Organized crime groups are behind grocery store theft across Canada
The Retail Council of Canada is calling grocery store theft a national crisis, with losses now approaching $10 billion annually across the grocery sector and it’s only growing.
Honestly it sounds more like a crisis for the retail council of Canada rather than a national crisis.
“Eastern European organized crime has certainly been involved, and this isn’t just a big city problem, it’s happening straight across the country,” says CTV News crime specialist, Mark Mendelson.
It’s Canada so of course they’re going to be racist about it as well.
Watch out, Canadians. Eastern Europeans are causing a national crisis by taking advantage of our assault on labor.
“People are running away, going to a car right away and giving that product to whoever’s in the car, in exchange for something. Its either drugs or money,” according to Ottawa Police Chief, Eric Stubbs
Eastern European drug addicts.
This month, Guelph police arrested a man who they claim swapped out expensive products for cheaper ones at self-checkouts. Police claim that the individual in question, would scan items that cost less than one dollar, in exchange for baby formula priced at $97 dollars each.
BABY FORMULA COSTS $97 FUCKING DOLLARS????
They’re right, this is a national crisis.
Just last August, in Windsor, Ont. more than $220,000 worth of beef was stolen from a parked tractor trailer. The large-scale heist is another example of lucrative grocery crimes on the rise.
There are differing opinions on where items like black market beef are ending up. Mendelson and others who spoke to CTV News believe that some restaurants struggling to turn a profit are likely purchasing stolen goods. In some cases, smaller grocery stores and restaurants might not even realize they’re purchasing stolen food for their establishments.
Yeah sure they don’t realize this. They’re honest businessmen, buying misc meat off the back of a trailer in an alley. They wouldn’t be the “organized” part of this crime. Actually, they’re victims.
Life hack: if you enter code 4011 in a self-checkout you can get up to a 90% discount on the thing you're buying
That's bananas
The Donkey Kong method
Self checkout I used last weekend (because I wanted to monitor spending and stop if I had too much) has a screen showing yourself as you scan items.
Same here. It was really helpful in showing me the ways in which I needed to improve my game. I saved even more money than I normally would have since I could see in real time any slips where I might be getting a little too obvious.
Well I just figured it's recording, but I really don't know. Do you?
I would bet that while it probably is a short term recording, it is not reviewed, no one watches it, and it gets overwritten by the next day. The whole point is to scare people into thinking "oh shit, I'm being watched, I better not do anything!" but if they actually were watching, it wouldn't benefit them to tell you. It's a panopticon style scare tactic: there IS a nonzero chance someone will see what you're doing and you will suffer consequences if you do it, and that alone reminds people that there is at least some risk they're taking, which understandably is enough to deter plenty of would-be 5 finger discounts. But that's literally always true. And what is that risk really? 1 in 10? 1 in 50? 1 in 10,000? If they're showing you that they can see, to me that makes me think the odds must be rather good in my favor otherwise they wouldn't have to show me. And given my own personal statistics over the years, it was a correct assumption (though I say that as I knock on wood).
I maybe should also say that I am talking about grocery stores. I've been told that there is one big box chain that will actually build a case by allowing a repeat offender to shoplift enough items worth a high enough dollar amount over multiple visits to be able to file felony charges. But the kind of dedication and resources this requires costs way more than it's worth and likely only happened in a few rare cases as an attempt to work as a deterrent. I can say with confidence that at least the grocery stores where I am do not do this.
Thanks for a detailed reply.