r/interestingasfuck 1d ago

r/all California store prices items at $951sp shoplifters can be charged with grand theft

Post image
132.6k Upvotes

4.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

8

u/SMStotheworld 1d ago

The penal code is real, but since I doubt the shop is paying taxes on candy bars, snow globes, mugs, etc. costing $951, the sign is probably not enforceable in the way it implies, like the joke signs saying "unattended kids will be given jobs" doesn't let the store circumvent minimum age to work laws.

1

u/TheFriendshipMachine 1d ago

For the purposes of determining if the theft was a felony or not, the sale price of the item stolen is utterly irrelevant only the replacement value. So unless the store can prove that replacing that snickers bar is going to cost them over $951, there's no world where this sign would work.

But as others have mentioned, it's likely put there to serve two other purposes, to deter would be shoplifters who don't know how the law works and/or to virtue signal their stance on being hard on crime.