

I used to buy olive oil all the time, it costed around 5 dollars for a liter, now it costs 20 or more, it's aggravating and it widens the gap between feeling ok to feeling just poor. Even if it's still not poverty, it's a slap in the face having to choose between electricity or food. FUCK IT!!!

[@turtleanton6539]

If you cant afford rent electricty snd foods ypy are poor. Sadly😮😮😮

[@ivanestades5903]

I might as well be then, but it's all a gradient, You might as well Say that if You can't eat sirloin steak everyday You are por too, for some people at least. ​@@turtleanton6539

[@TheDragonfriday]

Even when times get better and economy get better the price of those things won't go down. Because the company realize they could keep charging them high.

[@mallardofmodernia8092]

Tbf with olive oil there was a drought and supply issues a few months ago, but for more stable oil crops they also went up which uh yh. Greed.

[@rhythmandblues_alibi]

Here in Australia, the price of all oils went up during covid and they just haven't ever gone back down. It's crazy.

[@connorferguson2269]

Slowly becoming cyberpunk without the cool future tech

[@mtrest4]

From cyberpunk to just punk.

[@krishollow]

You don't like diversity? Leave.

[@OwlScan]

Oh there's future tech. It's just that it's only to be used on you and not for you to get to use.

[@VVVVV00]

Explain. ​@@krishollow

[@SilentVinyl]

​@@VVVVV00the ones in power are using woke culture to control us

[@Krunklehorn]

No assistant staff for the self checkouts? Huh? My local supermarket will lock the machine at the slightest issue, requiring staff intervention. These companies really just don't want to hire a single extra person. Onus is on them 100%.

[@0lionheart]

Yeah, in my experience there's usually 1-2 attendants, so paying one person to cover 6-8 machines. I imagine to them it's like saving on five cashiers but you can tell how much everyone hates using the machines. Especially having to wait for someone to come over because the weight is slightly off, or you're trying to buy painkillers

[@mikethebloodthirsty]

​@@0lionheartthey're meant to actually check random customers shopping, but they don't. The onus is on the supervisors to catch shoplifting when the hand held scanning system is actually MASSIVELY enabling shoplifting.

[@dbb7_]

Nobody talks about the combination of monopolies and insurance. People don’t feel bad about stealing from corporations rather than private business owners. It’s because you already know this retail store will get paid back for whatever they lost

[@sotch2271]

It depend, for example franchisee need to buy their stuff, its not giveb

[@quirkyturtle4896]

They don't get paid back for losses to shoplifting, they eat the cost and raise prices to cover the expenses. Insurance only covers events like power failure (garbage all frozen foods). They also get paid back rotten food because they can return it to the supplier.

[@MilosVuksanovic-sj8kj]

@@quirkyturtle4896 and they leave worst places

[@silviuvisan505]

​@@quirkyturtle4896if they raise prices they do it to increase profits. If they keep increasing prices people will buy from the competition.

[@qazwer001]

@@quirkyturtle4896 and it comes at the cost of higher insurance rates, or possibly cancelled insurance. Insurance is not a get out of jail free card or else insurance companies could not exist.

[@jakemilkbassist]

people feel they are owed it because they see how much profit gauging these companies are doing to the UK market and the west in general.

[@BasedOcra-extended]

In Europe among gen Y and gen z I've noticed a trend towards shoplifting from multinational chains, whereas it's still frowned upon to shoplift from mom and pops shops... Sadly that too is on the rise.

[@schillersschaedel]

I work at a store that sells natural cosmetics and supplements. People who come to our store are upper class or upper-middle class. Last week someone stole cosmetics worth a half month of my pay. Lipsticks, powders, stuff like that. Id have to work two weeks full time for what this person stole in a minute. We are a small business and struggling since covid. I personally struggle with shoplifting because it's the people I talk to every day, who are so nice to me and that makes it so confusing and disappointing to me.

[@danksenzuweed2]

Can't imagine feeling bad for people stealing cosmetics, it's not like they're stealing something necessary or important.

