Same thing happened to me. I reported it and they did nothing. I even showed them where they dumped the wrapper.
Also saw some guy popping open jars of coffee to smell them. Put them all back on the shelf. Another time there was a guy in his 30s opening packs of baseball cards in the checkout counter. I finally said to him, "Aren't you a little old to be doing that?" He said "no" and moved to another isle. They didn't do anything then either.

When I worked at Walmart about 20 years ago, I saw a guy go into the men's room with some cd's. He came out without them and I checked the restroom after he left to be sure he hadn't set them down in there. I turned him in and as suspected he had tucked them into his shirt. I remember him looking at me and asking why I had turned him in.

Anyhow, we were told not to turn in anyone unless we were 100% sure. I can understand that policy ... a business can get into a lot of trouble making false accusations.

Was a card merchandiser at K-Mart.
Putting out the cards, and heard rustling on the other side.
Went around to look, person had already left, but had taken the contents out of a laxative box.

Guess they were really in a big need.
Hoping it didn't work on them before they left the store.

Having been in retail management for years, I can tell you it's not easy. In a most states, the law requires several parts to prosecute:
1. Witness the concealment
2. Have an unobstructed view of the person
3. The thief has to have passed the point of transaction (cash register to pay for it) with a clear intent to leave the premises (in some states, they have to be physically out the door).

Unfortunately, it's also time-consuming to prosecute, and there is the risk of dangerous thieves also. Most large companies find it easier to just take the loss rather than risk the safety of their employees or deal with the lost labor of someone going to court and having to pay them for it. They actually build the "shrink" into the cost of doing business. Most retailers that I worked for (clothing, home goods) had a goal of about 2% shrink (meaning if they sold $100, $2 was an acceptable loss).

It completely blows. I can't even begin to tell you the number of people who I knew stole something, but it wouldn't hold up in a court so I had to let them get away with it.

Funny story that will make you feel a little better. DH is a cop and was working off duty at a grocery store. Drunk guy came in, looking suspicious, so DH followed him around. Lost him around an aisle and couldn't find him. Finally found him in the employee break room with a block of cheese and Grands biscuit dough that he took off the shelf and was eating. Nothing like being caught with your hand in the cookie jar - needless to say, he was arrested.

Why can't they just ask to see a receipt? They do that when whe security alarm goes off when leaving Walmart and the cashier forgets to take off the security thing. I've always had to show my receipt, which is why I never bother putting it away until I get out the door.

The person could claim they previously purchased it and don't have a receipt with them. Highly unlikely with the chunk of meat from OP's story, but you never know? :-)

Plus, there's the safety risk. I can't tell you the number of stories I've heard of people being run over by cars, punched in the face, etc when they confronted a person. Actually knew someone who was shot at. Crazy crazy world.

Most companies just accept the loss. As a manager, it sucks because you're reviewed based on your store's losses, but you're not generally not given many tools to help prevent it. SOOOOOOOOOO glad I'm not in retail anymore.

In Iowa a shoplifter does not have to leave the store.

The store employees may be held to a higher standard of proof, but as a customer, I am not. So if I see someone blatently shoplifting, I will be saying so loud and clear like "hey, why did you slide that under your jacket, it's not yours, you're stealing, where's security?!!" Nice and loud, embarrass the heck outta them.

It's like when a customer is abusive to an employee and the employee just has to take it. My husband and I both stick up for the employee and tell the jerks to quit acting like that and to leave them alone. People on airplanes are the worst, flight attendants take a lot of abuse and it burns us up.

I've only seen one shoplifter. When I was pregnant with my first child, I was grocery shopping. A young man was walking through the store with his suit coat over one shoulder. I saw him put a carton of cigarettes under that arm and just quietly walk around for a minute or so and then leave. I was terrified that if I said anything to anybody, he would somehow come back and find me and hurt me or my child, so I didn't say anything.

My DD works for a group of Ophthalmologists. A few months ago two women were in the Optical department where one of them was seated, trying to decide on frames. The other just looked at and tried on different frames. Nothing was purchased. After they left, it was discovered that a pair of frames was missing. These were $1,000+ frames. Management alerted other businesses to be on the lookout for a person bringing in these frames to have her RX fitted into them. Sure enough, it wasn't long before she was caught, tried and found guilty. Some crooks aren't as smart as they think they are.

Sue

Yep, a few months ago a man from around here witnessed a young man steal from a tip jar ($5.20 to be exact). The man chased after the thief who hit him with his car and he died a couple days later. It's not really worth getting involved with the criminal element. Plus, generally even semi-good people will act irrationally when caught with their hands in the cookie jar. I wouldn't get involved. Now if someone is being hurt, it's one thing to step in, but for money or material items, it's not really worth taking the chance, IMO.

