Spoonlift

[freeisthenewblack-deactivated20]

Copied from /r/shoplifting

“Just a PSA from a former employee: Go to town at Urban Outfitters. They do not have cameras throughout the store. The only camera at UO is at the store entrance, and it is not actively monitored (only used as reference later on should an incident occur). There’s no LP in store, though some high volume stores will post a uniformed guard at front. They have a no chase policy for their employees, so even if you’re stopped at the door, they can not pursue you if you simply leave. But possibly the most important thing is their fitting room policy - you can bring as many articles of clothing into the fitting rooms with you as you want - 10, 20, even more. Though they are supposed to count your items before you enter and after you leave, bringing a large number of items in with you makes it extremely difficult to keep track of that number, especially on a busy day. Some employees are also a lot less zealous about counting than others. Some will ask you for the number without actually counting themselves, and some won’t even care about the number at all - YMMV on that. You are only allowed to bring clothing into the fitting room, so if you’re trying to bring jewelry, accessories, underwear, gadgets or whatever into the room with you, make sure they’re concealed first. I suggest casing the fitting room on a busy day to see how they’re handling it. As for security tags, all UO stores use the same smooth black clamshell magnetic tags which are easily removed by a strong magnet. They typically only tag items $20 and over, but YMMV on that as well. Some stores have special tags for sunglasses which can also be removed with a magnet. They also carry a number of expensive electronic items, such as cameras, which are spider wrapped. If you notice that the fitting room people aren’t checking very thoroughly, you can hide one of these items under a pile of clothing, take it into the fitting room, and work off the spider wrap. Note that they may also soft tag some items such as sock or underwear which don’t have hard tags, so always check the packaging for those (soft tags will always be in a place that you can find them, as they are only added to items after they arrive at the store). And as for the employees themselves, most of them are people under 30 only hired to fit a certain aesthetic. They don’t receive LP training and are told to give exceptional customer service to suspected shoplifters, so if anyone is paying extra attention to you, you might have given yourself away. The code terms used on radio for shoplifters is Mr. and Mrs. Nick, so if you hear that they definitely know. For the most part they are understaffed. If you can conceal something out of the line of sight of an employee, you’re golden, since again - no cameras.” – xcepter

[nasalift-blog]

The drop technique and my quick concealing method shown.

Drop technique notes: 1. Use a bag with a shoulder strap so you don’t have to think about where the handles are. You do not want to worry about getting your product tangled up in them. Another benefit of a shoulder strap bag is that there is no gap between the bag and your body (that the product could fall through). 2. Use a structured bag, so that if your product hits one of the sides (as my peanut butter & honey palette did!!), it falls inside anyway! Floppy purses are bad for this because your product can become unbalanced on the cloth if it hits the side, and end up on the floor. Cloth is just one more thing for the product to become tangled in. 3. See how the inside-tops of each side of my purse are angled slightly inward (toward the zipper)? These are your bumpers, babes. Like rails in Mario kart, these guide your product into the bag, so you don’t have to think about it at all. 4. I usually do something with my hand while doing this, as an excuse to move my arm and drop the product. Because I don’t touch my purse, it was clearly “just an accident” if I were to be caught. 5. Once this is done, immediately zip up your purse. Preferably do the concealment and zipping in a blindspot, or the closest thing to a blindspot as you can find. Also a great tip: walk into the store with your phone in a pocket. After dropping, place your phone into your purse and zip it up *without looking* at it.

Light speed conceal technique notes: 1. Hold the product in the hand on the opposite side of your body from your purse. Here, my purse is on my left and the product is in my right hand. I conceal it with my right hand. First, my left arm provides a little bit of cover. Second, it’s just a lot less obvious to me to have my right arm crossing in front of my body than it would be if I were bending my left arm to put the product in. I also like to use my left hand to hold my purse open if it’s a really big item (like I’m doing here; if it’s not a large item, I don’t do this). Third, it’s just a lot harder to do with the arm that’s next to the purse, IMO. Try both out, see what works best for you, and do so in front of a mirror. Practice, practice, practice. 2. Use only in what you are 200% sure is a blindspot. Also great for stores with no cams. 3. Use in clothing stores that count going into dressing rooms (conceal before you go in and detag in the dressing room). Again, be wary of cams. 4. Don’t do this with people around! Very advanced lifters probably are already using this technique to crowd conceal, but if you aren’t very advanced don’t do this anywhere near other people or only try it with *extreme* caution. Practice at home first!! For me, I often use my partner’s body to block others’ view of the side that my purse is on. Using a support beam, wall, or display on that side can also be helpful. I sometimes do it when I’m in a busy store and I’m 200% sure there is no one behind me and maybe one or two people in front of me, both facing away from me. The only reason I do it in these situations is because I’m also 200% sure I can conceal the item in less than 2 seconds (as shown here). If someone did turn to look at me after I’ve started to conceal, worst case scenario is that they see me with my hand in my purse. I’m pretty quick. 5. I often use this technique in makeup stores while holding 2 items. I only want to conceal one and the other is my decoy, which I hold on top of the thing I want. Then I cross my right arm over my body and pretend to look closer at something on a shelf (maybe reach out and grab something with my left hand and look at it), and only shove/drop one item in my purse. Then I’m still holding my decoy which I put somewhere random before leaving. It’s less sus in stores crowded with SAs. 6. Never ever EVER: do this in front of a camera, in front of another person, or on the floor in a store with very active and vigilant LP! Don’t do it! This method is CLEARLY intentional, unlike the drop technique. I have no cover or excuse for this if I get caught and neither do you. This is my favorite and most used technique, but it’s risky. Again, I only recommend this for the experienced and the entirely un-sus. I had a lot of experience before I ever tried concealing on the floor like this. Please be careful.

