Is it possible to shoplift your own store and get away with it?

[Archinist]

So let's say you have billions of dollars and resources, and you own a gigantic chain of stores, AND all of the industrial land, factories, etc. But one night you become very hungry after an excessively lengthy trip in your hypersonic flying submarine yacht spacecraft and decide to pinch some sugar-free gummy bears from one of your stores. A customer sees you and decides to report you.

What happens in this scenario, and how would it differ from a much smaller private business consisting of less than $100k total value?

[Lord Revan]

No it's not possible as no major company in the modern age has a single "owner" they got at most a majority shareholders and being a majority shareholder DOES NOT entitle you to take what you please from the storeshelves, majority shareholders, CEOs and such will get a signifigant company discount on the items but they're not allowed to just take it (that's bloody economics 101, item you don't sell is not gonna any profit but also it's gonna cost you).

TL:DR:shoplifting is a crime regardless who owns the company.

[The_Saint]

If it's a large chain store then there's a large disconnect between you the owner and the shop staff so likely the staff will follow whatever theft protocols are in place and you might end up getting charged for theft.

Having said that it's YOUR store so 1) it's going to seem like odd behaviour for a multi-billionaire but 2) someone will probably right it off as some odd 'undercover boss' security test.

Lord Revan beat me to the big stores

For a "small" store (your less than $100k value) .... I know of and have even worked at many small businesses where shop stock was used by staff. Bars and pubs, if even logged, it was at the cash register alongside written off stock. So you entered in the sale and marked it as a staff 'purchase' but no money changed hands. We couldn't drink on the job and off duty didn't hang around so we never drank enough to put a dent in the bar profits.

Most small corner store/take away stores would do the same. The store has bought the product at wholesale prices, that item just never brings in a profit.

Point of sale systems usually have the ability to log an item as "purchased" but with no payment if not just written off such that at the end of the month the business knows why they are down one pack of gummy bears.

[Ziggy Stardust]

I mean, yes, it is POSSIBLE to shoplift your own store and get away with it, regardless of whether or not you are a billionaire that magically owns every aspect of this corporate chain directly or you are "just" a real-life billionaire who is a major stockholder in the parent corporation or whatever. It's also possible for that same billionaire to shoplift a store they don't own and get away with it. Shoplifting isn't that difficult, depending on the size/type of store and its location (for example, stores in the suburbs may have more lax security measures than stores in inner cities). That doesn't mean the billionaire is entitled to do so, or has any more right to do so than a random thief. But, strictly speaking, it's silly to claim that it ISN'T possible, because shoplifting is one of the most prevalent crimes in the western world precisely because it is relatively easy to get away with.

Conversely, it is also possible for them to shoplift and NOT get away with it. A billionaire is never going to get any serious direct punishment for shoplifting the way our justice system is currently structured, though I can imagine it being quite a scandal that would cause other repercussions for that billionaire and the corporation in general.

[Simon_Jester]

So let's say you have billions of dollars and resources, and you own a gigantic chain of stores, AND all of the industrial land, factories, etc. But one night you become very hungry after an excessively lengthy trip in your hypersonic flying submarine yacht spacecraft and decide to pinch some sugar-free gummy bears from one of your stores. A customer sees you and decides to report you.

Zeroth question: why would anyone with that kind of money do that?

The only reason why anyone with that kind of money would ever steal stuff from a store is if they have kleptomania. Kleptomania is a form of mental illness- insanity- which causes you to steal things you don't have to, when it doesn't make sense.

Remember what I said in the thread with the drunken helicopter pilot. RICH PEOPLE DO THINGS FOR REASONS. They don't act randomly or impulsively. If they do, they will predictably lose all their money in a short amount of time. We can see this with people from lower-class backgrounds who become very rich without gaining a lot of intelligence and education along the way, such as athletes. Athletes who are rich sometiimes continue acting like a bunch of chavs- only now they're chavs with a big pile of money. Thing is, acting like a chav with a pile of money is a good way to end up poor again.

...

For that matter, billionaires don't even visit normal stores. When you're a billionaire, you can afford to have someone whose only job is to go to the store for you and buy whatever you want, while you do things that you actually enjoy. You could have a whole team of such people, if you wanted. And you should have them! Because one of the ways millionaires "grow" into billionaires is by NOT wasting their time doing things that don't make them money and/or aren't fun.

