Resolute Wal-Mart shopper attempts to self-checkout $5 plasma

While we've certainly seen more dramatic heists before, this particular run-in with the law melds cleverness and ignorance in perfect harmony. After conjuring up grandiose thoughts of subversion, a less-than-reasonable fellow managed to snag a 42-inch Sanyo plasma, replace the $984 pricetag with a slightly less burdensome $4.88 sticker, and carry it to the front where he utilized a self-checkout register to all but steal a brand new PDP. Presumably grinning from ear to ear just basking in the glory of his brilliance, we imagine the mood went south quite quickly after store officers approached the man and demanded a receipt. Of course, he attempted to sweet talk his way out of the predicament, but the end result landed him in handcuffs at the Ouachita Correctional Center. Can't blame a guy for tryin', eh?

[Via BoyGeniusReport, image courtesy of NACOP]

[jilie @ Jun 30th 2007 10:56AM]

iStole it

[coolme @ Jun 30th 2007 10:57AM]

You know those self-checkout counters actually know the exact weight of the item(s) you're scaning, so it'd be dumb for anyone else to try this on any other item. Unless, of course they weight the same.

[DS Worth @ Jun 30th 2007 11:43AM]

You can press the skip bagging button and it won't be weighed. I suspect it's more likely they watch you a little closer when you purchase on the most expensive items in the store.

Walmart's clientel is not the brightest on the whole.

[JJ @ Jun 30th 2007 11:55AM]

Also, there are cameras at these self-checkout counters and an employee that oversees people checking out items. This man must not have thought about that thoroughly.

[jeff @ Jun 30th 2007 12:25PM]

Yea they may know the weight, but they only know what the product is based on the barcode. If he swapped the tag the register wouldnt know it was a TV, it would think it was whatever the tag he stuck on it was.

[Chuckles McGee @ Jun 30th 2007 1:18PM]

Yeah. If he was smart, he would have bought a really good plasma, but stuck the barcode from a crappy (but similiar sized) plasma onto his unit. Come on, "Sanyo" looks about the same name-wise as "Sony", especially to your standard illiterate Walmartian.

[Intrepido @ Jun 30th 2007 11:05AM]

I would at least paid $9.99 for it

[ash @ Jul 3rd 2007 12:32AM]

haha, this is too funny

[humpty @ Jun 30th 2007 11:14AM]

How good are those sub $1k, 42 inch plasma panels?

[CL @ Jun 30th 2007 11:15AM]

I happen to live in this place, it's a hick town none the less and what a way to finally make it to national headlines...

[J. Calhoun @ Jun 30th 2007 11:42AM]

My home is in Monroe. Imagine my surprise when I initially skimmed the article and came upon "Ouachita Correctional Center."

[Kyler Boudreaux @ Jun 30th 2007 11:42AM]

Wal-Mart is simply a breeding place for people like this. How could this guy? A Sanyo TV?Honestly. Is it really worth over five dollars? Three fifty, four dollars tops.

[Bernard @ Jun 30th 2007 12:30PM]

What a moron. I would have given it a reasonable price tag. Like in the 200s. That way, you could have called it a somewhat honest mistake. 5 dollars for a TV? Even at walmart? Aint gunna happen, buddy.

[barnz2k @ Jun 30th 2007 12:45PM]

i can just see the guys expression thinking hes sooo smart hahaha lol. be funny if he got away with it though...

like we used to weigh confectionery as potatoes at the supermarket, potatoes about $1.20 a kilo, better than the $8 they charge for loose confectionery hahahhaha

[Clint @ Jun 30th 2007 12:54PM]

Dude, I live in Monroe and trust me, everyone here is stupid... So many stupid people so little room.. but hey, at least we made it on CNN!!!

[Einhanderkiller @ Jun 30th 2007 11:09PM]

You called yourself stupid.

[r0yrul3z @ Jul 1st 2007 8:06PM]

I don't think he said he wasn'tor denied it.

[Stan @ Jun 30th 2007 1:06PM]

Explain the story a little better next time. The guy actually presented a receipt for a different (presumably cheaper) TV that he recently bought at a different Wal-Mart. So he wasn't try to pass off a $5 TV at the door. He probably hoped the receipt checker would just give a cursory, "yeah that's a TV" check and let him through not noticing the different model and location.

[Davis Collins @ Jun 30th 2007 1:14PM]

How can he really be punished for this? I have bough twenty-five dollar games at Best Buy for four bucks before. It was accidentally marked down and they didn't care. I really don't think this guy should have been arrested.

[Matt Welke @ Jun 30th 2007 1:27PM]

When GT4 was first released, my mother was buying it as a gift for one of my brothers when she noticed that it was marked down as $17.99 (normal price $69.99) at a local Walmart. She presented it to the cashier to buy it among a few other things and the cashier didn't even think twice about its pricetag. This sort of thing happens a lot more often than people think. :P

[LC @ Jun 30th 2007 1:28PM]

"How can he really be punished for this? I have bough twenty-five dollar games at Best Buy for four bucks before. It was accidentally marked down and they didn't care. I really don't think this guy should have been arrested."

