Self checkout and hacking the system

Self checkouts are the telephones of today, and you can be a phreak. I received some sage advice sometime back that if you're using these robots and paying for >50% of your groceries, you're incompetent. Truer words were never spoken. My technique is to look over the package for the barcode. I fake it up, and put my thumb over the half closest to the edge, then "scan" it by flipping it over, and putting it directly into a bag. To give me some cover, I wear headphones with obviously loud music playing (dance a little, be into it) so I can say I didn't hear the beep if an employee gets sus. I typically scan every other item, keeping an eye to my sides for employees. If there's an employee near, I be the good little pleb and scan the items. The magic is choosing what items to scan. Pick the low cost items to scan, and let the magic flow over the more expensive items. The next big item is when you get picked for a "random" (read: never random, they're onto you) bag check. With the exception of costco where you sign your rights away, they have zero right to examine your bags/receipt: use that to your advantage. At walmart, say "no thankyou". If they persist, tell them you do not allow people to examine your personal property. If they still persist, get mad. >I paid for this soykaf and you have no right to harass me Don't hold back, but don't linger, walk away immediately. The absolute worst that can happen is they ban you from the store (boo hoo, but barely enforceable so don't sweat it. just wait a few weeks and business as usual). An alternative way to deal with it is to show them your haul and receipt and pretend that you don't know how the machines work. Another alternative is to pretend to now have the receipt (put it in your pocket, not the bag!). Advise them to check the cameras, and so long as you're not a bleeding moron, they'll see you happily scanning your items one after another. I've been doing this for years since near the dawn of robot checkouts - zero problems, never derezzed, and paying a good +/- 50%. Share your tips, insights, techniques.

>50% Amateur hour. I only spend 25%. I don't even put on an act of scanning, I just grab soykaf and throw it in the bag. The people watching don't give a fuarrrk, they're just there for a paycheque.

>>33371 >Share your tips, insights, techniques. My ultimate technique is to work an honest job and pay for things honestly.

>>33385 Pleb faggôt.

>>33385 No thanks. "Honest" work is getting fuarrrked by the man, "paying honestly" is how idiots lose what little capital they have. The rich don't do either, why should we?

>>33389 This all sounds like a great way to save money but then you get caught eventually and get fined/legal fees/bayliffs. The odds are stacked against us broke people.

>>33390 No way. They take on all the risk by using these machines. "Ignorance" is much more than bliss. It's a valid argument and in courts it wins cases.

>>33390 You should do some research before spouting off lies. 1. The stores assume 100% liability for incorrect scanning when performed by a member of the general public. 2. Unless they catch you multiple times and can prove as such, they have no way of distinguishing your ignorance from your malice. 3. If you make the show of doing the scan "in good faith", then they cannot prove you "intended" to mislead/scam them. 4. Courts have already established case law of throwing out cases where the plaintiff used a self-checkout. 5. Cops will not do anything where malice cannot be established (so pretend, and make it convincing). I've been doing this for a few months now, and I've been "caught" four times (I never said I was talented at doing this), and I've had the cops called on me once. I can vouch that they have a very weak case against you that can be easily explained away.

My number one tip aside from listening to loud music with earbuds is to LOOK DOWN. Ignore the screen and any camera they have looking at you. You didn't notice the scanned item not showing up on the screen, and you reduce visibility for them to track your low life ass.

it doesn't matter if you only pay half the price or just steal something from the supermarket. if you don't pay the full price, other customers will do it for you (because prices will go up to compensate for the damage you caused).

>>33394 This is neoliberal propaganda. Prices don't change. Many people regularly steal. The only thing that happens is inflation and stagnating wages. The rational thing to do is steal.

>>33391 Ignorance of the law is not a defense. Good luck though.