[nasalift-blog]

The drop technique and my quick concealing method shown.

Drop technique notes: 1. Use a bag with a shoulder strap so you don’t have to think about where the handles are. You do not want to worry about getting your product tangled up in them. Another benefit of a shoulder strap bag is that there is no gap between the bag and your body (that the product could fall through). 2. Use a structured bag, so that if your product hits one of the sides (as my peanut butter & honey palette did!!), it falls inside anyway! Floppy purses are bad for this because your product can become unbalanced on the cloth if it hits the side, and end up on the floor. Cloth is just one more thing for the product to become tangled in. 3. See how the inside-tops of each side of my purse are angled slightly inward (toward the zipper)? These are your bumpers, babes. Like rails in Mario kart, these guide your product into the bag, so you don’t have to think about it at all. 4. I usually do something with my hand while doing this, as an excuse to move my arm and drop the product. Because I don’t touch my purse, it was clearly “just an accident” if I were to be caught. 5. Once this is done, immediately zip up your purse. Preferably do the concealment and zipping in a blindspot, or the closest thing to a blindspot as you can find. Also a great tip: walk into the store with your phone in a pocket. After dropping, place your phone into your purse and zip it up *without looking* at it.

Light speed conceal technique notes: 1. Hold the product in the hand on the opposite side of your body from your purse. Here, my purse is on my left and the product is in my right hand. I conceal it with my right hand. First, my left arm provides a little bit of cover. Second, it’s just a lot less obvious to me to have my right arm crossing in front of my body than it would be if I were bending my left arm to put the product in. I also like to use my left hand to hold my purse open if it’s a really big item (like I’m doing here; if it’s not a large item, I don’t do this). Third, it’s just a lot harder to do with the arm that’s next to the purse, IMO. Try both out, see what works best for you, and do so in front of a mirror. Practice, practice, practice. 2. Use only in what you are 200% sure is a blindspot. Also great for stores with no cams. 3. Use in clothing stores that count going into dressing rooms (conceal before you go in and detag in the dressing room). Again, be wary of cams. 4. Don’t do this with people around! Very advanced lifters probably are already using this technique to crowd conceal, but if you aren’t very advanced don’t do this anywhere near other people or only try it with *extreme* caution. Practice at home first!! For me, I often use my partner’s body to block others’ view of the side that my purse is on. Using a support beam, wall, or display on that side can also be helpful. I sometimes do it when I’m in a busy store and I’m 200% sure there is no one behind me and maybe one or two people in front of me, both facing away from me. The only reason I do it in these situations is because I’m also 200% sure I can conceal the item in less than 2 seconds (as shown here). If someone did turn to look at me after I’ve started to conceal, worst case scenario is that they see me with my hand in my purse. I’m pretty quick. 5. I often use this technique in makeup stores while holding 2 items. I only want to conceal one and the other is my decoy, which I hold on top of the thing I want. Then I cross my right arm over my body and pretend to look closer at something on a shelf (maybe reach out and grab something with my left hand and look at it), and only shove/drop one item in my purse. Then I’m still holding my decoy which I put somewhere random before leaving. It’s less sus in stores crowded with SAs. 6. Never ever EVER: do this in front of a camera, in front of another person, or on the floor in a store with very active and vigilant LP! Don’t do it! This method is CLEARLY intentional, unlike the drop technique. I have no cover or excuse for this if I get caught and neither do you. This is my favorite and most used technique, but it’s risky. Again, I only recommend this for the experienced and the entirely un-sus. I had a lot of experience before I ever tried concealing on the floor like this. Please be careful.

[0thriftylifta0-blog]

Master Post on Ulta💄

Decided to share everything I know about Ulta. I was employed at this shithole for 4 months before I quit. Have at it.