[@DoveJS]

Maybe casually mention that some stuff went missing to those customers and ask them to keep an eye out for you because you worry that your job is on the line, which is true. Be sincere and genuinely confide in them; show how hurt you feel. You might as well share your concerns (just don't accuse them of doing it, even if you're pretty sure they did.) If they don't care about you at all, then you'll know and maybe feel more empowered next time to do something (even if it's just telling the owner and maybe getting them barred from entry.) If that feels too manipulative, just be more casual and say you hope the store survives because it's a struggling small business, which is also true. It's still kinda passive-aggressive but technically nothing the store sells is essential so it's a valid concern. If you're a naturally friendly person, do this with everyone but try to stick with the ones you know have been taking stuff. Keep having casual conversations, since you said they're nice to you, and don't leave their side if you can help it, especially if it tends to be slow. lol heck get yourself some free therapy out of them if they're going to get free stuff when your back is turned; you might as well. It's scary to be vulnerable with people that you barely know but it might make them feel more friendly and less likely to steal. If they don't like you oversharing or they don't want a more personal connection, then maybe they'll go away. Customers that steal regularly will definitely put the place out of business if there's enough of them. If they appreciate your company or just don't want to do that in front of you, maybe they'll be more inclined to shoplift elsewhere. This is all theory-crafting by me. It's a tough situation to be in.

[@schillersschaedel]

@@DoveJS Thanks, I have a lot of similar thoughts. I am friendly and outgoing at work also very small, which may entice customers to steal as they think I am too kind or to weak to do anything. But the shock, anger and adrenaline rush when I catch someone makes me shout. I am not allowed to follow people outside but I like to shout after them so the entire street looks at them. Causing such a scene is my way of preventing witnesses from stealing in the future.

[@Saberdud]

Tell em that you might be out of a job soon and the store might close down due to ongoing theft, if the regulars cared at all they'll prob make an effort to keep their local shopping store from closing.

[@schillersschaedel]

@@danksenzuweed2 That's exactly why I feel bad. It's stuff they don't need to live. They steal out of greed and ignorance, even though they have the money to buy all those things. If I saw a student stealing food or a parent stealing diapers, it would be a different situation.

[@YdenMk-II]

Back when I worked at Target like 10 years ago, one of the thing they mentioned during employee orientation while showing the security room was that they record everything that happens in the store and often times they know who the repeat shoplifters are and are just building a case for when take dollar value of stuff to turn the shoplifting from a misdemeanor to a felony. Just smiling and paying for stuff if you get caught might not be an option if the store does stuff like this.

[@antonschrodinger8155]

As a retail worker I have a certain mindset when it comes to shoplifters, sometimes we get people who outright run out of the store with a full cart. I've learned not to care because: A: The mega corporation I work for steals way more from their employees than the total combined thefts we get each year. B: We have policies that literally tell us not to confront or chase the offenders C: People are struggling, and it's only going to get worse. The most I do is tell the manager about it just to cover my ass, the rest is up to them. At most it's annoying but some people get all upset and angry about it. Why? The company makes billions in a year, it's not gonna make them go broke.

[@johnpinion8033]

I appreciate the reasons for your mindset, but it still pisses me off because I view that as the reason now I have to pay double - to pay for the guy who just outright ran out of the store with a full cart without paying.

[@Cryinginthecloudssss]

Once had a lady tell me they saw a women open a box of tampons and then go into the bathroom….like OKAY? she obviously needed it???? I found the opened box and put the rest of the tampons in a lil metal bin on the counter and put a lil sign “free” like I’m definitely not gunna snitch on some poor women who felt like she had no choice but to steal some tampon to get through her period

[@louisew1255]

@@johnpinion8033 that's definitely not the reason you're paying double. I think your anger is directed at the wrong culprit. As the video and the original commenter said, large corporations are not losing detrimental amounts of money to theft that would cause them to need to increase prices. it's the state of the economy at the moment. Absolutely everything is more expensive, they are stealing from us. Until the cost of living is lower, theft will continue.

