It has been less than two weeks since Maoist shock collar enthusiast Hasan Piker and New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino discussed their views on micro-looting with the NY Times titled “The Rich Don’t Play by the Rules. So Why Should I?”
What the article didn’t mention is that Piker, who says he steals anything he can get away with, is a millionaire living in a $3 million home in Los Angeles. The idea that he should get a pass because “the rich” aren’t playing by the rules is pretty counterintuitive.
Anyway, I don’t want to blame this all on Piker and Tolentino. In fact, I suspect they are just reflecting a point of view that is probably relatively common among younger, left-wing people (including those with lots of money like Piker).
And as always, corporations don’t get to choose the world we live in, they just have to respond to the one we’ve got. Which I think helps explain a few recent stories about big chains moving away from self-service.
Walmart is eliminating self-checkout machines as the retail giant continues its experiment with automation.
The company has been slowly removing the machines from its stores to go old school and bring back traditional cashier lanes…
A company spokesperson insisted to the outlet that the shift is about customer service, presenting it as a way to shorten lines and increase efficiency…
However, self-checkout kiosks are also extremely vulnerable to theft, and experts say the rise in shoplifting is the real reason they’re being cut.
How common is self-checkout theft? Well according to this story from January 2024, it’s pretty common with younger people.
According to a recent LendingTree survey of 2,000 Americans, nearly half of Gen Z respondents said they steal the most expensive item from their cart, while only 37% said they would only lift necessities.
But some have said the criminal behavior is a means of vindication.
“We have so many companies that don’t care about their customers, only making money,” one sticky-fingered teen dished to Vice in 2020. At the time, there was a surge in shoplifting tips and tricks going viral online.
They added: “If we can punish the corporation, we feel we have done our best.”…
“I don’t believe that stealing from large corporations is immoral, as it detracts from systems that exploit its workers and resources for economic gain,” one 19-year-old told Dazed last year.
Young anti-capitalists think it’s a virtue to steal from big corporations. These are Hasan’s people, the ones who make up his audience and they are having an impact. Lost of retailers, not just Walmart, are feeling the need to dial back on self-checkout. Target is another example, though they went out of their way to deny this change in their stores was about theft.
Retail giant Target has limited self-checkout to customers with 10 items or less, but denies claims the move is due to theft.
Like several other retail stores, the Minneapolis store has been hit with huge losses due to shoplifting, but says the checkout change is all about helping customers get in and out smoothly. A representative told Fox News Digital the change has been in the works for over a year, and was spurred on by internal testing that showed it increased customer satisfaction.
But industry experts say theft is a major reason behind the shift…
In one dramatic case that captured national attention, a California woman was convicted of stealing over $60,000 in merchandise from Target stores by using self-checkout machines during a 100-visit crime spree. ABC7 News reported that she would scan items, insert a small coin or bill, and simply walk out the door.
Other companies have been a bit more honest about theft driving these decisions.
Dollar General has also scaled back. The company announced in April it would eliminate self-checkout from 300 of its stores with the most theft…
Meanwhile, Five Below is phasing out self-checkout almost entirely. As CEO of Five Below in 2024, Joel Anderson said during an earnings call that most locations would be using associate-assisted checkouts, especially those prone to theft.
Today, there are a couple of stories circulating about McDonalds ending self-serve drink machines. The company has been talking about this for a couple of years but now it’s happening. Once again, McDonalds won’t say theft is the reason.
McDonald’s is quietly ending the era of self-serve soda fountains nationwide.
The shift, years in the making, is part of a broader effort by McDonald’s to modernize its restaurants, reduce labor and maintenance demands, and adapt to changing consumer habits that increasingly favor takeout, delivery and drive-thru service over dining in.
The company won’t say it but some franchise owners will.
“It’s an evolution towards convenience and (the result of) the growth of digital service,” Mikel Petro, an Illinois McDonald’s operator, told the State Journal-Register at the time.
Other franchise owners who spoke with the newspaper also cited food safety, theft protection and dwindling numbers of dine-in customers as motivating factors for the change.
This is the same trend that resulted in every drug store needing to put all of the products in plastic cases. Micro-looting is just shoplifting by another name and, unfortunately, there are a lot of young people who think it’s a great idea and plenty of influencers happy to support it as an attack on captialism.
Editor’s Note: The American people overwhelmingly support President Trump’s law and order agenda.
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