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In these desperate times, even basic necessities like groceries are becoming a luxury for more and more New Yorkers. Thankfully, there's a way to adapt to a reduced income without sacrificing your appetite—assuming you don't have any ethical qualms about theft. One local freelancer who often subsists on a very limited budget has for years eaten like a gourmand by stealing groceries from fine supermarkets. This person agreed to speak with us on the condition of anonymity, for obvious reasons, and shared some invaluable tips for hungry shoppers in search the best five finger discounts in town.
How often do you shoplift? I used to do it very often, almost every day. Now it’s a little less.
How many times a week? Maybe twice a week.
Where do you usually hit? I have a few rotations with Whole Foods, one of the main targets because I’ve figured out the structure, the infrastructure of the place.
You’ve figured out the infrastructure? Correct. I call them blind spots, there are a lot of blind spots.
Okay, I want to talk about your technique in a minute. But where else do you boost? Key Foods occasionally, and then if something is on my way and I want to employ the more improvisational style, I can do that.
What's the average dollar amount of your shoplifting haul per week? $100
What's the biggest score you've made at Whole Foods? Over $50 in one day. I don't remember the exact dollar amount but it was three pounds of wild tuna, two pounds cod fish, one pound of walnuts, three pieces of brie cheese, four carry-on bags of pre-made sushi, one bottle of the best quality Italian olive oil.
What is your ethnicity? I am not American.
Okay, but what do you look like? I am very attractive, very dynamic and full of life and a hopeful future.
Have you ever been caught? I came close once, but I managed to unload the goods before they approached me and I played it out because I knew it was no longer in my bag. They didn’t see me taking it out but they clearly saw me putting it in, so I created a huge scene. I called the manager and I was screaming that I was outraged and so forth.
You flipped it on them? Absolutely. I didn’t appreciate the fact that they took me for a non-professional.
How did you know they were on to you? Just experience. I’ve been doing this for close to six, seven years already, so you get that sense. Even if they don’t look at you directly, it’s the fraction of a second that you feel it.
Do you think the secret to your success is your experience? That’s a part of it, that’s an aspect to it. The second aspect is that it’s out of necessity. This is not for pleasure; you do this because you need to be healthy to continue with your job and your career and maintain yourself in good shape. Because it has a practical application, it adds to the confidence and adds to the purpose and that’s ultimately why it’s a successful adventure.
Do you remember the first thing you shoplifted? Of course, it was a sausage. It was a really expensive sausage that I put under my pants.
You say it’s a necessity, so you don’t feel any moral guilt about stealing? Absolutely not, it’s a job like any other job; it requires professionalism, requires effort, requires time. It’s not an easy thing. And there's a certain amount of risk, like any venture that you get into, any business you get into.
Do you have any advice for aspiring shoplifters? Yes. First, choose your locations carefully, number one. Don't start right away, go there several times, walk around, get to know the people who work there, especially the ones who don't dress in uniform. Number two, the most important: get to know the camera system. You don’t want to be directly under the camera, you don’t want to be in front of the camera, you want to find blind spots, this is my technical term. Beyond the corner or the bottom reach of the camera.
Number three, always have an exit strategy. Meaning put things in different places, in your pocket or under your pants. Don’t do it right away. First you take the item and walk with it for a little bit. Then when the moment is right and the inspiration is correct, you put it in there. And you don’t run away right away, you stay and shop in the store for awhile until the energy comes down and then you calmly walk out. But the bottom line is don’t rush, don’t rush.
So you’ll pick up something at one part of a store but you won’t immediately put it in your coat until a different part of the store? Exactly, it comes from experience. There’s an energy climax and you feel it. When you’re not ready, when you’re afraid or you’re unsure, this is the wrong time to do it, you’ll definitely get caught. You have a fraction of a second when you know what needs to be done and you do it at that moment.
What about alarm systems? Well, groceries never trigger alarms and I usually keep my criminal activities around grocery stores. But I have done a few things with alarm systems; there is a technique to it. There are some stores in which alarms just go on occasionally and the guard and the employees get tired of it. So there are places that are safer to do it. If you do it and get caught somewhere with an alarm system you have to play it as cool as you can and just look really puzzled and come back and so forth. In that situation you have to make the best out of it.
Do you have a plan if you’re caught? Yes. You have to say that you have a lot of money and you're clearly not intending to steal; it was kind of a drunk bet you made with your friend about stealing a sausage from a supermarket. And you apologize and hope for the best.