Judy, you didn't really witness the theft. What you saw was the likelihood of theft, and you have every reason to feel he stole the meat. The store employee can't press charges just on that information. They'd have to be able to say they saw him put the meat in the bag or at least found it on his person by searching him based on probable cause. But they really can't do anything based on what you saw. It's too much of a chance you are mistaken, which would cost them a lot more than the meat after he sues them. It had to make you feel rather strange and probably angry too to know he stole it and how he set the whole thing up.

oops
you are mistaken
It's too much of a chance they are taking.....
geese

My husband works at Walmart and he has witnessed so much theft and attempted theft. He works in the lawn and garden at the back of the store and most thieves will use that door. Sometimes he is able to call for security and they are stopped but many times by the time someone gets back there it is too late.

Well, I guess I should have left it alone. LOL

I was doing the self check out at WalMart. A gal had a cart of a few things and one BIG item in front of me. She checked out the small things, paid for them, and then rolled her cart out the door with the BIG item still in it. Security checked her sales slip without reading it, and she made off with her freebie.

I once saw a woman shoplift a pair of winter leather gloves. She put on one glove, then went thru the check-out and paid for something else, wearing the one glove with the other conected to it and just hanging. I said something to the clerk but she didn't appear to hear me. That was nearly 40 years ago.

Shelajoyce,

Same thing at Sam's. They don't check the receipts.

I love it when I'm on Isle 10 and over the sound system you hear "Security Camera Check on Isle 10". LOL! Makes me feel criminal.

Just last Sunday, I bought some cosmetics. When I went out of the door the alarm went off. I went out at the same time another lady went out. I didn't hear the alarm or I tuned it out. The cashier came up to me and said "you have to come back in".

There was a "thingy" on my cosmetics. I was embarassed.

Gayle

then we wonder why goods have s much extra tacked on...

my dd worked loss prevention for tj maxx...was in her store one day and she went running...scared me, i almost started crying...

she had this one "gang", by that adult women, who stole from stores here, then sent it to other members in the south. it was always high-end clothing...they'd take it back for refund...i guess the fbi was involved as it was across state lines...

to me the worst offenders are the ones who involved their children...(sticking items in strollers...)

bestlawn, I saw him fill his bag and heard the meat go into it. Although he had another plastic bag on top, so I did not get the meat going into the bag visually but Yes he did steal it right before my eyes! I was 2 feet away.
I wasn't going to say anything to him since I did not want to deal with him.

The "bad" guys always seem to win and the burden of proof falls on the good.

At the animal shelter where I volunteer, another volunteer witnessed a man pushing a dog out of his car on the 45 mph country road the shelter sits on. She got the license plate and wrote it down, but was told since she couldn't ID the man - she only saw the back of his head, they couldn't prosecute the car owner.

The dog was seen in the area all day long, hanging out by where he was dumped, I'm sure waiting for the jerk to come back. No one could catch him.

That evening as it got dark and was going to snow, myself and another person were able to lure him close enough to get a slip lead around his neck. We used burgers from Burger King and he finally couldn't resist. In honor of that, we named him King and he turned out to be an awesome, friendly dog who loved everyone. He found a great home in no time, so it was a happy ending.

It has always just infuriated me that having the license # wasn't enough to go after the guy.

Sher

Flamingo, a few years ago someone started yelling about me being a thief. She was sure she saw me put some socks in my pocket and made a big ruckus..."She's stealing, She's stealing! Somebody stop her!" I didn't realize she meant ME until I was surrounded by security. I was escorted by security to a back room where we waited what seemed like forever for police to arrive, then patted down (politely), had my purse dumped and gone through and was delayed about 30 minutes.

I was furious, embarassed, late, and I cried. It still rankles to this day. Be very sure of what you think you see before you start yelling. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that not all of you who report here that you have seen shoplifting have not actually seen it.

Sherry

Flamingo in Ar I can relate to you and your husband and how you feel.

A number of years ago I stopped at my local Safeway for a couple of items for dinner that night. This was after an extremely frustrating day at work as well as putting up with the nightmare traffic. (This was in Northern Virginia) I went to the Express line and notice the woman ahead of me had 28 items (yes I counted them). Besides myself there were 3 other people with very few items.

