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accidental theft
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Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hi guys, posting for a friend. In the USA, Pennsylvania.
"We went to walmart to get our usual foods, I picked up two boxes of granola bars opened one, took out a bar and ate it. I put the box back on a random shelf and we walked around for another 15 minutes. We grabbed a small 4.59 bag of cat food and my husband put it under the cart because we had our baby with us, diaper bag, my purse, meats, breads and eggs in the cart so there wasn't much room. We went through the line paid for everything and as we walked out the double doors into the street, two guys stopped us and said we were stealing from wal mart. we both forgot the cat food was on the bottom of the cart. They pulled us in an office and asked if there was anything else we didn't pay for, I told the guy about the granola bar. He took our id's and phone numbers and said we'd receive a letter in the mail. Are we going to get a fine even though we cooperated and owned up to the granola bars? I'm super embarassed."
What is she even looking at? Will it be a fine and nothing more?
"We went to walmart to get our usual foods, I picked up two boxes of granola bars opened one, took out a bar and ate it. I put the box back on a random shelf and we walked around for another 15 minutes. We grabbed a small 4.59 bag of cat food and my husband put it under the cart because we had our baby with us, diaper bag, my purse, meats, breads and eggs in the cart so there wasn't much room. We went through the line paid for everything and as we walked out the double doors into the street, two guys stopped us and said we were stealing from wal mart. we both forgot the cat food was on the bottom of the cart. They pulled us in an office and asked if there was anything else we didn't pay for, I told the guy about the granola bar. He took our id's and phone numbers and said we'd receive a letter in the mail. Are we going to get a fine even though we cooperated and owned up to the granola bars? I'm super embarassed."
What is she even looking at? Will it be a fine and nothing more?
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The cat food could be an accident but admitting to straight up eating a granola bar is admitting to theft I would believe so any charges will be pretty impossible to fight I would think.
They could decide to press criminal charges, though if all they did was take your contact info without calling the police then and there it's somewhat unlikely.
You showed no intention of ever paying for that because you put it back on some shelf somewhere.
Now, realistically what can they do for maybe $20 at most of merchandise? Not that much, other than ban you from shopping there and/or possibly fine you.
But in the future, don't do that. If you're stealing you should know you could get caught and in trouble.
Given they didn't call the cops right away, they'll most likely bill you first and if you don't pay quickly, then they'll call the cops.
Either way, this will probably not be too serious. But in the future, OP, I hope your friend stops stealing things.
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If I eat something in the store I hand the cashier the empty box/wrapper/bottle because I ate something and therefore I need to pay for it because that's the difference between shopping and shoplifting. There was intent there and I hope that whatever happens this was a wakeup call and she doesn't do it again.
On whether she could face criminal charges, that's going to be a big maybe. I've prosecuted such cases for a municipality, and it does not matter if the cops showed up or not. What happens is the loss prevention person fills out a report and sends it to the police, the police then decide whether to send it up to the prosecutor (they almost always do), and then the prosecutor files a misdemeanor charge. This can happen more than 30 days after the incident.
Most cases seems to be they'll send a letter several months later asking for a fine to be paid or they'll sue in civil court.
@ceres - honest question here. In what areas is that culturally ok? (As in, to eat something prior to paying for it, then pay for it via the empty box/wrapper/bottle when you get to the cashier). Where I grew up in Front Range, Colorado, USA, that was a huge no-no, IE, you don't open something until you own it.
I'm totally open to there being places/areas/cultures where that's ok, I'm just very interested to know what those are! I also imagine that in small / close-knit communities, where people 'know' each other and 'trust' each other, this is more OK than urban-ville, where shoplifting is a common problem.
Eating a granola bar and then putting the box back on the shelf, though... that's definitely stealing at pretty much any place.
Recently I did this at whole foods and when I handed the cashier the wrapper she said that though it was previously okay, they were kind of cracking down because people were taking advantage (not paying), so I may get stopped in the future.
I've done that in the Northeast and nobody has really had an issue with it...and I've only done that in places I've felt it would be "okay" (and tried to make it blatantly obvious that I wasn't trying to "hide" what I was doing). If there was a sign up or I somehow felt it would be uncomfortable or frowned upon, I'd wait until everything was done and paid for.
I do this all the time with a drink or something. I hand the half-empty bottle to the cashier so she can scan it. I've never once had someone tell me this was a problem, and I live in the Front Range as well.
When i worked at Wal-mart in AZ employees were straight up told it is considered shoplifting and you will get written up or fired for it.
nah, I do that in big cities in California all the time with water or whatever. I imagine irs a bigger problem if the store has security and they are following you from the get go (i.e.. you are shopping at target or WalMart while black)
This makes sense to me, but obviously it will vary jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Eating a granola bar and putting the box back is pretty clearly stealing; forgetting to pay for cat litter on the bottom may not be, but once you've stolen one thing, it makes it harder for a store to be forgiving.
How stores can enforce policies on people who are not breaking the law, but are engaging in behavior that would make it easier for them to steal is probably a grey area that will get worked on individual basis. I think?
If it causes a bunch of scimitar-wielding guards to chase Aladdin, then you probably don't want to do that thing.
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having worked in a couple grocery stores, there are actually a lot of people who feel entitled to "sample" packaged food. Way more than you would think, and they legitimately don't see it as wrong. They're technically incorrect, vis a vis the law and store policy, but when you work there and someone eats a grape or opens a pack of candy, you kind of end up looking at their cart and going "do I make them put back 200 bucks worth of shit because they opened one thing?"
We always found it very frustrating.
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As for the 'friend', they're lucky if all they get is a fine. They should pay it immediately and learn from that experience.
Yeah, it absolutely depends on the store. All of them have a no grazing policy I'm sure. But it's like jaywalking. Something that really isn't a big deal in many areas, and no one is likely to raise a stink about it unless you do something blatantly stupid... but in other areas, it's a pretty big deal.
I would expect a bill and either a warning or a banning from that store. The cat food would have been a non-issue because that could be a legit accident and no security guard or people greeter is going to threaten legal action on that - they would just send you back to pay for it. However, with the very obvious attempt at deception on camera, I'm guessing they'll include the catfood in the theft accusation.
I used to work at a grocery store and we never had a problem with someone eating while shopping - it just couldn't be anything that was supposed to be weighed (grapes, cherries, etc). However, that was 20 years ago in a small community and things have probably changed.
I am technically in the mid-west and never paid attention or heard about this while was at store with parents growing up.
My ex is from the east coast (20 min north of Boston) and she saw no issues with doing this with drinks. It was basically I am thirsty and want a drink while doing my shopping, as far as I remember we always paid for it at the end. The cashiers never questioned about it, normally would ring it and throw in the trash.
I can honestly say I have thought about opening up some type of food and eating in the store or what not, when standing there deciding if I want to buy dish soap or paper towels until I get paid again.
At one large local store that has a lot of international foods and a huge produce section, you can find 4-6 people standing at the table of strawberries/blueberries eating them instead of putting in a bag to buy. Some will probably see this next comment racist, but a lot of them standing around the tables trying the produce are middle eastern, not the only ones but majority are.
As far as the OP goes, I doubt the store even saw the granola bar theft. There cart only had like 5 items in it, you can see the bottom easy enough, & some stores require you to place the items under the cart first and will have a sign near saying so. Like everyone else has said, pay for the cat liter and maybe find a different store to go to.
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