SECURITY: Alright. So the Ulta I worked at never had LP. They might hire Security during busy holidays, Black Friday and so on, but the store where I worked relied solely on the employees to stop shrink and theft. We had to do special LP training. We are NOT allowed to ask to search somebody’s bag or purse. We are not allowed to imply directly that you stole something. If we see you put something in your bag, we can ask something like “I saw you looking at that Tarte Bloom Pallete! Can I suggest one of my favorite products to pair with it?” Basically my GM explained it like this. “Never accuse a guest of theft, be as kind and overly helpful as you can if you suspect something. Usually the thief will put back the stolen merchandise out of guilt if you kill them with customer service.” Now if we see you steal something and we are 100% sure, then we notify a manager, watch footage on cameras to confirm the theft, and then contact police. If you beep on the way out of our store and happen to have a SA stop you, or you make the mistake of stopping/turning around after you’ve beeped, they say something like “let me check your shopping bag to make sure we didn’t miss something!” If they check and you beep again you’re screwed. Moving on, our cameras seriously suck. The frame rates are awful. We can zoom but the quality is awful. There is usually a manager in the office but they rarely watch the cameras. Often they are organizing the back room or doing paperwork/scheduling. There are usually little tags stuck on expensive products. Super easy to peel off.

TIPS: 1. NEVER CONCEAL IN FRONT OF ANOTHER CUSTOMER. EVER. 2. DO NOT take products out of boxes and hide boxes in store. It’s seriously so stupid. We find them and put them in a box called Know Theft and go over tapes to see who placed it there. You’re always better off taking the whole box. 3. Because our frame rates are so low, it gives you the perfect opportunity to lift/conceal in the open, as long as you do it really quickly. Does this mean you should be careless and constantly conceal without blind spots? Heck no. Be careful not careless. 4. BLINDSPOTS are your friend! There are almost always blindspots in prestige haircare. If you can’t find one, create one with your body while facing away from the camera. 5. NEVER linger in one isle for too long. 6. DO NOT look around super obviously at cameras and SA’s. This is a sure sign you’re lifting. 7. DO NOT go from prestige to haircare to prestige and back again a gazillion times. This is another thing we are supposed to look for. 8. DO dress nice. Like you can afford to buy everything in the store. It’s bad, I know. But if I saw somebody dressed to the 9’s I never suspected them. If I saw three teenage girls I automatically suspected them. 9. If you carry an Ulta bag, and use this method to lift, make sure you put extra products you don’t want in them so if you ditch the bag, it doesn’t look sus. 10. A tip I’ve used lots of times to lift at Ulta’s. I would load up my bag with tons of products and take a couple to the front and bring a coupon with me. I knew it was expired or I knew it wouldn’t work on prestige products. I would bring my items up, give them the coupon, and when they told me it didn’t work I acted super bummed and told them I would wait to buy them and leave with my purse stashed. It gives you a way out without just leaving. 11. If you beep, keep going!! Don’t look back. 12. Park far away or out of sight of the store just in case. They will try to get your plate if suspected. 13. Try walking out at the same time as another person so if you beep it could have been either of you. Turn around and look at the other person and raise your eyebrows real suspicious like. 😂 14. Never take more then 20 minutes in a store when lifting. I always try to make a 10-15 minute lift or less. 15. Be NICE to SA’s. I was way less likely to sus a person that was friendly and sweet to me. Somebody that was rude or ignored me was someone I suspected more so. 16. If you see managers come from the back and SA’s check you out in the store or come up and ask you if you need help a ton, drop your shit and gtfo. Stash it somewhere in the store. Get out. Use common sense. If you get a bad feeling, trust your instincts. Seriously. 17. Don’t get too greedy. 18. If you can, try to life more on your body. Not so much in your purse. Hide in your bra, your waist band, your boots. It’s always safer. The first place somebody will look is your purse.

DISCLAIMER: The Ulta I worked out and the staff that works there might not be the same as the Ulta in your area. Always take caution and be careful. Scope it out and use common sense. Happy Lifting.

[princessklepto]

abercrombie & fitch tips

soo your girl just got back from work and i was talking to a coworker who said she worked there too. she’s like “yeah all i do is fold clothes and get people fitting rooms” and i’m like 👀👀 u ever catch shoplifters?? so she’s like nah but then i started asking her some stuff and this is what i got

- she said at the a&f she works at that the sensors are basically just decorations because they turned off the towers because they kept beeping - no chase policy - they can’t accuse people, only pull the whole “can i get you some jeans to go with (thing u stole)” so just a bunch of CSing - she says cams are sorta monitored, they just look for really sus shit

KEEP IN MIND THIS IS ALL BASED ON MY LOCAL STORE

hope this helps yall

[kittengrabs-deactivated20170522]

yo okay this goes for Hollister too since they’re the same company. I know b/c I used to work there and like they follow the same policy, like someone could make eye contact with me and slowly put a winter coat in their bag and i’d just have to be like “can I recommend some jeans to go with that :)))” however at my location the towers are turned on but the rest of the stuff is the same

[stealingtheseas]

Nordstrom’s Rack Masterpost

From a former employee. Information may be different depending on your store location.