[@deveyousness]

We've all been robbed for so long that it no longer feels like an offence.

[@Maclues]

They steal from us, we steal from them. It's balance.

[@hankskorpio5857]

When I was a poor kid growing up in CT USA I would literally treat grocery stores like my pantry. Any store that leaves food in the entryway or literally outside the store is begging for it. We're hungry people and they are incredibly stupid blind and deaf pigs that only know consumption... so yeah we're going to take what we want. If they dont like it they can start playing fair and reduce the amount of people who need to steal...

[@zenboy1612]

truth

[@jeffreywilliams3421]

If security followed me around in a store I dont think I could resist getting out my phone and having the longest fucking phone call in my life in there

[@peligraso]

talking for that long for a parmesan?

[@GAHAHAHH]

Say things like, "Yeah, I am distracting him." "No, he is completely clueless."

[@LauraMolina-LaDiabla]

I wish there’d been cel phones when that happened to me.

[@JoeJosJourney]

I have a "well paid job" and it feels like I can't afford anything. Yeah I see why people are shoplifting.

[@tayzonday]

$400k/year income in 2024 is “middle class” in the United States if you’re trying to raise a family in some places like Southern California or Washington, D.C.

[@mentalasylumescapee]

How is bro so fast

[@wiIIiamfancyson]

​@@mentalasylumescapeehe only stops when he turns away to breathe

[@loremipsum685]

Yeah that's just not representative at all in any way lol. To be part of the top 1% of income earners in the United States in 2024, you would need to earn approximately $430,000 as an individual. To wit, the average individual salary in the United States in 2024 is approximately $73,471.

[@apolace7242]

This is the opinion of a rich person who never had to struggle, lmfao

[@AncelDeLambert]

And?

[@greymooses]

We are not getting enough enrichment in our enclosure. Of course we are going to start acting out.

[@adhyjc8]

I once worked at a Whole Foods in a "well to do area". What they would do to the store would astonish me when I compared it to how a Walmart looked in my area which was low income. Also the amount of shoplifting was ridiculous. Since they did gain sharing we took it heart. The thing that got me was that the store manager/store team leader would not prosecute anyone for it nor would they ban them from the store at all. However, he fired a team member that asked to take home a half of carton of eggs that were unsellable because the other half were broken.

[@rockrocks66]

A middle-class man sixty years ago could afford to buy a house, support a house-wife, and raise children, all with one job and zero college degrees. The confusion is a result of convincing poor people (including those with college degrees) they are middle-class for political or advertising purposes.

[@an8790]

Interesting point of view. I'd also say that the shrinking middle class is part of it, while advertisers continue to define the middle class as it has been defined previously, so it's not just them insisting on it, it's genuine confusion about demographics by advertisers, who had a higher standard of living growing up as middle class. When my grandparents were young, they were technically poor, but never refered to themselves a such, because culturally, it wasn't expensive to 'live' like you were expected. People were generally frugal with what they had and they had a more realistic sense of what a luxury was. Perhaps, also because people were more in tune with what it takes to produce what they purchase, due to them being food and factory producers, in large part. Stealing parmesan cheese because you want a little cheese and wine is just stealing a luxury product that we've come to expect as a part of our lives. A lot goes into that product, hence the price. People are completely out of touch with how insanely advanced their electronics equipment is, or how many streams of production and logistics that go together to make even an Ikea lamp. The people that think that parmesan cheese should be part of their lifestyle are the same people that think buying a (newly made) hand woven rug should be $30. No idea what so ever what it takes to make something.

[@rockrocks66]

@@an8790 Living beyond our means is definitely a growing problem. Perhaps the two are partially related: my grandparents only ate at restaurants a few times a year, their anniversary and their kids' birthdays. Then again, grandma was a housewife who had the time to cook good meals every day. I think that phenomenon is not limited to home-cooked meals: few people have social circles anymore, so all there is to do is watch electronic screens. No friends, no nearby family members, no community groups like bowling league, poker circles, or churches. Wal-Mart and the government is your society now.