Are there any places you’re afraid to shoplift? Grocery stores near my home. It’s not necessarily that I’m afraid, it’s just they know me too well and you know there’s a good saying: Don’t cut the tree branch you’re sitting on.
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You have got to be kidding me.
besides the fact that this is an uninteresting article, i find it immoral that gothamist is even promoting this type of thing..... not that the article shares anything beyond common sense. "not american". shocker.
what a POS...full of life my ass, more like so bored I have to steal $10 items from whole foods to get kicks.
Oh yeah, it's a job. Let's all do it. Oh, wait that wouldn't work. Would it?
In the end , his gain is our loss since all the shoplifting losses get passed on to the honest customer.
shut the fuck up all of you bougie snootie self righteous assholes. you have to do what you have to do to survive. I have shoplifted before because I had to to eat. Lets see what all of you do when the shit really hits hits the fan. Sink or swim fuckwads.
You are a thief
"I stole a loaf of bread."
You robbed a house.
"I broke a window pane.
My sister's child was close to death
And we were starving."
You will starve again
Unless you learn the meaning of the law
This ass-hat stole tuna and olive oil, hardly necessities to survive.
^sorry, that was in response to the above reply from vwilde
Stealing fish and olive oil is so beyond stealing to survive. You can eat well on a budget, especially if you choose a vegetarian diet. This guy is a self centered dipshit. The kind of guy who you meet at a party and immediately sense his douche-bagginess.
Why does he have to live in NY? Really? He must live in NY to survive, even if it means stealing from other people?
When I ran out of money as a 21 year old I moved back to MA where life was cheaper so that I could save money and come back. This guy is just an asshole.
HI-HO!!
The sad part is the rest of us pay for it. There are people in those stores that can barely afford what they're buying, but not stealing. The criminal in this article is a sociopath who is glamorizing theft. I also don't believe she (I believe the self description is that of a woman) has never been caught and thrown out of the stores that had been robbed. As times get tougher there will be more stealing (The word "shoplifting" sort of gentrifies theft). You can almost forgive a down and outer for robbing food because another way cannot be found. The Robin Hood myth doesn't carry much weight in this day and age, in theory, he gave the swag away to those less fortunate, if you believe the fairy tale. This thief steals only for herself.
What the hell makes you think it's a "she"?? If that picture is any indication (not saying that it is, but why wouldn't it be), that's clearly a dude's hand.
Have you ever heard a guy describe himself as "attractive"?
This is the stupidest article I’ve ever read on dumbist.
I particularly like this part:
What is your ethnicity? I am not American.
I agree, this is a pointless article that doesn't really keep people's interest and promotes poor behaviour. It could have been humorous and clever... perhaps the author is not capable of such prose.
"I am very attractive, very dynamic " really dude? Fuck you.
C'mon, this "shoplifter" is obviously John Del Signore. You know gothamist isn't paying him enough to buy food at whole paycheck. Anyway, I used to steal batteries when I was a kid but wised up when I realized that for such a petty thing you could actually go to jail for, not to mention be publicly humiliated. The moral of the story is that it's better to steal billions of dollars like madoff and live under house arrest then to steal pizza slices and go to jail for life like a black guy. http://www.threestrikes.org/sfchronicle_0.html
Such a strawman. Has Madoff been convicted of anything, yet? Did the pizza stealer also have bail set for him?
Don't worry--Madoff will go to jail.
This post was quite possibly the biggest piece of shit ever, and hope that you all don't continue with dumb ass posts about glorifying moronic people.
You can claim you did it for telling a story of poverty and people's plight, but this guy is possibly the least sympathetic guy you could have chosen. Thus, I would not buy that argument.
morals are for morons
People go to a food pantry because they have to eat; people bring in cans for deposit money when they have to eat; and yes, people may even shoplift when they have to eat -- but shoplifting fish, walnut, brie and olive oil from Whole Foods with all the due excitement (and probably feeling like it's ok because you're not hurting some small business owner, no? you're sticking it to the corporation!), seems kinda of "boogie snootie" to me. Guess he couldn't be bothered to stand in line at the food pantry or to get food stamps with the ordinary folks trying to scrape.
I would also like to call bullshit on this story for the mere fact that Whole Foods has a really remarkable security system. Sure, there may be blind spots but the thing about shoplifters is that they always go back to the scene of the crime if they are successful. a security team usually looks for patterns of the same shifty ass people who come back but never wait in lines at the grocery store. this dude probably shops at the same whole foods weekly. It would only be a matter of time before he got caught.