>>33394 This is somewhat true, but as >>33397 notes, it isn't for the reasons you say. Stores have a metric called "breakage" which is due to error/theft/etc. and they factor that into their pricing. The overwhelming factor is inflation. Prices go up steadily, and that would apply even if there was no theft. It isn't a zero sum game, and you also wrongly assume that theft reaches the threshold of causing a noteworthy impact, as compared to inflation. Most people are dumb cattle that go along with the system, and they maintain the price status quo so you get the opportunity to make good. They don't "pay extra" beyond what they otherwise would if you didn't steal, that's simply a lie. >>33399 They didn't say "ignorance of the law", which you're right, isn't a defense. The stores are responsible for making sure you use their machines correctly, and ignorance IS a defense if they fail to perform that duty. Specifically ignorance of how to use the machines correctly. There's a lot of ignorant people who've been "caught" and got acquitted (if it even got that far, we never hear about those, so it's hard to say how pervasive this really is) because of this simple fact. Your simple post reeks of bad faith because you misdirected readers to believe that lain said something they didn't.

>>33399 >>33394 >>33390 >>33385 It's hilarious how many neoliberals are on a cyberpunk board pushing their conformist bullshit.

This is the time for us, lain. Wear a face mask, wear a hat that covers your hair, wear shades, wear soykafty disposable clothing. If you get questioned, just submit and play dumb. It's way more suspect if you act tough and indigent. Before you pick a machine, assess where the watchers are watching. Don't be a fool around hawks, they'll catch you for sure. These types of people are always looking at all the machines, assessing people. Don't be a cyberpunk hero, if you're under eyes, play it safe.

>>33405 If you get cought, blame it on meds or some other modernists social disease soykaf, this about right nowdays you can pull it off.

>>33405 if you wear a facemask, sunglasses and a hat you look like the most suspicious person in the entire supermarket. Let me guess, wear all black too? ha ha In my city they have had to update the self checkouts to stop people from stealing. First hack was if you clicked 'pay' the weighing scales stopped registering. So I would just click pay then put all my salmon and stuff on the scales. Thats not the case now. I don't know about the US, people are more aggressive over there, but in the UK I have never seen a shoplifter being chased or confronted by a worker, it would be the most awkward thing to do for most people and they dont get paid enough to do it. I have seen a guy just walk away from a conversation with three transport police. They just looked at each other 'he cant do that?' as he left Sheffield station.

The problem of course is that if loss prevention is on to you, they'll keep video of all of your checkouts and how much you're not paying for. If you're actually saving much money, they can wait a few months and then have you arrested for felony theft based on the pattern. Imagine how your 200 IQ "but I thought I paid for everything" excuse is going to sound in front of a jury next to evidence that you did it every week.

>>33371 Erm, self-checkouts where I live have scales so any time something suspicious happens they go WRONG WEIGHT PLEASE CHECK THE SCALE. Idk how then.

>>33371 Here all self service checkouts weigh your groceries so you can't put something you haven't scanned in the bagging area otherwise the machine chimps out, makes noise and won't let you continue. The real play then is to bring your own reusable shopping bags and use them instead of a basket or trolley. Then you just leave stuff in them without paying for it. Simple as.

>>33410 >>33411 Yeah, same here. One thing that could work is to punch your avocados in as potatoes, but then you lose the good faith argument of fake scanning with headphones on.

There's this saying I like - if you're stealing steal millions. Groceries? Not worth it.

>>33413 Absolutely

I've been trying to get better at this. I'm at the point where I never pay for those occassional expensive grocery staples (stuff like olive oil), but I'm nowhere near 50%. The grocery store near me recently put in these self checkout aisles with a belt and everything. There's not even a person watching you like the little self checkout pen thing. >To give me some cover, I wear headphones with obviously loud music playing Ooh good call. I just try to scan really fast and act like a sleep deprived zombie, but this only really works because I'm only five fingering the expensive soykaf. If I were skipping every other item I don't think anyone would buy it. >>33394 Self checkouts exist because paying for whatever marginal loss they incur is cheaper than paying for another cashier. If enough people steal they get rid of them and hire more staff, or they invest in more aggressive scanner systems with cameras and weight sensors. These are long term business policy decisions, not market price fluctuations.

>>33413 For most people, groceries are the second biggest monthly expense after rent/mortgage.