[@apolace7242]

This is my new favorite channel, I love how well researched your content is

[@matthewwebster3143]

I am a manager at a grocery store, i do turn a blind eye to shop lifting, these companies are robbing us i dont see the problem doing it to them.

[@malissahyatt2425]

Your a good human in the world!!!! 💙

[@MrBaskins2010]

you know wage theft is more widespread than shoplifting? hold up 17 dollars for oatmeal (seen at 4:29) is downright criminal. i'd have to steal that off the principle alone

[@roberthoople]

I feel like being made to pay for the 1.5 hours/day, gas money, insurance payment and capital investment into a car, just to deliver a company the employee they need to function, for free, is one of the biggest forms of wage theft we put up with.

[@szlatyka]

A local shop started using self-checkout a while ago where I usually buy my breakfast while going to work. Baked stuff like bread rolls and like that. Like less than a dollar a piece. They make you print a label for it, so you have a barcode you can read at the self-checkout. The printer is broken like half the time so you need to type in the barcode manually very often. After a while I realized that the barcode is rather primitive as it has the end price uncoded in it. And no, I absolutely do not feel bad for buying mini-pizzas for 1 cent, in your disfunctional store. I swear I pay full price when everything works. Edit: I should mention the shop belongs to a big multinational retail chain, it's not a small or family owned business.

[@sllabres1]

In my experience it was always a reference to an item such as an EAN number. If someone has encoded the price then that sounds pretty daft! Haha.

[@szlatyka]

​@@sllabres1 The idea is you get a bag, put 1-2-x pieces of baked goods in it, type in the product number and amount and you get a label printed. That label's barcode contains the end cost and weight of said goods as the self-checkout checks if you put the appropiate product on the weigh. Hence why the stupid code. They could've atleast put so kind of encoding on ti, but they didn't.

[@laynepieri4214]

Bro fr I work retail and it's always the older people that actually have money walking out with full bags.

[@creepycassette]

This is payback for all the shrinkflation companies have been overcharging to us

[@Ripulintuoja]

The companies don't give a flying fuck. They get paid no matter which way the product leaves the shop.

[@johnpinion8033]

@5:38 "It's hard to have such a privilege and not at least exploit it, right?" I'm white, and don't get "followed around the store by security", but don't find it difficult at all not to "exploit the privilege" and steal things or not pay for items at checkout. Just tell yourself: if you want it, you have to pay for it. I suppose there's a certain amount of self-discipline involved.

[@jessjohnson998]

I used to do it specifically because I was mad at places like wal mart for being evil when I was a teenager. I didn’t even want the stuff, I usually gave it to friends who had less money than me. I just felt powerless and wanted to stick it to the companies hollowing out my dying ag town, and I got a little thrill out of getting away with it. Now I’ve channeled that energy into legal stuff like petitions and town halls trying to make life harder for evil corporate rats, but every year things get worse and being an involved citizen doesn’t work I feel tempted to recede into my old ways.

[@SimonMester]

From experience, the wage theft that gets reported versus that happens is a good order of magnitude different. In anything, people should be stealing more to balance the scales. The legal system has failed the people. Every time, there are too many barriers, and large corpos get a slap on the wrist or even get bailed out by our money.

[@Destan-jp5zu]

Zero shame I steal vitamins or anything easy to slip in my jacket. I can’t afford half the shit in the store anymore and I need proper nutrition so my only choice is to steal things.

[@cacapichi8564]

I had a boss that shoplifted in front of me during a business trip. He didn't need to do it. He was earning around 4 times my salary. He'd shoplift in the airport store, and when I asked him wtf he was doing he'd say "you know these stores don't care. And, if you get caught, when you're white, people will assume that you just forgot to pay". I refused to go on a business trip with that fucking guy ever again, and I quit my job as fast as I could. Some people just love stealing even if they don't need to. If they're privileged they can often steal as much as they want. No wonder he was getting payed a lot while all of us where underpaid, he managed the company's finances.

