The Consequences of Unchecked Corruption

Submitted by Hardscrabble Farmer

Like a parent teaches a child by example, a government without a moral keel to guide it’s population will render them every bit as corrupt.

This also serves as a secondary reminder that a corporation that places it’s profitability above it’s humanity will maintain neither.

Via Get Pocket

The Banana Trick and Other Acts of Self-Checkout Thievery

“Anyone who pays for more than half of their stuff in self checkout is a total moron.”

Beneath the bland veneer of supermarket automation lurks an ugly truth: There’s a lot of shoplifting going on in the self-scanning checkout lane. But don’t call it shoplifting. The guys in loss prevention prefer “external shrinkage.”

Self-checkout theft has become so widespread that a whole lingo has sprung up to describe its tactics. Ringing up a T-bone ($13.99/lb) with a code for a cheap ($0.49/lb) variety of produce is “the banana trick.” If a can of Illy espresso leaves the conveyor belt without being scanned, that’s called “the pass around.” “The switcheroo” is more labor-intensive: Peel the sticker off something inexpensive and place it over the bar code of something pricey. Just make sure both items are about the same weight, to avoid triggering that pesky “unexpected item” alert in the bagging area.

How common are self-scanning scams? If anonymous online questionnaires are any indication, very common. When Voucher Codes Pro, a company that offers coupons to internet shoppers, surveyed 2,634 people, nearly 20 percent admitted to having stolen at the self-checkout in the past. More than half of those people said they gamed the system because detection by store security was unlikely. A 2015 study of self-checkouts with handheld scanners, conducted by criminologists at the University of Leicester, also found evidence of widespread theft. After auditing 1 million self-checkout transactions over the course of a year, totaling $21 million in sales, they found that nearly $850,000 worth of goods left the store without being scanned and paid for.

The Leicester researchers concluded that the ease of theft is likely inspiring people who might not otherwise steal to do so. Rather than walk into a store intending to take something, a shopper might, at the end of a trip, decide that a discount is in order. As one retail employee told the researchers, “People who traditionally don’t intend to steal [might realize that] … when I buy 20, I can get five for free.” The authors further proposed that retailers bore some blame for the problem. In their zeal to cut labor costs, the study said, supermarkets could be seen as having created “a crime-generating environment” that promotes profit “above social responsibility.”

Whether out of social responsibility or frustration with shrinkage, some retailers, including Albertsons, Big Y Supermarket, Pavilions, and Vons, have scaled back or eliminated self-scanning, at least in some stores. But others continue to add it. Worldwide, self-checkout terminals are expected to number 325,000 by next year, up from 191,000 in 2013. In some places, meanwhile, the likelihood of being punished for petty shoplifting is decreasing. Even if a manager wants to press charges, many police departments can’t be bothered with supermarket theft. In 2012, for example, the Dallas Police Department enacted a new policy: Officers would no longer routinely respond to shoplifting calls for boosts amounting to less than $50. In 2015, the threshold was raised yet again, to $100.

Perhaps it’s not surprising that some people steal from machines more readily than from human cashiers. “Anyone who pays for more than half of their stuff in self checkout is a total moron,” reads one of the more militant comments in a Reddit discussion on the subject. “There is NO MORAL ISSUE with stealing from a store that forces you to use self checkout, period. THEY ARE CHARGING YOU TO WORK AT THEIR STORE.” Barbara Staib, the director of communications of the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention, believes that self-checkouts tempt people who are already predisposed to shoplifting, by allowing them to rationalize their behavior. “Most shoplifters are in fact otherwise law-abiding citizens. They would chase behind you to return the $20 bill you dropped, because you’re a person and you would miss that $20.” A robot cashier, though, changes the equation: It “gives the false impression of anonymity,” Staib says. “This apparently empowers people to shoplift.”

Which isn’t to say that all shoppers feel equally empowered. Frank Farley, a psychologist at Temple University, says that many supermarket thieves have what he calls Type-T (as in “thrill”) personalities: “Shopping can be quite boring because it’s such a routine, and this is a way to make the routine more interesting. These can be risk-taking, stimulation-seeking people.” According to this theory, some Type Ts become base jumpers or Mafia hit men, while others settle for swiping Brie and organic tomatoes from Safeway.

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This is from a manual I sell in the vending industry as self service is sweeping through the vending industry repacing vending machines. Cameras are installed, no employees. Huge advance in sales and theft!

UNDERSTANDING THEW MICROMARKET SHOPLIFTER’S METHODS OF OPERATION (MO)

I went into a large Blue Collar/Temp 3 shift manufacturing plant undercover and unannounced dressed in their employee uniform. The high volume operation had a huge combo break room. A traditional hot bar Food Service and Micromarket with two kiosks and two undeniable facts…tremendous sales and tremendous theft! It was one of my client’s largest accounts. My intent was to document the exact Loss Prevention retail – details on all the theft methods being used.

What I discovered is detailed in this section. After over a dozen undercover visits on all three shifts I observed and documented 13 methods of theft on all three shifts:

Know all the Tactics of the Micromarket Thief
Now that the stage is set understanding how many potential shoplifters we are dealing with, and why they do it, this section reviews their exact theft methods, their exact method of operation…their MOs.

Inevitably shoplifters are creatures of habit. Once they settle in on an MO that works they will stick with that particular approach of getting something for nothing.

1. The Payment Avoider Voider – This individual scans item(s) in and then simply voids them out. Watching from a distance it will appear they have paid. Many even actually swipe their card supplying their name allowing us to quickly identify them through a void report and once investigated identify exactly how many voids they are doing.

2. The Partial Payer – This individual will have multiple items but not scan or pay for one or two or will have three items and scan in the least expensive three times. They can always claim they were distracted, were daydreaming, and it was an honest mistake. They are shrewd and understand the meaning of the word intent.

3. The Reversed Credit Card Pretender – The credit card is reversed never registering the transaction and then they hit clear. To really complete a credit card transaction usually takes three finger taps with the software I was observing…only one to hit clear.

4. The Speedy Credit Card Clearer – The credit card is run through in the correct manner but zipped through the scanner too fast never registering the transaction and then they hit clear. To really complete a credit card transaction usually takes three finger taps…only one to hit clear.

5. The Declined Credit Card Pretender – The credit card is run through in the correct manner, is declined, but the user simply pretends it was accepted, pretends as if all is well and leaves with the unpaid for food. (This system had no way to announce this.)

6. One of the Traditional Retail Shoplifters – Palms and or drops items in their pocket, purse, empty cup, waist band or hides items(s) under napkins, the methods are legion, while pretending to shop. Completely avoids the kiosk or pays for an item(s).

7. The Experienced Calm Walk Out – Coolly strolls past the kiosk with a tray or items, especially during rushes. Walked in intending to steal and is usually an arrogant too cool for school type.

8. The Armature Impulse Walk Out – Bolts past the kiosk with a tray or item or items. Is nervous and obvious but over time and with practice and success will evolve into an Experienced Calm Walk Out.

9. The Broke Walk Out – Realizes he doesn’t have the ability to pay and has no cash on him, is often hungry and desperate and will walk out without paying. What starts off as a desperate exception will become the rule with success with some.

10. The Irritated Non- Scanning UPC – An item won’t scan and after trying over and over, they often will put it back, but many times they just walk out with it. When nothing happens about the walkout it can plant the theft seed with some and become routine.

11. The Computer Illiterate Introverted Temp – An individual who is not computer literate and is not showed how to use the kiosk. The orientation to the kiosk was brief and verbal and they are intimidated or frustrated by the process. They may not be stealing…but we are losing sales. (See The Blue Collar/Temp Orientation Handout Turnover and Controlled Communication section for the solution.)

12. The Sleight of Hand UPC Switcher – An inexpensive UPC will be cut out of an item and glued to the palm of a hand (say crackers @ .55 cents). This inexpensive item will be scanned three times, with three beeps, and the UPC Switcher will pay for a pack of crackers three times $1.65 but leave with a sandwich, a drink, and a bag of chips that really totals $7.00, stealing $5.35 X 5 days a week X 50 weeks = $1,337.50 a year.

The problem with the sleight of hand UPC Switcher is you can be watching them live or reviewing them on video and never be able to tell they have just stolen. The only way to expose them is through exception reports matched to the video so you can see what was ringing up compared to what was taken. This form of theft and the methodology to expose it has been Retail Loss Prevention 101 since the introduction of flatbed scanners but it is new to the Micromarket industry.

13. The Braggart – This is the most dangerous shoplifter of all of the above. He is always male and always young. His MO can be any of the above but in the light blue, dark, blue, and temp accounts he will encourage and create countless copycats.

Making an example of this shoplifter will go a long way in shutting down the copycat assembly line that will be required from the 66%.

