Thievery

[jbuggy86]

One night I go into to work and it's 2 am (lunch time for overnight workers) and sit down with my usual bunch of people the women who work in toys, infants, hardware, domestics, housewares, and health & beauty. So the seven of us are sitting around eating and telling stories of things that happened while we were off. When we come up to the topic of what was stolen.

H&B: The same old thing condoms and pregnancy kits.

Toys: Dvds here and some nerf toys.

Domestics: Just some place mats.

Housewares: Ash trays, toothpicks, and few other small things.

Hardware: Well nothing to unusual. Razorblades, screw drivers, a chainsaw, paint thinner, and oil.

Which at the mention of a chainsaw everyone not only in the group, but in the room either started choking or turned to face her. Which she said very calmly the box is in the back by the cage.
So later on as I leave for the day I go look at the box to verify her story. The box was empty and it had a note taped to it saying stolen. Th box came up to about shoulder height on me and I'm 5'5" tall.

[RetailWorkhorse]

I....you.....she.....Guh?!

How?? HOW?!?!?!?

[marty]

It was magic.

[rerant]

Or it was an employee.
When I worked at Wally World all the major losses (and this goes for major in terms of sheer physical size, too) were from employees.
I don't know if anyone at my current job has sticky fingers, but we all pretty much hate the products anyway so likely no one would bother.

[Javarod]

There's always a way. Some 25 or so years ago, my mom worked in Woolco's back in NJ. Someone stole a console TV set. How? Simple, they found a yellow piece of paper roughly the size of the receipt, and walked right out the door with the TV. When security went to stop them, they simply waved the receipt over their head, and confidentially walked right out the door. Security just assumed that they'd bought it.

Once had a customer tell me that they'd had a canoe stolen out of a store they worked in, the people just picked it up and walked out the door. Guess no one thought that a thief'd be that blatant.

[rerant]

Guess no one thought that a thief'd be that blatant.

Speaking of brazen acts of thievery, when my brother worked at Sam's Club he told me one story.
So we all know how they do the receipt check. Well, some guy was walking through with a TV and when asked for his receipt said, "My wife has it. She's over there," and waved at a woman who, probably thinking it was someone she knew, waved back.
When the woman approached the receipt checker she was asked for her receipt for the TV and, obviously not being with the man, could not produce it.

I sort of think that those two would have been working together on this scam, but either way it worked.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I....you.....she.....Guh?!

How?? HOW?!?!?!?

Easy. Take it out of the box, place chainsaw in shopping cart, maybe add some clothes or other stuff to conceal it, walk out doors.

If LP doesn't see you do it AND keep watching you as you move through the store. they can't do a damn thing about it. The peons probably can't do a damn thing even if they've been trailing you from the moment they saw you concealing the item. There are probably also plenty of blind spots you can go to and remove the chainsaw from the box in secrecy.

So what if the door alarms happen to go off? Nobody pays attention to them anyways, they go off so frequently.

I wouldn't rule out an employee stealing it either. That's why we have a lock on the garbage compactor--because years ago somebody was stealing stuff by tossing it into the compactor and then going behind the store and dumpster-diving to retrieve his swag. But lately all the big thefts I've been aware of have come from customers. I haven't heard of an employee getting busted for quite some time now.

[Apathy]

So what if the door alarms happen to go off? Nobody pays attention to them anyways, they go off so frequently.

It was pretty much store policy that if they went off, and the person didn't stop, you weren't allowed to tell them to stop. Oh, and if they admitted to stealing and gave the stuff back, you were supposed to let them go.

[Casino Jockey]

the mall near me had one of those block stacker skill games stolen
(in case u don't know they have a screen where blocks go side to side. the object is to build a tower going up. speeds get higher and higher the higher you get. miss the tower, it's game over. get to the top - win a cell phone or a gameboy or something)

guy rocked up in crappy overalls, with a hand trolly. he unplugged it and wheeled it off. walked out past 3 security guards with it.

[Canarr]

There was a similar theft in a university lecture room in Southern Germany recently. Middle of a lecture, 100 people plus one professor. Two guys in overalls walk in, say they're supposed to exchange the projector. Don't let us bother you, we won't be a minute. Prof continues, guys dismantle the item and carry it off.

[AKWalMartCartGuy]

I saw a box with the spider lock stil on it where someone shredded that box and pulled out an XBox 360.

one guy grabbed an elctronic item off the shelf spider lock and all and bolted out the door. next day? did the same thing again

[Rivulatus]

I heard of a local whitegoods retailer that lost a side-by-side fridge freezer set. Thief grabbed a trolley that was left around in the store, and quite confidently wheeled first bit out the door, came back and wheeled second part out. He did it so confidently that no-one asked any questions.

We lost a computer system once. Thief grabbed computer box from the sales floor, and took it to the returns counter and attempted to return it for refund. Returns Clerk asked for receipt which of course thief didn't have. RC told thief that he couldn't return it without a receipt, so thief took the computer and walked out with it.

Another brazen thief pocketed a digital camera while the sales rep was demonstrating another camera and had left the glass door to the display cabinet slightly open.

[Bramblerose]

Back when I was working fabric, we had one for this. It was a busy Saturday. the stand with teh iron displays was back by teh cutting tables, yet some person managed to swipe a couple.

I was never clear what he she it wanted with multiple irons. Well, other than they were there.

[IHateStupidCustomers]

the mall near me had one of those block stacker skill games stolen
(in case u don't know they have a screen where blocks go side to side. the object is to build a tower going up. speeds get higher and higher the higher you get. miss the tower, it's game over. get to the top - win a cell phone or a gameboy or something)

guy rocked up in crappy overalls, with a hand trolly. he unplugged it and wheeled it off. walked out past 3 security guards with it.

That (for whatever reason) reminds me a news story I heard not too long ago. Downtown where I live there is this old building that is being renovated. So, periodically there are work crews there. At this particular time, no one was working on the building. So, a crew of thieves dressed up like construction workers or whatever, parked their trucks right outside the building in broad daylight, made it look like they were working, and completely cleaned the place out in front of probably thousands of people who were walking by that day. No one looked twice.

[Andara Bledin]

The first rule of pretty much any crime is to look and act like you belong where you are and are supposed to be doing what you're doing.

If you have enough confidence, and the watchdogs are complacent enough, it'll usually work.

^-.-^