[Peteparker]

See there's a difference between flat-out stealing from a company and following their pre-set rules.

Obviously swapping UPCs or price tags is illegal, even if they're generated by the store.

But returning full-price items to a store that has clearanced them, only to come back later and re-buy them at the clearanced price is well within the defined rules established by the company. If it weren't, you wouldn't be allowed to get all your money back at any store, they'd just give you their current price back for the item.

Plus, the people who pull these elaborate price heists are the extreme minority. It probably purely depends on how much they're gaining by what they're doing and how much time it takes the stores to investigate before the company decides to pursue prosecution...