“ALERT! Suspect has stolen: “Snickers™ worth: $1.49” … “Please hold still for the sniper, criminal.”
this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2023
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Late Stage Capitalism
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Only unrealistic part is Human sniper and the warning. It'll be a drone the moment a drone ~~could make the shot with 50.1% odds.~~ can make the shot in sufficiently few shots that cost of ammo & electricity beats wages for a sniper.
yeah, only Walgreens hires psychopaths with guns who shoot shoplifters in cold blood, but they're not snipers
I've probably complained about this on here before. But my local supermarket put these wide, low newsstands by the doors. It causes a bottleneck by the exit. I assume it's a loss prevention measure.
Maybe it works? It didn't prevent losing me as a customer. I can't be bothered navigating all the people who don't look up between the till and the obstacle, walk right up to it, and then struggle to fit through the gap.
The next place I went to stopped me twice at the self checkout store scanning thing saying that I was 'randomly' checked. (Mask on, sunglasses, hood up was almost certainly the issue. Either that or because I only go every three weeks, so my trolley is overflowing more than most people's.) I said if it happens again I won't come back.
Third time, it didn't happen but the alarm buzzed as I left and two security guys wanted to see my receipt. While they were looking at the longest receipt they'd ever seen and saying they didn't know how they were going to check everything, I explained that this was the third time I'd been inconvenienced on my way out and if it happened again, I wouldn't be back. It hasn't happened since. I suspect that someone was watching me enter with that mask, the glasses, and the hood, and pressing a big red 'dodgy' button as I got near the exit.
Same get up, different store, different day, I was accosted for using my own very wide open hard-to-hide-anything-in bag as a basket because the store's baskets are rubbish and it's hard to tell whether I'll over fill my bag if I use the basket; and if I over fill my bag, I ain't buying it, as I have a long walk home.
Someone comes over. Was I going to pay for that? This stuff that I haven't yet paid for? That's how it usually works. He clicks the walkie talkie. It crackles. He says, they say they're going to pay for it. He tells me to make sure I do. Vaguely threatening. I needed what I went in for so I bought it but I haven't been back. I probably should go back to give them someone to watch while people dressed incognito are stealing from another aisle and getting away with it.
I suspect this is one of the real reasons behind all the anti-mask stuff—it was getting too hard to surveil us; all that tech they had been sold as security-capable became practically useless overnight.
Maybe it's just me but when companies make it harder to spend my money, I simply oblige them. I am a begrudging shopper at the best of times. Most people seem eager, idk.
when companies make it harder to spend my money, I simply oblige them
Words to live by.
I'll never stop stealing from MegaCorps! Or rat anyone out ever
Remember: If you see someone shoplifting, no you didn't.
Work in retail. The amount of cameras is downright dizzying. Sometimes more cameras than people.
it's funny how for a while there was the whole narrative about China being scary because they do mass surveillance, I notice western media has been largely avoiding mentioning surveillance lately
I've heard them talk about it a lot. It's always in the context of government surveillance. They make sure to point out that the bad guy countries have mass surveillance run by the government. When private corporations are watching people's every move it's just freedom in action.
I've always found this extremely funny because we know for a fact that all western companies share their data with western governments. So, the only actual difference is that this data is also sold to any private interests willing to pay for it. Looking at it from this perspective, you have far more data privacy in China than you do in the west.
Exactly. And it's the same thing when they fearmonger about Chinese companies like TenCent. Sure, tiktok may or may not collect data (same as every other company) but I'd be a hell of a lot more worried about a US based company or a local company using that data maliciously. Even if I did say the magic anti-china copypasta spell, it's not like China's government would have any ability to do anything about it. Whereas if I said things that the US government considered threatening, I could very well have cops knocking on my door, what with my country being a US vassal and all.
Right, the government people should be worried about is the one that has agency over them.
Well, it's mostly private surveillance so it's ok. Muh property rights and all that.
Thing bad when gubment does it. Thing good when corporation does it!
Well, it's mostly private surveillance so it's ok. Muh property rights and all that.
Incidentally, they freely provide that footage to the government if asked.
Not entirely, its usually seen as a massive liability, so many corporations and business are hostile to investigators or requests for footage, especially if the crime or incident doesn't relate the company. Most footage has to be seized through warrants or subpoenas.
Same where I am, we do not comply for any requests for footage or guest information (hospitality industry) unless we have a warrant. Even with one, we will explicitly only hand over what is specifically requested.
We also keep records of foreign guest passport details. In case you ever wondered what happens to that information when you stay at a hotel, it is stored on a secure server and I am literally the only person at the property with access to that data, and would never hand it over without a very explicit warrant.
Doesn't stop the cops from asking, but we always refuse. You won't stay in business long as a hotel that doesn't at least try to protect guest privacy.