[@martymcfly-OG]

@@cacapichi8564 *clutches pearls*

[@nealkelly9757]

A likely story 🙄

[@brimzs]

Cool story......

[@jpm000001]

It should be noted that most companies from groceries to clothing and everything in between are essentially monopolies. So they can pretty much price gouge all they want. You want to double and triple the price on me? Well guess what I will steal even more.

[@stickyfox]

I turned down a job that paid $110k because with the cost of living in that area, I would have had to resort to shoplifting to feed myself.

[@lifeisactuallyveryboring.7771]

Now that sounds like BS no offence

[@catalystcomet]

Makes me think of all the times I would ring somebody up and an item wouldn't scan. "Guess it's free, huh? Haha" and honestly, as long as they're not bugging me I could give a shit less

[@Desocupad0]

Since their income is worth half as much due COVID inflation and upper classes got doubled income - they aren't as middle as before.

[@tgs5725]

I dont shoplift. But when I was 16 working in fast food I definetely "stole" food. If I was hungry id eat something. I viewed it as "fuck it man im busting my ass for minimum wage" It was stealing, but I remember didnt feel bad

[@EM-oe2lz]

Psychological ownership is **super important** in tons of areas, I think it's something we've lost in modern society for a lot of reasons. It just feels like every day, more and more, we're just cogs in the machine. I mean, we've had this sentiment dating back since almost forever, but there was a sort of optimism after WW2 that just slowly, but surely, started to fade over the generations.

[@PhilTruthborne]

Price gouging for record profits while the people get poorer and poorer, i think this is more of an eye for an eye.

[@Iusedtojustbesomebody]

Leviticus 24:17-22 goes over the Law regarding eye for an eye, and I think this gets misconstrued with repaying evil for evil, yet there was disciplinary purpose that may not translate as let's say me grabbing some gear because injustices happen systematically. Matthew 5:38 - 39 so this isn't to rebuke you or anything. Peace and blessings

[@PhilTruthborne]

@Iusedtojustbesomebody Oh yeah no you're absolutely right, the saying is just used a bit loosely nowadays, it's more like "fight fire with fire". No one actually wants to steal tho so i do feel like we're making the world go blind by having to fight injustice with less than ethical means. Cheers mate~

[@SorryStamin]

You and your channel is such a breath of fresh air. Even if I already self studied half of the video subjects you broach I really appreciate your delivery and temperament. Excellent video as always

[@Billy_Rizzle]

Pocketable sized items have always been getting stolen, and more gets stolen when the cheaper products inflate into a certain price range. It used to be mainly batteries, air fresheners and makeup before because those products cost at least £5, but now a lot of necessitates are in that price range. (Edit) My local big brand hardware store is keeping Gorilla tape behind the counter due to being £7-£10 a roll. I have to ask for F’ing tape now.

[@brookerobitaille745]

Ya grocery shopping should not be $270 a week that’s why.

[@drjekelmrhyde]

Some middle-class people have always stolen things, it's just more are getting caught through technology.

[@zenboy1612]

technology created often for surveillance

[@koolboihd8420]

Maybe because “middle class” today basically means broke but bills paid. The middle class as individuals either got downgraded or upgraded the last 20 years but they maintain their image of “middle class” to save their own conscience

[@adellekonrad7375]

If the government benefits from it through taxation, then it isn't termed or classified as crime. The current capitalist system has forced me into a corner to rethink what I view as crime and how the society inherently place labels on actions they consider to be incriminating.

[@GLxGL]

The company I work for made over 4 billion dollars Australian this FY. The CEO is retiring and along with his multi million dollar salary, he’ll be getting a huge payout. I got a 1.88% pay rise. So I now earn less than last year once inflation is taken into account. This is why I shoplift.

[@TriadAgone]

Nobody knows why? It's because cost of living is so ridiculously high. I make 100k/year and live in a 'cheap' apartment and still have to think about what I eat.

