• High end stores have less security and are less likely to chase you down
• I know everyone says the staff won't approach or anything but managers and hired security absolutely will and they don't care if it's illegal to detain you. Keep an eye out for them
• Creating a distraction with a small group of people is less effective than everyone taking something and leaving at once, or one person taking nothing and submitting to a search while everyone else walks by
• If someone tries to stop you, check your bag etc. just keep walking, say "sorry I'm in a rush" or whatever but don't stop under any circumstances. Stores do not have the right to search you, if you decline to be searched they can only ask you to leave
• Some stores will keep a record of frequent shoplifters and nab you when your guard is down so don't do the same place over and over
• One trick I learnt from a friend is to go in with a half full trolley from another store, fill your resusable bags from the previous store with stuff in the current store, then walk out (as above, don't stop for a search)
• Stealing from high end department stores is surprisingly easy. Pick one that doesn't have a lot of security and you can take clothes into the change rooms and leave with them underneath your streets (obviously only if there's no attendant)
• Pay for cheap, bulky items like milk and bread, and pocket small expensive stuff like fancy cheeses
• Don't steal (or at least don't steal much) from a local store you rely on. Firstly you don't want to be recognisable in your local community but also don't shit where you eat
• You can resell stuff like skincare and cosmetics, we even bought our game controllers off someone who pinched them from the electronics store and sold them for half price
• When it comes to department stores in particular, it's better to grab a lot once in a while than to take a little bit regularly because the more times you do it mean more chances of getting caught statistically speaking and because you're more likely to be recognised
• Of course, the self checkout is a blessing. Leave your fancy juice out of bags in the trolley and forget to scan it, ring up all your weighted items by whatever's cheap, slip small items up your sleeve and drop them in your bags
• Whatever you do, do it with confidence. If you're looking around anxiously people will notice
• Paying with cash and not using rewards cards can provide some extra protection. Why make it easier for them?
• Some stores have plain clothes security, they usually stick out like a sore thumb cos they're generally failed cops trying to look tough. Keep an eye out for big dudes in jeans and black muscle tees who aren't buying anything (and anyone wandering around without a basket or trolley), especially in department stores and the like
• Avoid pharmacies, they always have a lot of security
• If someone tries to detain you by grabbing your trolley or bags, let go and get away, don't try to wrestle it back (if you do, you could land an assault charge)
• Security guards and managers can place you under citizens arrest in a lot of places, and even if they can't, can you afford a lawyer to argue you were wrongfully detained while shoplifting? Probably not. Just because it's against the law for staff to do something doesn't mean they won't do it!
• Stealing from a store is perfectly ethical in Mahayana Buddhism because stealing, like any action that accrues negative karma, has to be perpetrated against a person who experiences harm from your actions. Stores aren't people and they have insurance for loss
• Now that you've saved all this money, give some change to an unhoused person outside or fling a couple bucks to someone in need if you can

Source: I'm poor, my kids father was a security guard for many years, and my ex got arrested for shoplifting because they didn't follow this advice

Please stop tagging this with "for US people" "legal advice is for the US". I'm not in the US and I'm not giving legal advice