When you're a billionaire, you travel where you want to go by private jets, helicopters, and limousines. You have no reason to be in a store unless you specifically wanted to go to that store. And if you do go to that store, you know damn well that you will have no trouble paying for anything you want, including the store itself. So why NOT pay for it? It costs time and energy to deal with the consequences of not paying for it.

...

Now, if through some utterly ridiculous sequence of events.

Firstly, the odds are good you get grabbed by store security, because most billionaires are not recognized.

Secondly, they'll have to make their identity known to the store manager or the head of security. At this point, said person MIGHT let them go because, well, nobody working for a store needs the amount of trouble the billionaire owner of the store chain can make for them. On the other hand, if news of this ever gets out, people will start wondering if the billionaire owner who makes key decisions regarding the chain of stores is actually a sane person. If he's crazy, maybe he'll make crazy decisions. The value of stock in the store chain will go down. This can result in the billionaire losing millions of dollars- a LOT more money than the price of some damn gummy bears.

What happens in this scenario, and how would it differ from a much smaller private business consisting of less than $100k total value?

If the owner of a small business decides to consume their own merchandise, the odds are much better that no one will notice or care. On the other hand, that person is literally eating their own potential profits, and they know that.

If someone consumes a LOT of stuff they bought for their business, they may get in trouble for tax fraud- because business income and personal income are taxed differently.

[RogueIce]

Ziggy I think it's more about the legal technicalities ("Is it technically theft?") rather than can he walk out without being noticed.

In the case of a large chain store, I'm not sure how it break down. Probably not because of the corporate thing, it would be less shoplifting and more a misuse of company assets? Though on such a small scale I doubt the Board of Directors will care.

For the smaller, individually owned store it's not at all: you bought it to sell, if you decide to eat it instead that's up to you. It was your product to do as you please with. No different than throwing out spoilage, except you're eating the pack of gummy bears rather than tossing it.

[Crazedwraith]

This seems like a question that you could have easily googled, Archinist.

Also the title was phrased in such a way that I had visions of someone trying to shoplift an entire building, or contents thereof. Like can I shoplift enough stuff to stock my own shop?

[Broomstick]

For that matter, billionaires don't even visit normal stores. When you're a billionaire, you can afford to have someone whose only job is to go to the store for you and buy whatever you want, while you do things that you actually enjoy. You could have a whole team of such people, if you wanted. And you should have them! Because one of the ways millionaires "grow" into billionaires is by NOT wasting their time doing things that don't make them money and/or aren't fun.

Well, yeah, they might go to a normal store, if they want to, if they enjoy shopping, if they go for a drive and need to put gas in their car* and get a pack of gummy bears in the convenience store nearby... but the big difference is billionaires don't have to do any of that the way we do.

The only reason a billionaire is going to shoplift a package of gummy bears is
1) They forget to pay on the way out - which isn't technically shoplifting, it's forgetting to pay and easily remedied by saying "oops - he's the money for that", or
2) They get some sort of thrill out of minor theft (that kleptomania thing - although kleptomania is a compulsion to steal, not just thieving for kicks you actually can stop at any time.

* I recently visited a billionaire in his own home. He doesn't have to pump his own gas or even drive his own car (iin fact, I got borrow his driver for a day of tourist stuff) but he probably does do at least some of his own driving and gas purchasing because as we got ready to leave he correctly steered us the local gas station with the best price on gas. Or maybe he looked it up on his computer. He does sometimes do his own driving and despite having billions he doesn't just throw money away - you don't keep billions by being stupid. As has been pointed out.

What happens in this scenario, and how would it differ from a much smaller private business consisting of less than $100k total value?

If the owner of a small business decides to consume their own merchandise, the odds are much better that no one will notice or care. On the other hand, that person is literally eating their own potential profits, and they know that.

If someone consumes a LOT of stuff they bought for their business, they may get in trouble for tax fraud- because business income and personal income are taxed differently.

