Is Price Tag Switching an Act of Theft

My question involves criminal law for the state of: NJ I wanted to purchase an item but it did not have a price on it, I found another similar item with a price tag and put that price tag on my item to purchase it. Is this considered theft? the items in the category were priced from 38 to 48 and I put the 38 dollar tag on the item without checking if that was the price.

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Quoting jitaly

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My question involves criminal law for the state of: NJ I wanted to purchase an item but it did not have a price on it, I found another similar item with a price tag and put that price tag on my item to purchase it. Is this considered theft? the items in the category were priced from 38 to 48 and I put the 38 dollar tag on the item without checking if that was the price.

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Yes, that's theft just the same as if you picked up a 10 dollar item and stuffed it in your pocket.

If you didn't know the price, why didn't you call a clerk?

I think we both know the answer to that.

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Quoting geek

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Yes, that's theft just the same as if you picked up a 10 dollar item and stuffed it in your pocket.

If you didn't know the price, why didn't you call a clerk?

I think we both know the answer to that.

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You're right, but the clerk was busy and the items were exactly the same, still no excuse but it is making me anxious, since i have never done this before.

It is unlikely you are ever going to hear about this if you weren't stopped at the time. Just don't do it again. No matter how long you have to wait, you get an employee to help you.

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Quoting free9man

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It is unlikely you are ever going to hear about this if you weren't stopped at the time. Just don't do it again. No matter how long you have to wait, you get an employee to help you.

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I'm sick about it. It's like I did it in a fog and then came to the realization it was not right. I'm worried that I'm on camera and I'm just praying the owner won't pursue the issue for an item that may or may not have been the right price.

Funny how you came to the realization that it wasnt right AFTER the fact. You didn't know that changing prices was wrong BEFOREHAND?

As I said, it's unlikely to be an issue at this point. I would avoid that store for a bit just in case they did notice something.

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Quoting jitaly

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You're right, but the clerk was busy and the items were exactly the same, still no excuse but it is making me anxious, since i have never done this before.

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I've been in exactly that situation. What I did is buy the "exactly the same" item that had a price tag on it. That's what reasonable people do. Saying you took the price tag off of an identical item doesn't make a lick of sense when you could have bought the one with a price tag. When people say they do things that don't make sense... well, to me that's nonsense.

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Quoting jitaly

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You're right, but the clerk was busy and the items were exactly the same, still no excuse but it is making me anxious, since i have never done this before.

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You said they were similar, which is not exactly the same. There's a difference.

If the other item was exactly the same, why not just buy that one?

Look- you did wrong and you appear to be lucky not to have been caught, but if you do it again, your luck may run out.

It's theft. Don't do it again and stay out of that store for awhile.

What a prudent person does in this situation is to bring both items to the cashier and let them figurer it out.