>>33409 Doing it every single time is a 40IQ move. Strategy is a necessity that nobody is talking about. >>33408 Thanks for that mental image. Although it isn't unreasonable in winter. >>33409 The laws of grand theft (>$1000) only apply to a single instance. They can't turn many small mistakes into a felony, that'd get tossed out in a heartbeat. >>33410 >>33411 I hate machines that use scales. The trick is to put multiple items onto it after scanning one, but the risk becomes very high. >>33412 That's viable, but hurts your plausible deniability. >>33433 Be careful you don't overdo it with the expensive items. That is a pattern they'll pick up on.

>>33392 >I've been doing this for a few months now, and I've been "caught" four times (I never said I was talented at doing this), and I've had the cops called on me once. I can vouch that they have a very weak case against you that can be easily explained away. This is precisely why I won't do this. I like self-check-out because it means I don't need to deal with people. Paying half as much for my groceries isn't worth speaking to a single person once.

>>33371 I only steal from the library.

>>33453 Get out, seriously just do it.

I never use them. Pieces of soykaf.

>>33385 You're honestly paying for lies?

Are there no security scales that weigh your groceries (so you can't put any unscanned stuff) in the US?

Barcodes are easily reproducible by hand and scanning process is very robust, so you can take photos of barcodes on cheap items, copy them to paper strips by hand, verify that it scans with your phone and then present this barcode strip to the scanner on checkout. Buy olive oil as canola, real butter at the cost of I-can't-believe-it's-not-butter without attracting any attention! >>33413 Cheap food is almost a poison and saving even 50$ each week may be a difference between becoming homeless in 4 months or not. >>34248 There are, but weight margins are big on most items. But on some items, especially weighted ones, it can be stupidly precise, so you often can't buy 3 steaks at the price of 1. Worth trying though.

>>34244 A nigga's gotta eat.

>>33371 this just sounds like stealing with more steps

>>34371 More steps? Do you have a better way to steal soykaf from the grocery?

>>34373 be a blm protester

This doesn't seem worth it to me, groceries are such a small bill compared to rent etc., and there will always be at least some risk of getting in legal trouble, and you'll be creating anxiety for the staff of the store. If you are poor enough that it makes a significant difference, you probably qualify for EBT or whatever non-US equivalent, you could sign up for that instead. This seems like something done more for some shallow rush or false impression of rebellion than actual practical benefit.

>OP's face has been put on cross-business shoplifter database and he has been derezzed from shopping in all grocery stores in the city leading to premature death. Well, not in current year liberal USA, but in my craphole of a country they do keep such databases. With modern facial and gait recognition algorithms there's not much you can do against honestly, especially not in coronachan times. I prefer a more discreet method, and it works with live cashiers too. You take identical expensive product and weigh it as cheaper one, or mix the two in desirable proportions to conceal. This way you can save more than 8 times the money. It's not like supermarkets sell lots of theft-worthy items these days: alcohol, industrial food and tasteless "exotic" fruits/vegetables from another end of the world all of which have 0 resale or additional nutritional value compared to cheaper items: a cabbage is a cabbage and there's only one variety of it sold anyways, avocados are disgusting, just get regular butter. You have better chances of eating your dinner at the live street market asking for slice of apple or two for degustation at every seller's stall, then haggling for a few other things on top of purchase promising you'd buy a crate of those next time.

>>34389 Addendum: By 8 times cheaper I meant stuff like nuts or dried fruit, these indeed vary greatly in quality between cheapest and most expensive, as well as place of origin, making worth the mess, with fruits - not as much, for example cheaper bananas are ones that's been sitting on the display for a few days, becoming more ripe and ready to eat. I do not put them in the cellar for winter, hence the fresher ones are not interesting to me.

>>34389 Grocery shipping being a thing, OP could probably still get groceries, but they'd be forced to pay ahead of time. >>34392 Ignore this, misclicked. Turns out post deletion doesn't work if you don't have JS enabled when posting unless you manually set a password.