Oddly enough, I've seen that happen - one of the problems that led to the downfall of a former employer, the Great Pumpkin Harpy, (see reference and link in sig) involved her business bleeding money because both she and the Store Manager were prone to dipping into the till. Also, some of their employees were stealing. Actually, there were a lot of problems there, but basically, for a small business owner, not only does stealing from your own business mess up the profits, it also fucks up the accounting which will lead to big, big trouble if/when you get audited by the IRS or something else calls you to the attention of the authorities. Embezzling is still embezzling even if you are the owner.

One difference between a billionaire and the typical small business owner is that a billionaire is likely to be able to pay any resulting fines from misconduct out of his pocket change, whereas it might financially break a small business owner.

[Broomstick]

This seems like a question that you could have easily googled, Archinist.

I think he likes having actual human beings explain things to him.

Also - googling is going to result in a bajillion hits, with some percentage of them bad information, so for someone as clueless as Archinist running it by actual intelligent beings makes some small amount of sense.

Also the title was phrased in such a way that I had visions of someone trying to shoplift an entire building, or contents thereof. Like can I shoplift enough stuff to stock my own shop?

That's how some of the folks down at my local flea market operate. Well, they do it until they get caught and sent to jail, selling stolen goods is a crime after all. Couple years ago the guy selling bicycles down at the flea market got busted because apparently all his stock was stolen. That sort of thing. It is not, however, the normal way to run a business.

[General Zod]

I believe this would be considered embezzlement.

[Imperial528]

If your store insures its goods, then getting away with it via corporate clout may be considered a form of insurance fraud.

[Zixinus]

Archinist: this is one of those "people in that situation wouldn't ever think of doing that" things. If you are a billionaire and just been jetting around the continent, why would you even go into the supermarket chains you owe? Shoplifting wouldn't even be a ridiculous occurrence.

To a billionaire, doing regular old shopping would never occur to them. They have personal assistants, secretaries, drivers, cooks, maids, etc. under their employ that he would simply ask to do it. They can literary ask their driver, if the have a whim to get stuff from the supermarket they own, to go in and get it for them. Hell, they could hire a prostitute and do it and more. But billionaire probably wouldn't buy stuff off the street to begin with either.

But if by some miracle they are on the edge of starvation and find a supermarket they (even partially) own and by another miracle they have no employees or methods of payment, they don't need to shoplift. They can simply go up to the manager, identify themselves with the help of phonecalls or personal ID (if that is even necessary, if the buy really "owns" the supermarket, they can just look him up). Then the billionaire owner can happily help himself to whatever he wants because nobody is going to tell the big boss what they can't do. Hell, the manager would pay for it out of his/her own pocket just for the hope of a good impression and some goodwill to trickle down the line.

[J]

This happens:

[General Zod]

Unless you're a kleptomaniac like Lindsay Lohan. Then you get a slap on the wrist.

[madd0ct0r]

Yeah there's been quite a few prominent people charged with shoplifting over the years. The fact they were charged is one answer for the ops question.

It's also a bit of a rebuke to those who say billionaires don't do things like that. Plenty of them indulge in risk seeking behaviour from piolting small aircraft to klepotomania. The thrill of beating your own store could be real indeed.

[muse]

Just repeat these words until you're shot or they let you go.

[Simon_Jester]

* I recently visited a billionaire in his own home. He doesn't have to pump his own gas or even drive his own car (iin fact, I got borrow his driver for a day of tourist stuff) but he probably does do at least some of his own driving and gas purchasing because as we got ready to leave he correctly steered us the local gas station with the best price on gas. Or maybe he looked it up on his computer. He does sometimes do his own driving and despite having billions he doesn't just throw money away - you don't keep billions by being stupid. As has been pointed out.

Right. I was oversimplifying for Archinist's benefit. His past threads ("people eat food covered with gold," "rich friend with drunk helicopter pilot," and so on) suggest that he doesn't have a clear concept

And in the spirit of telling children the Earth is a sphere before telling them it's actually an oblate spheroid, I went for the simple explanation first. Billionaires don't normally spend a lot of time going to normal stores; it's not unheard of but it's far less common, especially if they'd have to go out of their way or spend any time doing it. Most of us can think of things we'd prefer to do with our time than go to a convenience store, if we had a minion or two to do it for us.