"This isn't exactly the labor-minimizing tech retailers were promised."

Wal Mart near me has no pressure plate
yup, same. well, actually one of them does, and it's sensitive as a motherfucker. you'll never guess what most of the people who shop there look like...

it feels gross but that's why i near-exclusively stick to the stores in crackertown. "security" is usually just someone's grandma waving hello and goodbye. just gotta be careful that the prices aren't inflated to match the egos of the clientele or else you'll end up spending more than you save. deeply envious of your HD btw, all the hardware stores here are locked down hard and it suuucks.

ah let me be clear: when shit is expensive, i steal it. not actually everything, of course, i'm not completely bereft of sense

but yeah if you're careful and calm (and tbh white) and you make sure not to shop in impoverished neighborhoods (they have more security) you can get away with murder. i routinely steal about 60% of my groceries. my actual threshold/selection process is a little bit more nuanced but i don't wanna get too deep into details

i do highly recommend it though, just pass shit over the scanner with a fingertip on the barcode. easy peasy, grocery bill goes down.

could mean several things, like big items too large for a bag, or things you can hide on the bottom rack of your cart. There's a lot of simple ways to steal things.