Policy:

If an SA sees suspicious behavior, they’re told to contact their manager or LP. They’re NOT allowed to apprehend you or even insinuate that you have anything, but they’re supposed to customer service you

They’re very specifically told NOT to racial profile on shoplifting

Don’t switch price tags on things. They will know. Just don’t.

Their main concern is professional boosters who just run in, grab a rack, and leave in a car. In the case of serial lifters who’ve stolen from their store or other nordstrom stores in their area, they tell SAs to watch out for them. For example one time before the store opened they said there was a gang of professional boosters in the area, what they looked like, what their M.O was (in this case purses), etc.

RETURNS: If you don’t have a receipt, they’ll search by account if you say you used a credit card and want cashback. Idk if they’ll let you return without a receipt if you used cash but they’ll probably just give you store credit like most department stores 

SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR CODE: “BOLO.” stands for ‘be on the lookout.’ if you hear this said between SAs or over the intercom, get out of there.

How the training video defines “suspicious” behavior:

gathering merchandise regardless of size, color, or price

double hanging

carrying empty oversized bags (lmao the video had a lady with a huge empty duffle like WHO WOULD DO??)

looking around obviously for SAs and cams

loitering around back walls or behind rounders, so basically don’t stay in a blind spot too long

entering a locked fitting room (dude straight up slid under the door??? WHAT KIND OF INFOMERCIAL IS THIS)

Loss Prevention Officers:

There are usually 2 LP officers per store. One by the door with a very obvious black jacket with “loss prevention” on the back, the other in plain clothes walking around the store/watching the cams

LP has an office, in my case it was on the first floor next to the women’s bathroom. It DOES NOT say LP office on the door, it’ll say “fire safety office” since LP and safety are the same department

They have a whiteboard in said office that says, among other things, how many shoplifter “cases” they had in the store. The number when I went in was 38. Idk if that’s per week, per month, per year, but there you go.

More statistics: read somewhere in backstock that shrinkage (loss from theft) was 2% for the chain overall.

Cameras:

Big ol corner mirrors and dome cameras. 

The training video said they have visible AND hidden cameras, but I’ve never seen a hidden camera there or heard about there actually being any outside of that video, and it was a pretty old video too so take that with a grain of salt. But still just conceal in the dressing room guys.

Their main cameras are to monitor the SAs, so cash register area, back room, and mobile POS transactions (the little kiosks where SAs ring you up with their phone devices on heavy traffic days)

Areas with the most blind spots tend to be home goods/accessories and shoe department. Women’s department has more cameras than mens, but women’s has more racks to conceal things in so its a tradeoff. If you’re going to use racks to conceal, DEFINITELY make use of the clearance racks. They’re crazy disorganized anyway so no one will think twice if theres a bunch of clothes or hangers on the floor, and if you dump tags in a clearance rack theyre a lot less likely to be found till later than a normal one. 

Security Tags:

ALLLLL different kinds of tags. I’ve seen ink tags, dome tags, basically any magnet tags, spiderwrap on perfume and stuff, lots of alarm tags. This is because they pull from a ton of different stores. The one thing I haven’t seen there is a hook tag or gator tag.

They don’t use RFID, but it’s always a good idea to check because they pull merch from a lot of providers and those people COULD use RFID or source tags, so always be sure to check

And that’s it! If you have any questions about stories from when I used to work there or other tips, hmu

[savingsweet-blog]

This is so beautiful <3<3<3

[liftyniftymua-deactivated201603]

Michaels Masterpost from Former Employee

1.) SAs really don’t have training in loss protection. 2.) jewelry is THE highest shrink department; it is always watched in the manager’s office (it’s a pretty obvious cube in a corner of the store) 3.) Managers have cameras in their office they watch through. Usually they don’t pay attention, they’re too busy with paperwork. 4.) there’s no incentives for catching you 5.) bathrooms are unlocked 6.) “security scan all aisles” - it will overhead announce. Dump and leave. Fast. 7.) no LP 8.) yarn is a good blind spot 9.) cashiers can’t touch you, can’t chase you, nothing. We can’t 10.) nothing really has tags, because we couldn’t deactivate at the register. Like there was no magnet to deactivate with.

