OT People who use self checkout and do not take their change...

[Dave]

That could work, unless the cashier was familiar enough with product lines
to know that the fifty dollar saw should go for three times that price.

Some time ago (15 years, maybe?) there was a department store called
Lechmere's. Great place to shop. Not in business anymore. Anyway, I was
in the market for a new inkjet color printer. There was this particular
Epson model I had my eye on, but it wasn't cheap. Best price I could find
was about $150. That is, until I happened to pick up a flyer from the paper
for a Lechmere's sale. They had two Epson printers on sale with similar
model numbers. One I knew was the higher end printer I wanted, and I knew
the other was a cheapie throwaway type color printer. The cheapie they had
listed for normal price of $150, on sale for $120. You could buy that one
anywhere for about $80, at the time. The more expensive one, they had
listed as normal price $80, on sale for $65.

Needless to say, I rushed right out to Lechmeres and grabbed my printer. It
scanned at the register for $120 on sale. So I pulled out the ad and told
the girl that the printer should be $65. She called over some manager, they
checked the ad *carefully*, agreed with me that the printer should be $65.
I got it for $65. Later that day, I told a friend of mine about it, and she
said she'd like a new printer, too. So we went back to the same Lechmeres.
And again, it rang up as $120 on sale until my friend pointed out that it
should be $65. But this time, the manager caught on to what was happening.
My friend got her printer for $65. But while she was ringing up the sale,
other employees were taking the remaining printers off the shelf. I guess
so that they could pretend they were sold out? -Dave

 

[PC Guy]

That could work, unless the cashier was familiar enough with
product lines to know that the fifty dollar saw should go for
three times that price. When that happens, you get caught,
although whether or not they can prove you did it is another
matter.

You apply the fake UPC sticker on the box, put the box back on the shelf
(bury it behind a few others), and come back a few days later and
retrieve it and take it to the cashier, along with some other stuff
you're planning on buying. If something goes wrong at the cashier, and
they get to the point of looking at video tape, they won't find anything
suspicious.

You might protect yourself even further by placing several fake stickers
on other boxes. That way, it can look like a screwup by the
manufacturer or distributor, and not an intentional effort by you to
fake a single item.

If they can't prove it was you, loss prevention will still
know your name, your face, and your car's license plate.

If the fraud has been detected, but they can't prove you were in on it
and they let you go, then when you're back in the parking lot you simply
don't go strait to your car. You go to the closest fast-food joint and
cool off and watch to see if you've been followed. Eventually you
leave, and they won't get your car's license plate by then.

Having your "face" does nothing for them. They're not a Casino that
does real-time face recognition, and you're not likely going to pull the
stunt again at the same store if you've been caught.

You could also get off scott free, with the rest of us paying
for the difference, and/or fewer opportunities for the rest
of us honest people to get to check out our own goods.

Big-box and dept. stores suffer far more theft from their own employees.