[@truthnotfeelings]

I used to work for one of the biggest retailers Anyone in retail, check your hours and your pay every time I got underpaid on multiple occasions and it was only until I made friends with a manager that I got told it was not by accident

[@lifeisactuallyveryboring.7771]

Did you slap the manager?

[@ivannightly1919]

I don't steal, but several times, I noticed things didn't scan and redid them. Once a Walmart employee pointed it out, I was talking with the woman beside me. I never noticed that it didn't show on the screen, He said the store would of charge me if id walked out of the guard rails but saw it was a honest mistake. I guess what I got from him was they charge people a lot for that reason. Since then, I only use an actual cashier. But have to wonder how many of these people are actually guilty

[@erichaberman3812]

Only hit stores that wont get hurt, like big corporations, than take whatever you want whenever you want.

[@iamhereblossom1588]

7:20 I used to work in an office with cubicles and I never understood this. People would often ask me why I never decorated “my cubicle” like we everyone else did. It’s simple. It’s not MY cubicle. I could easily be moved or fired at any time. I’m not gonna try to act like I have an attachment to company property.

[@HoChiMinhForTheWinh]

EXACTLY how I htibk abbt it too. I was just randomly fired from my current job because they are downsizing and I was on the layoffs list. This company makes multi billion dollar revenues each year ....so they had to fire a bunch of random people too? Huh! OK buddy! See if I ever decorate a cubicle for yall if I ever work for yall again. HEck Ill probably never work for them again lol.

[@edvard-swift3645]

I was hanging out with this girl that came from a very wealthy family that gave her allowance but she would steal all the time, we were at the self checkout and seen her stash an item under her armpit and we started bickering and a self-checkout clerk came up and asked us if we needed help, I was terrified but the way I saw the clerk talked to her, it showed that her bias would never consider this well-dressed white girl was a shoplifter

[@rex_melynas]

"People don't know why" Oh I wonder if people believing minimum wage doesn't cover rent, food and basic needs has anything to do. Sure, sure, companies are being poor, yet having record profits every year, while people's salary isn't increased or rewarded. If anything, I'm impressed shoplifting isn't the norm. What will security do if everybody just goes and shoplifts ? a guard can't stop 200 people.

[@zenboy1612]

thats the future of shopping

[@GooseCee]

6:04 Im famous mom! 😀

[@quakslikeaduck]

'The ol' five finger discount' makes it sound so elegant, and even desirable

[@bivtheast]

@@quakslikeaduck it is, and also fun

[@NotACupcake]

In america, we have a rising number of shoplifting crimes. Without looking at data for reference, I believe that a lot of the crimes are done by families. People seeking laundry detergent, baby formula, baby wipes, diapers, other common house hold goods. I say this because increasingly I see these items being locked away. As the price goes up, the more these items become locked away. It's interesting how it never seems to be the more 'valuable' items like kitchen knives, or kitchen pots... things that could easily be sold elsewhere for a profit. I think it really is just desperate families being forced to steal to provide for their families in anyway they can. I'm not condoning theft in any sort of manner by the way, I don't steal and I pay for everything I get at the store, everytime. I would feel guilty for stealing anything. But I might change that behavior if suddenly I had a baby to take care of who's screaming and crying because it needs milk and I cannot provide the milk myself whether that's due to malnourishment or simply the inability to do so. I'd still feel guilty for theft but i'm not going to let my child starve, y'know?

[@RossOzarka]

It seems that when we enter a store, there is an implicit moral agreement that we will pay the prices the items are listed for. But it also seems that there is NO agreement that you will provide labor for the store-- we are well within our rights to say "buddy, I don't work here" if another customer asks us where the Dijon mustard is. The people using self checkouts never made an agreement with the store that they would faithfully discharge the duties of a checkout clerk, no more than they agreed to reface the shelves or sweep the aisles during their shop. And since we can't be fired from a store we don't work at, if the store deems we have improperly done the jobs it assigned us without our consent, we are held criminally accountable. This is why I try not to use self checkouts.

