Getting Fountain Drinks Without Paying For Them

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Maryland

I am a regular customer at a grocery store, and the cashier usually fails to ring up my fountain soda (For Clarity: She knows there is a soda there, let's say for argument that I point it out. Notwithstanding the fact that she picks it up and moves it to my bags.). I bring up my 5 items she rings up 4 of them but doesn't ring up the drink. She says it's $X, I pay and walk away.

Would that be shoplifting?

Who's responsibility is it to get the pricing right. I am not concealing the drink, she just waves me on through. At first I thought I'm just getting a "free lunch" for being a loyal customer, but after reading a few threads I begin to wonder if this is an offense.

I've read plenty of posts that suggest that it is morally the right thing to do, but If I bring the cashier 50 items, none of which are concealed, and the cashier places them in my bags and rings up a price, where's the line drawn if a) it an item rang up at $0.00, or b) if an item did not ring up at all. What if I bring up the 50 items and ask for a single all inclusive price for all items, and they proceed to scan each item, miss one, and give me a price of X when it may have normally rang up as Y.

Well, you know that you are supposed to pay for it, yet you choose to say nothing when she doesn't ring it up, right?

So, yes, you are choosing not to pay. It would be different if you said something and she said "Oh, no, we give these away all the time to our regular customers."

The clerk may just not be noticing that your drink is one of theirs and not one you came in with. Make sure that you point out the drink to the clerk when checking out. If the clerk chooses not to charge you after that then it’s fine. Otherwise, you might find one day that you get busted for walking out with a soda you didn’t pay for.

please re read OP

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Quoting ericblack44

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please re read OP

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Please re-read the responses.

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Quoting ericblack44

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Would that be shoplifting?

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If you don't point out that it wasn't charged for then you are stealing it.

If you point out that it wasn't charged for and she says it's free, you're not stealing it.

It's that simple.

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Quoting ericblack44

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please re read OP

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I read the post the first time, and what I said before applies. If you clearly point out the drink as one of store’s and the clerk elects not to charge you then you are not stealing it. If the clerk wasn’t supposed to give it to you for free, that’s between the clerk and his/her employer. But if you don’t point it out then there is the risk you’ll face theft charges when you walk out without paying for it.

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Quoting Taxing Matters

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I read the post the first time, and what I said before applies. If you clearly point out the drink as one of store’s and the clerk elects not to charge you then you are not stealing it. If the clerk wasn’t supposed to give it to you for free, that’s between the clerk and his/her employer. But if you don’t point it out then there is the risk you’ll face theft charges when you walk out without paying for it.

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True in this case, I agree - but lest anyone not too bright comes along, reads this, and thinks that this is cart blanche to have your friends hand out merchandise to you, I will say that if you carry this to the extreme, expect to be charged with a crime. If you were to take $100 worth of clothes up to the register and have a cashier give them to you for $9, or not ring half of them up, you WILL be arrested because you are expected to know that a cashier doesn't have the authority to give you that "sweet" of a deal.

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Quoting DeputyDog

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True in this case, I agree - but lest anyone not too bright comes along, reads this, and thinks that this is cart blanche to have your friends hand out merchandise to you, I will say that if you carry this to the extreme, expect to be charged with a crime. If you were to take $100 worth of clothes up to the register and have a cashier give them to you for $9, or not ring half of them up, you WILL be arrested because you are expected to know that a cashier doesn't have the authority to give you that "sweet" of a deal.

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Good point. Certainly if you arrange with the clerk (be it a friend, relative, or whatever) to undercharge you for stuff that the clerk is not allowed to discount or hand out for free then both of you could face theft charges.