Shoplifting a.k.a. Expropriation

[ClassWarMutualist]

hey! I thought I'd start this thread since I can't seem to find one and it seems like it'd be a good bit of Anti-Capitalist living (my future magazines name) so we can share tips on our shoplifting techniques.
personally I only steal from large corporations, not from small businesses and definitely not from people. okay, here's my strategy, top secret shit right here.

1) come into a shop and peruse around a bit with the intention of scoping out all security devices. buy something small, make small talk with the workers with the intent to put them at ease with me in particular and my peculiar sense of dress.

2) continue to come in, time and again, and buy small things or not buy anything at all (I usually mix it up so they won't take me for a loiterer). again, maintain the small talk, it will probably help if you build a conversational relationship beforehand if your caught.

3) when you've successfully located a few good blind spots and have a good idea of the security (physical security guards, cameras, detectors and their interactions with the packaging sensors, clerks line of site, etc.) nick something small and continue with step 2 and slowly build up until your regularly stealing more than your buying.

4) branch out to other shops and repeat steps 1-3 until your living well at the expense of the corporatist scum.

my rules

1) never steal on camera. if you must, don't plan on returning for a VERY long time.
2) never steal on a first visit. you'll probably miss the camera you would've discovered with more scouting.
3) bringing a friend to talk to all along the way can ease nervousness (less likely to make a mistake and less likely to act nervous) and can put workers/management at ease

please add any tips or ideas you have, critique mine, and if you can PLEASE give me some advice for stealing from Walmart. I really hate them and would love to get at them more often.

[Os Cangaceiros]

It doesn't matter if you steal on camera. It's not like there are people in Walmart who review those tapes regularly.

[Ostrinski]

dont get caught

[Os Cangaceiros]

I watched a show on "boosters" once. They people who do it "professionally" don't do really any scouting before entering a target store, they just go in and hit store after store, sometimes travelling across states in a day. That's actually probably safer than stealing from one store again and again.

[o well this is ok I guess]

I'm not sure if we should be talking about shoplifting.
But regarding expropriation, I sometimes go to the local chapters to get a book, but I never know how much time I should leave inbetween getting books to minimize difficulties. what time period would you guys recommend?

[PC LOAD LETTER]

It doesn't matter if you steal on camera. It's not like there are people in Walmart who review those tapes regularly.
This is true for a lot of Wal-Marts (one of my local ones has someone watching the cameras 24/7, but the others don't), but ... a lot of Wal-Marts have plainclothes people who look normal (ex. old guy with a Castro beard, teenager or 20-something with abercrombie torn jeans and a RHCP shirt) specifically out there to pretend to shop and look out for shoplifters.

So don't grab anything if anyone's able to see you, even from a distance, and even if they look like they won't give a fuck (because Murphy's Law says they will).

That said, my friends and I have stolen thousands of dollars of merchandise from Wal-Mart.

[tachosomoza]

.

1) Hold the item in your hand. Drop something (cell phone) on the ground. Pick it up using that hand and put both items into your bag.

2) With stores that ask how many items you bring in~ Hide multiple pieces of clothing in your pile. Make it sound believable. Most won't bother checking your pile anyways. Once inside dressing room, hide your desired items. Come out with appropriate amount of clothes. dump on the unwanted pile or place clothing back on rack.

3) (mostly for girls) Have item desired in your hand or on the floor. Drop your purse's contents all over the floor. Quickly scramble to put back all items back into bag.

4) your bicycle with a friend (need pegs) to the store you want to steal from, and park your bike in front of a window that is visible from the registers. Tell your friend to hide. Then, politely ask an employee to watch your bike. They will most likely say yes, being kind. Go into the store, then get a basket, and fill it with the stuff you want to steal. After you have gotten what you want to steal (probably not more than 10 lbs) go to a register with a really long line. Call your friend on your cellphone, and tell him "its time". He will then get on the bike, and after hes on yell "THAT KIDS STEALING MY BIKE!" and run after him with your basket in hand. Most people will be too confused and shocked to chase you. Yes, the alarm will go off. Meet your friend at another store, the security guards from the store you stole from cant grab you off grounds, but they probably wont find you.