That was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. I politely asked her if she wasn't in the wrong lane. She than made the mistake of getting nasty with. BIG mistake. I exploded, told her how rude and insensitive she was and then told her she had two choices - she could either move the cart herself or I'd gladly push it to one of the other checkouts for her. As you can imagine I did not use my softest voice. After she humped and hawed, she moved out of the line and went to the right register. I was a bit embarrassed when the people behind me clapped. I apologized to the clerk (who I knew very well) for probably over stepping her area of authority. I almost fell over when she told me that they cannot tell anyone to move out of the express line! Yep, store policy cuz you don't want to offend the customers. Later she thanked me privately as this woman was noted for pulling this stunt and almost always at dinner time.

Sherry, I'm sorry that happened to you. I'm sure it was embarrassing. I often think about scenarios like that, if I was accused of shoplifting erroneously. Whenever I cram my list back into my pocket, I think- someone might think I'm stealing something right now. I think it would be humiliating to be stopped and accused, but I also despise thieves and want to do my part to thwart them. What happened to you also happened to a friend of mine in a Kmart. A group of teens left the store at the same time she did, the buzzers went off, they scampered off and she got searched. She was trying to tell them- go after those girls, but they had her because she stopped and waited when the buzzers went off. So she got searched, it made her mad but she also understood that it wasn't personal, they had to do it.

I wouldn't say anything to or about anyone in a store unless it was totally obvious. If I see someone skulking in an aisle, looking this way and that and putting merchandise into a purse or bag or pocket, though, I'm not just going to let it happen. I'll report it or say something to them, give them a chance to change their minds about it. I wouldn't chase someone thru a parking lot unless it was my purse they had in their hands.

A local man here in our area has been banned from our local grocery store. He used to go into the produce area to get himself some boxes for shipping or packing things. He would stop off in the meat dept and load those boxes up with steaks and chops and roasts and then stack the boxes and walk out. They suspected him for years and finally, finally caught him and had him arrested. Turned out, half the town knew he'd been doing this and not one person ever said anything about it to him or the store. I bet he took thousands of dollars worth of meat over the years, and you know who paid for it? We did, in increased prices that were designed to make up for losses incurred by his thieving ways. And that just burns me up.

Be very careful what you say to anyone in a store!!! My sister worked in Walmart,about 12 years ago. Her ex husband came in ,walked up and shot her through the heart,then killed himself, in a jealous rage. He was walking around the store looking innocent before he did it. Its a small town and everyone knew him,,,and had no clue.Your best bet is to not push anyones buttons.

Years ago I was in the grocery store and saw a homeless man stick a couple cans of soup in his jacket and left without paying for them. I didn't say anything because I knew he didn't have the money to pay for them, he wasn't stealing beer or cigerettes, I figured he just needed some food. When I went to check out I explained to the clerk (who I have known for years)what he took, by that time he was long gone and I told her I would gladly pay for what he had taken. I was too afraid to confront him because I wasn't sure what he would do, I'm sure he was just hungry.

I have never seen a shop lifter but I have seen people in the cosmetics aisle open lip sticks/bosy mists and put them on and then close it up and put it back on the shelves.

I've seen shoplifters at Wal-Mart several times. It's never food items. It's always something like jewelry or some other non-essential. One guy timed it so he'd go out the store at the same time we did. We had a full cart and he didn't have a single bag. He set the alarm off and the greeter called him on it. She got a watch from him. She made him walk through again and the alarm went off again. He didn't stop, but kept on walking. I walked out of the store and could see where he was going. He was definately guilty, but the greeter said she was not allowed to go after him.

Something like happened to me in IND in an Amish store. The buzzard went off I was "shoved" into a room (glass all arouund. I had just walked in, not out, and I told the person nice that I had just come in. She was so rude, stating that people stole from other stores came into hers and tried to get money back. She again was so rude and asked to search my purse. I said yes, but I would do it in front of her and another person. I had very little in my purse, and of course the stupid thing in her hand kept going off. Finally after taking all the stuff out of my wallet, I found a tiny little tag on my credit card case. After I removed that the buzzing stopped. Of couse she said sorry, but I did question her as to why that happened as the case was several years old, but she said sorry. I then went out to the truck left everything in it, except DL and CC and a couple of $$. BUT I noticed that every store I went into later, the people followed me and kept asking me if I needed any help. I never told Dh cause I was so embarresed with her attitude. But then I never went back to that town again.
I think it was a set up as later at some RV parks, several people had been thru the same thing.
Today, I probably would have refused to go into the glass cage, and insisted she called the police and ask why me, ask if I was being charged and I would contact my lawyer.
Some how they had a sensor that picked up something that was old tags. I checked it out later and never set anything off.

