Disclaimer: this is just a meme.

      • @[email protected]
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        19 months ago

        People used specially crafted coupons to get free Xboxes back when Xbox 360 was released.

        It worked really well for a few weeks, based on the news stories at the time. There are now checks to prevent this from happening.

    • RaivoKulli
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      99 months ago

      Idk I’ve always just considered a way to go about my business quicker and with less need for human contact. It’s a plus for me

    • @[email protected]
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      19 months ago

      There was a time where getting the products off the shelves was the job of a clerk at the desk. You’d walk into the store, give the clerk your list and they’d get all the things and put them into a bag for you.

      Policies and practices evolve.

  • @[email protected]
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    989 months ago

    The fact that things like this never occur to me as possibilities goes to show just how naive I am about how the world works

      • @[email protected]
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        429 months ago

        Be the change you want to see in the world! The shopping cart/parking lot affects us all. Walmart losing money on every avocado doesn’t bother me at all.

        In fact walmart probably doesn’t care at all either, they’ll take electricity over humans any day

        • @[email protected]
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          199 months ago

          A friend of mine told me that when he worked at a grocery store as a teenager that he always liked being tasked with rounding up the grocery carts in the parking lot because he got to go outside and be by himself for a bit. I think about that a lot, but I also return my cart.

          • @[email protected]
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            89 months ago

            Former grocery store teen here. It was nice to get away from customers a little, but then again then you’re stuck in a parking lot with those same customers and now you have to try and avoid getting run over.

            • @[email protected]
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              29 months ago

              I always thought it was nice except for when the weather was terrible like when it was really hot or cold and you were out there with numb hands shoving 30 carts across a snow covered parking lot.

              It was only occasionally good

          • @[email protected]
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            19 months ago

            Great, since those carts are returned by good people now, it means they can have a 5 minute break outside in the sun instead.

          • @[email protected]
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            09 months ago

            Damn, now I’m going to think of those kids when I return the cart! Maybe I could like, pile them up real bad in the little hut so they can still get fresh air.

        • ggppjj
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          39 months ago

          Funfact: Walmart pays the vendors (usually local person who rents their own truck and buys their own stock) on scan data. If it doesn’t scan, Walmart is also not affected.

      • @[email protected]
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        249 months ago

        I return my shopping cart but I couldn’t give a shit less how much Walmart is losing to shoplifters.

        “Oh know guys! We only made $28 million in profit this year instead of $29 million! What will we tell our investors who are each worth six times that?”

      • @[email protected]
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        69 months ago

        For some reason not returning the shopping cart makes me angrier than the meme about abusing self checkout.

    • @[email protected]
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      199 months ago

      It’s all fun and games until you are banned from the local grocery stores .Loss prevention is pretty good these days. It’s the Internet though, they really aren’t stealing. It’s internet tough guy shit.

      • @[email protected]
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        9 months ago

        I was at one and moved an unscanned item to close to the bagging area and the screen froze then showed an areal cam of me getting too close to the bagging area.

                • @[email protected]
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                  29 months ago

                  Oh these are the worst. I had an Apple watch Series 0 I got cheap from a friend. Was pretty neat, but the charging was annoying.

                  Now I have a Casio GBD-200 which gives me a few smartwatch features (notifications, phone finder, vibration) with a battery that lasts 1-2 years and since it’s a G-Shock I don’t have to worry about damaging it.

    • @[email protected]
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      19 months ago

      I have had the thought when buying 2 donuts from the bakery section I could ring it up as 1, but then I realize that it might lead to trouble just to save maybe a dollar at most.

  • Ho_Chi_Chungus [he/him]
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    569 months ago

    Clerk: “Um, sir, that doesn’t look like a banana. Are you sure you entered the right code?”

    • The jig is up. Run

    • Apologize profusely

    • [Rhetoric: Heroic 15] Convince the clerk you don’t know what fruits are

    EVEN 58%

    +1 You look terribly frazzled

    This is a Red Check. It can not be retried

    de-dice-6 de-dice-5

    de-rhetoric Rhetoric: [Heroic: Success] “Is this not a banana?” You say in the most genuine tone you can muster

    de-savoir-faire Savior Faire: You may have been caught, but you managed to feign enough innocence to get trouble off your back

    The clerk gives a dumbfounded expression

    Clerk: “Uhm, no sir, that is an avocado, not a banana”

    de-half-light Half-Light: She is too terrified of your empty skull to properly correct you on this

    • JackbyDev
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      69 months ago

      Encyclopedia: It is in fact *not* a banana. A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called “plantains”, distinguishing them from dessert bananas. The fruit is variable in size, color, and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a rind, which may be green, yellow, red, purple, or brown when ripe. The fruits grow upward in clusters near the top of the plant. Almost all modern edible seedless (parthenocarp) bananas come from two wild species – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. The scientific names of most cultivated bananas are Musa acuminata, Musa balbisiana, and Musa × paradisiaca for the hybrid Musa acuminata × M. balbisiana, depending on their genomic constitution. The old scientific name for this hybrid, Musa sapientum, is no longer used.