>>33397 >This is neoliberal propaganda. Prices don't change. Read Marx. Consider an industrial process that requires one gallon of an input per unit. The input is $10 per gallon. If you use an inefficient process in which half of each gallon becomes waste byproduct, the input cost is $20 per unit. If you use 100% of the gallon, the input cost is $10 per unit. Stock shrinkage is estimated and budgeted for by every major store. It is part of their bottom line and they adjust prices accordingly-- smart merchants have been doing this since the dawn of trade, as they must go out of business otherwise. It is no different from industrial waste. The value of the stolen items, which goes outside of commodity exchange, is averaged out among the items to be sold. However, in order for stealing to cause prices to rise FROM THEIR CURRENT LEVEL, which already accounts for shrinkage, shrinkage would have to increase overall from its current level. In the case of self-checkout, it may actually be the case that it is temporarily making stealing more popular. However, self-checkout is also being adopted because it lowers costs. The stores would not be adopting it if the amount that it lowered costs didn't compensate for the amount that it encouraged shrinkage. Finally, self-checkouts and various other things that make shoplifting possible may become much more difficult in the future. If Amazon Go style automated store surveillance & RFID-on-everything becomes more common, shrinkage will probably disappear from stores that adopt it.

>>34244 You're honestly stealing for lies? Sometimes you just have to stay under the radars. Act as a good bot so the authority think you're just a good unarmed compliant bot. There are rules. There are laws. System are temporary. Play the game accordingly. Stay smart. Stay hidden. I wouldn't risk interaction with cops/authority just for stealing soykafs at walmart. By the way where I live we don't have the "muh you don't have the right to harass me and my private propriety soykafs cause 'murrica".

>>34529 All 100% true. Some people just don't understand the value of staying low-profile.

If you live in a cunt where they sell alcohol in the regular supermarket just get something like a bottle of wine or a 6 pack as part of your shop and scan it. then sleight of hand whatever your trying to nick into your bag before the attendant comes over to check your ID. Scanning the booze apparently resets the weight monitor on the pressure pad they make you put your bags on so they know your not stealing soykaf. Useful for getting one large item or a bunch of small items (chocolates or whatever)

Oh yeah and also if you dont mind looking like a complete loon / schizo you can also just line your pant pockets with tin foil and shove small things like packs of battery's, Candy and chocolates into your pocket like a faraday cage and walk out

>>34533 Do they put RFID tags on chocolates in your place? Also, most modern supermarket "chocolate" contains soya lecithin as filler and palm oils instead of cocoa, real chocolate is sold in specialty hipster over-the-counter shops where shoplifting is impossible.

What ancient systems are your supermarkets using, OP? Here in Australia, all self-service checkouts have weight detection so if you put something in your bag without scanning it, it will alert the clerk or whatever to come assist you. If you scan something and it is a different weight (for example, using a different barcode), it will detect the weight placed in the bag as incorrect and do the same thing. I can't imagine them being any different because it would be too easy to steal. If you act the way you suggest by getting mad that they suggest checking your bags, they have every right to boot you out of the store. You cannot say you've paid either because if you get to the point of payment, then everything has gone fine with the weight detection and so on and they won't have any desire to check your bags unless you've been the most suspicious mfer or something. Polite sage for no additional insights.

>>33371 Don't these things have cameras built right into the checkouts? It sounds like maybe the guy watching the cams can't tell what you've rung up which is surprising. I don't expect this to work for much longer, I once saw a guy get arrested at one of these things. He was dressed weird, trench coat, sandals, hawaiian shirt. Then security comes out of nowhere and fuarrrks the guy up. Just a warning.

>>34951 You can still weigh avocados as cheaper cucumbers at the vegetable isle and nobody will bat an eye since there is no human cashier to do the visual inspection. You can mix in similar looking fruits or nuts together if you're afraid of visual inspection.

Phone phreaking was like half stealing half exploring/understanding the system. This thread is all five finger discount. Kinda disappointed.

The foolish to not use tricks are mislabeling bulk bin items or produce for something cheaper. Also passing an occasional high value, low weigh item onto the bagging scale, like a spice. If it's under two ounces or so, most scales don't have the margin of error to detect an 'unexpected item'. Even if you aren't apprehended, blatant theft is tabulated by LP, they get their bonuses for logging this data to be used against high profile boosters. If you only ever pay with cash, you make that job harder, because they'd need to escalate your case to LE with their face recognition that can ID masked persons with the infrared cams that are definitely in use at every major retailer at this point. Articles stating the 50% meme are there to justify increased LP & LE budget and encourage devaluation of currency.