I will say I work in a very dangerous or crime-heavy location, so we have to deal with cops a LOT. An obscene amount. There is a rather arduous process involved... store management needs to be there to grant access, a warrant is required, etc.
That's right as long as it's private companies collecting the data and then selling it to the government then it's just wholesome surveillance capitalism.
Honestly, at this point the only China/USSR bad talking pointthat comes to mind that I haven't also found in the USA is bread lines... in no small part because the government here doesn't care if you starve. If you want help jump through the hoops and be used as part of scarry statistics to demonize the poor.
They exist but the US does a pretty good job of hiding it
oh bread lines are very much a thing in US https://www.motherjones.com/food/2020/04/these-photos-show-the-staggering-food-bank-lines-across-america/
I've worked with people in asset protection in retail. You would be surprised how many of the cameras are fake, or are there for show. Only entrances, exits, and highly important areas are usually covered.
I got a write-up for sitting on an SCO machine for all of 2 minutes when it was a ghost town in the store. Got called into the manager's office and they showed me the footage.
It was surreal. Creepy as fuck. A reminder: we're watching you.
Sometimes I stand around and look at the cameras, point at them even. I'm watching, too.
Costco likes to improve your shopping experience by forcing you to wait in line to leave the fucking store after you already paid for your shit so they can pretend to check what you bought is accurate on your receipt... for your convenience of course
What do you reckon this is really about?
i have asked them on multiple occasions.. they say it's to make sure you weren't overcharged or charged for things you don't possess. I don't buy that for a second. I assume it's to dissuade shoplifting more than anything.
I Googled that a while ago and one reason is apparently because they want to double check their cashiers. Really stupid when literally no other store does it.
They also have people bag your items which is really weird. Sometimes they even have 3 people per cash register. In every single other store you unload and offload your own stuff and the cashiers get to sit which they don't in Costco.
Doing monthly (or more frequent) inventory of the store will "check" the cashiers, as every store has to do. When employees go through and get a total accounting of items actually on hand vs what the system says. Well, it tells the entire story not just on cashiers. How well the stockers kept track of damaged/expired items, theft, cashier mess ups, etc.
I worked grocery, all departments, including receiving when I was younger and had to do inventory all the time. Of course it relies on the employee not being lazy (👀) and actually, you know, doing inventory. Usually the managers waddled their asses over if they wanted "real" inventory done because tbh I spent about an hour actually counting shit and then went and took a nap in the bathroom (had a bench for changing clothes) and just marked everything as matching. Something something pay minimum wage, get minimum work.
Them stopping customers has to be for lowering shrink from theft, but that shit is already negligible anyway. Smart management knows that it's already baked into the profit margin for the store and harassing people, treating everyone as a thief, will just drive away regular customers. If I get continually hassled somewhere and my time wasted there's no way I'm gonna keep going there. Even if they manage to catch a bunch of people stealing stuff it just kind of... doesn't matter.
This is another one of those cases of individuals not understanding statistics and profit margins, etc. You see chuds crying all the time about "but you can't just steal the chicken! Price go up!" and they seriously can't comprehend that, as someone who worked in the store(s), they throw away more food (from damage or spoilage) constantly than hungry people could ever realistically try to steal. Like, yeah, there's a threshold and if literally every shopper is stealing then sure the system breaks. But most people don't. The people who do, overwhelmingly, are doing so because they have little other choice. It's just incredibly stupid that managers and especially random employees or (the worst) random customers try to give a shit about theft like this. I've had more than a few times where I was working on something and some old guy comes up like "hey. I think that guy over there put something in his pocket." And I'm just like "ok." And go back to whatever. I mean wtf do they expect? Should I immediately man the store's .50 cal turret and blow away the college kid or poor single mom who stuffed a steak in their jacket pocket? I've seen entire cases of chicken and other meats being crushed in the waste compactor week after week. That steak doesn't matter.
I've stolen soo much from retail stores with these signs and cameras. They're bluffing 80% of the time or just too lazy to stop me lmao
Or you literally just carry the item, walk to a corner without a camera, put it in your pants, walk out. Get fucked Walmart
Edit: plz don't read this and go get yourself in trouble lol be smart
Please be aware of them watching you steal until it's a felony level then going after you. Bless u comrade.
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
It seems like a lot of big chains (cough walmart) would rather spend thousands and thousands on dubiously successful loss prevention schemes and security equipment rather than just hiring more staff to work tills instead of having 95% self checkouts. I’m no business genius but I can’t imagine the math there works out.
The business genius is the security consultant charging $millions to advise them on how to prevent loss.
Companies very much prefer one time costs (bunch of equipment) rather than recurring ones (wages). One time costs (1) look better on the balance sheet and (2) are easier to justify to shareholders as they don’t eat into future profits. Businesses basically never base their decisions on math ever.
This is a good way to think about it, thanks
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