Other Eye Opening Undercover Findings
• Unknown to my client the Temp Agency 2nd and 3rd shift managers had turned goofing off into an art form and both had completely dropped the ball on training the constantly rotating in and out new Temps on how to use the Kiosk. It was their responsibility, everyone thought they were doing it but they had stopped and basically relied on other Temps to train the Nicky New Guys and Gals on how to use the kiosk but it wasn’t happening most of the time. That was when I discovered by observing undercover method of theft No. 11, The Computer Illiterate Introverted Temp.

Many Temps were stealing out of management training neglect and frustration.

Some Temps (especially the older ones) were too embarrassed to seek help on using the Kiosk.

On top of the above my client (the Micromarket owner) didn’t have prominent and detailed kiosk use signage up or any signage on self-service coffee which was in heavy use on 3rd shift, losing sales. They were there at one time but no one had checked and they simply disappeared.

I witnessed lost sales and significant theft through simple lack of Temp training and lack of signage and no one (except me) was spending anytime on off shifts to see what was really going on.

I was able to bring these unknown problems to OPS attention and fixes were made.

Going undercover in large accounts and just observing is always a revealing tactic.

More on this in the High Volume/High Risk Blue Collar & Temp Accounts section where going in undercover is not just practical but necessary if you want to see and understand your business reality.

James
James

Mark,you are not kiosk training,got your info. first go around!Yah,I know/double taps ect. on a Sunday morning/first coffee ect.

I once was at a big box store using self checkout and would not give me my change/tried many times to rectify/got so pissed back fisted screen and actually cracked the plexi/whatever it is screen/guy behind me said “Wow” and well,I just bolted.looking back was a good way to spend under 2 bucks!

mark
mark

James,

Yea, I took the post above out of one of my manuals.

I only use self scanners if the lines ate way too long.

This article is five years old but fits the thread well. Keep this in mind, retail theft will not be paid for by the retailers…the honest customers will. The cost will be worked into the price we all pay.

TECHNOLOGY MAKES UK A NATION OF THIEVES
Katrina Bishop | @KatrinaBishop out: Technology
Thursday, 30 Jan 2014 | 6:12 AM ETCNBC.com

The U.K. is being turned into a nation of thieves by the increasing number of self-service checkouts, a new survey indicates, with one in five Brits using the technology to steal from supermarkets.
Some £1.6 billion ($2.65 billion) worth of shopping is being stolen from self-service checkouts each year according to a research by the VoucherCodesPro website – and that’s just in Britain.

The number of self-service checkouts – which enable customers to scan and bag their own shopping – is certainly growing across the world.

There were 26,800 shipments of self-checkout terminals globally in 2012, according to consulting firm RBR, which forecasts this number to come in at 35,400 for 2013, and reach nearly 60,000 by 2018.
But VoucherCodesPro’s survey of 2,634 people found that almost 20 percent said they had stolen items via self-service checkouts in the past – and over half said they did so because they were less likely to be caught.

Some 57 percent said they were driven to stealing an item because it would not scan. According to the poll, the average person who does steal thieves £15 worth of products per month.

But despite the apparent ease with which shoppers are able to take advantage of the technology, lawyers were quick to point out that the act is still stealing.

https://www.cnbc.com/2014/01/30/check-it-out-technology-makes-uk-a-nation-of-thieves.html

Remember, 1 out of 11 Americans shoplift outside of self-scanning. I have personally busted over 400 of them in-between the 70’s and 2000 and I can tell you this…shoplifters are a cross section of society from every race, color, creed, religion, and age. There is no profile…just beings who are human and want something for nothing…and a thrill or a lift.

I once watched a cop in uniform shoplift (he was hitting us constantly) and at the moment he made the stuff I stepped out from concealment and stared at him (its called a burn or forcing a dump). He darted out of the aisle and dumped the item and turned into the road runner. He never camback in that store again (he was a daily customer/shoplifter for awhile).

I always carefully obeyed the speed limit and stop signs in that town.
m

aka.attrition
aka.attrition

marc

“…shoplifters are a cross section of society from every race, color, creed, religion, and age. There is no profile…”

That is an eye-opener, at least to me. Really interesting to read that. Has it always been so, as far as one can tell, or has it changed over time?

mark
mark

aka.attrition,

I suspect it always has been. I posted this once before, buy here is a piece from one of my mentors and probably the greatest expert on Shoplifting in the US. I got to meet him once (many years ago and thank him for all I had learned from his newsletter and articles, along with being in the trenches for 30 years.

Understanding Who the American Retail/Micromarket Shoplifters Are

Facts:
• More than $13 billion worth of goods are stolen from retailers each year. That’s more than $35 million per day.

• There are approximately 27 million shoplifters (or 1 in 11 people) in our nation today. More than 10 million people are caught shoplifting in the last five years.

• Shoplifting affects more than the offender. It overburdens the police and the courts, adds to a store’s security expenses, costs consumers more for goods, costs communities lost dollars in sales taxes and hurts children and families.

• Shoplifters steal from all types of stores including department stores, specialty shops, supermarkets, drug stores, discounters, music stores, convenience stores and thrift shops.

• There is no profile of a typical shoplifter. Men and women shoplift about equally as often.

• Approximately 25 percent of shoplifters are kids, 75 percent are adults. 55 percent of adult shoplifters say they started shoplifting in their teens.

• Many shoplifters buy and steal merchandise in the same visit. Shoplifters commonly steal from $2 to $200 per incident depending upon the type of store and item(s) chosen.

• Shoplifting is often not a premeditated crime. 73 percent of adult and 72 percent of juvenile shoplifters don’t plan to steal in advance.

• Shoplifters say they are caught an average of only once in every 48 times they steal. They are turned over to the police 50 percent of the time.

• Approximately 3 percent of shoplifters are “professionals” who steal solely for resale or profit as a business. These include drug addicts who steal to feed their habit, hardened professionals who steal as a life-style and international shoplifting gangs who steal for profit as a business. “Professional” shoplifters are responsible for 10 percent of the total dollar losses.

• The vast majority of shoplifters are “non-professionals” who steal, not out of criminal intent, financial need or greed but as a response to social and personal pressures in their life.

• The excitement generated from “getting away with it” produces a chemical reaction resulting in what shoplifters describe as an incredible “rush” or “high” feeling. Many shoplifters will tell you that this high is their “true reward,” rather than the merchandise itself.

• Drug addicts, who have become addicted to shoplifting, describe shoplifting as equally addicting as drugs.

• 57 percent of adults and 33 percent of juveniles say it is hard for them to stop shoplifting even after getting caught.

• Most non-professional shoplifters don’t commit other types of crimes. They’ll never steal an ashtray from your house and will return to you a $20 bill you may have dropped. Their criminal activity is restricted to shoplifting and therefore, any rehabilitation program should be “offense-specific” for this crime.

• Habitual shoplifters steal an average of 1.6 times per week.

“Information and statistics provided by the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (NASP) a nonprofit organization providing research-based shoplifting prevention initiatives including education, prevention, justice and rehabilitation programs.

Understanding why 1 out of 11 Americans Steal from Retail Stores or Your Micromarket

Why Do Shoplifters Steal?

By Peter Berlin

In simple and concise terms…”TO GET SOMETHING FOR NOTHING.”

While we all like to get things for free and the stores are constantly promoting and placing merchandise on “SALE” to generate excitement about getting a bargain, most people don’t cross over the line and steal the item. But some people do. Why?

The answer is… to most non-professional shoplifters, “getting something for nothing” is like giving themselves a “gift” or “reward,” which in turn gives them a “lift.” Many people feel they need a “lift”
just to get through the week or even the day. A study by MasterCard International found that
shopping was second only to dining as the primary way people reward themselves. Take it one step further and you can see how “shoplifting” the merchandise increases the reward.

Getting Something for Nothing
It’s important to understand that “getting something for nothing” always represents something more to the shoplifter than the value of the merchandise. For different people it can represent any of the following things:

For some, it’s a “substitute for loss” because they perceived they were unfairly deprived in some way (i.e., a divorce, a serious illness, death of a loved one, loss of income from a job or investments, or an unexpected expense which can cause people to feel needy). Stealing a bottle of shampoo, for example, can temporarily help to relieve the anxiety about their financial situation and gives them a feeling that they are more in control.

For others, it’s “justified payback” for all they give to others and how little they get back in return.

For some, it’s a “relief mechanism” for anxiety, frustration, boredom or depression. Several studies have found diagnosed depression to exist in approximately 1/3 of the shoplifters studied. Depression was the most frequently found physiological problem. This helps to explain why so many shoplifters steal from stores on their birthday and around holiday times.

Any way you look at it, shoplifters perceive shoplifting as a form of self-nourishment or as a way to relieve fear or pain in their life. In truth, shoplifting is self-destructive not self-nourishing, but shoplifters often can’t see the paradox.

For almost all non-professional shoplifters, stealing from stores is basically a reflection of a person’s ability (or inability) to cope with a multitude of situations in his or her life. It’s a response to their personal life situations. While these unhappy life situations may not easily be changed (or may recur from time to time) shoplifters must learn how to cope with these situations in a way that’s not harmful to themselves or others. This may not be easy to achieve, because approximately 27 percent of shoplifters caught for the first time have already developed a shoplifting habit or even an addiction. Many admit that it will be hard for them to stop shoplifting… even after getting caught.