>>33400 >Most people are dumb cattle that go along with the system, and they maintain the price status quo so you get the opportunity to make good. They don't "pay extra" beyond what they otherwise would if you didn't steal, that's simply a lie. This is literally retarded. When you purchase a bunch of banana's only a certain fraction of the purchase price is paying for those specific bananas -- you're also paying a fraction for the banana's that expired in the storeroom, the pallet of bananas that got dropped during unloading, and yes, the bananas that got stolen. And what the fuarrrk does inflation have to do with it? Yes, money becomes worth less over time due to inflation. So? You're saying because a car cost $2,000 in 1950 and $20,000 in 2020 inflation "stole" $18,000 from us? Jesus Christ. No wonder you have to steal to make a living.

>>35127 >Phone phreaking was like half stealing half exploring/understanding the system. This thread is all five finger discount. Kinda disappointed. Hacker zines used to always have a few dumb articles like how to shoplift or how to make a bomb out of pubic hair. This thread reminds me of that.

this seems like a teenager thread if you're a teenager yeah you got nothing to lose and you do stupid soykaf like this but uh this seems retarded if you're an adult. its also nothing like phreaking, there's no fun knowledge or hacking. you're just stealing and putting yourself on the line in the same exact way. >i typically scan every other item man that silliness takes me back, do you also flip one cigarette in the box and call it your lucky?

>>36019 >>35320 >>35305 There's lots of people who actually benefit due to circumstances beyond their control. It's unfortunate that it incurs a marginal cost on the overall public, but perhaps you should be wondering why we are incurring any costs for basic necessities of life.

>>33400 >Stores have a metric called "breakage" which is due to error/theft/etc. and they factor that into their pricing >They don't "pay extra" beyond what they otherwise would if you didn't steal You realize these two sentences are claiming exactly the opposite things right? >>36022 I don't see how choosing to steal soykaf is a circumstance beyond one's control.

>>36019 >man that silliness takes me back, do you also flip one cigarette in the box and call it your lucky? And loss prevention hears the "it was just an accident" thing from every single person they bust and they have a routine for building cases that shoot holes straight through such claims. Op will be in for a massive reality check when not only does LP not believe him but actively breaks the law and lies themselves, the police reporting is inaccurate, and he shows up to court and he's given an option between a suspended sentence, restitution, community service, and probation or potentially several years in jail if he doesn't take the plea. Meaning he never gets to even try to use his "accident" defense, never gets justice for when LP roughed him up in the backroom freight elevator, never gets to contest what the cops wrote in his report.

>>36024 They're not choosing. Are you fuarrrking retarded? They lack the essentials, and have no other way to get them. >>36038 Let's cut their hands off. Honestly, I'm not surprised lainchan is full of ancap retards.

>>36041 It's proof the userbase of LC is mostly under the age of 25, I'd say.

>>36052 True. Once they become responsible for keeping themselves alive, they're apt to change their tune mighty fast...

>>36041 >They lack the essentials, and have no other way to get them I get the impression that people who talk like this have never had any meaningful interaction with poor people. Petty theft of a half dozen eggs is not actually going to improve anybody's situation.

>>36154 From your statement, I am dead certain you've never talked to poor or homeless people.

>>36041 This sounds like I'm condoning it? >not only does LP not believe him but actively breaks the law and lies themselves, the police reporting is inaccurate, and he shows up to court and he's given an option between a suspended sentence, restitution, community service, and probation or potentially several years in jail if he doesn't take the plea. Meaning he never gets to even try to use his "accident" defense, never gets justice for when LP roughed him up in the backroom freight elevator, never gets to contest what the cops wrote in his report. I'm just telling it the way that it is. I've had a handful of tense interactions with the cops, often over nothing. The only times they were actually cool to me was when I was guilty (Speeding, public intox)

>>36159 You're either black or don't know how to act around cops. I suppose there should be a caveat emptor for both of these groups of people.

>>36154 >Petty theft of a half dozen eggs is not actually going to improve anybody's situation. Yo some people run budgets down to coins, what happens when they have to miss the food bank hours? I was always able to think things through but you can't expect normal people to do the soykaf I did.

