Do you think what this woman did at Target counts as stealing candy? Commenters have mixed reactions to what she did.
The cardinal rule of shoplifting is never to steal from mom-and-pop shops or individuals. But for many people, controversial, multi-billionaire retailers like Target and Walmart are fair game. For the more radical, it’s even seen as a redistribution of wealth.
This woman wasn’t thinking about all that when she took a treat from Target. But now she’s kind of facing a moral dilemma.
Is it stealing?
TikTok Elyse Jordan (@elysimomo) came across something we’ve all likely seen as we stroll down the Target aisles. In her video with more than 77,000 views, she comes across an abandoned and open piece of merchandise.
You come across it often: an open makeup palette, a discombobulated toy set, or a half-drunk soda.
Jordan happens upon an open bag of caramel apple lollipops. They’re the kind you usually only see during the Halloween season.
Tempted by the free treat, Jordan grabs one and proceeds to suck on it while she does the rest of her shopping.
“I have a moral question. Is this stealing?” she asks the audience while looking pretty unbothered.
In the caption, she sarcastically said that she feels guilty about the whole thing.
“Someone help. How do I pay back @target the $0 it cost them because they would have thrown away the bag anyways. And will I be arrested for admitting to stealing?” she wrote.
As she pointed out, it’s highly unlikely that Target would have been able to sell the candy bag anyway. Commenters who’ve worked at Target said it would have gotten thrown out. So they concluded that the candies left behind were fair game.
The only way it would really be considered a shoplifting offense is if Jordan had initially opened and abandoned the candy bag herself, they said. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.
@elysimomo I feel guilty. Someone help. How do I pay back @target ♬ original sound – Imtired🌸
Why you shouldn’t steal from Target
It’s up to you to decide your moral stance on stealing. But when it comes to places like Target and Walmart, it’s becoming common knowledge that the retailers are not to be messed with.
That’s because they’re known for stacking up charges against people. People think this is their way of implicating them in more serious legal offenses. For example, instead of catching a person the first time they steal a $20 item, they’ll wait until the person steals more items, sometimes over months, so that they can then charge them with a felony.
A misdemeanor would usually just carry a fine or a short stint in county jail, the Marshall Project reported. But a felony could lead to time in a state prison and losing the right to vote. The threshold for felony theft varies by state.
New Jersey and Virginia have the lowest at $200. And Texas and Wisconsin have the highest at $2,500 or more, according to the Marshall Project.
“Unlike Walmart and Best Buy, whose loss prevention officers (LPs) barely get paid enough to care––let alone risk their safety––Target takes loss prevention very seriously,” PayPath reported.
Target runs and proudly advertises that it has forensic laboratories. Those labs reportedly specialize in solving “organized retail crimes committed at Target stores through video and image analysis, latent fingerprint and computer forensics.”
The labs also work with law enforcement. They reportedly give them their resources, personnel, and facilities free of charge for felony, homicide, and other specific circumstance cases.
Commenters react
“Leave a nickel with the bag,” a top comment read.
“I’ve always been tempted to do this but was scared they’d accuse me of being the one to open it,” a person said.
“I’ve been wanting one of these so bad but can’t eat a whole bag so I get it,” another chimed in.
“Of course?! Why is this a question,” a commenter wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to Jordan for comment via TikTok direct message and comment and to Target via email.
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