Take it all, munchkins

[mysterylifts-blog]

Yup they have great Gelly Roll pens and tons of fun stickers :) Plus this is where i get all my instax film

[lifterlove]

Any tips on lifting shoes? Also how do you manage to walk out with stuff still in the box I always take mine out the box (I'm an amateur) oh and food how do you lift that

For lifting shoes I’ve got two methods. One is I just take a pair of old ratty shoes, or flip flops or something, and I go start trying on a bunch of shoes. I’d say try on three pairs before trying on the ones you want. Then just make a mess of the area and make it hard to follow your actions on the camera. Clean everything up, put everything back, and walk away wearing your new shoes. Act like nothing has changed. You can even find a place to conceal your old shoes if youwant. This method only really works for untagged shoes tho of course and requires some tools for cutting off strings that keep the pair together, and tags so no one sees them if you can’t just tuck them in. Or you can utilize self checkouts. Grab one box for cheap shoes and put a more expensive pair in. You can also put little things in the box, especially if you’ve got a closed shoe you can just shove things into the shoe itself. Go through self checkout and if that’s your only thing just hit I don’t want to bag this item. That way it won’t measure the weight. Just remember if you hit that too many times it requires an SA authorization to hit it anymore. No one ever thinks about that when they make tip posts jfc.

[liftingcuteshit]

Crazy Story involving VS

Y'all need to read this. Lol.

I went to the mall today, and upon arriving; I went into Claire’s to look around. It makes me feel more calm to go into a store and only look before going to another store to lift. When I went to leave; the towers went off. I normally wouldn’t turn around, but I was truly confused, so I looked at the SA and she waved me off. I looked at my body to make sure that nothing got stuck to me and I didn’t see anything, so I went into Victoria’s Secret and nothing went off, so I assumed that Claire’s towers were wacky. I did my thing; I grabbed a bag and stuck undies and 2 bras in there (only planning to get the bras) and then stuck a hoodie over them and went into the dressing room to detag. I ended up just putting the bras on under my shirt and left the bag in the dressing room, then I walked out and decided to buy one of their little cheap perfumes. Upon leaving, the towers went off and I just decided to keep walking (mind you that my VS has 2 different entrances and I went out the opposite of where I came in). The SA started hollering after me and I just decided that I’d stop since I didn’t have anything in my purse and another lady had walked out with me and also stopped. The SA asked me why I didn’t stop and I told her “Well, I assumed that it was her and not me..” The SA asked me if she could see my VS bag then looked in it and said that their perfumes aren’t tagged and asked me to go through the tower again while she still had my VS bag. Once again; the tower went off. She asked me if I accidentally took something and I said No. She then asked me if she could search my purse to see and I said no. She laughed and said “Well, if you didn’t take anything then why can’t I search your purse”. And I said “No offense, but I don’t like the idea of people thinking that they have a right to go through my things, so I’m exercising my right to say no. If you really think that I took something, then you can call the police to search my purse.” She told me to wait while she called security. A man showed up and she explained what happened and she also included “I’ve seen this girl in here before and she never buys anything. I’ve suspected that she’s stolen stuff before because she tries on stuff and never buys any of it. I haven’t said anything because there isn’t proof.” He looked to me and waited for me to say something and I said “Well, my wife has a gym membership for the gym in this mall and I don’t have a car at the moment, so I come to the mall with her and browse around and try on things while she’s in the gym. I just come to get out of the house and I actually do end up buying stuff.” He nodded and asked me to come with him and so I did and the SA also came with him, along with the manager of VS. He brought us to the mall security room and asked me if he could search my purse. The SA butted in and said “She said that she doesn’t want anyone going through her stuff, unless it’s the police.” The man looked at me and said “Ma'am, calling the police will just take up more of your time and they will want to take you to the police station to perform the search. If that’s what you want, then fine, but if I don’t find anything, then this shouldn’t take long”. I agreed to the search and he asked me to have a seat while he searched my purse, so I sat down and crossed my legs. After searching my purse, he said its all clear. The manager said “Well, something made the towers go off..” The man sat down, looked at me, then began to laugh and I looked at him confused. He said “What’s on the bottom of your shoe??” I grabbed my foot to look and saw a pair of earrings stuck to the bottom of my pair of Toms. The needle of them had dug into my shoe. I pulled them off and laughed. He took them and turned to the manager and said “This is what set your towers off”. I apologized and he said “I can tell tell that this was a mistake. There’s nothing to be sorry for.” He apologized to me and so did the manager. The manager also got furious with the worker for her attitude towards me. The whole time that all of this was going on, she kept scoffing and giving me dirty looks and also kept making remarks about how she knew that I took something and all this other stuff. Security dismissed me and I left the mall. Haha. So, here are the lessons from this story: -Even if you bought something, an SA may still hold your bag while you walk through the towers again. Buying something may relieve suspicion, but it won’t always cover up the towers going off. -Don’t keep your hook in your purse. I always keep it in my pocket or my bra. If I had kept it in my purse; this could’ve gone differently. -If you’re only lifting something small; try to hide it somewhere on you. Once again, it would’ve gone differently if I stuck those 2 bras in my purse.