[@corbisez6]

I think any corporation would easily win this argument by saying you made an implicit moral agreement to act as, and maybe even be treated as, an honest employee the moment you make the conscience choice to use the self-checkout Not tryna be a nark, just my advice/two cents

[@CommanderMinecraft69]

​@@corbisez6 if you go past 7 pm you are basically forced to use self checkout at most stores. I know their argument wouldn't hold up in court, but if we are being technical, you could argue you are owed 1.50 off for every 10 minutes you wait in line. That's how much you'll make net after taxes as a clocked in cashier

[@consumerofbepsi5254]

​@@corbisez6 if they used that the counter argument would be "where's my paycheck?"

[@GuyMichaely]

I think when you use self-checkout there's an implicit agreement that you will faithfully discharge the duties of a checkout clerk, insofar as that means that you charge yourself for all the items you take

[@singleproppilot]

Middle income does not mean middle class. What defines class is lifestyle, but to have a middle class lifestyle, you need well above middle income. Middle income people are seriously struggling.

[@Konterfeit]

Love your videos, mate! Analytical but empathetic and with interesting angles. Greetings from Germany!

[@Cryinginthecloudssss]

Dude when I was like 12 it clicked in my head that it’s just the barcodes that keep the machines from going off at the front of the store. Also I watch and have gone dumpster diving myself so many stores throw away perfectly good products they don’t donate enough items here in the US. So no I’m not gunna feel bad for stealing something when huge companies throw away things that could easily be donated or given to workers to use before it does go bad

[@Hostefar]

You shoplift because you can’t afford food, I shoplift because I’m crazy 🃏🃏🃏 we are not the same

[@Veronikafenriz]

I've always remembered the story from home (Ukraine) about a guy who went to jail for stealing a chicken from his neighbor, while the mayor of that town stole a few hundred k in building tenders and only got fined. The legal system has solidified in my head then. Petty theft from corporations is not even a little bit surprising, nor should it be a matter of guilt for those who engage in it. The only way out is breaking capitalism

[@kolelamont8728]

This is why I always choose to look the other way. I’m getting underpaid and overworked while management brags about their vacations and the CEO uses his earning for straight up evil things. Some dude wants to steal a cheap toy or overpriced jewelry? Fine with me.

[@deadsam8433]

Thanks for the interesting video Fads. I have a close friend who shoplifts occasionally, and for small luxuries more than essentials - they have a middle class background but they now live in poverty because they are disabled. My main issue with stealing is that I think it's important for social trust that people maintain some expectations about behaviour. If people are deciding for themselves on a case by case basis whether or not to steal something, it's harder to know that they wouldn't steal from you too if they thought they had a reason. But that argument ignores the sort of unspoken social consensus that you mention in the video, that big businesses are not "part of us" so it's okay to steal from them without damaging trust person to person.

[@aquathelynx962]

I think there's still a distinction to be made between the theft of goods from a grocery store vs interpersonal theft of personal property, and most people that steal from a grocery store prolly wouldn't steal from their friends/neighbors

[@donutrock2132]

The self check out asks if I want to leave a tip. I already pocketed the parmesan cheese, so I click no tip.

[@lobbyskids2]

There is a difference between sneaking an extra item through the self service tills and a mob running into retailers and clearing the place out like a plague of locusts striping a farmers field.

[@LuigiMario-o7o]

What's the difference? Scale? It's the same exact thing.

[@somerandomperson6511]

@@LuigiMario-o7o you literally just admitted it is different due to sheer scale lmao, plus the people swarming and looting stores also tend to commit vandalism as well

[@zenboy1612]

both is good

[@Disthron]

Why would anyone feel bad about shoplifting from multi-billion dollar companies who are price gouging everyone?

[@tlc12070]

That’s why these companies are picking up and moving out and then y’all complain theirs no jobs.

[@illegalalien6542]

@@tlc12070 Average corporate apologist mindset...

[@tlc12070]

@ working my way up the corporate ladder so you are on par my illegal friend. Your day is coming too.

[@Xenozillex]

@@tlc12070 Cooperate profits have been rising while wages have been stagnant.