Two Types of Shoplifters:

1. Professional Shoplifters – These are addicts who steal to buy drugs or hardened criminals who steal for resale and profit as a life-style. These individuals frequently commit other types of crimes and lack any conscience or guilt. To deal with these shoplifters, the approach here is either a drug treatment program or jail.

2. Non-Professional Shoplifters – These are the people who make up the majority of shoplifters and who steal for a variety of reasons, mostly related to common life situations and their personal ability (or inability) to cope. They include people who are depressed, frustrated, anxious, influenced by peers, thrill seekers or kleptomaniacs.

Non-professional shoplifting is rarely about greed or poverty. It’s about individuals struggling with personal conflicts and needs. These individuals know right from wrong, they know there are consequences and they often have the money to pay, but they continue to steal anyway. These people often steal items they don’t need and sometimes don’t use. They usually have the money to pay for the item, rarely plan their theft in advance and never try to sell the item for profit.

While many non-professional shoplifters steal from stores on a regular basis, they usually have no prior criminal record (except perhaps for shoplifting) and are typically the kind of people who don’t commit other types of crimes. Their behavior is less related to criminal intent and more the result of situational, emotional or psychological problems in need of attention.

Psychological profiles and admissions by shoplifters revealed that 1 out of 3 shoplifters are “at risk” of repeating the offense even after getting caught. Research shows that nationwide there are thousands of shoplifters who continually repeat the offense and want to stop…but can’t. Their
shoplifting has become a habit or even an addiction, and they are too ashamed or afraid to tell anyone, or ask for help. Other shoplifters simply deny they have a problem of any kind.
A person’s addiction to shoplifting can develop quickly when the excitement generated from “getting away with it” produces a chemical reaction (i.e. adrenaline, etc.) resulting in what shoplifters describe as an incredible “rush” or “high” feeling, which many shoplifters will tell you is the “true reward,” rather than the merchandise itself. In addition to feeling good, shoplifters quickly observe
this “high” temporarily eliminates their feelings of anger, frustration, depression or other unhappiness in their life. Realizing how easy it is to get that “high” feeling, they are pulled toward doing it again…”just one more time”…and their addiction begins to develop. Even though most non-professional shoplifters feel guilty, ashamed or remorseful about what they did, and are fearful of getting caught, the pull is too strong for many to resist.

Of course, some people don’t see shoplifting as a functional or psychological problem. They say, “What do you mean that a person can’t stop shoplifting? Of course they can, they’re just greedy”. The idea that shoplifting is an addiction, “except for a few kleptomaniacs”, is ridiculous, they say. “People who shoplift should go to jail and not be coddled or told they have an addiction.” This is like telling them it’s okay to steal because they really can’t help it.

The irony is that most shoplifters who have developed a habit or addiction believe they should be punished according to the law when caught. What offenders often resent, however, is when they are
simply thrown into jail with hardened career criminals and are not given the help or support they need to help prevent them from repeating the offense.

In summary, shoplifting for millions of our citizens, is simply another maladaptive way of coping with stressful life circumstances…similar to overeating, drinking, drugs or gambling. It is not an issue of good vs. bad people, rich vs. poor, young vs. old or education vs. illiteracy. At any time, or even many times in a person’s life, the temptation to “get something for nothing” and the desire to reward oneself can easily be present. By raising public awareness about the problem and delivering needed programs and services to people who shoplift, communities who engage in prevention efforts will reduce the number of people who become involved and improve the quality of life for all.

Peter Berlin (retired) founded the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (NASP). He was an international consultant on retail theft, publisher of newsletters for retailers and the criminal justice system and a former Director of Retail Security.

Note: I met Peter Berlin in the early 80’s at a Retail Loss Prevention conference and introduced myself. I told him I had read every word he ever published, was a long time subscriber to his newsletter, and considered him a mentor. He was and is one of the greatest subject matter experts on shoplifting internationally to date.

aka.attrition
aka.attrition

marc,

That was an incredibly interesting and eye-opening post. Thanks. Will re-read it again later but learned a lot this day.

mark
mark

Thanks buddy,

I misspent much of my misspent yout in the underbelly of the retail Loss Prevention beast all over the country. It can get gritty and you better be ready to fight if you want to bring (drag) many lifters back in. And they better have stolen item(s) on them. A Non-Productive Incident (NPI) – False Detainment or arrest starts at 5k, and can go up high. If it is serious and early in your career, its usually your job too.

There are people who will try and set you up for an NPI. They are also often professional Slip and Fall Artists.

Once I moved up the food chain and ran a LP Division for a large regional retailer I became immersed in investigating and shutting down Organized Retail Crime (ORC) rings, players, and the Professional Lifters – called Boosters, (many who were drug addicts) who feed the fences stolen merchandise.

The Re-Pack Houses clean and repackage the items then sell them back to the retailers!

ORC is its own world. All the other shoplifters are usually just punks, sad quirky people, kids, and petty thieves of all types and stripes compared to Boosters. A team of four to six Boosters can steal untold thousands and thousands of dollars in merchandise in a hit, and nobody knew it until the empty shelves/racks were discovered.

Hardscrabble Farmer
Hardscrabble Farmer

Man is that a story I want to hear. Your voice is really polished when you talk about this, it’s absolutely fascinating to me. Funny that this isn’t a bigger topic in public discourse because it seems to cut across all social lines- everybody uses stores, right? And everyone subsidizes theft through higher prices, don’t we? It’s yet another stealth tax on honest people.

Write moar!

mark
mark

Thanks Marc…I appreciate the encouragement!

M G
M G

Hear! Hear! Everyone ask for Moar from marc (the other one, not the “udder” one… get it? I can make udder jokes now that I’ve sold my goats into Arkansas.

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

Retail loss prevention is a world of class A douchebags consisting mostly of assholes too fat or otherwise unfit to become cops…so they become mall cops and work their way up the food chain of low paying retail LP. What a long-winded fucking article about something no one gives a fuck about. Author fails to mention the easiest way to grab a freebie at the self checkout, just don’t scan it.
You get stopped, “Oh, I didn’t see that”. Shoplifting, like any other crime requires proving intent. This dumb fucking dissertation doesn’t even mention that retailers build their theft loss into their P&L.

I participated directly… or should I I say, on behalf of my employer at the time, in Berlins survey. Even spoke with him on the phone and may have met him, can’t remember. He’s typical academic, if I recall correctly, from some school in Florida.

Retail LP, as a rule, are a collective group of jerkoffs that have convinced themselves that shopli is the root of all evil and the beginning of the end of the world. It’s not. It’s petty theft and if you think it’s driving prices up… Why does a 60″ TV cost only $300?

Hardscrabble Farmer
Hardscrabble Farmer

It’s harder to stick a 60″ TV down your pants?

RiNS

I have a passing acquaintance, shall we say, with someone who is a Booster. It is amazing really… and big business..

She probably works for a ring.

In one of her exploits she walked into a store, picked up a Flat screen she liked, and just walked out the door. Didn’t even bother with the self checkout..

She has been reported but it don’t mean nuthin’ to authorities
As the police make no bones about pretending to care…
They’re attitude being that as long as she is just petty thief
They will turn a blind eye..She is just not worth the paperwork

Yeah they’ll charge when she is caught by guys like Mark
but if not she just gets away with it..
She even stole a Jeep one time.
Got charged and convicted.
And when it came time for sentencing she just packed up left Province.
When Police were told where she moved to they just said this..

“We cannot extradite for that”

Their words!
Wow!

“Warrant can’t be enforced
As long she doesn’t come back
It is a problem for them
And no longer for us”

And still she went back.
Cause the welfare is better
There than here..
And She knew
her stay in jail
wouldn’t be long..
probation maybe,
banned from store.
probably

Laws were written
are ignored by her types..
Especially in a world
that revolves around welfare checks,
and Meth
and being a thief

Requests and pleadings
just guidelines to follow
She understands the game.
And ignores court orders

And if she slips up
no worries.
When sent to jail
it’s 3 squares,
a roof
and a cot.

The Golden Rule being
Don’t assault anyone
while getting caught.

Following that
and stay is short.
And before long
she’s back

Living on the streets.
Starting it all over again
until she repeats.

Hardscrabble Farmer
Hardscrabble Farmer

Sounds like quite the life.

RiNS

It is…..

mark
mark

RiNS,

Most Boosters I have dealt with (flipped one who became the snitch from hell – called me constantly all hours – he led to three pawn shops owned by the same guy being taken down by the SBI) were fugitives from the law of averages…and eventually had hard time bad endings or worse…as many/most of the ones I ran across were into drugs and a lifestyle that sooner or later blows up in their faces.

