Thieves dressed as Santa and his elves bust into grocery store and steal $3,000 worth of food

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/santa-clause-elves-robbery-canadian-grocery-store-b2887828.html

448 points · 64 comments · view on lemmy.world

64 Comments

Sanctus@anarchist.nexus · 231 pts · 232d (5 replies)

In an Instagram post, the Robins des ruelles said four masked "Santa Clauses" and a "swarm of elves" redistributed the alleged stolen goods after the symbolic “food drive” to community fridges across Montreal and under a Christmas tree in Place Valo

Fuck yeah

bklyn@piefed.social · 90 pts · 232d

Santa Hood and his band of Merry Elves

TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website · 49 pts · 232d

God this story is getting better and better

Rhaedas@fedia.io · 17 pts · 232d (2 replies)

I thought it was called "Christmas of elves", not swarm.

Valmond@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 232d (1 reply)

Depends how they are deployed.

TachyonTele@piefed.social · 6 pts · 232d

The elves are drones, run by fiber cables

_cryptagion@anarchist.nexus · 126 pts · 232d (17 replies)
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Susaga@sh.itjust.works · 60 pts · 232d (3 replies)

That's the thing. They lost $9.2 billion, but they still turned a profit.

Neptr@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 22 pts · 231d (2 replies)

They factor the cost of theft into their item pricing.

Susaga@sh.itjust.works · 33 pts · 231d (1 reply)

And yet, if theft stopped, prices wouldn't go back down.

Neptr@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 18 pts · 231d

Naturally. By not stealing you are giving them free money.

UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 232d (1 reply)

Wage theft fully eclipses burglary and other petty crimes

mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 230d

It fully eclipses every other form of theft combined. Wage theft totals over 51% of all theft.

lath@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 232d (3 replies)

Doubt they'd have these losses if they stopped throwing away the food and instead gave it to people in need.

TachyonTele@piefed.social · -5 pts · 232d (2 replies)

Most grocery store do donate food

lath@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 230d (1 reply)

Eh, I'd rather say some of them do. Few honestly, the rest only as a scheme to increase profits.

TachyonTele@piefed.social · 5 pts · 230d

It was general statement. I didn't have my list of locations handy. Sorry.

Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone · 11 pts · 232d (2 replies)

Major retail theft is almost always done by employees, anyway. Very intellectually lazy reporting to just drop that factoid (produced by retail stores, not independent studies) without that context.

rozodru@pie.andmc.ca · 6 pts · 231d

been this way for decades or since like ever. I remember working at Best Buy in the early 00s and the primary shrink factor was internal theft not shoplifting. Hell the LP guy that stood in the front of the store with the yellow shirt spent more time watching employees than actual customers.

atzanteol@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 218d

Like theft from employees "doesn't count" or something?

IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 231d (2 replies)

If wage theft totals to a greater number (I read than in the US it is the biggest form of theft, not canada, but dont have data for canada), then it is not the poor who are stealing food, it is the rich who stole and the poor are starving

mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 230d (1 reply)

In the US, wage theft is larger than every other form of theft combined. It’s literally over 51% of all theft. But it’s typically considered a civil issue, not criminal. So cops won’t help, and individual employees need to sue to get anything. And when those employees are being stolen from, they can’t afford a lawyer to sue.

And the current administration has systematically defunded, delegitimized, and dismantled organizations like the National Labor Relations Board, the Department of Labor, etc which actually had the teeth to fight for workers.

When people talk about white collar crime not being prosecuted, this is the kind of shit they’re talking about. You walk into a gas station and blatantly steal a $2 candy bar every day. By the end of the week, they’ll have a cop waiting for you to show up… But that same gas station chain steals $2 from every single employee every single day, by requiring them to show up 15 minutes before their clock-in time, netting them hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen wages every year? That’s a civil issue, and the employees need to take it up with the gas station’s corporate lawyers… Who will drag a court case out until the employees are all broke and have to drop the case.

IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 230d

some heads need to roll. it isn't a democracy if laws like theft only apply in one direction. steal a penny from the rich and they'll ruin your life. steal a fortune from people who make you your fortune? that's just smart business. and not a crime.

TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website · 7 pts · 232d

You know you’re right, we could do better ! That’s rookies number

Triumph@fedia.io · 82 pts · 232d (5 replies)

"Retail crime resulted in losses of $9.2 billion in Canada in 2024."

I wonder how that compares to wage theft for the same period.

foggy@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 232d (4 replies)

In 2017 Ontario found ~60M in wage theft.

With this we can deduce that it's about 2 billion in wage theft in canada in 2017.

So not quite total offset but significant enough that this is gonna have to fall under the cost of doing business.

lemmyng@piefed.ca · 31 pts · 232d (2 replies)

Found wage theft. That is, of the number of incidents reported, which ones were ruled to be theft. But there's the undocumented part of wage theft.

bitjunkie@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 231d

On top of that, there are "legitimate" cases that should be considered wage theft, i.e. extraction of value from the worker. The tally on that is essentially the entire world economy.

IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 231d

most wage thefts are not even reported. boss makes you come in early? stay late? have lunch at your desk? answer emails and calls outside of work? those are still wage theft even if they never touch your pay check.

and if I were to put my Marx hat, then all for profit business is wage theft (although I get it is not legally so, but who made that fucking law?)

pirate2377@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 230d

How is that measured exactly? If wage theft is able to be measured, then shouldn't the corporations be punished for it? Last year, Amazon stole from me by claiming I didn't work on days that I know for a fact I clocked in and out for, fired me over it, and then denied my appeal without reviewing any footage. I know that example is purely on experience rather than objective fact, but that's how I imagine most wage theft happens. Therefore, if it's able to be measured out reliably, then why isn't anything done towards them? Isn't wage theft highly illegal?? Or am I just ignorant???

the_q@lemmy.zip · 45 pts · 232d (9 replies)
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IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · -5 pts · 231d (8 replies)

I wouldn't call it direct action or praxis. I doubt it was done for some political message or to help people, they are likely poor and hungry... although if they stole so much food to share, then I would count it as direct action.

Krauerking@lemy.lol · 8 pts · 231d (7 replies)

Way to brag about not reading the article.

The food was donated to food shelters all over the city and placed under a public christmas tree.
You just jumped to them doing it for themselves.

IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 230d (6 replies)

I'll admit I didn't do my due diligence, was late and was tired, appreciate you correcting me.

Krauerking@lemy.lol · 3 pts · 230d (5 replies)

Hey, no worries, just dont want us to immediately expect the worst of others and I prefer to push back against it. Trying to give them their credit for doing something.

IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 230d (4 replies)

activism like that is unheard of in this side of the pond, I'm also happy about this

Krauerking@lemy.lol · 3 pts · 230d (3 replies)

Its certainly rare anywhere or else we wouldn't still be talking about robin hood much.
Its real neat they tried it though.

IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 230d

try?

didn't they succeed

IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 44 pts · 231d (1 reply)

BTW, if you see anyone stealing food, you saw nothing.

BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 230d

Sorry, I had an onset of sudden blindness. I didn't see anything.

iThinkDifferentThanU@lemmy.world · 32 pts · 231d (1 reply)

when it comes to food , no ine stole shit, other than some fatass greedy cunt overcharging we humans

IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 231d

If there are hungry people in a state, while there are people with more resources than they can spend in a lifetime, it is the state that stole (or allowed the rich to steal) the food from the poor.

Allero@lemmy.today · 29 pts · 231d (3 replies)

"No matter the reason, it is unacceptable and a criminal act,” Metro spokesperson Geneviève Grégoire told CBC News in a statement. ”Retail crime resulted in losses of $9.2 billion in Canada in 2024. Many factors influence food inflation, including disruptions in the global supply chain, volatility in commodity prices, changes in international trade conditions, and retail crime.”

Let me play the world's smallest violin

kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 230d

Take it up with the Employers under paying, the Landlords over charging, and the Goverment Officials that prioritize anyone but the poor. They got my money. Ask them for yours.

Fogle@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 230d

I wonder how much wage theft losses are

puppinstuff@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 230d

Metro would have done better to claim it was their idea.

philophilsaurus@sh.itjust.works · 24 pts · 232d

Hell yea, new Christmas lore!

rozodru@pie.andmc.ca · 20 pts · 232d

"stole" from a Metro. Good. in Canada all of THREE companies own ALL the grocery chains in the country. Metro being one of them. So I totally support this.

Also if you ever see someone stealing food from a Canadian owned grocery store, no you didn't. and if you ever report ANYONE for stealing from a Metro or Loblaws or Sobeys or ANY of their subsidiaries then you're a piece of shit.

aramis87@fedia.io · 17 pts · 232d (2 replies)

So ... Half a dozen eggs?

dubyakay@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 231d (1 reply)

This is Montréal. No egg shortage here

some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 231d

So you're saying there's un œuf?

Formfiller@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 230d (2 replies)

Stealing food….yeah I hope they get away with it in this evil dystopia

BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 8 pts · 230d (1 reply)

I didn't see nothing.

kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 230d

Damn, Santa has so many Elf mouths to feed. And don't act like we don't owe him one. Didn't see a damn thing.

sleen@lemmy.zip · 13 pts · 231d (1 reply)
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Allero@lemmy.today · 6 pts · 231d

Subtract it from cashiers and guards' salary. At least how it's done where I live.

These mf's will do anything to keep their profits

bitjunkie@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 231d

01189998819991197253@infosec.pub · 10 pts · 230d

Laurie: you were there, what did you see?

Me: sorry, mate. I didn't see anything. Must've happened while I was over by the bread.

Wilco@lemmy.zip · 10 pts · 231d

The heroes this world needs.

quick_snail@feddit.nl · 7 pts · 230d

Title is misleading. It's not theft. It's direct action.

Honse@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 230d

Why can't this shit become a social media trend? Imagine countless youths getting together and doing this nationwide. Alas

jaschen306@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 230d (1 reply)

When I lived in America, My local grocery stores have those push button security gates that block people from stealing food. It's a one sided gate and people coming in has a button to open the gate.

I saw a female with a baby in a cart at the gate, waiting for someone to open it. I'm glad to be the person that let the mom through.

Warl0k3@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 230d

Huh, I thought those were largely a commonwealth thing - like the cart returns where you have to give them a coin before they'll unlock themselves. I've never seen one in the US, though there are a few one-way gates at stores near me (they don't appear to do anything though, just prevent you from going out the wrong door - I think they're just there as traffic management, they're not active)

otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 230d

FYI, "stealing food" is an oxymoron. ✊🏼

Korhaka@sopuli.xyz · -1 pts · 230d

I got 8kg or so of food today for £0.20, I don't even know how I could steal £3k worth. Loving the food discounts here before Christmas.