Ask Lemmy

My ex was a klepto. She would steal the most random ahit. Like a Xmas tree ornament or stickers. It was purely for the rush for her

I do not think I count as a klepto, but I used to shoplift as a kid a lot. It started when I was holiday shopping for my dad and he came around the corner while I had his gift in my hand. I stuck it (a 75¢ fishing lure) into my pocket. When I got home I realized I had never paid for it. So the next time I was at that shop I took a GI Joe or Star Wars figure. And then two and so on and so forth.

There was a bit of a thrill to it, we were also dirt poor (a pack of ramen for dinner for 3 people, no indoor plumbing, no phone), and on more than one occasion my parents “borrowed “ my money to pay bills and never returned it. Partly I felt it a way to get back at my parents.

My theft continued into my 20s. When my second kid was born it became out of necessity. Her mother would leave us for days at a time without formula, without a car, and without the shared atm card. When my 3rd kid was born I mostly stopped out of fear of being caught and losing my family. But when I saw something I felt was unjustly expensive I would still swipe it.

I have only ever stolen from large stores, Walmart, Safeway, etc, with the exception of the local pharmacy where I used to steal comics because the owner was a dick to me about my skate board.

Price. If the price is stupid, I'm not gonna pay for it. Supermarket sells cans of Vietnamese coffee on 4 packs, warm, on the shelf, for $6. But I only want one, a cold one, on the lunch break. Individual in the fridge is $4. So it mysteriously doesn't get scanned at checkout with apple, banana and carrot for some reason

If it was $1.50 or even $2, I'd pay for it.

One of my clients steals groceries and exhibits oppositional defiant disorder; he hates authority figures. When we talk about this he brings up the economic reasons for shoplifting but seems more motivated by causing pain to the organizations (or industry as a whole) which set the prices for groceries. Honestly some of his arguments are convincing. This kind of theft rarely hurts individuals working at grocery stores. It's more costly to the people at the top of this food chain, the ones responsible for inflated prices.

You have one assumption in your question that is wrong. Sorry to hijack your question a but this is important to me and I hope useful to someone reading it

Kleptomania is the inability to resist the urge to steal items, usually for reasons other than personal use or financial gain. [...] kleptomania is classified in psychiatry as an impulse control disorder.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleptomania

There is no inherent motive.

The distinction is important to me because kleptomania can be one of the lesser known symptoms of an underlying ADHD diagnostic.

To give an example from several decades ago: I had to wait on an empty cash register right next to an exit. Something in my brain went "fuck this"and I walked out without my shopping. But with a 24 pack of soda... Which I didn't even like.

To come back to your question: if, long before therapy, a painting would've pulled my interest and the effort would've been quite low that could've been enough. I.e. next to an exit or already rolled up.

I shoplifted as a kid. We would steal stupid stuff just for the adrenaline rush.

I can see that becoming addictive.