Five-Finger Mac Discount at Best Buy?

Nicole Martinelli ()

Five-Finger Mac Discount at Best Buy?

In Bridgewater New Jersey, the police blotter reports (between rock-throwing incidents and credit card theft) that someone managed to walk out of the local Best Buy with a MacBook from a display. Anyone else come across  scenes of attempted five-finger discounts?

Here’s the report:

THEFT, 5:41 p.m. March 31: An employee of Best Buy reported that someone was able to remove a MacBook computer, valued at $1,800, from a display and leave the store undetected.

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About the author

nicole_martinelli

Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco native who has lived in Milan and Florence, Italy. She's written for Wired.com, The New York Times and Newsweek. You can find her on Twitter , Facebook and Google+.

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  • haunted_i

    Looks like they are using a generic holding tool instead of the Macbook’s built-in Kensington lock. Live and learn.

  • CNJArtist

    I actually live in Bridgewater, NJ and shop Best Buy on a semi regular basis. I’m not all that surprised that somebody got away with it. The last few months I’ve been in there the employees were almost always nowhere to be found. The funny thing is there’s an Apple Store in the mall right across the street.

  • Fred_M.

    Best Buy uses electronic alarms on its display laptops, digital cameras, iPods, and other displayed portable electronics. In the photo shown above, the black, round puck is affixed to the laptop with an adhesive that is not easily removed. If the RJ-style modular connector cord is removed from the black puck, the alarm sounds.

    Kensington-style locks are only the most mild form of deterrent — which is why stores almost always employ both alarms and much more substantial physical security. While they are somewhat useful on the aluminum-bodied laptops, they are a joke when used on plastic-bodied computers.

  • Mark

    I work at a notable camera store in Ontario, Canada. We also have a licence to sell Apple products. Unfortunately I don’t have the details, but in one of our other locations, a theif managed to walk away with a Macbook Pro, which was securly attached to the counter with heavy duty double sided adhesive tape. Talk about balls.

  • http://coreminimalist.blogspot.com Dann

    Of course, that “$1800″ value includes software, right? Because, you know, that’s how the people on Craigslist justify asking for more than what the machine actually costs.

  • Jay

    Given how ineffective the alarms in big box stores are I can’t say I’m surprised. I can’t remember how many times I’ve seen/heard those alarms go off in a store and the employees do nothing. So many false positives that they are effectively useless, same as car alarms.

    They go off so damn much for no reason at all, that when they finally go off because a theft is occurring, no one reacts or cares.

  • Mel

    I work at a Best Buy and at my store, when an alarm goes off it is immediately taken care off. I work in mp3′s and my alarms go off more than they should (but that’s been taken care of) and we still made sure that no one was trying to take something. Also, the “$1,800″ price does not include software (except for what comes on it). We don’t put any software on our store displays. They probably stole a macbook pro. At my store we had to start using security devices that have a bar go across the middle of them where they fold so that no one could take them. We haven’t had any one steal a lap top since. (we had someone coming in stealing a lot of displays)