There were also concerns that the Midway Museum would steal customers from other local attractions.

And competitors think the new casino could end up stealing customers from the company's existing downtown casino.

But competitors have upgraded their service, and last year they began deep discounts to large shippers, which stole customers away from Federal.

"If the telephone companies deliver this product with appropriate focus and emphasis, they can steal customers from cable," he said.

Robert Burke, a vice president there, said the biggest problem was not that the vendors were stealing customers.

The national companies, they assert, are stealing customers by offering artificially low prices that will rise when competition is eliminated.

They have also tried to steal customers from each other by offering hundreds of additional minutes and rolling out new services.

Shop owners moan about newsstands that steal customers but pay no rent.

But one man gave it a new meaning by trying to steal customers from the U.S. Government, officials say.

Then there is Wal-Mart, which just keeps going, cutting prices and stealing customers from the competition.