Live data from Hacker News

Edit store price tags using Flipper Zero

github.com

91–100 of 356 posts

Re: Edit store price tags using Flipper Zero

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Usually the advertised price must be honored, because it may have brought the customer to your store. This is not the case for groceries in Massachusetts at least. If there’s a discrepancy between the tag’s price and the scanned price the store must charge the customer the lowest of the two: https://www.mass.gov/price-accuracy-information

I suspect this law does not apply in cases of fraud. If not, simple tag-switching would be rampant.

The thing I was responding to was about pricing policy in general, but I would assume so

Re: Edit store price tags using Flipper Zero

#92

I was in college when self checkout became a thing and it took us all of about 45 seconds to realize that you could just check everything out as bananas. Steak was weighed and priced at 4011 (banana code) as the stoned teenager cashier paid no attention. Everything on the receipt was literally Bananas

Congratulations, you have discovered the concept of shoplifting!

if a store does not want to hire capable staff to perform an essential function, they should not expect laypeople to perform that action for free (or at higher cost, as we've seen with grocery prices in the US as human cashiers are reduced) at the same level as a trained staff member.

we do not have to accept this decision to reduce staff and raise prices as a matter of course. plus, if you see somebody stealing food, no, you didn't.

Re: Edit store price tags using Flipper Zero

#93
post #43

I was in college when self checkout became a thing and it took us all of about 45 seconds to realize that you could just check everything out as bananas. Steak was weighed and priced at 4011 (banana code) as the stoned teenager cashier paid no attention. Everything on the receipt was literally Bananas

People like you are why we are living in an increasingly lower trust society, with for example having items behind locked door in shops. Reminds me a bit of the shopping cart theory.

trust goes both ways. you can be cynical about people who take things without paying, i guess. i prefer to be cynical about the corporations who run and stock these grocery stores with substandard products at artificially inflated prices that benefit shareholders and disadvantage people who need to eat food to live.

Re: Edit store price tags using Flipper Zero

#94
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IANAL and this depends on the jurisdiction, but in many places, the penalties for shenanigans like these are far steeper than for outright theft, as it's considered to be financial fraud.

It sucks that we have to do extra labor and expose ourselves to this kind of legal risk all because a grocery store doesn't want to staff workers. It's not even like they pass these savings onto us...

That's true, grocery stores made record profits during covid.

I've sometimes toyed with the idea of an "open sourced" grocery store that's extremely transparent about every detail. Think electronic price tags that give you a complete breakdown of the cost of an item, cost of labor, cost to account for "loss", over/under-supply, etc.

I feel like there's a niche out there for hyperinformed consumers

Re: Edit store price tags using Flipper Zero

#95
Lmao more flipper zero crap.

I'm sorry, but I'm so sick of seeing "omg hacker man" mystique surrounding flipper, which is exactly what they want because it drives sales. Ofc you can muck about with open and unsecured stuff...like duh.

But it annoys me to no end when I have reasonably intelligent friends parrot claims like "flipper can clone the nfc in your credit card and you can steal people's money wow much hack!"

Re: Edit store price tags using Flipper Zero

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That video was staged, at Target electronics need to be paid for in the electronics department where there is no self-check out. In addition Target has the best Loss Prevention in the business, including let shoplifters continue until they accumulate enough goods that their crime is a felony.

Partner spent a significant time working at Target, can confirm Their Loss Prevention is so advanced that FBI has collaborated with them for case help https://thehorizonsun.com/features/2024/04/11/the-target-for... I also worked there briefly in my teens, they are a great employer.

Yeah Target is notorious for its surveillance technology.

Before the rightwing boycotted Target for it's lgbtq+ merch and before the liberals boycotted Target for its rollback of DEI initiatives, many of us had been boyoctting Target for decades because its advancement of surveillance technology and cooperation with companies like Palantir

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/09/san-francisco-gets-inv...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-08-25/how-targe...

Re: Edit store price tags using Flipper Zero

#97
post #8

This is pretty dangerous. At least in my country the displayed price must be honored and they cannot refuse the sale.

No it's not.

We've been able to take a price sticker off one object and put it onto another for a very, very long time.

It's not really a new issue and current law should already cater for it.

Re: Edit store price tags using Flipper Zero

#98

Lmao more flipper zero crap. I'm sorry, but I'm so sick of seeing "omg hacker man" mystique surrounding flipper, which is exactly what they want because it drives sales. Ofc you can muck about with open and unsecured stuff...like duh. But it annoys me to no end when I have reasonably intelligent friends parrot claims like "flipper can clone the nfc in your credit card and you can steal people's money wow much hack!"

That's just you, bud.

Re: Edit store price tags using Flipper Zero

#99

I still don't think I've seen an actually useful application for a Flipper Zero. It's all just "use this to change store price tags" or "here's how to disconnect all bluetooth devices", but also "don't actually use this, because it would be illegal, this is just for educational purposes"

Beside of how the media often tries to present it, the value of Flipper Zero is not for everyone to "become a hacker with this simple app". Its value is to provide a standardized hardware platform for (white hat) hackers for probing, prototyping, refining and sharing of security research in the fields its hardware supports (Sub-GHz RF, NFC, IR, and custom external boards via simple Input/Output pins). Prior to that,…

Flipper zero themselves try to present the flipper zero as a device that "hacks things with a button press".

And they love the free advertising they get along the same lines by youtubers desperate for clicks.

Ultimately it just sells more devices. The flipper zero can't "hack" anything. It can only be used as a tool to perform hacking, by a skilled individual who is doing all the work/discovering an exploit.

Re: Edit store price tags using Flipper Zero

#100

I was in college when self checkout became a thing and it took us all of about 45 seconds to realize that you could just check everything out as bananas. Steak was weighed and priced at 4011 (banana code) as the stoned teenager cashier paid no attention. Everything on the receipt was literally Bananas

That's crazy. But coming from someone who wrote a book on retail fraud and worked as a retail fraud analyst for several years... you could have just walked straight out with those items. Transacting was your way of leaving a calling card for the investigators/analysts to find you... You stole regardless of how you did it.

I think the point was that they COULDN'T have just walked out with them, BUT, by learning then going through the motions of a typical check out this A+++ hacker was able to bypass a normal security layer.
Post reply on HN