[@tlg-]

@@tlc12070 how tf are you working up the corporate ladder when you cant even discern the difference between they/them/theirs? *Khloe Kardash voice* LIIIIIIIIIAR!

[@Force05289]

As a 19 year old who is middle class and never shoplifted in my life I can tell you why. More and more people are doing it, items and becoming extremely expensive. I was at the grocery store recently and had to pay a $20 copay for my medication, with that I wasn’t able to afford all the food I need. So I just grabbed enough items in my cart worth $30 and put it under my sweatshirt in my kart. Paid for the rest of my stuff than left. I don’t steal from small businesses or stores selling other items, really just stuff I need. Retailers made the store’s inconvenient and companies made good to expensive.

[@joefer5360]

Be careful. You're still young.

[@TheSushiandme]

the somalian kids in 2004-2008 would go to the mexican super market and put stuff in their shorts. They wear long/XXL shirts so no one can see it. 1 of them was #1 for track and field and cross country. Fast ass kid from Somalia. Had a future, but destroyed his life because he wanted to be a thug vs book smart.

[@edilee5909]

The only time I was about to "shoplift" was bc the balance didn't work on 2 different self checkout machines and I wasn't gonna wait in another line to try a 3rd time. Then a worker stopped me and put me ahead of the line to pay the $0.63 for the tomatoes

[@silverwing5254]

The reason why no one tries to stop shoplifters is because not only do companies not reward employees for doing the right thing, they actually fire employees for even doing so much as calling out a shoplifter verbally. These companies full on support shoplifters, if only just so that they can complain about it at the end of the day and install more of those stupid "anti shoplifting" measures that only further encourage it on everything that's not "protected". And I've had plenty of people I personally know who got fired for doing this. I also find it hilarious that it's the well off people who are doing the majority of the admittedly very uncommon shoplifting. Not surprising since I witnessed this constantly when I worked retail. It was always the richest customers (and often the kids or elderly people among them) who stole from us. Actual bums or poor people never did anything like that. They just kept their head down, paid for the products like normal people and left, giving us no trouble whatsoever.

[@BossMan-yu1og]

There is literally a 50-50 chance that the food on supermarket shelves will end up in the trash bin. At least if it is stolen, it's being put to good use.

[@LuigiMario-o7o]

There hasn't been a prior agreement to take the supermarket food being thrown out. This won't change anything for the better.

[@somerandomperson6511]

@@LuigiMario-o7o the majority of supermarkets and restaurants will refuse to give away the products they are throwing out. Employees might be lucky to convince their manager to let them take some things home but most companies are not going to let anyone take anything and would rather it be thrown in a landfill than given away. It is understandable from a business perspective but from a moral one, it is pretty bad

[@MineRickStar]

I find it fascinating that wage theft is even a thing, in Germany I have heard one or two stories about something like that.

[@calebb7012]

Canada has abysmal standards of living currently. Rents and taxes have risen well over 200% in the last 3 years alone.

[@Thunderwell]

Between stagnant wages and corporations making record-breaking profits, I'm surprised I haven't started this idea...

[@AxelaxiB]

The fact salt and pepper and many spices are locked up has really brought us full circle again

[@wesleymclain9146]

It’s because there is no middle class any more.

[@Czarro672]

There never was.

[@francisjurksaitis]

The number of times I've been suspected of shoplifting in London infuriates me.

[@JeffBilkins]

At one budget supermarket chain here they actually removed the self-checkouts and we're back at regular service.

[@lucasjuliancarballeira6392]

It's helpful to have someone with such a sunny demeanor explain things that make me extremely angry in a calm way. Thank you.

[@DJGHOSH]

Considering the price gouging and self checkouts, they should be thankful that people are only stealing as much as rhey are.

[@pauldruhg2992]

I had a top-manager bank guy who did that. Especially expensive cheese. Placing it inside of veggie bags, etc. I think he did it for adrenalin and score. He kept scoresheet too.😂

[@joefer5360]

"Ocean's Cheese"