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>is it really shoplifting if their system fails to register the sale?

Why wouldn't it be shoplifting here if it is at any other store? If the cashiers and loss prevention officers don't notice you walking out with merchandise in your pocket, is it somehow worse because their eyes and brains are made of flesh instead of plastic and metal?

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Well, you don’t know what the system registers until you walk out and get an email receipt a couple of minutes later.

And for a shopping list of more than a handful of items, even reviewing the receipt wouldn't necessarily mean you spot things that were missed.

True. That sounds like a fine excuse for the accidental cases. When you are deliberately making an attempt to deceive the system, that is where it crosses the line.

It's the same as if you give an item to the cashier and the cashier fails to scan it. I don't think that's shoplifting.

If you are presenting your items to the system normally and they fail to register it, yes. If you are hiding the item in your jacket or cart to deliberately avoid the cashier's attention, that is shoplifting.

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