5) Lift perfume bottles from the stand, take it away as if you're smelling it and put it in your bag when you get away. Looks kinda stupid but you can play dumb and pretend you wanted to buy it at the cashier's.

6) Switcharoo~ Mentioned this before I think. At stores that count clothing when you go in/out, put on the item and put your old clothing on the hanger. At first glance they may not notice.

7) If you thinking someone is watching you or following you around (and they suspect you) DUMP OUT MERCHANDISE. They cannot prosecute you until they see you pass the register without making an attempt to pay and leave the store. Doesn't matter if they see you if they already know what you're up to.
Quickly leave the store. If they attempt to search you, they would find nothing. Most stores are only interested in recovering lost merchandise.
guards can stop you outside the store but not outside the property.
Try and get lost inside a crowd once outside.

8) Running a magnet over the metal strip a number of times will deactivate it I think..

9) Wear a thick sweatshirt that is fairly tight or fitted at the bottom. Zip this up halfway and walk around the store. Use this as a giant pocket, just insert the items into the gap between your shirt and your body.

10) If you're trying to grab some small items on a tray or near the rack, 'accidentally' knock it all over. As you're scrambling to pick it up (because you DID knock it over), quickly pocket some items by shoving it up your sleeve.

11) Work in pairs. One person acts as an interested customer. Person 2 grabs some small item. Person conveniently has open bag on arm or shoulder. P 2 slips stuff into their tote as they walk by.

12) A person alone pretends to browse the displays, and at the right moment, easily brushes items displayed near the table-edge right into an open bag, purse, or baggy pocket that's just below the table level.

13) A person sets a personal item on your table while pretending to shop. When the person picks up her personal item, she neatly lifts some of your jewelry along with it.

14) Use umbrellas to lift smaller things from shelves. Keep it closed but unsnapped.

15) Bags insulated with aluminum foil AKA Magic Bags block out the magnetic strip that causes the alarm to go off. To test your bag, place your cell phone in one and call it. If it doesn't ring your good to go.

16) Walking into a store, and not making a purchase raises suspicion especially among younger people. If you go into a store and lift, make a small purchase just to make yourself look like you intended to buy something. So lift your 40 dollar headphones, and buy that 1.25 candy

Here's a little something ripped from another forum.

[Os Cangaceiros]

2) With stores that ask how many items you bring in~ Hide multiple pieces of clothing in your pile. Make it sound believable. Most won't bother checking your pile anyways. Once inside dressing room, hide your desired items. Come out with appropriate amount of clothes. dump on the unwanted pile or place clothing back on rack.

I've stolen packs of socks using this method. :lol:

) Wear a thick sweatshirt that is fairly tight or fitted at the bottom. Zip this up halfway and walk around the store. Use this as a giant pocket, just insert the items into the gap between your shirt and your body.

Someone I knew was a (recovered) kleptomaniac who would steal compulsively. He turned his sweatpants into a giant pocket which he'd shove all sorts of things down, including frozen meat products, which once spilled out all over a passenger bus after he hit up a grocery store. :lol: Must've been awkward.

[NewLeft]

Better do it in packs.. Just buy one or two things and leave normally.

[tachosomoza]

One thing to do with another comrade is to have him play the stereotypical shoplifter role. Works especially well if he is of darker complexion. He enters, walks around, looking up at cameras, picking up items and putting them down, etc. He doesn't steal a thing. You, on the other hand, enter the store and do the lifting while they're focused on the other guy.

[NewLeft]

One thing to do with another comrade is to have him play the stereotypical shoplifter role. Works especially well if he is of darker complexion. He enters, walks around, looking up at cameras, picking up items and putting them down, etc. He doesn't steal a thing. You, on the other hand, enter the store and do the lifting while they're focused on the other guy.
No.. That will just give them the clue that something's up. Just walk in, take what you need, and walk out like a regular customer on a busy day.