mariend reminded me of something I had not thought of in years...I was leaving an Eckards drug store, and the beeper sounded. I immediately stopped and went back into the store. They scanned the items I had bought, and it was non of those, so they asked me to dump my purse. I had just the usual junk in it, but what was found to be beeping was a hand brace for my carpel tunnel that was filthy, and well worn. They knew by the looks of it, I had not taken it, but instead the alarm tag inside the brace had never been scanned to "clear it" I had had that thing for months in and out of stores, and it never set anything off until that day. I was embarrased, and a little put out when it was all over. ...they set me free...lol

Trin
**who to this day would love to be a store detective**

About a month ago I was stopped in Walmart for suspected theft. I had recently bought some Maybelline eye makeup that came in a set of 3 eye shadows. I tried them out, but found the colours a little more vivid on my eyes than how they looked in the case. I remembered that Maybelline had a few other similar shades, and I didn't want to accidentally buy the wrong one again, so I brought it with me. I took it out of my purse to compare it to the other sets, but didn't feel they were different enough, so I didn't buy a new one and just put my original one back in my purse.

Well security swooped on me because their camera had 'caught' me putting my own eyeshadow back in my purse, and thought I was stealing it. I'd only used it once, so it pretty much looked brand new. I didn't have my receipt on me to prove I'd just purchased it a few days before, since I'd switched to my Spring purse. But luckily when they asked me to scan the one from my purse, it indicated on the register that it had been previously scanned. As well, a clerk who overheard the whole thing confirmed that she'd just restocked that makeup, and the 4 sets she'd counted just minutes earlier were all still hanging on the rack. Now if I ever bring anything I've already bought back into a store, (if I'm trying to find something that matches or contrasts well), I always make sure I have the receipt with me!

Wal-Mart will put a sticker on stuff you bring back into the store if you will ask the greeter.

A few years ago I was snagged in a store as a suspected shoplifter.

I had a bulge in my left front pocket and apparently someone thought the bulge wasn't there when I came in.

I was asked to empty my pockets because they thought I had store merchandise in my left front pocket.

The look on everyone's face was absolutely priceless when I dropped my snubnose .38 Smith & Wesson revolver on the manager's desk with the comment "I didn't know you guys were stocking these."

I have decades of experience in retail as both a business owner and employee. I fully understand the frustrations of shoplifting. But there are a lot of misconceptions. It's very difficult to sue for holding a suspected shoplifter, if it wasn't, there'd be a lot more lawsuits! But they can ask for proof on a suspicion with reasonable cause. The best thing is of course to get a cop out.

A frustration on prosecution isn't the misconception that you MUST actually SEE them, that they walk out the door, get in a car, etc. That essentially comes down to the laziness of the prosecuting attorneys in the area and the laziness of the cops. They can successfully prosecute on only circumstantial evidence. Yes it can be more difficult to prove, but often it's more airtight than an eyewitness since it's easier to crumble an eyewitness than a series of circ ev. Many don't want to spend the time on it if they are politically motivated.

The biggest frustration I have, though, is the people who refuse to get involved. To me they're lazy, unpatriotic and doing what they can to contribute to higher prices and increased crime. It's my opinion, flame me for it if you want, but when the good won't help the victims then they're no better than the criminals. And actually, considering that if you drive a getaway car without knowledge that a crime was committed you can be prosecuted, even for 1st degree murder if a death results so why shouldn't a bystander who won't stop the crime be so charged? Aren't they an accomplice if they impede the prosecution and/or prevention of crime? Something to consider. Fly all the flags you want, sit in the front row of church, or whatever else I see people do in the name of doing right, but to me, there's duties and responsibilities that come with the ri, er privileges of living in the country and enjoying the benefits and privileges offered. I view it this way, if you go AWOL from military service or AWOL from civilian duty, it's no real difference. If someone is truly so paranoid, they should arm themselves, put a moat and razor wire around their dwelling and buy everything off the internet.

Not long ago, there was a high speed chase going on and I can't remember too many of the details, but the issue is that a bunch of motorists on the road, blocked the road off so the offender couldn't get past them and allowed the cops to catch the criminal. I stand and applaud them! Kudos for getting involved when it would be easier to not. But they felt a duty and if more people would, we'd be a lot better off.

There's a lot of issues that retailers face, but to me, assisted shoplifting should not have to be one of them. To modernize the 300 year old quote, the only thing necessary for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing. There. Enough of my rant! :)

An interesting side note. A friend worked for a large retailer for a while and would see shoplifters and turn them in. He was told not to anymore. The policy of that store was to let them shoplift if it wasn't at least thousands of dollars. Why? No, they weren't afraid of weapons. They weren't afraid of being sued. They were afraid of losing their business! They felt the shoplifters would come back and buy stuff. I won't shop at that place and hope all the shoplifters go there.