  • GreenBottles
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    489 months ago

    look I’m all for sticking it to the Man and stealing if you’re actually starving but a lot of you people are just Petty thieves

  • @[email protected]
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    339 months ago

    You ever buy the cheap wine, pull off the barcode and bring it back to the store, then buy the fancy expensive stuff with the cheap barcode over the top. They never notice, wine bottles all look the same to them.

      • @[email protected]
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        29 months ago

        That and coupon fraud. Remember when people were walking out of the store with free xboxes using coupons they made?

        They watch that a little more carefully now.

    • @[email protected]
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      109 months ago

      The term for that is “slap tagging.”

      When I ran the Marine Department at a major outdoor retailer, I was always fighting the warehouse team because they’d just roll out a high-end sonar unit in a cart for my people to stock and walk away, and there were people who would slap that them as shitty units from the same company, and the cashier wouldn’t notice the difference between a Garmin 4CV (about $100) and a Garmin 8612 (about $5000).

  • TWeaK
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    319 months ago

    It’s strange how the disproportionality of wealth makes theft seem ok.

    • @[email protected]
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      149 months ago

      In this case it doesn’t, you’re stealing luxury items that are playing a huge huge role in water consumption. It’s like 91 liters of water per day per tree.

      And an academic study focusing on global implications for water scarcity from the growth in avocado production says that that growing avocado requires “four times more water than the production of a kilo of oranges and ten times of that of a kilo of tomato”.

      • @[email protected]
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        279 months ago

        Now check up how much water is required for meat, and suddenly realise that you’re maybe fighting the wrong battle here mate.

        • qyron
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          39 months ago

          Regardless.

          I’m aware how much water animals consume when compared to plants and there are crops that are simply unjustifiable and are running water reservoirs dry.

          If we are to be intellectualy honest regarding preservation of resources, there are no sacred cows.

          • @[email protected]
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            19 months ago

            I agree, but all I’m saying is we can shame people for nearly any partaking in modern western society. Unfortunately, we ourselves are have no other choice thanyo partake ourselves. And our individual choices make very little to change the system. Therefore, I just find it funny that people lecture others on things like avocados. There’s a hundred worse things, but just because someone stole an avocado isn’t going to affect our society. We might as well start with bigger culprits, if we even think that going that route is relevant.

            Either way this is a meme. No need to take it seriously.

        • @[email protected]
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          -29 months ago

          Yes. Animals drink. They also pee, providing nitrogen fertiliser. It’s even worse when they are raised on a meadow instead of in a barn as then you have rainfall, which percolates.

          Never trust a statistic you didn’t fudge yourself.

          • @[email protected]
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            59 months ago

            Don’t forget all the water used to grow their food.

            Like 70% of all our crops are grown to feed our livestock.

            • @[email protected]
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              -19 months ago

              Have you ever thought about the massive water usage of international shipping?

              No I’m serious. People complain about animal agriculture and then want herds of rowing bisons back. I’m actually not opposed to that either but that doesn’t mean that there will be less animals eating less plants. And if we don’t eat them then other predators will.

      • @[email protected]
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        59 months ago

        wait but would paying for it be better? does it just goes into the pocket of the store owner and gives them more motive to sell avocados? anyways i feel bad for enjoying avocados now sob

        • @[email protected]
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          39 months ago

          The best case scenario is people stop buying exotic foods and instead be ok with what is in season with an occasional treat.

      • @[email protected]
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        59 months ago

        Oranges and tomatoes are also mostly water by weight. If you were to compare the water mass percentages of each of those fruits, you’d probably find the avocado is more efficient in calories and nutrients per water usage.

        • @[email protected]
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          39 months ago

          So is an avocado, density isn’t really an indicator of water weight, you and I are mostly water and still fairly dense.

  • @[email protected]
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    269 months ago

    Don’t feel bad, you earned it. Imagine how it’s cheaper for companies to pay god knows how much on anti-theft measures instead of paying a living wage to cashiers.

    ps. You should never use self checkout. We’ve all been tricked into thinking we can do it better/faster ourselves.

      • Zammy95
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        119 months ago

        I also am particular about how I bag things. I agree with the sentiment of self checkouts being lame and taking jobs and all that jazz, but eh. There’s bigger fish to fry than this one, and many people like it anyway

        • edric
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          9 months ago

          Same. When I’m forced to go through a cashier because my cart has too many items, I meticulously put items in batches on the conveyor so similar stuff stay together; only for the cashier or bagger to mix them all up in the bags anyway. I try as much as possible to bag them myself but it’s kinda awkward to tell the bagger not to do their job. Or if there’s no bagger, it’s awkward seeing the cashier and the next customer waiting for me to finish bagging so they can start ringing up stuff. It’s self-checkout for me definitely.