The way the seafood counter at Whole Foods works is the fish is weighed, wrapped and priced and handed to a customer who then puts it in a basket or cart. On 14th Street the seafood is sold on the lower level and the cashiers are up on the street level, The perp has plenty of time and space to take the package of fish and conceal it on their person and then either leave the store or get on one of the checkout lines and pay for other items. I imagine Whole Foods has a checks in place to know if items that were given to a customer ever reaches the cashier. There are a lot of holes in the story and I'm starting to disbelieve a lot of this report.
You've been reading The Corrections too much.
Crap, that was in response to Mr. Mel.
wow, gothamist is completely and shamelessly reaching now...is there a blog term for "jumping the shark"?
You folks could use at least some wit in your writing (and without the typos) by hiring anyone from gawker.
Then again, pretty much every article by Del Signore could be deleted and not one person would notice.
He's a wealthy trust funder who steals in protest of America's extravagant ways. Why else hit Whole Foods? Why not just steal a loaf of bread from A&P? Everyone i knew who was a shoplifter always had plenty of money and was doing it as a form of rebellion or protest. Pathetic.
Yellow Journalism at its finest...
You must be kidding me! This is the crap you publish. You interview an asshole who steals from the market and publish his story like he is a hero? We all pay higher prices because of people like him. No one steals fish, walnuts, brie and olive oil from Whole Foods to stay alive. He's a criminal and should be in jail.
Don't like it? Don't read it.
Good tips. Though I'll wait until you post a restaurant advert and then figure a way to use some of his suggestions to swindle a free meal from them. Or, better yet, if you want to post an outline demonstrating how to steal cable, that would be awesome. I wouldn't mind checking out what Showtime has to offer these days.
he's not american. we can only hope he gets caught and deported.
There goes Gothamist's revenue from Whole Foods advertisements.
What an ignorant, self-centered jerk... I can't believe he/she doesn't use reusable bags!
What kind of story is this? Anyone can make this up and write it themselves. The writer just happens to know a shoplifter??
How are they supposed to prove he was a shoplifter? I trust Gothamist, and don't need to resort to Freysian shit. Like what the man does or not, I read because I was curious, and it answered my questions. What's wrong with that?
Wouldn't security notice a person walking around with a paper bag over their head as being suspicious? Also if the person has been doing this for six years and averaging $100 a week that's over $30,000 which is grand larceny for sure. Time to give up the "no snitch" policy gothamist.
Gothamist should provide a roadmap on how to rob the author of this desctructive piece, now that Gothatmist has provided a roadmap for people to raise the cost of my family's grocery bill. Thanks!
babyhitler: The security blind spot that he is referring to is the same blind spot they have at many stores. This dude is obviously Asian. I cite the shirt and the bone structure as proof. Quiet Asian guy in that shirt? They're not looking for him to be racking tuna. Yeah, I'm a little racist. So are you.
dude isn't asian cause an asian dude would be giving the peace sign.
Love how this guy steals gourmet foods (sushi, brie, olive oil) and claims he's only doing what he needs to survive. I'd buy that a lot more if he was stealing bread and eggs from the local C-Town.
it's much easier to steal from fancy supermarkets than from C-town. And if he's gonna run the risk of getting caught, why not take nicer stuff? he'd go to jail either way, and in New York he'd have to break $1000 to make it grand larceny.
For everyone saying that this raises their food bill, know that supermarkets factor in a certain amount of theft into their bottom line. This is known as shrink. Whole Foods is a chain, and individual stores aren't going to be raising and lowering costs to compensate for higher or lower rates of theft. They expect it.
just sayin'
They've been doing this for 6-7 yrs.. Out of necessity?? wouldn't necessity be Finding a job??
jds is gothamist's best writer. this interview is interesting. what a bunch of jerkoffs.
man, i really hope you get caught. GET A FUCKING JOB and pay for things like real people. if you cant afford to be here then make it work like everyone else (legally) or move.
@gothamist - way to encourage the retarded, lazy, and unethical. there is nothing interesting about this.
@vwilde - you're also an idiot.
rbeshenk I think you are on to something about the Asian possibility. Look how the base of the hand meets the arm. See the extension? Now look at your hand and how it meets your arm. See the difference? Definitely Asian. That's caused by driving a delivery bike for a Pizza joint in the snow for eight years.
Asians don't deliver for Pizza joints. Mexicans do.
(imo, the most interesting aspect of this article are the comments.)
i thought this was a good, unique interview. a ncie straightforward approach to someone you don't really hear the thought process of. these people all wanna whine about how you're advocating shoplifting, which makes no sense, but whatever.
good read.
thanks.
next time interview someone who has to shoplift to live, not to maintain an adequate protein supply for his workout routine.
whoa maybe opening up comments for an interview wasn't the best idea?
this fucking sucks, btw.
