So you want to lift from Michaels...
As a (finally) former Replenishment Associate/Sales Associate/Head Cashier of the highest shrink Michael’s Arts & Crafts in our district, here is everything you need to know and probably more:
Our store didn’t even have towers.
If our Instax Mini’s (which are locked up) or film (which are behind little red locks that you can use a magnet on) were source tagged, nothing would beep.
Choose your time of day wisely.
Of course, weekend nights are a lot busier and our store in particular, for whatever reason, was always understaffed. There would be 1 Framer, 1-2 SA, 1 Cashier, 1 MOD. Mid-day always has the most associates.
I recommend the morning: it’s slow, we’re trying to get our own projects done, we’re probably still sleepy.
I do not recommend before closing, as all of the employees are running around the store trying to get shit done so we can go home.
Our Copic markers are at the front in the queue line and our Prismacolor stuff is in our Fine Arts section, both of which are heavily monitored. This brings me to:
Our cameras (that actually record and can be rewound in store) don’t pan around and zoom.
Sections recorded: entrance, front registers, jewelry, fine art, receiving (”the back”/employees only), stickers, cash office.
No one is actively watching the camera monitors. If we’re bored and lazy, we’ll sit and watch, and it’s somehow hypnotizing.
I recommend concealing while walking along the outermost walls of the store, basket aisle, clearance aisle, seasonal, and if you’re ballsy- the classroom.
Don’t go to the bathroom, at least ours is next to the frame shop, aka someone gon’ see you walk in with merch.
We find empty boxes all the time. We don’t ever look more into it.
The empty box goes in receiving to get damaged out and thrown away. Ditch em in the clearance aisles if they’re too bulky.
No designated LP person. I used to joke with customers that I was LP and I don’t feel like tackling you today, but really. In all of the time I was there, we had ONE LP guy come in to creep on us and customers.
I’ve sat in the office and watched a woman rip pegs off the wall, dump a wall of strung beads into her bag, and leave the store in less than 2 minutes. We were more impressed than anything tbh.
We cannot confront you, even if we watched you put it in your bag.
We can only customer service you to death and be mildly passive aggressive.
We won’t chase you down, but the MOD will fill out a report if you were seen on camera.
***If you are caught on camera, a screen cap of you and description of the incident will be emailed to every store in the district.
Our parking lot was shared with four other stores (the “mall” was an outdoor shopping center)
When I first started working there, my manager told me to park within 8 spots from the front because that was the limit of the cameras.
So you lifted something from a different store and Michaels carries the exact same one…
If you return something without a receipt, we will give you the lowest price the item has been in the past 90 days, in store credit.
We also need a valid driver’s license so the (national) system will track how often you do non-receipted returns.
If you go up to the register with random, high value items in a non-receipted return transaction (like one expensive brush, one expensive tube of paint, and a pair of jewelry pliers all at once), we have to call an MOD.
If your total refund for a non-receipted return purchase is over $100, the system will prompt for a manager override.
Cash and debit receipted return transactions will be refunded as cash. I had a coworker who would keep these receipts from people who wanted them thrown out, do the return himself, and pocket the cash.
If, for whatever reason, you have a fake traveler’s check, try cashing it in here.
Because we do them so infrequently, I had a manager take it for me, and it turned out she took an apparently fake traveler’s check and didn’t even know.
However, pls don’t use counterfeit bills here. If we get too many in X amount of time, the Operations Manager will get fired.
So you actually want to buy something?
Still apprehensive to conceal in your bag? We are supposed to look to make sure you’ve got all of the items out of the buggy, we are supposed to look inside baskets and boxes, and underneath the liner of baskets. Conceal little items underneath your bag, that is sitting in the child seat of the cart.
50% one regular priced item (with exclusions): 400100719008 is the barcode number. You can ask the cashier to type this in, in “item entry.” It will always work, regardless of what coupon is out that week,
Our employee discount is 30% off your purchase, including sale items (with exclusions): 400100451588.
Is the line too long and the framing counter is open? Be really nice and you can check out there.
Pls be nice to the cashier and don’t ask to make eight separate transactions for eight of the same coupon with the same method of payment. While lifting doesn’t directly affect my paycheck, this coupon policy abuse shit does. if the store doesn’t meet projected goals, we get less hours, which means I have less money to put in my gas tank.
Am I missing something? Ask!
Cheers to my first post after creeping the community for a week, but lifting for like 8 years. Be safe shrimps.