        • @[email protected]
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          29 months ago

          The employees where I shop are underpaid and understaffed. They have to be there for the elderly, kids and differently-abled though. I’m happy to give them a break and scan my own shit. Usually they get to just stand around and talk to each other while I do, if they aren’t busy, which makes me feel kind of nice.

        • @[email protected]
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          19 months ago

          With the automation tech of 10 years ago we could have 70% unemployment world-wide and still produce western middle-class living standards for absolutely everyone, and tech only became better since then. Cars would be an issue but who needs one when there’s proper public transit but a home, healthy food, education, healthcare, PC and washing machine with integrated dryer? No problem.

          Capital isn’t going for it because the ROI on most automation is just too long-term and R&D doesn’t look good on quarterly profits, for now it’s cheaper to hire humans in many areas especially when you can outsource. But it’s not a question of whether it’ll happen but when, and whether it’ll be an utopia or fuckers like Thiel will be able to create their preferred neo-feudal societies.

      • @[email protected]
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        29 months ago

        LOL companies actually encourage this fake bullshit. It’s called “adding value to the relationship” Bet you didn’t realize that someone putting your canned beans and tampons into paper bags constituted a relationship.

    • @[email protected]
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      89 months ago

      I use self-checkout because I have a “20% off your entire cart” coupon that I don’t want to give up. When I scan it, I just put a random piece of paper into the slot so the machine registers that I put something in there. In this way, I kind of am getting paid to scan my own groceries.

    • @[email protected]
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      49 months ago

      Well, I’m a former cashier and I absolutely do it faster and better than the high school seniors they underpay at my local store. Also, I caught one kid double scanning some of my stuff once. Not sure if it was intentional or just lack of attention, but after that I definitely started using self checkout exclusively.

    • RaivoKulli
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      39 months ago

      ps. You should never use self checkout. We’ve all been tricked into thinking we can do it better/faster ourselves.

      Fuck off, it’s faster for me and I vastly prefer it. Quicker, less need to deal with other people and there’s no rush to bag your stuff. If you don’t want to use self-checkout then don’t.

    • Maeve
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      39 months ago

      Because the companies get free labor. I refuse unless it’s legit rush for something.

      • RaivoKulli
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        49 months ago

        I wonder if people were pissed off that they had to go through the shop picking up products instead of having the shopkeeper do that for them.

        • Maeve
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          19 months ago

          Maybe, but I like being able to shop for myself. I want to look over my produce and meats.

    • @[email protected]
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      29 months ago

      I go to self checkout because my closest supermarket has one cash register and the queue is always like 6 old people

      • nfntordr
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        -39 months ago

        I agree, too much fucking time on their hands. Outrage on the simplest shit

    • @[email protected]
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      09 months ago

      The grocery store should also plan out my meals, drive me to their store, put the items in the cart for me, and then scan them all for me. Also they need to drive me back home instead of outsourcing that to me, and then they need to cook supper for me or they’re just cheaping out.

  • @[email protected]
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    199 months ago

    the fuckers have cameras and “AI” detection here, if it looks and sees something it doesn’t think is a banana the whole thing stops and signals a staff over. doing groceries is seriously more fucked than going through airport security now.

    fuck Woolworths and coles

    • @[email protected]
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      69 months ago

      That’s why I bag bananas and apples, weigh only 1 or 2 and have the rest of the bag off the side. As close to “on the house” as possible

      • ggppjj
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        49 months ago

        There is a DVR product called SaleGuard that can detect this from existing or integrated camera systems. It tends to work fairly well.

        I mean, they’re not gonna nab you for apples unless they get enough of a rolling tally on what you took to actually prosecute usually. That’s what most corps do.

    • ThenThreeMore
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      19 months ago

      Wonder how advanced it is. Maybe you could get away with avocado as loose potatoes as the shape is closer.

      • @[email protected]
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        19 months ago

        colour probably matters too. you could probably get away with something in mushroom bags (brown paper bag) but of course only worth it for things worth more than mushrooms

  • sweetviolentblush [they/them]
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    139 months ago

    Yeah you definitely shouldn’t ring up pine nuts as de-shelled sunflower seeds, or use the scan-one add-three to your bag technique at self-checkout 👀

  • ggppjj
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    109 months ago

    The ones from NCR use the camera-based 7879/7895 scales with computer vision to check that you aren’t doing this. It’ll take a picture and require an override where it shows that picture to the attendant.

    It’s called produce assurance.

  • @[email protected]
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    89 months ago

    I accidentally bought a bag of avocados for the price of 1 avocado at self checkout. I couldn’t find the bag of avocados in the menu so I just selected avocado in the menu.

    It turns out the bag of avocados come with a barcode to scan it 🤦