This is absolutely ridiculous. What a waste of space. This guy sucks. The reporter obviously isn't much better.
"I didn’t appreciate the fact that they took me for a non-professional."
Ha! But they did correctly identify you as a shoplifter...
That's some ugly entryway to the apartment.
This local "freelancer" is a criminal and needs to be treated as such.
Sorry buddy, but if you are so poor you should be using foodstamps - thats what they are for. Or maybe you could just get a real freaking job so I don't having to subsidize your thieving and unethical ways.
Am I the only one who thinks this is AWESOME?
Yes.
Also, NBC New York has picked this up and linked to it, further propagating and legitimizing this stupidity.
"Don’t cut the tree branch you’re sitting on." is a turkish idiom. then again, i sometimes use corporate idioms at work although i'm not corporate. the person is dropping hints (i.e. "i'm not american") because he is narcissistic or simply doesn't like turks.
Lighten up people. It's an interesting article and I encourage gothamist to do more interviews with deviants, tricksters, and criminals. There is more to life then learning about chefs, actors, and do-gooders.
Bravo, @WorksInDUMBO I found the story riveting!
I did a little digging, and in NYC, your max earnings to qualify for food stamps is $1,037/month. Which is about what most people I know pay for rent.... And if you're gonna boost food, why choose crappy conventional A&P over wholesome organic Whole Foods? That doesn't make a lick of sense.
whatever happened to dumpster-diving?
that's benny hill.
I would be more concerned about theft by employees. when I worked in a supermarket, more goods went out the back door than the front. these were pre-surveillance days.
and, NY Press did a story on shoplifters over 12 years ago.
one thing the shoplifters did when they were about to get caught was to set the circular clothing rack on fire.
A friend who worked at Lord and Taylor told me that's the first time he heard of that.
shoplifters usually get held in the walk in freezer back then.
Why do I get the feeling this is some spoiled rich brat pretending to slum it and shoplifting strictly for the adrenaline rush? Hard times = intereston trust fund dipped slightly.
Anyway, I wouldn't accuse Gothamist of promoting shoplifting with this interview as some have. If you're the kind of person who reads this, slaps themselves on the forehead and suddenly goes out to steal from the nearest supermarket, that's not Gothamist's fault, that's bad parenting and/or faulty DNA or some other more fundamental character malfunction.
Here comes the goddamn Gus Van Sant movie...
YOUR BAD OPINIONS OF "THE SHOPLIFTER" DOES NOT MAKE IT A BAD THING TO WRITE ABOUT. Its nice to see an interview with someone different than an actor or some stupid hipster.
This guy obviously needs some counseling if he gets his jollies off lifting $50 worth of imported tuna and olive oil from Whole Foods.
What's next, Gothamist, an interview with a serial rapist? A crime is a crime, this is sensationalist and stupid.
lol, it was very open in his responses. I don't shoplift but I have sometimes eaten cookies and fruits in the store and not pay for it. NO evidence since it is in my belly. hahah, Now that Bloomberg stole the election and Madoff stole 50 billions, I don't judge this shoplifter at all.
Come on guys, this kid is just sticking it to the man.
It is an interesting article. if they only wrote articles that you agreed with then this world would surely be a mindnumbingly dull and boring place. That being said:
Shoplifting is NOT like any other job. Although you may be more successful if you are skillful at it and you adopt a professional approach, but it is still stealing. I am not a moralist, but what do you think happens when every little weakling gets it into his or her head that this is something that they can rationalize?
What makes this country great is our freedom. Although there is surveillance (there has to be) we come in and out of a grocery store and shop at our own free will. We shouldn't have to shop for our groceries from behind bullet-proof glass, or painstakingly remove security stickers from every piece of fruit we buy with vinegar and water. Let's hope, that with all these current economic boo-hoos, this type of "self" sustainability doesn't catch on.
anybody who thinks this guy is cool needs to smarten up. he is stealing from YOU.
If you're that desperate there's a thing called a food pantry most churches and community outreach centers have one. Guess he's just too cool for that.
...or too "attractive and dynamic" to eat in a soup kitchen.
Everyone then wonders why stores have to raise their prices. Regular customers are paying more because of shoplifting.
Can we get a nice follow-up story where he gets busted, prosecuted, incarcerated and violated?
"attractive and dynamic" does not work well with paper bag over head.