Mr. former store-owner, manager ... current cynic,

If everyone installs razor wire and a moat around his/her house ...

... and buys using the internet ...

... there won't be much need for local store managers ...

... or owners, either, for that matter.

ole joyful

P.S. to kframe19,

If you were to drop a S & W of whatever size on a store manager's desk around here ...

... if you're not a cop or a Brinks' truck guy ...

... you'd better have a permission sheet for that individual carry from your home to a shooting range, or return ...

... or you'll be cooling your heels in jail within the hour. And you won't need your pistol registration any more ... because you won't have one.

o j

Mr. Joyful, The loss of their business is negligible since fortunately, not everyone is that way. From my experience most people like to do "good". And your assumption that there's no need for businesses or employees is short-sighted, even if I misread people since they businesses can always sell over the internet! As many, many do these days.

And come to think of it,if everyone DID install razor wire and a moat around his/her house ... think of the business.... and sales... for the businesses selling the wire, installing and maintaining the moats! Hmmm, maybe we have the business of the century facing us!

Gotta love Mariend!!!

"The buzzard went off"

LMAO

I worked my way through nursing school as a store detective over 30 years ago.....4 memorable cases:

1) Guy about 6'8" goes into dressing room and comes out with new jeans on (long enough to fit him!) and left the old ones in the room. He went to jail. I went along to ID. I had to remind the police to have him change back into his old jeans so I got the merchandise back!

2) Guy puts 8 track tapes (told you it was 30 years ago!!!) under his coat....goes out door...I follow and yell out to my (then BF) special duty cop doing holiday parking patrol "Get him, get him!!!" Guy removes the tapes and flings them over the parking lot fence! BF got the guy, I got the tapes!

3) Young but very big youth puts a new pair of shoes in his coat. I see this at last minute and don't have time to page backup. Kid is huge. After he is out the door, I follow, link my arm into his (like a girlfriend) and say to him "something you want to give me?" His parents were summoned and what he got from them was better than anything a police department could do!

4) My oddest case: Woman with a couple kids comes in, and has a cart full. Goes right out, nothing bagged, so obvious. Grand theft at the time was anything over $2000.00. I call cops, they come into our office. They want to inspect her purse. She tells them something about their being feces in her purse. This of course, the cops say "oh come on, now just let us search". To which she says, "well I had to go". She was becoming embarrassed and fidgety. Well, you guessed it, a pile of sh** right in the main compartment of her OWN purse!!!!OMG

I could go on and on.....it was a fun job, but after I graduated, I retired from that line of work!

I've never seen a shoplifter but a couple weeks ago, Lauren and I were walking out the door of Wal-Mart. A guy had just gone through and the buzzer went off, he kinda stopped and then we walked through too. The stupid woman let him go and searched our bags instead, checking our receipts. I didn't understand that since the buzzer went off for him, not us. OH, well, he probably didn't steal anything, though...we've walked through the door upteen times to have the buzzer go off because one of the employees didn't deactivate something we bought.

Adding my 0.02...

Was in Lowes at the garden checkout and heard the cashier say, "there he goes, get the tag, get the tag!". I was 2nd in line and was close enough to see a streak of light FLY past me. This guy had a trash can full of stuff. I have never seen anyone get into the back seat of a car while pulling in a full trash can, so fast in my life. I ran to the curb to see the car and tag but you know they were gone in just that split second. Now mind you, that was my 3rd trip to Lowes that day and it was so crowded that it literally took me 5 minutes to get out of the parking lot. How they got out so fast, I don't know. Ironically, I was in HD the following month - same thing happend. AND when I was leaving Macy's one day, the alarm went off and I cringed at having to go back and have a sensor removed. Yeah, the alarm was for me and I did have to go back to have the tag removed. But just as I turned around to go back, the doors flew open and a guy GRABBED a women who had walked out through the door next to mine. They handcuffed her right there. It was a real struggle too. I was so close it was kind of frightening.

My sister used to work Security at a major department store. She has seen it all, and even had a gun pointed at her in the store. She had been trailing an elderly couple that were career shoplifters. I guess they noticed her, and the guy just turned around a pointed to gun at her. She just raised her hands and said, "take the store". She was not getting paid enough to put up with that nonense and my mom told her to quit the job. What did she do - went to work for a bank that always got hit!!! She was a great security guard - I even had trouble finding her when she was on surveillance most times. I think she likes that stuff.

Yes, Joyful, I have a pretty good knowledge of Canadian firearms laws.

They're not even remotely similar to the laws in much of the United States.