Viral vid shows man not scanning shopping cart of items at Walmart

A Missouri man who went viral after a video of him not scanning the items in his shopping cart at a Walmart was posted online has denied that he is a thief. 

In the video, Bill Astle can be seen standing in front of a self-checkout machine, causally removing different products from his cart and placing them in bags without scanning them. 

The woman filming the footage, which was recorded on Mother’s Day, narrates in disbelief: ‘This man is literally just stealing everything.’

‘He ain’t scanning s***,” the woman says as Astle continues to bag items from his shopping cart without scanning.

She was surprised by how blasé the supposed thief was and quipped: ‘So open about it. Look at the screen, ain’t nothing ringing up.’

Astle, who works for Spark, Walmart’s delivery service, said that he was just doing his job and is innocent. 

He even has receipts from the date in question to back up his assertion.

‘I’m not a thief. I’m being pictured and painted as a thief on the internet,’ he lamented to FirstAlert4.

Astle explained that because he is a Walmart employee he is able to scan the products on his phone as he picks them up.

‘Everything is done off the phone,’ he said. ‘So when we get to the register, we’re not actually scanning a single item.’

When a Spark shopper arrives at the register, Astle said that they’re expected to scan their phone into the self-checkout machine and then bag the items. 

Scanning the products on their phones obviates the need to scan them at the register.

Click here to resize this module

The Spark employee has performed the routine countless times, and yet, last month he was recorded without his knowledge carrying out this same task.

The video took the internet by storm and was rapidly shared on social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and X.com, with many viewers decrying Astle’s actions in the comments and calling him a thief.

On X.com alone, the video has 15.6 million views and is captioned: ‘Man doesn’t scan a single item at Walmart self checkout.’

A baffled user remarked: ‘This dude is so blatant about it!’

Astle has been overwhelmed by the attention and the viral notoriety. Speaking of the video, he expressed his incredulity at the number of people who have watched it.

‘Millions and millions of views,’ he said in shock. 

People have even recognized Astle in person, bothering him while he’s trying to do his Spark shops.

‘I’ve had customers say, “Hey, didn’t I see you on the internet? Didn’t you steal items?”‘

Then the Walmart employee finds himself in the awkward position of trying to defend himself to strangers.

‘I have to explain to people what I’m doing.’

Astle is now on a mission to clear his name and get his life to return to normal. He said that he is ‘trying to find a way to get [the videos] pulled down.’

Right after the person finished filming Astle, he said he completed his Spark order and purchased an item with his own money- flowers for his wife for Mother’s Day.

‘Had they continued the video for another thirty seconds they would have seen when I got with the Spark delivery order, I scanned two dozen roses and used my debit card to pay.’