-If towers go off and you didn’t lift anything; don’t go into another store until you figure out what it was. Go to the bathroom and check yourself really well. VS didn’t have towers on the entrance that I went in, but I assumed that they had one of those hidden things above the door. This wasn’t the case, I guess.

-NEVER agree to a search. Y'all may think the scenario was stupid and that I should’ve just agreed to the search, but I just didn’t want to give up my right.

[languidlylifting-blog]

Saw this tag at VS and didn’t recognize it??? Anybody know what this is/if it’s different from others?

[liftingunicorn-blog]

I’ve seen them before at American Eagle I’m pretty sure they detach just like normal tags, they’re just a more modern design.

[kittengrabs-deactivated20170522]

D:

When you mess up real bad at VS

[kittengrabs-deactivated20170522]

An explanation: ok so me and bud are at VS and I grab 6 things the lady counts so i’m like fuck ok i’ll just detag here and then conceal in the waiting room while my friend tries on stuff right… And so my friend brings in 7 items and like I go ahead and cut the tags off of 3 things bring all 6 items back out and wait, I shove the tags under the pillows in the waiting room and i’m waiting for a good chance to conceal when my friend comes out with only 3 items and the SA is like “where are the others?” And she’s like “oh I left them in the room” but they were not in the room and so she grabs me and is like “we gotta GO” and i’m like o shit so I put my bag down on camera leaving the 3 things without tags… And we run out and little do I know that she still has tags on her but the thing didn’t go off so we good but i’m never going to that VS again

[freeisthenewblack-deactivated20]

tags? you mean the cardboard/paper barcode things? you don’t need to take those off :/

[kittengrabs-deactivated20170522]

I mean the security tags that you have to remove with magnets

[liftyniftymua-deactivated201603]

Michaels Masterpost from Former Employee

1.) SAs really don’t have training in loss protection. 2.) jewelry is THE highest shrink department; it is always watched in the manager’s office (it’s a pretty obvious cube in a corner of the store) 3.) Managers have cameras in their office they watch through. Usually they don’t pay attention, they’re too busy with paperwork. 4.) there’s no incentives for catching you 5.) bathrooms are unlocked 6.) “security scan all aisles” - it will overhead announce. Dump and leave. Fast. 7.) no LP 8.) yarn is a good blind spot 9.) cashiers can’t touch you, can’t chase you, nothing. We can’t 10.) nothing really has tags, because we couldn’t deactivate at the register. Like there was no magnet to deactivate with.

Take it all, munchkins

[mysterylifts-blog]

Yup they have great Gelly Roll pens and tons of fun stickers :) Plus this is where i get all my instax film

[tocatchakitten-blog]

Caught!

Got caught at JCP - this js only the third time in 8 yrs I have been caught, and the only time it’s gone “on record”. So my record is totallyclean minus this misdemeanor.

I asked a shitton of questions about LP and kept mostly calm, so it was fast. They chatted with me for two whole hours bc I was compliant and polite and sorry, and I said it was the first time I ever took stuff OUT of a store - told them I put it back before bc I felt bad but I don’t know why I did something stupid this time.

It is literally NOT that bad if you’re honest - remember we are thieves. Remember that THIS WILL HAPPEN if you get caught. They were super nice to me bc I was honest and quiet. If you are caught please stay calm and make the situation work to your advantage. If you have LP who are decent to you, ask questions. They answered all of mine, they even told me to apply if I needed a job bc they were hiring and they don’t take offenses into account.

Notes:

JCP calls the police and that’s why it’s taken seriously, and the cops come. Sears, JCP and Bloomingdales are the only stores that have hands on policies. Everywhere else cannot touch you.

The JCP LP who took me in was a huge guy but he waa really nice to me. Of course it was scary but honestly he gently explained to me what happens, walked with me to the back and asked me to give back the stuff I took. He said they saw me in Sephora JCP taking an eyeliner. He gave me a water and a coffee, and said he didn’t think I was a bad person, just that I made a bad mistake and I should do the right thing next time. He said he also had stolen before too and he wasn’t caught, and that we are all humans (he also told me to put him down as a reference for job apps??!? gave me his business card and everything, said to let them call him so I could get a good job and afford better stuff and not be in a place where I felt I needed to steal…)

They have a reaaaally good cam system that can rewind ff etc. and they keep a recording of your action, a photo of you, and a photo of what you tried to steal. This is NOT RELEASED ANYWHERE PUBLICLY OR TO THE COPS - it’s only for the LP of that SPECIFIC store to have on file. They will then know to look for you if you come in.