The best are bold, cool, and developed theft techniques and practiced skills that are lightning fast. When working in a gang they are amazing on how much they can steal and if cornered (especially if any need a fix bad) are super dangerous.

The ones who make the mistake of hitting when that are gliding on a high are easy to take down.

I soon got to a point in my career where I was bored with the armatures…but I was never bored with Boosters and flipping them up the food chain to expose Flea Markets, Pawn Shops, C-Stores, and especially the big boys who make the big money (Boosters usually just get 20 cents the dollar) are the Re-Pack Houses who clean the items up and resell it to the retailers.

I hated every boring 9-5 job I ever had…the above was fun!

mark
mark

PeakMaster,

I have met many of the class A douchebags on the lower rungs of the Retail Loss Prevention ladder that you describe, inherited many in the senior positions in companies I held moving around the county over the decades. Once identified I either converted them through my extensive training program (this is hard but occasionally possible) but usually just managed them out. I always found them easy to spot and deal with. I had written multiple detailed training manuals and a long and specific Code of Conduct that was strictly enforced. Every LP office in every company had the Code of Conduct framed and on the wall.

I was in one company for 7 years with a large staff. In the 3rd year the HR VP and CEO called me in because I had the highest termination rate of any division, 28%. I knew that was the reason for the meeting so I brought in a list of each termination and the reason, it was mostly Code of Conduct violations and or being lazy and unproductive.

You will always end up with the staff you deserve and by the 4th, 5th 6th, and 7th years I did. Built a rock solid super effective team with tremendous numbers all around. We had a lot of fun too!

I preferred inexperienced, younger, hungry individuals who were at least two step promotable looking to move up the pyramid I always created in large companies. Give people structured promotions and the cream will rise to the top. Sometimes the scum will too…but I always skimmed them off .

I could mold them much easier into professionals who impacted the P&L and earned respect from HR and Operations and fear from the army ant thieves.

You have a point about many in the industry – they never lasted long with me and weren’t hired through the intense screening process and deep dig hiring/screening background research program I also used.

There were many, many others like me in the industry, I know that because I met them and have had worked for them…that’s how I came up.

Retail Loss Prevention evolved from (mostly untrained) Barney Fife Store Detective ‘Security’ in the 50’s and 60’s in a society where Employee, Customer and Vendor Delivery/Service theft was minor, but started to skyrocket in the 70’s as the society headed towards hell in a handbasket.

Security evolved into Loss Prevention in the 70’s (that’s when I got my start) then in the 80’s (in advancing enlightened companies) into Assets Protection, combining with many elements of Risk Management.

From your post its obvious you were never exposed to any of this.

Now, many large companies in traditional retail Loss Prevention, with separate LP pyramids have gone different ways. One has been taken over at all the top positions by retired FBI Agents with them bringing in tremendous technology, another by retired Air Force Military Police bringing in their unique culture and tactics, etc. That is common within the retail Loss Prevention evolution in different major companies.

But, like all big corporations the politics are a pain in the ass, I really got fed up with it, even though I was good at the guerilla warfare you need to use sometimes at the top of the corporate pyramid to survive. I went out on my own at the age of 50 in 2000 and flipped (with an accidental opportunity) into the Vending/Food Service/Micromarket industry and found no real competition and a killing field!

You don’t know what you are talking about- about Peter Berlin…you have confused him with Dr. Richard Hollinger of the University of Florida and the National Retail Federation, a professor who only puts out retail LP stats from retrailers once a year. Before you demean someone by name on the internet, do your research. Berlin is an international recognized subject natter expert.

Taking what I had learned in traditional retail and distribution Loss Prevention (I like the LP label best) while bringing it into the Vending/Food Service/Micromarket/Gaming industry allowed me to open my own company, make more money than I ever had inb my life, and retire to my dream farm in 12 years set for life.

Every time I drive by or shop in one of the retail companies I use to work for I smile. But I have to practice tunnel vision…because the shoplifters and even an occasional Booster team are soooooooooo easy for me to spot.

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

I’ve forgotten more about retail loss prevention, risk management and brand image protection than you’ll ever know. I was at the executive VP level but my prior experience was law enforcement. With few exceptions, my counterparts were assholes.

M G
M G

marc has been around and around, PM… I think you might temper your self-confidence in your superior knowledge.

Iska Waran
Iska Waran

I gotta get my wife into shoplifting. It could really help stretch the budget.

mark
mark

Shoot…If I had a dollar for every housewife I’ve seen slipping small make up items into her bra or purse or cloths into her oversized bag or taking the pacifier out of the package, looking around, and then sticking in their babies mouth I’d be a rich man.

They are big time weepy criers in the office too.

Used Civil Restitution on them…and other amateurs and kids (unless they were wise ass punks – they went down), sign the confession, no cops, pay $200.00.

CHA-CHING!

Pulled in over $250k in one year in one retail company with a staff 75.

The CEO & CFO threw flower petals in front of me as I came into the year end budget review meeting.

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

Civil restitution … what a fucking joke. Did you employ one of those clown contract companies out of CA? Yeah, the CEO and CFO threw flower petals… but no money…. You got your 3% and they called you an asshole after you were dismissed.

mark
mark

Peak Mouth,

Your really have no idea what you are pissed off about do you?

Let me take you to school blather mouth…pay attention…you might learn something.

I ran the Debt Collection Division as well as Safety. I had the company Lawyer draw up a Civil Restitution Agreement we offered “Guideline Apprehended Shoplifters” (I wrote the guidelines). We were in 11 states so the agreement fit all 11 state laws that allowed Civil Restitution instead of calling the cops.

I also had the company lawyer write three demand letters if the shoplifter (once released) did not pay the legal Civil Restitution agreement ($200.00) they had agreed to. Each letter was worded stronger and stronger…but this was no bluff…stop sucking on that lemon and pay attention, I’ll get to it.

Now…we were doing around 700 shoplifters apprehensions a month. Get the drift on the money from Civil Restitution Peak Mouth?

Now, Juvies were different…we called the parents (unless they fought or were wise asses…all punks (no matter their age) went to the cops, piss on the money they needed hard lessons – that was my guideline – I was a punk as a teenager so I know how valuable a hard lesson is –I had a few).

The parents would come in and sign the agreement and almost always paid quickly. This saved their kid from the courts and a record, the cops and courts liked it because usually they were overwhelmed.

Why would any retailer or LP professional of any real intelligence or experience hire a Civil Restitution company to do what can easily be done in house and keep 100% of the money?

I can see why you would…because you don’t know much…you just think you do.

Our collection rate, with the three letters, was 90%. The last 10% I turned over to a local skip tracer collection agency…he kept 50% of what he collected, but it was still found money and went into my budget.

People have a bad experience with someone in some profession or in life in ngeneral and then assume everyone in that profession or interaction is an asshole.

I exchange comments with a lot of TPBers…and just because you’re an asshole…I don’t think they all are.

Get my point?

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

Working at the divisional level of some podunk, shitass retailer makes you a subject matter expert on nothing but working at the divisional level of some podunk, shitass retailer.

mark
mark

What The hell Peak Mouth…that exactly what I said…oh yea and there was also this along the road to moving on up:

Store Detective

Loss Prevention Manager

District Investigator

District Loss Prevention Manager

Dual District Loss Prevention Manager

Regional Loss Prevention Manager

Director of Loss Prevention and Debt Collection

Director of Store and Distribution Center Loss Prevention
Risk Management and Debt Collection for a five-company retail group

Senior Consultant and then President of a Retail Loss Prevention Consulting Company focused on Organized Retail Crime (ORC)

CEO and Founder of a Theft/Fraud/Business Abuse Consulting Company focused in the Vending, Food Service, Gaming, Micromarket Industry

Prepper, Farmer, Self Sufficiency Expert, Shootist, TBP Commenter and someone Peak Mouth doesn’t like (The last one a badge of honor I proudly wear)

Don’t forget the rope.

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

Please expand on your vast retail risk management experience. Precisely what does that entail? Did you purchase and manage all the insurance policies that your Fortune 27000 company bound? Or are you just another retail LP jerkoff that adopted the risk management credit because you’re ilk was becoming less and less relevant to competent CFOs?
Oh, you’re a “shootist” too, so you state. Do you shoot your nut on the bathroom counter or in a wash cloth while you picture you as someone who actually had an impact?

mark
mark

Peak Mouth,

I put up my job titles coving 1972 to today….that’s it man…that’s all you get.

Have no need to explain myself to an asshole like you

Like I said you have no sense of humor or wit.

So what’s your background mad dog?

Give a little get a little.

M G
M G

Are you someone who just recently changed his moniker here?

The U.S. is a Donkey Show
The U.S. is a Donkey Show

Mark,

You don’t have to prove anything to anyone here. You are a trusted Platformer.

Peace to you my friend.

mark
mark

Thanks Donkey I greatly appreciate that.

M G
M G

PM? Why so beligerent toward someone who obviously knows his stuff?