Your situation was the stores mistake and you only paid $21 less than the actual cost so it was reasonable for you to expect that it was some kind of sale. This guy changed the sticker himself and the cost was almost $980 less than the actual cost. Even a crackhead sniffing paint fumes while licking LSD laced stamps would not reasonably expect that a 42-inch Plasma would sell for $4.88.

[Kasey @ Jun 30th 2007 1:34PM]

Are you serious?

[Sketh @ Jun 30th 2007 6:51PM]

25 compared to 4, 1000 compared to 5. "Ya, no difference there", he said sarcastically.

[Trace The Hedgehog @ Jun 30th 2007 2:52PM]

aw man, last time I saw the DS Lites marked to $19.99 and some lady bought one and they didnt care. I was so mad because I didnt have ANY money with me.

[slyecho @ Jul 1st 2007 9:57AM]

A friend of mine wanted to buy an Xbox 360 in december 2005, he went to the store to buy a Core pack, but they gave him a Premium instead. He explained it to them, but they didn't care. So he got it for the price of the Core.

[HyperHacker @ Jul 22nd 2007 10:54AM]

I once went to buy an electric outlet timer ($5 sticker price), and decided to check it at one of those price-check machines on the way out. One cent. Needless to say, I used the self-checkout for that one. :-D

[MarkG @ Jun 30th 2007 1:48PM]

He should have got a pal to go in earlier and put a cheap price sticker on it. Then, even if he got caught, there wouldn't be anything to link him to the price changing.

[Chris @ Jun 30th 2007 2:05PM]

That would definitely be safer, but as we already established... he's an idiot.

[William @ Jul 1st 2007 5:14AM]

Instead he should of got a job application for Wal-Mart. Put a TV from stock in the Dumpster. Have someone come pick it up later. Hey it's worked before. A guy finally got caught after stealing something like $130,000 worth of merchandise from Wal-Mart.

[Simon @ Jun 30th 2007 2:26PM]

However staff allowed a subsequent customer who paid $984 for a family size pack of gum to leave the store with no intervention.

[serotoninzero @ Jul 1st 2007 2:38PM]

Hahaha.

[ash @ Jul 3rd 2007 12:32AM]

too funny

[Dave @ Jun 30th 2007 2:32PM]

This whole story is total BS. Self checkers read the bar code, which isn't on the price tag. Changing the price tag is meaningless.

[Rolfcopter_Down @ Jun 30th 2007 4:46PM]

The barcode is on the price tag...

[ChrisSchwartz @ Jun 30th 2007 7:24PM]

You do realize that you can print bar codes at home and stick them on to products in the store.

[Sketh @ Jun 30th 2007 6:51PM]

Saddest part of the story, he stole a SANYO! At least go for the Sony. Thieves have no taste.

[Josh @ Sep 27th 2007 7:53PM]

I'm pretty sure Walmart doesn't carry Sony. At least the ones I have been to.

[Rob @ Jun 30th 2007 11:01PM]

Oh man this is funny.
Wal-Mart of all places.
What a clown.

[Brian @ Jun 30th 2007 11:11PM]

I didn't read the posts to see if anyone had this idea.

What if you bought the plasma one day. Then the next day went and bought another using this $4 trick. Then when asked to produce a reciept show the first days. Once you've successfully swept the second plasma to your Batcave, return the first plasma using the legitimate receipt.

[Brian @ Jun 30th 2007 11:18PM]

wow reading the original article, thats actually what he did do. sucks for him. i think maybe a different date maybe if you did it on like 6/30 then 7/30 you might get lucky and get away with it

[Crackerasscracker @ Jun 30th 2007 11:26PM]

The guy paid the price Walmart pays chinese workers to make the TVs, so it's not like they would lose any money.

[jRojas @ Jul 1st 2007 1:12AM]

my bro did something similar, at a small local grocery store, he replaced the price sticker of a bag of sugar with the price sticker or a cheaper item, the guy was like "huh, sugar is cheap now"....he was 11 at the time...

[tomesnyder @ Jul 1st 2007 9:51AM]

Amazing how immoral some people can be--encouraging theft!

[Huddy @ Jul 1st 2007 11:54AM]

Maybe this guy can get me an IPhone for $5. I sure have my hopes up for this.

-Huddy

http://www.myspacetrader.com

[jaywarrietto @ Jul 1st 2007 9:37PM]

should have just stole it. they changed their shoplifting policy recently so I am told. they won't run after you or press charges.

[gweezil @ Jul 2nd 2007 1:48AM]

This story has to be crap. Wal-Mart doesn't put price tags on it's items. So, you can't switch tags. The price tags are on the shelf in front of the item. When you self check out, you scan the bar code on the packaging, and it's registered in the computer as a certain price. I call BS.

[Shaun Braley @ Jul 2nd 2007 4:58PM]

Or he could have just brushed by the receipt checker and probably gotten away with it. You've bought it, it's your's, they can't stop you, they have no right to stop you. I'm sure, of course, this guy paid with a credit card, so it wouldn't have been very difficult to find him, later...

[noah @ Jul 3rd 2007 12:08AM]

yeah, but this is a green wal-mart, so anything is possible.

[wal-mart= extremely small-mart @ Jul 24th 2007 1:18PM]

Green, Blue they're all the same...ive been 2 both
green and blue...nothings different except the sizes and items.