1) Sure it is theft, and the old system, where the scanner was an employee of the grocery store, solved this issue. The store must realize that this behavior wi

1) Sure it is theft, and the old system, where the scanner was an employee of the grocery store, solved this issue. The store must realize that this behavior will be done by a non-zero percentage of its patrons. They have crunched the math and decided that it is a risk they were willing to absorb. So while I don't do this myself, I do recognize that the grocery store has given me a worse experience than before while increasing their shrinkage. My violin continues to decrease in size. 2) I'm not sure how this behavior is screwing over organic farmers? They stors aren't selling the item for their full cost, but a component inventory system should recognize the missing items were stolen and not in fact sold/wasted.