They call the cops and if you have ID they keep you for up to 2 hrs max. IF YOU DON’T HAVE ID THEY WILL KEEP YOU TILL COPS COME NO MATTER HOW LONG IT TAKES. If the cops do not come within 2hrs with ID, they have to let you go, and then you fill out paperwork for 15 min.

They file it as a misdemeanor. IN CALIFORNIA it’s about as serious as a traffic or vandalism or posession of weed ticket, meaning it’s small and won’t show on background checks for school or work (unlike a felony or a criminal offense which they ACTIVELY search for). It will go on your record but it “shouldn’t” impede job etc. bc it falls under minor lawbreaking. (Aka stuff that the govt expects everyone to do in their lifetime at some point.) I am a legal adult and will be tried/fined as such, so they do not contact my parents.

You will receive a court notice in the mail from the police, and a notice from JCP in the mail OR a call from their firm.

Court notice will come w a citation fine (not JCP, the city) and the fine is max $1000. The LP told me that the court notice can be called and you can handle it over the phone without having to go to court.

The notice from JCP is a fine from the company regarding the stuff you stole. If it’s undamaged and resaleable, the fine may be lower. If you stole really small amount the fine may be lower. JCP charges max $300. You can call the law firm that works with JCP and negotiate a lower fine.

They only saw me take 3 things from JCP Sephora on camera - I gave back 5 things from JCP Sephora but I kept the two sweaters I concealed in the dressing room. They are not allowed to touch or search your things, he asked me to be 100% honest and give back what I took, and that he wouldn’t make me empty my bag out etc. I must have seemed honest bc he believed me when I gave only the makeup back. My total makeup was $227.

They do not ban you from the store but he did encourage that I go to a different JCP if I wanted to buy stuff, bc they do watch you if they have your info from a prior attempt.

…I still walked away with about $40 in sweaters though.

TBH I can afford the fine and I prepared for this situation in the event it occurred. It is a first time offence so it’s most likely just going to be paying the JCP and city fees and that’s it. I had put money away in case this happened.

So in summary.

Please don’t ever forget we are thieves. We are STEALING.

We are all breaking the law and we know it.

Please be ready in case this happens, to handle the consequences however you have planned. It is an EVENTUALITY that you WILL be caught. It’s just the way the world works. I am intensely lucky that in 8 yrs this is the only time it’s on my record, and that it’s happening at the time when I’m preparing to end my lifting career in a month or so.

You may not be as lucky as I was to get LP who won’t treat you like scum on the ground. But even if it’s minor we ARE criminals.

[leolifter]

i’m glad the LP was so chill with you and that you didn’t receive a worse punishment. 

[liftlikeitsmylast]

@liftersleague

[letsgolifting-deactivated201702]

ok so alottttt of you ask how I do my “scarf trick” and it’s so hard to explain unless I actually show you.. so here we are

straight forward af, first

tuck the scarf under your arm your holding your bag so it completely covers your bag

select two of the same item (not as obviously as I did in the video clearly)

put them both behind your phone, pass one to your hand sort of through your scarf and slide it in your bag

pretend to read the other item decide you “don’t want it” and put it back which is literally all that looks like on camera and they can’t see you conceal behind the scarf I think it’s pretty fool proof I don’t go lifting without wearing one!

hope this helps X

[liftingunicorn-blog]

silent magnet detectors at UO

Ok so yesterday I went to UO with my mum. She doesn’t know I lift, and since she was paying I didn’t bring my magnet and didn’t lift anything. When we’re at the till, this SA comes up to the man scanning all our stuff. She has this flap of fabric round her waist that says ‘Urban Outfitters’ on it and behind it is this weird black device. It has three lights on it and one of them is flashing red. She asks him what it means (I figure she was new) and he says, ‘oh someone came in with a magnet tag detacher thing’. He told her not to worry about it because she didn’t know. Anyways, I guess this means that UO do without a shadow of a doubt have silent magnet detectors at least in some stores. I feel kinda sloppy because I actually lift from this UO a lot (with my magnet) and even though I saw that they had two towers because the alarm went off I never thought twice about it. Which was really stupid of me. Anyway I don’t think they ever sussed me or anything but I’m definitely gonna be a bit more careful at UO from now on. Stay safe ❤️❤️❤️

[virgolifter-deactivated20161005]

Urban Outfitters is INCREDIBLY easy to steal from

saw this on the shoplifting subreddit, thought you guys would like to see this as well!