Cleveland Rocks
Cleveland Rocks

Do the numbers include the incredible amount of food people eat while they are walking through a grocery store?

mark
mark

They call that customer quality control…

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

It’s sad that you found a mentor in someone you never met but liked reading his dumb fucking newsletter.
But you were… oh, a retail LP guy your entire career. That must make you swell with pride.

RiNS

Peak what the fuck is your problem!
Mark is catching the bad guys!

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

RiNS… Shoplifting and the clowns that chase them are BBs in the 55 gallon drum called life. If there weren’t any shoplifters, clowns in retail LP would be eyeballing little kids from park benches. It’s tough to find a bigger group of assholes. Shoplifting has zero effect on your life and that’s a fact. The clowns that make a career out of it and hold themselves out to be centurion saviors… and that’s 98% of the LP world, are the biggest group of jerkoffs you would ever have the misfortune to meet. Think Paul Blart Mall Cop after he’s been promoted three times. Most cops know they are clowns too. It’s both laughable and pathetic to hear them tell their ” down in the trenches” stories.
Like I said, most were either physically or mentally unfit to be cops, so they play like they are in stores and malls as they tout various trends to justify their existence like organized retail crime… Orc.

The article comes from The Atlantic, a liberal asswipe publication on a good day. A more interesting read would be a brief study on why retail loss prevention people are such douchebags.

RiNS

He sez…

Shoplifting has zero effect on your life and that’s a fact.

not true…. someone has to pay for the shrinkage

I don’t understand the vitriol from you..

What would be a better solution. Let my step daughter Boost TV’s at will..
In the end we all ending up paying for that. And then you write..

…would be eyeballing little kids from park benches

For fuck sakes man, that is uncalled for..

As for them all being assholes, maybe it rubbed off from talking to you..

mark
mark

RiNS,

Somebody shit on Peak Mouth’s oatmeal and pissed in his Wheaties this morning, and he thought he saw me sneaking out of his kitchen…but I swear it wasn’t me!

Probably some handsome Subject Matter Expert Retail LP guy who use to work with him…and knows him well…who just looks likes me…maybe…just saying….it could happen…don’t know what else to think???

(Maybe an Anger Management Class? You need to recommend it…I don’t think he likes me.)

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

Horseshit. That’s the stupid corporate line. Like saying prostitution is not a victimless crime. Name the fucking victims. The same was said about weed being a narcotic. Right up there with The War on Drugs.
Do you really fucking think a T-bone steak cost what it does because of shoplifting? How about Lobster tails or 12 packs of Coke? Give me a fucking break. That “we all pay for it” bullshit is corporate sponsored marketing shit to save the cost of paying assholes like this douche Mark his $47,640/year salary.

mark
mark

Peak Mouth,

I think RiNS is right…”For fuck sakes man, that is uncalled for..

As for them all being assholes, maybe it rubbed off from talking to you..”

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

I’ll determine what is and what isn’t fucking called for.

M G
M G

At first I wondered what kind of an asshole you were…

I see now.

mark
mark

Peak Mouth,

Re-read my posts because this comment proves your zero reading comprehension, and is just more blather from an angry man.

Were you ever arrested for shoplifting as a juvie…I detect some hidden trauma, anger, and bitterness. I understand trauma…counseling can help. Really!

In one post you mistake Peter Berlin for another person, a professor who just calls retailers and publishers stats, I gave you his name, look him up. Your the idiot who talked to him, not me, and mistook him for Berlin. I met Berlin in the 80’s and stated so.

Everyone is entitled to htheir opinions but yours are so caustic and bitter there has to be something else simmering.

Let get it on Peak Mouth…I’m a big boy…matter of fact I like a good shiftiest now and then, tell us about yourself. I put myself out there. I addressed the class A douchebags complaint…that I agreed with…throw some more blather my way.

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

I stand corrected Hero. It was Dr Richard Hollinger… who is actually the spoken word on retail theft and conducts the survey of ssme for the NRF. Berlin wrote some self serving newsletter on the subject. BFD.

mark
mark

No shit Sherlock.

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

You must really be a forensic blog analyst, equipped with your 16 hour Wiclander-Zulawski training. Whoopty fucking do. A real jedi mind fucker with all of those interviews notched on your black belt.
Try working a midnight-8 shift, one man car in a large city as a real cop and then come back to Maxi.

mark
mark

Peak Mouth,

I already know too much about violent death, gore, pulling triggers and pins, changing belts, and killing.

Not negative on Cops…just didn’t want to hire wanna bes and those who still wanted to be a cop in retail…come on…pay attention.

‘Comprehend’ what you read before you engage your Peak Mouth.

Let me slow it down for you:
C O M P R E H E N D – W H A T – Y O U – R E A D

I’ve changed my mind.

Don’t just piss up a rope…

Piss up a rope while standing on your head… (Better keep that Peak Mouth closed – just saying- I’m looking out for you buddy).

ordo ab chao
ordo ab chao

Hey Mark

An average reader like me can see that you are swimmin in your own pond on this subject. I’ve never been hungry enough to even think about stealin, so I just read what you’ve got to say. Interesting, as always.

annuit coeptis novus ordo seclorum- I would suggest that your new friend may simply be a victim of social engineering. By that I mean, just because Trump and MSM are in lock step calling cops/firemen ‘heroes’ 24/7.

I maintain that, while they may be called upon at any minute to effect themselves as ‘heroes’ that call IS the job description…..they are well paid and taken care of. If they don’t like the job, get a different one.

No work-out quite like the one you get from a shovel. Got a roof on yet?

mark
mark

ordo ab chao,

I think my new friend has had some bad experiences with some retail LP people…so what…so have I…but I swear it wasn’t me that did him wrong! The dude has some pent up venom and not much of a sense of humor…so far.

Thanks for asking about my Alamo…I had some setbacks. My Mom’s heart started failing, and she went home on Father’s Day. Man, that was hard, she was 92, hospice sent an angel. Then my sister had cancer surgery. Everything came to a halt for a while, it’s been a rough summer on my family.

Just before she passed I ripped my leg with a chain saw clearing land by myself (didn’t put the Chaps on – never again will I do that – HF already chewed me out) 11 stitches, but had my handy, dandy trauma kit and drove myself to the VA. I’m good at major wound 1st aid…even on myself.

This is a good sub story – I forgot I was packing a 9mm and limped into the VA Emergency Room with it on. An old Airforce Medic ran up to me and whispered in my ear and I hobbled out like a wounded jack rabbit stashing it in my truck before I ended up in their ‘room with no view for Vets who show up packing’.

Then just before I signed with the builder I ran him through a retired FBI friend who has a background screening company and found a bankruptcy and 53 page law suit in the builders past…I became the Roadrunner.

Interviewed a second builder twice, not comfortable with his terms or crew’s experience, and now have found two brothers I went to Church with many years ago who have excellent reps, checked out one of their houses done for a friend, it was beautiful, and they are coming over Wednesday to walk the land with me and my wife and discuss their terms.

I have the septic and well permits but have to get another survey because I’m in the water shed…more expensive red tape. Also have the guy to clear the land and dig the basement and septic.

How about you buddy?

Still making order out of the approaching 4th Turning chaos?

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

Kewl story bro. Tell us all about the death, gore and mayhem that made you the sheepdog you think you are.

mark
mark

Who in the hell do you think you are Peak Mouth?

You don’t viciously and personally attack me because I worked in a business you don’t like, don’t say anything about yourself, and demand my military/war record like I owe a spittle spewing anger management candidate like you an explanation.

You have no sense of humor and no wit.

Piss off blather mouth you are getting to be a pain in the ass and waste of my time.

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

Yeah. I didn’t think so. Go drink your dirty martini and spank the dog to your ” comely wife” you fucking wannabe.
I said plenty about myself. I was a real cop that worked in a real city and did and saw real shit. I ran retail LP for a huge fucking retailer and had a few assholes like you in some of my stores… not for very long though because we weeded out the douchebags wannabes that thought catching shoplifters was important. It’s not. Crisis management, real risk management, natural hazard preparation, training and response,emergency evacuation of large buildings, travel security…. thats the stuff that counts fruitcake. Not your fucking petty, ketchup dick shoplifting and shortage nonsense. Fuck off Marky Mann.. I got your number and your a fucking poser.

mark
mark

Peak Mouth,

Wow…I’ll admit I was teasing you pretty hard after you came at me personally, what did you expect? Really must have gotten under your skin.

Re-read my posts PM, never said anything bad about cops have one in my family I love and helped raise.

I’ve posted plenty about my Grunt/Nam time. You don’t get that on demand with your tone and words. Who in the hell do you think you are?

Yea, I like to shoot, as does most/many here, not a hunter. That why I said shootist.

Never said shoplifting was the focus of LP, matter of fact said it wasn’t.

You said: “Shortage nonsense” – When I was in retail that was the main J.O.B. – the biggest impact on the P&L and reviews and raises and your job was based on it…at least in the companies I worked in. Thats what I was hired to focus on. Calling it nonsense make no sense in my career…I don’t know anything about yours.