Whole Food is so easy. I don't think this story is made up.
The best thing do is just go there during busy times (lunch or dinner) and eat at their cafeteria. Is it my fault if I refuse to get on line with yuppie shitbags lined up like lemmings? You leave the place with nothing but a belly full of good food.
The rationalization herein is pathetic. Madoff stole, so it's okay if I do? C'mon, you're more of a grown-up than that.
First of all, a lesson in business. Whole foods is an ENORMOUS chain of food stores, and someone shoplifting from Union Square does not increase prices of the food. That's not the way it works- they're huge and they absorb the cost. In fact, most stores expect a certain level of shoplifting and incorporate that into their cost of operation. Furthermore, as previously stated, you have to be absolutely at the STATE poverty level to qualify for food stamps, which means that unless you have rent control or live in housing projects you probably don't qualify here. And why the hell should someone desperate need to be shoplifting mac and cheese when they can get wild tuna?? i mean isn't the point of stealing to take something you can't normally afford? Stick to Whole Foods, they can take it. And fuck all you squares pushing your "moral" agenda in the comments of a gothamist post
A lesson in business? You seem like the last guy fit to give a lesson in business.
A simple logic exists: When people steal, these losses have to be compensated somewhere. For sure they can take a hit in the bottomline but only so much, by promoting weekly regular theft (referring to it as a job...lol) prices will go up for those who don’t steal.
Same thing goes for taxes and insurance. When someone makes a living evading taxes and defrauding insurance, there is ultimately a shortfall and others end up paying for it.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a magical black hole where these costs disappear.
That being said, everyone cheats a little on taxes, embellishes an insurance claim and steals a chocolate bar at 14 years old...but to promote doing it as a living is pathetic and I feel sorry for this guy...I’m sorry that he (and you) is retarded and get find a better way to make (and save) money.
What a jackass this guy is. Stolen dollars must come from somewhere. Grocery stores must either raise prices or go out of business if they can't turn a profit after paying the "shoplifter tax" this guy and others impose on them. So that means I pay for this guy's food bills. Thanks guy.
He doesn't want to saw off the branch he's sitting on so he's sawing off the branch I'm sitting on.
Everybody is lucky until they get caught.
This man will learn this one day
Hopefully the hard way.
I tell you the thief, if she exists at all, is a woman. As evidence I submit the following from the author or his imagination:
"Have you ever been caught? I came close once, but I managed to unload the goods before they approached me and I played it out because I knew it was no longer in my bag. They didn’t see me taking it out but they clearly saw me putting it in, so I created a huge scene. I called the manager and I was screaming that I was outraged and so forth."
Only a woman could have gotten away with that.
Who wants to eat food out of some nasty theif's pants anyway?
Mmm, logical fallacy.
He mistook a necessary quality for a job - that you have to go to it regularly, that it is hard, etc - for a sufficient one. Just because it has that quality doesn't mean that it IS a job.
Also you don't rob people at a job (in theory, at least).
Twat.
A very uninteresting story about some asshole who thinks he's clever. Half the shit he says is not true for sure but the gothamist got what it wanted: some controversy, a full message board and attention from other news outlets. Definitely seems like an "inside job"
Well done...
posting this is so wrong on so many levels. the time of preaching Steal this book and five fingered discounts are over. these days we all know this guys thefts are paid for by the entire consumer base. they raise their prices to cover their shrink and WE have to pay for this guys crimes. what an ahole.
Gothamist should be ashamed. If he was homeless and was stealing to live i could even see posting this as pitable behavior, but he's not, he's doing it because he's spoiled.
Oh god, would you people get off this person's back?! It's not a big deal to steal some food here and there if you can't afford it or even if you can afford to buy it. Whole Foods does not loose any money on theft, all is recovered from those that are unfortunate to get caught. When you steal, you still want to eat normal good-tasting food, that's why this guy steal fish and such--this does not matter. Is he supposed to say, "Oh, i am going to get get some food, let me steal this week-old bread"? My god, WF makes SO much cash, a stolen loaf of bread, or even expensive olive oil is nothing for them, yet makes a ton of difference for the one who takes it for free. And wake up, so many people steal, it's like a national sport. Just walk into guards' office in Whole Foods--all four walls are filled with photographs of shoplifters, all ages, all colors. Damn, and don't you dare to compare a stolen candy to :oh, would you steal $10 from me" and "would you steal $800 billion from the country" crap! No, it's not the same. Most shoplifters would not steal from people, only from fat stores. Don't judge.
#63 chickblao--I completely agree.