Anti-theft devices and lawnmowers

I went to buy a new lawnmower today. Why, you ask? Because my old lawnmower SUCKS and was increasing my chance of heart attack every time I tried to mow the lawn. And my neighbors were laughing at me. Because I was wanting to kick it. So that's why.

So I did the comparison shopping thing, the talk to the experienced mower guy at the store thing, the budget (or lack there-of - who has a lawn mower budget?) thing, and then went to make the purchase. That went fine, and the check out guy even told me I was buying a nice mower (Toro, $300, for the curious - I bought cheap last time and believe me, I got cheap). Then as I was wheeling it out of the store on my cart, the store's anti-theft system went off. Evidently somewhere in my mower box was an anti-theft device they forgot to turn off.

Now I'm of 2 minds about anti-theft devices. You know, the little magnetic or whatever things that set off alarms if you leave the store before they're turned off? On the one hand, they make sense in principle and I can see a need for them. On the other hand, I can honestly say that I have never been prevented from stealing by an anti-theft device, but I have been inconvenienced while making a purchase by anti-theft devices several times. It's great when you've got a huge cart of groceries and some clerk has to recheck your receipt in case you added an extra box of meaty-o's that you didn't pay for. Be that as it may, after the check-out guy told me to ignore it and I wheeled my mower to the car, I couldn't help but wonder. Who shoplifts a lawnmower? It's a big freaking box people. It weight 81 pounds, and it's about 4 feet long by 2.5 feet wide. It would NOT fit under my trench coat, and I could NOT change into it in the changing room. It seems like telling the check out guy to, say, look out for people wheeling out huge boxes of mowers without paying for them might be almost, almost mind you, as effective as anti-thefting the boxes. Remind me not to try to swipe a new refrigerator next time I'm there. I'm sure they're on to that trick too.