What makes you think I wasn’t involved in other aspects, you know nothing about me…you just attacked me with wild personal accusations and continue to do it.

Jeeze PM piss off…you are starting to come off deranged…get a grip…get back on the meds.

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

You’re a clown and a bullshit artist extraordinaire. You know it and now I know it too. You live in a fantasy world thinking retail LP is some higher calling. True heros cut from some special cloth.
Snap the fuck out of it… probably too late so keep your fantasy going hero. But the reality is you’ve never done an besides played your little cops and robbers retail LP fantasy game.

Good luck. Ever heard the expression, ” Karma is a bitch”?
Your little fantasy world will bite you in your fat ass one day.

mark
mark

Peak Mouth,

Here is what I know, from your first post on this thread your head has been spinning around like Linda Blair in the Exorcist vomiting out vicious middle school personal attacks and insults at me.

I feel no need to defend or explain myself from an angry malcontent who seems to suffer from a haughty rage and an obvious superiority complex, and who can’t debate or banter on a subject we both know a great deal about (me 47 years) and who just resorts to vile personal attacks.

The chip on your shoulder about being a former cop is a log. I’ve worked with cops in 27 states, the FBI and the SBI and and with a U.S. Attorney for years. Met a few assholes in Law Enforcement, but for the most part had great experiences. I worked with one SBI Agent off and on for years and become close friends with him. I liked most cops I got to know on and past the job…with your attitude I’m sure you would have an exception.

Your superior, snide, F this and F that and F you and F all LP people retorts have been repetitive and lacking any humor or real wit.

You don’t absorb what I have said and come back with any real counter points just more cursing, insults, and blather.

You don’t write…you snarl and growl…and snap and bark. Go away and find a junkyard to guard.

I have been lurking and then posting here for many years and thoroughly enjoy debating and exchanging ideas, views, stories, opinions, experiences etc. I have become friends with many commenters and we know and talk to one another like friends, then Linda Blair pops in and uses that personal banter to vomit out vile insults.

I think you have some boiling rage built up for whatever reasons and spewed it in my direction. See a shrink…could help?

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

I know a few things and am now living rent free in your simple, squirrel brain. You were never in the Air Force and the closest you got to Viet Nam was a map on the wall in some shithole stockroom of a hillbilly retailer.

You’re a story teller and wannabe writer/author that believes his own fiction.

For a $25 copay, you can maybe get the ball rolling. Never too late. Good luck. You’ll need it.

mark
mark

Peak Mouth,

WTF…I never said I was in the Air Force. Where the hell did you get that from?

I enlisted in the Marine Corps in 68, fought in Nam in 69, 0331 MOS humped and fought mostly with the M-60.

Your a loon and got your panities in a wad because I keep coming back at your rants.

Point your vomit in another direction its getting boring.

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

Bullshit. You’re no Marine either. Your spinning a web of lies. I know who you are and one more fucking smack post,asswipe, everyone that reviews TBP will know your fucking clown act. Your DD 214 is easy enough to search. But not if there isn’t one. We’ll all know soon enough sheepdog.

mark
mark

Wow! You are a loon…you need to go back into that Coo Coo Clock and not come out for at least another hour!

Hold on I got to make a martini for this…..

Ok, I’m back. (Come on PM loosen up…that was funny).

Coo Coo dig away! I’m proud of my DD-214, it’s a free country, full of mixed nuts…but what are ya gonna do? I hate Stolen Valor too!

Be warned, threating to Dox some one may blow up in your face. That will not win you friends or influnce TBPers.

Even though Nam was just another frigg’in False Flag War arranged by the Banksters (that was a bitter pill for me to swallow) and more than a fourth of my company was KIA, with another third to a fourth coming home with lifelong wounds (missing a limb, two, a foot, feet, spine, brain injuries) and me and the 5 Marines in my Gun Team were awarded 12 Purple hearts in eight months, and I have wide and deep scars from my time in war (not counting the ones on my body) How about this?

I’ll scan in and e-mail my Honorable Discharge, my Certificate of three Purple Hearts, my DD-214, and a couple of pictures of me in Nam in the bush with the M-60 to: ADMIN? Have all at hand in my VA binder.

Now, if Admin accepts I’ll do it. I trust and respect him.

Admin will know it’s me because I have already posted my picture (with a beard) on a Beard thread I think Llph put up. Took some teasing about the pic too…but the dynamic T4C and my fellow Vet/Prepper Maggie flirted with me…so it was worth it.

But, what was your military background? Just curious, I’ll take your word for it, and honor your word about it. Your business police background sounds impressive – really I mean that (but you can’t take the pokes even though you love to give them).

By the way, I was in the 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment, 1st Marine Division, known as 3/1.

I fought in Tet 69 (not as massive as Tet 68 but massive enough if you were in it, Flea was in it too). I was in combat my fourth day in Nam, 69 was the second worst year for American KIAs. Fought in Operation Oklahoma Hills, and Operation Pipestone Canyon. The heaviest combat I saw was in Dodge City during Pipestone Canyon. My Company went head to head with the NVA four days running once, lost many buddies and one of the finest 2nd Lieutenants in the Marine Corps.

I was wounded on May 26th, August 11th, and August 24th.

After I was medivaced out of Nam was carried into Physical Therapy in Camp Courtney in Okinawa. A long, painful heal…bad shrapnel to the left knee…to be honest it has never worked right since, and eventually (many years later) they gave me 10% disability for it, and 10% for an ear that was blown out. I turn the good side/ear to people when I’m talking to them. (If we ever meet I’ll make sure I turn the bad side/ear to you).

Have no idea how many 100 round 7.62 belts I put out before my entire Gun Team and I were blown up the last time…countless. Frigg’in B-40 Rockets I hated’em. But we gave better the we got and my Company’s close in kill ratio was 7-to 1.

When walking normal after therapy I was ordered to the 27th Marines in Hawaii (from hell to heaven). Was in two war games in Hawaii and immediately got myself killed in front of one of the umpires ASAP…I was done with that bullshit. All the Nam Vets in the company were. We were a cranky bunch. Came out E-4.

Now, you do know where you can put your threat to expose me with your DD-214 research…don’t you?

Remember this- You drew ‘First Blood’.

M G
M G

What a jerk… What is it about TBP that attracts these types. MM… I know for a fact you have an honorable and distinguished service career. I don’t know why you are subjected to this by such a Peak Loser.

mark
mark

Shoot Maggie I have no idea…every time he insulted me…I gave it right back.

Then I was talking with ordo ab chao and told him about ripping my leg open with a chainsaw, forgetting I had a 9mm strapped on open carry (I was starting to go into shock) and limping into the VA emergency room. An old Air Force medic (we talked later) ran up to me warning me about it…as you know you will get into a shit load of trouble packing in the VA, then he jumped me for not ever being in the Airforce, (poor reading comprehension) more rage, then the DD-214 dox threat!

M G
M G

PEAK LOSER

M G
M G

I think whatshisfucktard has reinvented himself.

M G
M G

Why not make this into a real post, marc?

M G
M G

Amen on that one. One person you do not want looking at you closely is the guy you caught stealing. I’ve been in those shoes too many times to think about it now.

It is a side-effect of government work.

Donkey Balls
Donkey Balls

Mark,

You are a wealth of knowledge on at least 4 different topics. You should write some articles. I know you are busy, so I understand if you don’t have the time. Thanks for all the contributions you make.

mark
mark

Thanks Donkey I appreciate that,

I currently write for a magazine…and have written for six or seven others over the years. I also sell three different Loss Prevention Manuals on the net, writing a business Employee Theft Investigation Manual (for the vending industry) at the moment to add to my internet offering.

The only two things I enjoy more than writing is shooting and growing/raising my own food….hmmm, on second thought there is my quite comely wife and dirty martinis with three olives, not necessarily in that order, so I may have the first paragraph wrong.

Iska Waran
Iska Waran

Teach her to shoplift and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.

mark
mark

HA!

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

Don’t need to write any articles or hawk anything sweet pea. I made my fortune and am doing just fine.
Can you seriously sit here and state that the NRF LP conference… or the RILA LP national conference is anything short of a douchebag convention?

Or the big technology show in the Javits Center in NYC every winter… Jerkoff Central Command.

mark
mark

Peak Mouth,

I think we got off on the wrong insult (by you).

Let me start off with how I really feel…go piss up a rope.

What the hell does any of your post have to do with me…asshole?

I haven’t been to any of that since the mid-90s.

It’s a vendor/end user industry…a slice of retail, countless millions of jobs and billions of sales, all under the retail umbrella I have no rhyme or reason to defend any of it. I could care less about any of that…it has nothing to do with me or my career. That’s a world I visited a few times (NRF only) to buy technology for whoever I was working for at the time.

I’m just a guy who steadily moved up the ladder from popping shoplifters to running three divisions in a 5 company retail group to his own consulting company, had a blast, and was successful. I owe it all to retail LP, it got me started an fed my family.