Just a PSA from a former employee: Go to town at Urban Outfitters. They do not have cameras throughout the store. The only camera at UO is at the store entrance, and it is not actively monitored (only used as reference later on should an incident occur). There’s no LP in store, though some high volume stores will post a uniformed guard at front. They have a no chase policy for their employees, so even if you’re stopped at the door, they can not pursue you if you simply leave. But possibly the most important thing is their fitting room policy - you can bring as many articles of clothing into the fitting rooms with you as you want - 10, 20, even more. Though they are supposed to count your items before you enter and after you leave, bringing a large number of items in with you makes it extremely difficult to keep track of that number, especially on a busy day. Some employees are also a lot less zealous about counting than others. Some will ask you for the number without actually counting themselves, and some won’t even care about the number at all - YMMV on that. You are only allowed to bring clothing into the fitting room, so if you’re trying to bring jewelry, accessories, underwear, gadgets or whatever into the room with you, make sure they’re concealed first. I suggest casing the fitting room on a busy day to see how they’re handling it. As for security tags, all UO stores use the same smooth black clamshell magnetic tags which are easily removed by a strong magnet. They typically only tag items $20 and over, but YMMV on that as well. Some stores have special tags for sunglasses which can also be removed with a magnet. They also carry a number of expensive electronic items, such as cameras, which are spider wrapped. If you notice that the fitting room people aren’t checking very thoroughly, you can hide one of these items under a pile of clothing, take it into the fitting room, and work off the spider wrap. Note that they may also soft tag some items such as sock or underwear which don’t have hard tags, so always check the packaging for those (soft tags will always be in a place that you can find them, as they are only added to items after they arrive at the store). And as for the employees themselves, most of them are people under 30 only hired to fit a certain aesthetic. They don’t receive LP training and are told to give exceptional customer service to suspected shoplifters, so if anyone is paying extra attention to you, you might have given yourself away. The code terms used on radio for shoplifters is Mr. and Mrs. Nick, so if you hear that they definitely know. For the most part they are understaffed. If you can conceal something out of the line of sight of an employee, you’re golden, since again - no cameras.

[liftingunicorn-blog]

one of the UOs I lift from recently installed cameras all over the store - don’t take this as bible guys

[sky-lifter-blog]

JUICY WALMART INFO FROM LP

*my friend sent me this information that she gathered from someone at her work. Im just posting it on my blog for her. these are her exact words!!!*

“So recently an ex Walmart LP got hired at my work and y'all know I took advantage of this 100%. I had a million questions to ask, it’s not like he would suspect anything because I am LP as well. It wouldn’t be abnormal for me to have questions about other companies LP policies. So let me start by saying this, Walmart LP starts off at minimum wage in the state they are in. If you have some experience you get an extra dollar raise. Now I always thought they got a crazy pay due to how serious they take their job. NOPE! Minimum wage people!! Crazy! This person told me they were undercover LP, he would be the one who would walk around the store in plain clothes and have a radio in his back pocket and watch people. His store was in a very high crime area, around 1,000 thefts per week. On slow days he would sit in the office and watch cameras. On the more busy days or times he would be on the floor. He told me there were three steps he had to do in order to be able to detain someone: 

1.) watch you on the cameras/ on the floor pick up the item

2.) watch you conceal the item. Now this could be caught on camera or in person. He wouldn’t make it obvious that he was following people, a method he would he is be on the aisle next to where the suspected shoplifter was and watch through the tiny holes of the shelves and see them do it.

3.) watch you walk past the registers, where you could pay for the items. This shows you had no intent to pay for what you had on you. 

Now he told me when he apprehended people, he only had the rights to block. He could not physically put his hands on you and push you on where to go. Only stand Infront of the direction you were headed. He told me if people pulled knives or anything he would let them go. But if someone punched him or kicked him, he would punch or kick back but even THEN he still could lose his job. So I think him punching or kicking back was more of a personal view that he isn’t gonna let himself get beat up for a shitty paying job. He told me that he could chase people through the parking lot but he never would. If he did chase if was just for a physical description to give to the police to dispatch the description to any people in the area. 

If he was in pursuit of a suspected shoplifter, and he had 100% in his mind they were stealing he would first make a call to his ALPM. This stands for area Loss prevention manager. After that phone call he would call the police. 

I asked him how he knows someone is stealing and what key notes they look for, and he told me this.

Obviously they cannot suspect people due to the color of their skin or their gender. He would look at… 

1.) the way you are dressed 

2.) do you look paranoid, constantly look up at cameras or moving your head around? 

3.) going to every single area of the store such as first to grocery, then home, then toys, then cosmetics, then auto, ect. This looks like you’re looking for an opportunity to conceal. 

4.) do you look like you belong in the area that you’re looking at? 

5.) how do you portray yourself around other people? Are you constantly going to areas where other people aren’t? To avoid to get an opportunity to conceal? He told me his job at Walmart as LP was very dangerous and not worth the pay. He always heard stories of people getting knives pulled of them and guns as well. A lot of his co workers took that job seriously, for pay that wasn’t even worth it. I hope I was a help to you guys and the more I speak with this person the more info I will post. Thanks and stay safe. Don’t get cocky or greedy.”