[tachosomoza]

No.. That will just give them the clue that something's up. Just walk in, take what you need, and walk out like a regular customer on a busy day.

The thing is to draw fire to the other guy, so you can walk in, take, and walk out. The first guy doesn't take anything. It's a good strategy for smaller stores.

[homegrown terror]

here's one that works really well at wal-mart:

1: walk in with a strong refrigerator magnet in your hand (one of the actualy ceramic ones, the bendy flexible ones aren't strong enough.
2: go to the medicine section and pick up a box of Claritin (costs about $35 a pack)
3: walk around with the box in your hand, turning it over a few times to make sure the magnet scrambles the "chiclet" on whichever side it's stuck to.
4: walk to the produce section and pick up a large bunch of bananas.
5: go to the self-checkout section.
6: put the claritin on the plate UNDERNEATH the bananas, and select bananas to make the machine weigh them (the claritin's weight will be added in to the weight, and charged to you at about $.27 a pound)
7: slide both of them into the bag, the scale won't register an unpaid item since it factors in the box's weight with the bananas.
8: pay for the bananas and walk out.
9: come back later and return the Claritin. without a reciept you'll only get store credit, but hey, you can get your groceries and make walmart pay for em, and what's more, you've got bananas, which are a great source of energy you can put towards whatever cause you're fighting for!

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

Just shoplift from somewhere that doesn't have cameras, or those scanner thingys at the entrance. Piece of piss then.

I don't think we should be advocating this, though.

[Book O'Dead]

hey! I thought I'd start this thread since I can't seem to find one and it seems like it'd be a good bit of Anti-Capitalist living (my future magazines name) so we can share tips on our shoplifting techniques.
personally I only steal from large corporations, not from small businesses and definitely not from people. okay, here's my strategy, top secret shit right here.

I think it's demeaning and moronic to reduce the class struggle to acts of petty larceny.

[El Oso Rojo]

Steal if it abosulately necessary. Otherwise It not wroth it and that might come out of the worker paycheck.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Steal if it abosulately necessary. Otherwise It not wroth it and that might come out of the worker paycheck.

Workers aren't responsible for stolen merchandise unless they allow people to steal;seeing as how no one here is advocating that, such is not a likely risk to the worker.

[Koba Junior]

Advice Stalin says, "Break stuff; steal things."

[Nox]

As someone who stole over £1000 worth of sweets over the course of a year and didn't get caught once, the biggest piece of advice I can give is when you do pocket something make it look accidental and casual so that just in case someone does see you do it it won't be a problem, actually hiding the goods in your backpack/pocket/sleeve is the hardest part from my experience, once you've managed to do that it's pretty much smooth sailing from there. As a matter of fact my stealing addiction started when I was buying some sweets with the intention of paying for them, then I realised I had some chewits in my pocket that I put in there without realising, and I simply left them there while I paid for the other stuff, nobody noticed and I almost didn't notice it myself.

[MotherCossack]

oh my god.... oh my god... ooh la la.....
Now this is my kinda thread.... yes sir!


Dear me old habits die hard.....
me and shoplifting go back a long way....

It was such fun.... for a while...
and an absolute necessity if on benefits....

It probably doesnt do much for the worthier political cause though...
shines a murky, foul light on everyone and gives them an excuse to dismiss us........

but... what the hell.....
they pretty much steal those huge profits... who says they deserve such disproportionate renumeration... if they refuse to share... stuff 'em and grab what you can.

i agree with nox..... just make it look absent-mindedness.... walk out with your pickings in full view.... say you forgot you were holding it......
i tell you a buggy/pushchair is a bloody useful accomplice/ prop.... use it to rest bits on and conceal small items, and adds respectability.

yeah .... perloining is great fun...... unless you get caught.

[El Oso Rojo]

Workers aren't responsible for stolen merchandise unless they allow people to steal;seeing as how no one here is advocating that, such is not a likely risk to the worker.


Just don't steal from dick blicks, i need them prices low.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Shoplifting threads are, as I have discovered, not coherent to a functioning Rev-Left supported by ads.So....

Thread closed.