I explained many details in my answers to your broad brush angry, bitter, snide blather. You have obviously had some bad experiences…too bad I’m sad for you Peak Mouth. Cry me a river. I had nothing to do with your past experiences…really.

You’re the one painting an entire industry and countless people with a broad smear brush, defaming and attacking a well-known international expert thinking he was someone else, and attacking me, someone you know nothing about.

Obliviously (I explained it) you don’t know shit about Civil Restitution and how easy and profitable it is, making thieves pay for their theft. Sorry you couldn’t figure it out shithead.

From 2000 to 2015 I mostly worked in the Vending, Food Service, Gaming, Micromarket Industry, taking what I learned in Retail Loss Prevention and applying it there. Have had three owners thank me for saving them from bankruptcy, one while he was crying. There were others. I’m proud of my track record in dealing with parasites, thieves, and slugs who betray and steal from their employers.

I’ll agree with you on this…never hired many who wanted to be a cop…didn’t want to just be their stepping stone. When that came out in the interview I deferred on them. I always offered a retail LP career path, usually three positions up the laddr, then the stars could jump ship if they were good and go corporate with another company…many did. Rarely hired ex cops…they were too black and white, too use to the authority we didn’t have.

One out of three companies that go bankrupt in the U.S. do so because of undetected or addressed employee theft (shoplifters are nothing compared to employees) so Business Loss Prevention professionals have a huge opportunity.

You have a problem but it’s not me.

Go piss up a rope.

M G
M G

I think I actually went through training on some of this a long time ago when I learned how to be a cashier at an IGA that sent all checkers to a two day seminar.

I was a CERTIFIED checker at IGA.

Good manual, by the way, MM… not the “official” MM, but a good stand-in.

22winmag - Q is a psyop and Drumpf is lead actor
22winmag - Q is a psyop and Drumpf is lead actor

Shrinkage my ass.

They’ll steal anything that isn’t nailed down until you are staving and frozen.

https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=keqFM_1546380002

PS- Is it true the Equifax checks are going to shrink to $1.95 by January?

Thunderbird
Thunderbird

We live in a past mature dying system. Why? Because there is no vision left in it.

The new silk road project is the future and I advise any young person to look into it and contemplate your future in it.

AC
AC

It’s not because there is no vision. This is the direct result of ‘globalism’ and ‘multiculturalism.’

It’s not a new phenomenon, at all, either.

comment image

We’re seeing a society where no one sees any advantage in playing by the rules, as there is no common good, because it is a society comprised of a variety of ethnic groups with competing interests.

Jk
Jk

A friend of mine is a district manager at Wal-Mart and he tells me that in his stores the theft is less than the cost and hassle of a cashier on payroll. As he puts it, the bigshots in Bentonville consider it a profitable loss.

Hardscrabble Farmer
Hardscrabble Farmer

Went to the WalMart in Claremont yesterday (socks) and at every self checkout there was a morbidly obese WalMart employee just standing there to watch customers ring their stuff up. She was paying a little bit more than no attention, but she certainly wasn’t on her game.

The effect of forcing your customers to do their own checkout while at the same time watching them like they’re thieves is going to trickle down, there’s simply no removing that from the equation. And to hire someone to watch them do the job they used to do is going to have a downstream effect on employees as well. I just don’t see the upside of this methodology.

The corporation is basically saying that your business isn’t worth the cost of having employees to provide customer care, most of you are probably thieves anyway and the people we do hire are eventually going to replaced by another technology pretty soon just like the cashiers were before.

Rdawg
Rdawg

You’re not forced to, you can always go to a cashier.

robert
robert

And wait, and wait, and wait at one of two lines open in a thirty line checkout.

Rick
Rick

My Walmart this morning had two little Hispanic lady’s, watching six machines.

Harrington Richardson
Harrington Richardson

I see the same thing. The self checkout is slow, may involve theft and they still have an employee involved. Now I see they have installed barricades funneling traffic and in our local excuse for a Walmart there is now usually some halfassed crank who is handicapped, riding a scooter who demands to see everyone’s receipt as they funnel through the cattle chute exit. When they went to this they fired the 80 yr. old greeter who is dying of cancer. What a world.

Ginger
Ginger

Just as mcdonalds changed from a place for kids with a playground to catering to blacks, walmart is moving towards the little brown people from below the border. they work, have a bit of money, and are amazed by the amount of stuff for sale. Whites can go to sears, oh wait a minute.

Anonymous
Anonymous

I dunno, every wally flier is loaded with sambos. No pun intended.

tard wrangler
tard wrangler

that’s exactly the feeling i get when they try and shake me down upon leaving the store. “my i see your receipt”. no. and i walk on, message received. we’re all thieves.

e.d. ott
e.d. ott

Maybe you are, and like a lot of others I sure as hell don’t consider myself a thief nor do I feel entitled to free stuff without consequence.
Even after being insulted by store employees and complaining to management, some places have offered “free sh*t” as a material salve to placate my irritation. That only enrages me more.

ILuvCO2
ILuvCO2

Went to the Walmart in CLaremont. Oh boy. White trash central.

Hardscrabble Farmer
Hardscrabble Farmer

I used to play a game with my youngest son when we we went called “the People of WalMart”
The deal was if he spotted someone that looked like the people on the Saturday TBP POW thread, I’d buy him a pack of Pokemon cards. After a couple of visits it quickly became apparent that I would go broke buying Pokemon cards so we switched it up and now we play “Not the People of WalMart”. If he spots someone who looks like we’d be comfortable having visit us, he gets a pack of cards. He doesn’t make out quite so well now but we still have a lot of fun looking around.

mark
mark

Hardscrabble,

One day soon your entire cart will be scanned, without taking anything out, in seconds. Swipe your card to pay with your digital Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) issued by the IMF, then you put the stuff into reusable bags at your car. They will sell you the bags or you can go to the SDR store and save a SDR or two.

They will scan your cart again at the door, and if it doesn’t match the scan at the register exactly to the item…a robot will roll out and break one of your knee caps with a rubber mallet.

Shoplifting will be curtailed but there will still be many Americans limping.

Iska Waran
Iska Waran

I hate self-checkout, so I hope that theft causes stores to add enough cashiers.

312K
312K

I much prefer self check instead of having someone’s hands on my merchandise right after they scratched their whatever or picked their nose or hawked up a green goober on a week old hankie.

Llpoh
Llpoh

I occasionally visit a site where issues re employment, etc., are discussed. It quickly becomes apparent that the young, by and large, are dishonest and of low character.

The daughter of one of my friends openly has said stealing is ok so long as it is from a business and not someone you know. Her father and I were outraged. She could not have cared less. No oldies were going to tell her what is right and what is wrong.

The world is headed down the crapper.

BB
BB

I guess I’m a fool cause I scan everything and pay.Good thing is I don’t go to Walmart much except to get my blood pressure / heart medication . They have the best price around for now. I am tempted to go to Walgreens. Less people =less lines.

mark
mark

BB,

Have you ever tried Odorless Garlic, Hawthorn Berries, and Cinnamon on Oatmeal to lower your blood pressure?

Slowly brought my top number down from the 150s to the 130’s after about three weeks. None of it is expensive. Plus I gave up salt and went to Mrs. Dash, so that helped as well. (Dam, I miss those salty pretzels).

https://www.herbaffair.com/blogs/blog/7-herbs-that-lower-high-blood-pressure

BB
BB

Mark , I will try some of those things. I have mostly used what the doctor has advised. That and walking 3 times a week for 30-40 minutes at a time.

mark
mark

BB,

The only reason I avoided the prescriptions is the side effects. The one they wanted to give me had a libido side effect…and I wanted nothing to do with that!

I’m old, but still active and want to stay that way.

Just check out what they are giving you on the net and if it is ok, and working great.

NickelthroweR
NickelthroweR

I’m a fool too. Theft is theft – period.

Middle-Aged Mad Gnome
Middle-Aged Mad Gnome

Finally. Theft is theft, and thieves steal. People who steal are thieves. What price is worth the knowledge that you are a dishonest person? For me, that would be a very high price (the price of my personal honesty is far higher than anything I could ever steal from a store). Furthermore, I am never offended at being asked for my receipt on the way out, as this is obviously one small attempt to prevent theft by the store…totally understandable.

None Ya Biz
None Ya Biz

The Walgreens here in Memphis are notoriously slow at filling prescriptions. I used to use Rite Aid because they would fill the scripts while you wait. Now Rite Aid is no longer around because Walgreens bought them to kill a competitor. So I use the Walmart pharmacy because they will text me to let me know when my script is ready and my doctor can electronically send the scripts to them.

e.d. ott
e.d. ott

That kid needs to experience someone stealing from her in order for her bass-ackward attitude to become re-adjusted. Every day it becomes more apparent to me that if SHTF and the economy deteriorates those lacking in character will not hesitate to step on others to lie, cheat, or steal to get what they want – and if that means having to terminate multiple slags in order to survive or protect my family, damned right, I won’t hesitate one second to do so.

