twochins

i did a couple shopping stops last night...i did not even try to bring my backpack into the stores, you know the deal...i was crazy bold, just left the pack hanging on my bike..i was in the stores for 20 min apiece....had about $75 of goodies in that pack....got home safe and sound

Platy

I figure my ugly backpack would probably be safe 99% of the time, especially with sweaty gloves and wet do-rag laying on top.

cyclerevolution

Strange, I shop 99% of the time with a backpack and I've never had any problems with stores (I presume that is what you mean by "you know the deal"). The way I see it, women can steal things with greater ease in gigantic purses/bags which seem to okay in stores, so why the fuss over backpacks? I'd have to take the damn thing off to steal something, which would be pretty visible.

Fight for your right to wear a backpack
- Stores have sensors,
- Not very easy to actually steal something,
- Environmentally conscious b/c you don't need bags,
- Women wear purses in stores...

Surprising re: nobody stealing your bag, though.

EDIT: I'm mostly kidding re: "right to wear a backpack" for anyone who intends to tear that apart.

!!Comatoa$ted

I used to work in retail.

My wife was waiting in the car out front of the store one day when she saw a guy go round to the side of the store and take something out of his pants and stuff it in a backpack that was hidden in the bushes, then walk back into the store. She called me and told me about what was happening, so I went to the bushes and I nicked his backpack, and brought it into the store. It weighed about a hundred pounds and was filled with welding wire. A few of us surrounded the guy in the store, he got real nervous and turned around and ran out of the store.

I think I would be more suspicious of someone that has some other sort of a bag other than a backpack. It takes some very deliberate movements to conceal merchandise in a backpack.

Artkansas 

God was protecting you. I wouldn't call it bold, though other adjectives come to mind. Having had people rip off stuff from my backpack while I was wearing it, I can only say that you should have bought a lottery ticket that night because your luck was through the roof.

Usually what I do is if the store has carts available I use them, and put my pack in the cart. That puts it under the store's radar, so I have no problems.

Roody

I think it would be a lot safer to leave the pack at the customer disservice desk than to leave it with your bike. Take out cash and other obvious valuables and it should be safe behind the desk. I know, I know....I hate leaving mine too, and I always give them the lady's purse argument, too.

rs_woods

I bring my backpack with me into whatever business I go to. I know they're watching me hard for theft -- even been searched at the department store I work at. They can hassle me all they want, because I know I'm innocent and it just makes them feel like pricks.

!!Comatoa$ted

And while they are paying attention to you the real theives are making a mint.

wheel

shop online.

Thor29

Boycott Christmas. Why buy a bunch of crap for people who already have too much in the first place? (www.xmasresistance.org)

It's funny how people here in the Car Free forum still feel the need to participate in that big consumerist orgy known as Christmas. I'm not even sure why they even bother to uphold the pretense that it is a celebration of the birth of Jesus when everyone knows it is all about stuff. Screw the baby Jesus, let's go shopping!

bmclaughlin807

Sounds like someone didn't get what he wanted for Christmas last year.

Seriously... what the hell does this post have to do with "Living Car Free"**********

I celebrate Christmas... We have a tree, and I do buy a couple presents. I don't go into debt spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to give people stuff, but I do enjoy giving a few well thought out gifts.

rs_woods

It's relevant. We don't seamlessly fit into our culture, as we are carfree. It would make sense that we would deviate in other areas of human relation, including not only celebrations, but all of entertainment, education, labor, politics, law, religion, sex, war, and economics ("all of which can be improved with bikes!"). I think all of the above are appropriate for the car-free forum, so long as the discussions are adequately bizarre.

chephy

Strange places you people live. I don't remember when was the last time I went to a store where they asked me to leave any bags with the customer service. In fact I often go to the grocery stores (including a large chain, so it's not just a mom 'n pop store with friendly neighbours) with my own bag, use the bag as a shopping basket. The stores don't seem to have a problem with it.

rs_woods

In any major US city, if you go to any store and start putting merchandise in your personal bag you will be arrested for concealing & probably theft.

Bizurke

I've dealt with having to leave my backpack with the security guard, cop, or some other employee plenty of times. The older I get the less they mess with me though, I remember in high school when we would go to the store after school they only allowed 2 kids in there and the backpacks, coats, etc had to be left with security before entering. Now days I occasionally get asked to leave my backpack with a cop at the front of a grocery that's in a "bad neighborhood". I can understand given the high theft rate and it doesn't bother me to leave it with him. In fact I tend to mention to the cop that my bike is outside and I'd appreciate it if he kept an eye on it.

jakeaaron

It's not theft till you leave the store with it. Least not here in my state.
I've worked in retail for a very long time and unless someone is acting strange with their bag I think very little of it, women carry purses It's the same thing, most purses are on long enough straps that it would be far easer to steal with them. I have gotten odd looks for taking my bag in but screw em I ain't stealing anything. I had I guy give me all sorts of odd looks at the store the other day for putting my groceries in a canvas bag I take to the store with me when I'm not on my bike. I think they are getting used to me though as I allways shop at the same store.

HereNT

I get more odd looks when I say 'No bag' and wave to the bagger to stop so that I can put the stuff in the bag I've been wearing. It's never been an issue anywhere that I've shopped, except a couple of liquor stores. Even then, I leave it at the front counter, grab what I need, and they comment on how much room there is in the bag.

What stores is the OP shopping at?

Platy

Everything can be improved with bikes. What a great concept!

chennai

I think you should refrain from shopping in stores where a day pack is a problem.

ax0n

I went to best buy for some Christmas shopping. I have a milk-crate style basket on the back of my bike and a duffel bag with me. I just cable-locked my bike, and ran the cable through one of the straps that's sewn onto my duffel bag on both ends (no way to remove it without ripping something). That usually does the trick.

I've had mixed results with backpacks, laptop/messenger bags, and duffel bags in stores.

Grocery stores don't seem to mind at all. I don't use paper OR plastic bags, I pack the food in my duffel bag. No sense taking a paper or plastic bag with me that I probably won't use. Most grocery stores actually give me a 5-15 cent rebate when I bring my duffel bag in, because many offer 5 cents to you if you re-use their paper sacks. Since, technically, I'm re-using the same bag over and over again, they acknowledge it and give me the rebate.

Retail stores are generally a lot more paranoid. I usually save myself the trouble and leave the bag outside. If I can carry everything out of the store in my arms, I don't take a plastic bag from them. I have taken the duffel in a few times with mixed results. Usually I just have the security guy open the bag and check the contents vs. the receipt (caution: this works best if there's NOTHING ELSE in the bag when you enter the store)

lima_bean

You cant be arrested or even detained until you try and leave the store.

ax0n

Indeed. I don't know how many times I stuffed my duffel bag full of groceries when there weren't any small carts around and I didn't feel like pushing a metal moose all over the store just to put 8 or 9 things in it.

I just put the open duffel bag on the conveyor at the store, unload it, let the cashier make sure it's empty, then they stuff everything back inside.

Haven't been arrested, or even questioned.

Roody

I'm sure this is true where you live, but others should check locally. Here, I think they can arrest you if you go toward the exit with unpaid merchandise, or if you "conceal" unpaid merchandise.

bmclaughlin807

TOWARD the exit**********? Isn't that where the registers are located?

likeakidagain

One night I went to the groecry..with only my tote..I loaeded it up as I went along..Every so often I turn around and thier was the store manager "leveling"..I finally got it when I was leaving and he was watching me at the registers.