this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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When I was working minimum wage at a gas station many eons ago, we would have '2 for $x' specials where x is less than 2 times the individual price of whatever item.

People would often not want to buy 2, but I would ring up 2 in the till for the special price and charge them for the single. Then when the next person did the same, I would charge them for the other single.

So over the day, I would sell 10 energy drinks at say $4, but ring them up as 5 '2 for $6' specials. This would put the till up by $10, and then I would use that $10 to have a free meal.

Anyone else do anything like that?

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[–] PeachMan@lemmy.one 158 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Uhhhhh honey what you're describing is called "theft". Also known as "fraud" if you want a different name.

But to answer your question, I usually shit during working hours, so I get paid to shit. It's a great feeling.

[–] yoz@aussie.zone 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Lol not much to lose when you're on min wage.

[–] nephs@lemmygrad.ml 10 points 1 year ago

You have nothing to lose, but your chains

[–] RickyRigatoni@lemmy.ml 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 18 points 1 year ago

Haha thanks buddy

[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 year ago

Boss gets a dollar, I get a dime. That's why I always shit on company time

[–] shapesandstuff@feddit.de 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The shop is getting the correct amount of money, nobody loses, nobody cares.

[–] wombatula@lemm.ee 17 points 1 year ago

I guarantee some busybody middle manager would care, especially if they wanted to fire someone and were trying to find a reason.

@PeachMan wasn't saying this because they have some ethical problem with what OP is doing, they are saying this because this is technically what OP is doing, and could be held liable for if it was ever brought to the wrong persons attention.

[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 9 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Is it?? I get it might be bending the rules slightly, but I can hardly believe it counts as theft

[–] die444die@lemmy.world 48 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, the $2 for X deal is a gimmic to increase sales. It’s the company saying “I am willing to sell these cheaper if it gives me an extra sale.” But by applying that sale price to customers it didn’t apply to, essentially you just stole a dollar from your employer every time you sold an energy drink.

I’m personally pretty forgiving of something this petty when done by someone making an unlivable wage, but it’s still theft.

[–] prole@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Those deals are usually at the manufacturer-level, so the employer would likely be getting the same amount of money. The manufacturer would still be selling the same amount of the product, but would get less than if the items were rang up correctly.

So, for me at least, I give even less of a shit. Oh no, OP cost Nestle or whomever literally nothing but non-existent "opportunity cost"... how will they ever recover?

[–] die444die@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It’s still theft, even if you dislike the victim.

[–] prole@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

I didn't say it wasn't. I just said I don't really care.

[–] Tb0n3@sh.itjust.works 40 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's actually theft by conversion.

[–] MyDearWatson616@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's a very valid reason to fire you. You'll most likely get caught when the inventory starts to be way off.

[–] Jordan_U@lemmy.ml 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why would the inventory be off?

Maybe OP didn't explain it well, but I would imagine that:

  1. This only happened with people who paid cash
  2. If we imagine that every person in line has one drink and is paying with cash, OP would be ringing up 2 drinks for every other customer.

For the purposes of inventory, 1 drink per person is the same as 2 for every other person.

[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 6 points 1 year ago

You're correct on all counts.

[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It won't be off though. Every bottle is accounted for. I sold 10 bottles for $40 but they are added to the till as 10 bottles for $30 at the special price.

[–] Crashumbc@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Still illegal, at the absolute least it's tax fraud.

Not saying I care, just speaking as a matter of fact

[–] LufyCZ@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago

What if you pay income tax on it?

[–] MyDearWatson616@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If you never mess up, they'll probably never catch you. But you are committing a felony and if you do get caught, there are consequences. I wish you the best, truly. But you are taking a risk.

[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 10 points 1 year ago

A risk 20 years ago when I was a stoner on minimum wage. It's all in the past now.

[–] TheWoozy@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Felony? I think it's more of a misdemeanor.

[–] PeachMan@lemmy.one 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Depends on how much money they take over the long term I assume.

[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 year ago

It probably totaled less than $100.

[–] PeachMan@lemmy.one 4 points 1 year ago

Personally I don't care and I don't really think it's THAT unethical, but it is definitely theft. So be aware if you pull little tricks like that in the future. If you get caught, you'll DEFINITELY get fired and your employer MIGHT press charges (and they would win).

[–] dQw4w9WgXcQ@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

It might be more obvious if you increase the volume.

Immagine that your employer has instructed you to sell 1 bottle for $3, but you can sell a whole pallet containing 500 bottles for $1000 (coming out at $2 per bottle). So you ring up the whole pallet and pay it off over the next few days by adding $2 to the cash register and keep $1 for each sale. Over those days, you have made one single sale of a pallet, while pocketing $500.

The work hours which was meant for you to generate sales of $3 bottles has been reduced to effectively selling $2 bottles, while the remaining expected value ended in your pocket.

As others have said, I don't really care about big corporations losing out on some money, but you are 100% stealing when you reduce the expected sales value and pocket the difference during your work hours.

[–] hedgehog@ttrpg.network 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Per https://solink.com/resources/top-types-employee-theft/ it’s basically “Skimming”:

This popular POS employee theft scam occurs when an employee charges a customer full price but takes a little cash out of the total for themselves. This may result in telltale cash register imbalances, or, it can be more complex, like using coupon codes on a customer’s purchase while still charging them full price and then pocketing the difference.

Your implementation sounds pretty close to the coupon version.

Are your bosses ever going to notice? Unlikely. And if they did they’d probably fire you at worst, rather than press charges.

Now, that said, if your manager or employee handbook or any other source of authority at your job says it’s okay, then it is (excepting, of course, if they explicitly tell you it isn’t) - but that’s because it’s a benefit your employer has given you rather than one you’ve taken.

[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 1 points 1 year ago

Hmm similar yes. I wouldn't get fired, I would get a warning at most. We have employee protection laws here.