James the Wanderer

When my kids were young one of their friend’s “friends” decided their Pokemon Chartreuse portable game was nice, so she took it. Never came back, and never was invited to. My kids are pretty much solid-core honest (might steal to survive in a weather-fatal emergency) since then; sometimes thieves serve to teach lessons cheaply that last for a lifetime.
Think the little wench went to jail eventually, but that would only be just desserts.

Anonymous
Anonymous

I guess I’m a total moron for not wanting to go to the pokey and get raped by bubba. When you are as good looking as I am, it’s a real fear.

yahsure
yahsure

I guess being honest has made me ignorant about this stuff. I went to Wallyworld yesterday and the number of freaks was amazing.

e.d. ott
e.d. ott

Just think, it’s a whole Big World out there just FILLED with many more of them who are unseen. It reminds me every day that I may never have enough ammo to go around.

Yancey_Ward
Yancey_Ward

I always use self-checkout at supermarkets- just wastes less time. I don’t shoplift at all, but I could easily do so in dozens of different ways. I did notice just on the last trip to Walmart a couple of weeks ago that the store has stepped up security at the self-checkout area, doing something with the receipt as I exited the store- the employee scanned the receipt, and then scanned a number of the items in my bags. Was she spot checking only, or was there something else going on? I don’t know, but I plan to ask this week if it happens again. I mean, I wasn’t bothered- I know shop lifting has to be prevented, but it was a bit of a puzzle to me since I couldn’t quite figure out that first time what was going on, or how it could be effective in stopping shop lifting.

Yancey_Ward
Yancey_Ward

Whether out of social responsibility or frustration with shrinkage, some retailers, including Albertsons, Big Y Supermarket, Pavilions, and Vons, have scaled back or eliminated self-scanning, at least in some stores.

I wonder exactly where they are scaling this back- inquiring minds want to know.

Harrington Richardson
Harrington Richardson

Dollars. Plain and simple.

mark
mark

HR is right…yes customer scanning is a payroll savings…but what increases are you experiencing in your once a year inventory?

Before customer scanning I was hired by a retail chain that had 225 stores. After a terrible inventory year. The missing inventory was well over 3.7% (that’s why I was hired) they had – had the entire dollar value of every single item in about 10 stores disappear in one year!

They were heading into bankruptcy. Got it down to 1.20%, but it took three years and a lot of body bags! Especially Employees.

Now, missing merchandise from theft is only inventory losses, that does not count bad checks, credit card fraud, workmen’s comp, customer accidents, cash theft by employees and other ‘Controllable Line Items’.

Retail is Detail and they have hordes of dishonest employees, dishonest customers, and dishonest direct delivery and service vendors ripping them off in every conceivable form and fashion possible.

It is a frigg’in war…thats how I always approached it.

No quarter asked or given.

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

Wow. A true hero.

mark
mark

Peak Mouth,

Come on buddy…you are starting to sound a little middle school pissy here.

Everything in my post is the truth…why does that offend you?

You need to have a beer, take a pill, give yourself a lift…give yourself a little award…BUT NO MORE SHOPLIFING…you have to stop it man, I’m just looking out for you!

Call Peter Berlin he knows how you feel. (But remember, don’t call Dr. Hollinger he will just want to know how many times you shoplifted and where…nosey bastard.)

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

Mark, I suggest you ignore Penis Manipulator. He adds nothing. He suggests he is far better, more experienced, blah, blah. Yet we learn nothing from him other than how great he once was in a long ago fantasy. Super Cop. The only thing he was good at was chasing donut trucks.

He saw your pic and fell in love with you but then began to resent that he couldn’t have you. Fucking perv that he is. Now he is trying the classic negging move. But you’re not a chick to fall for those cheap tactics. Maybe he’ll settle for your shit-stained shorts.

I must congratulate you now, you are not a real TBPer until you have your own troll. I know me and Maggito have our own troll. It’s funny that PM named himself after you: Precious Mark. He’s got a hardon for you, watch your back.

mark
mark

EC,

That was hilarious! Thanks man.

Did you ever read the two part story I posted for you and Tampa (after you corrected my spelling of my most recent near death experience?)

It’s all true. In the middle of the comments on HR’s thread:

BELIEF SYSTEMS

Elastic Commensal
Elastic Commensal

How did I miss that? Thank you!

musket
musket

I recently visited friends in Alabama and one came in from Arkansas who by the way is wally world corporate. He and I talked as we are old friends and this thread came up. He said that it is being discussed on how to stop this (loss thru theft) as they are way past the cost to have a human at a cash register for 8 hours. Remember when they went into the small towns with a small satellite store and suddenly ended that program after they had destroyed most Mom and Pops….well I’ll be this may happen as well……

aka.attrition
aka.attrition

“When mores are sufficient, laws are unnecessary; when mores are insufficient, laws are unenforceable.” ― Émile Durkheim

MrLiberty
MrLiberty

These are NOT people I wish to live around – EVER. 50-state secession (and mass fragmentation beyond that) is the only viable solution. We ALL must have our “Freedom of Association” restored.

YourAverageJoe
YourAverageJoe

I want to live in Leave it to Beaver land, where everyone was White, the Mom stayed home, and the worst element was Eddie Haskle.

BB
BB

Me to . All white and Leave it to Beaver land. That high trust Society has been destroyed and it was destroyed by design.

Anonymous
Anonymous

If corporate was concerned about theft at self checkout perhaps they wouldn’t of fired the dozen or so older women checkers, who most likely have no job or income now.. yep, they will need to accept the bad with the good on this one,

e.d. ott
e.d. ott

Let’s get something straight.
They ain’t thrill seekers, they’re just dishonest thieves.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Social credit, facial recognition and algos will determine how much you are watched. Any human emotion will give you away(hmmm, what’s he up to?)

They are traitors
They are traitors

Notice there are no self checkouts in liberal controlled cities…..they are already too used to getting everything for free.

ILuvCO2
ILuvCO2
deplorably stanley
deplorably stanley

Here in Seattle most retailers will not pursue theft, they just let the thieves walk out of the store with the goods, employees are instructed to stay out of the way of the thieves.

Most stores here will also not call the police because the SPD has made it clear that they will not respond, and if they did they would not bother to charge or arrest. These crimes in Seattle are not crimes anymore, you can flagrantly steal from retailers any time you want and count on getting away with it, no matter how egregious.

The Seattle Police Department only makes immediate response to property crimes if there is a weapon involved. They will not prosecute nor investigate car prowls, porch theft, petty theft, or non-violent property theft.

There is currently a famous meth head criminal in Seattle who has been convicted of 72 crimes and they just let him out of jail again the other day. I think he gets arrested about once a week.

I was at our local mini-mart a few years ago run by a very nice Korean family, when some kids hit the place, pepper sprayed the cashier, stole a lot of beer and ran out of the store. I stayed with the cashier who had taken the spray in the eyes at close range and waited with him until the police arrived – an hour later! They said the Department had been on “shift change” when the hit happened and couldn’t get there any sooner. They brought a sniffer dog with them but it was an hour later and those kids were long gone. That poor store gets broken into regularly and the owners eat the losses every time.

There was another hold-up of an asian owned mini mart here in Seattle a few years ago, and the store owner was sentenced to 5 years in jail for shooting the thief because his under counter gun was loaded prior to the incident. The prosecutor called it “a premeditated shooting.” Fucking outrageous.

In Seattle you are legally prevented from protecting your own property be you a retailer or a resident. It’s a free-for-all of property crime here.

ILuvCO2
ILuvCO2

When seconds matter, the police are minutes (or hours) away. Time to take matters into your own hands.

I:uvCO2
I:uvCO2

Serious question, why he hell do do you still live there?

deplorably stanley
deplorably stanley

High paying job market. But we’ve just recently retired and we.are.leaving.

Anonymous
Anonymous

We need a new colony where these people can be sent, like Australia for the British. What about Greenland?

James the Wanderer

Nothing so big – re-activate Alcatraz. And when it’s full, throw a few overboard (into the ocean); preferably in winter.

Elastic Commensal
Elastic Commensal

That’s what the Golden Gate bridge is for. Can you believe the guy who rigged the slot machines was so distraught that he jumped off the bridge. Kinda like the anthrax scientist that stopped in the middle of the bridge, left his car running and jumped. Really? Some jumpers have help, you know, to get over that initial fear.

MrLiberty
MrLiberty

The Code of Hammurabi took care of the problem quite well. Made the one-handed shoplifters quite easy to spot down the road too.

Anonymous
Anonymous

And here I thought the whole self-check thing was about convenience? Silly me.

wishes
wishes

Like a parent teaches a child by example, a government without a moral keel to guide it’s population will render them every bit as corrupt.

I respectfully disagree. As individuals we are wholly responsible for our own actions, behaviors, choices, etc. Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it right.

PeakMaster
PeakMaster

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