>>36154 uh, yes it will, because half a dozen eggs can easily be breakfast for two people-days and if you're literally out of cash & don't want to run up debt because you're not stupid, theft is a perfectly sensible choice.

>>36165 not trying to humble brag, since it's nothing to be pleased about, but I've survived on 1 egg/day as breakfast. it's hard as hell, but I just wanted to point out that when you're REALLY desperate, that little amount of food can go a long fuarrrking way,

>>36165 >if you're literally out of cash This thread is explicitly not about that situation. It's about when you have money to buy stuff, but want to steal a little more because you're a klepto.

>>36166 That sounds pretty tough. >>36167 >This thread is explicitly not about that situation Really? Because there seems to be a lot of discussion in this thread of that exact situation

>>36169 >there seems to be a lot of discussion in this thread of that exact situation Only after somebody tried to justify their thievery with the old "oh I'm just a poor bachelor who fell on hard times" The whole "oops, forgot to scan it" gambit is not going to work if you're not actually buying anything, just try it.

>>36167 Who cares if OP was an idiot, let's just change the subject to suit our needs. It's not like other threads don't change what's going on when the OP isn't tailed just right. >>36169 Exactly this. >>36171 That "gambit" worked for me when I needed it to, so I don't know what you're on about. It sounds more like you're salty for getting caught. It's nothing to really be embarrassed about, it happens.

>>33385 Wrong board buddy!

>>36160 >You're either black or don't know how to act around cops. I suppose there should be a caveat emptor for both of these groups of people. No you must live in mayberry. My mom was smug like this until the day she got her car tossed. She actually whined that it was unfair that they go after old ladies now.

>>36199 lol based mayberry.

The bins behind the store are free

Lot of lainons in this thread citing the automatic weight scales in most machines nowadays and forgetting the social engineering aspect of the game. These machines aren't exactly running quality software. They're running on beaten old sticky heaps of junk and have likely sat in those stores for almost a decade now, ergo, they're prone to the occasional bug and the workers know this. Just omit scanning the most expensive items, about 2-3 maybe, or manually select the wrong thing from the bakery section that roughly matches the weight, then the scales are less likely to go off. If the machine says the weight doesn't match, just give a tired worker a dejected look of tired defeat and they'll come over, swipe their card and fix the problem. Free discount.

>>33371 this is 'hacking the system' in the same way that sucker punching someone and taking their wallet is hacking the system

>>38673 I second this. You can literally get food waste and it will still be edible and will be free. Just wait for the right time.

>>38793 what's the right time?

>>39456 I sometimes get free donuts near end of closing of donut shops. They throw out stuff that has gone a little stale or not as fresh as their standard but often still good. If you caitch them and just ask they will give it to you and you wont even have to wade through the trash bin.

>>39479 also pizza companies will give out extra pizzas to hobos

>>38737 >silently robbing a multi-billion dollar company is the same as robbing an innocent smuck on the street the bootlicking is strong with this one

>>33394 The losses are neglectable for them. Supermarkets make a lot of their money outside of selling products to consumers. Since they have a very strong power in the negociations with their suppliers (they buy huge quantities, and the distributors need them not the other way around) they get very long delay of payments (several months). On the other hand since they are B2C they get paid right away. So they end up with a ton of working capital (cashflow) they can invest. And that's how they make a good share of their money. The same as true for tour operator. It's part of their business model. It's all about scales. They are aware that by having those self-checkout robots there will more thief but they save more by cutting down on staff than they lose on the goods. Anyway these guys waste so much, because of absurd rules they throw away perfectly good food everyday. Theft is simply added to that, and it's considered a normal operational loss. They wouldn't mess with their carefully crafted prices. I don't steal because I'm not a criminal, but I wouldn't worry about supermarkets' finances or the cost of theft on society, in this case.

>>33394 Good to see another noble soul.

>>33371 Everyone at my college buys expensive stuff by putting cheap stuff on top of it at the scale. Everyone at the cafeteria knows, they don't care because they're not paid enough.

>>39492 It's called being clamped. I bet he also makes sure to get his free flu shot so the grocery store gives him 15% off his groceries.