Major retailers spending billions to combat organized thefts.

[Saltwater60]

No surprise but it’s astonishing for sure.

Ben Dugan Works for CVS. His Job Is Battling a $45 Billion Crime Spree.

Retailers are spending millions a year to combat organized rings that steal from their stores in bulk and peddle the goods online, often on Amazon. It is a menace that has been supercharged by the rapid recent boom in online commerce.

www.wsj.com

 

[GOPerfect]

Wife works for a grocery chain, she says the theft is far out of control.

No stopping it at this point.

Unreal.

 

[dsdmmat]

Yeah if I was in charge of a location which had these kind of issues I would change the store to a warehouse and have a wall of pictures of products customers could bring up to cashiers and pay for then have my employees deliver their purchase to the customer’s car. No customer would ever go past the cashier station,

 

[repete]

Not retail but a week ago I pulled into the lot where I unload and back to the dock, get out and the first thing I see is one of the cars sitting there and the exhaust pipe's hanging down. Seems someone stole the cat off of it, luckily they didn't get mine! I hate thieves!

 

[MothMan]

Yeah if I was in charge of a location which had these kind of issues I would change the store to a warehouse and have a wall of pictures of products customers could bring up to cashiers and pay for then have my employees deliver their purchase to the customer’s car. No customer would ever go past the cashier station,

During a trip to China I wanted to try a pack of local tobacco products. Items were on display in locked glass cases with item numbers. Took the number to the cashier paid the price and like magic another person appeared with my smokes. Seemed to work okay.

The cigs were lousy!

 

[GOPerfect]

Yeah if I was in charge of a location which had these kind of issues I would change the store to a warehouse and have a wall of pictures of products customers could bring up to cashiers and pay for then have my employees deliver their purchase to the customer’s car. No customer would ever go past the cashier station,

Remember Brand Names?

Worked out fine.


As for your idea of the warehouse...

I can go one further; close all stores in High Crime Areas.

Simple, the turds cannot steal if the store is not there.

 

[Uninformed and Compliant]

Yeah if I was in charge of a location which had these kind of issues I would change the store to a warehouse and have a wall of pictures of products customers could bring up to cashiers and pay for then have my employees deliver their purchase to the customer’s car. No customer would ever go past the cashier station,

There was a place that did that, almost - it was named, "Service Merchandise".
The showroom was a catalog; you'd grab tags of what you want, buy them, then wait by the door for your box!

 

[GOPerfect]

There was a place that did that, almost - it was named, "Service Merchandise".
The showroom was a catalog; you'd grab tags of what you want, buy them, then wait by the door for your box!

I think Service Merchandise came after Brand Names closed their doors.

Both were awesome ideas.





There are a few, distinct types of people that are doing this massive stealing, how about we target those groups?

 

[livingston]

When I was in China a person was assigned to every aisle . They just watched everyone that shopped and made sure of no 5 finger discount

 

[MothMan]

There was a place that did that, almost - it was named, "Service Merchandise".
The showroom was a catalog; you'd grab tags of what you want, buy them, then wait by the door for your box!

Wifey and I got our first wedding bands there!!

 

[fresch]

Wifey and I got our first wedding bands there!!

Me too!
Well my wife and I.

 

[Deplorable Me]

Store security?? These are some of the jobs the Biden administration promised us.

 

[SomeSoldier]

I am OK with going old school, shoot and hang thevies.

 

[Grimscale]

I constantly hear of fairly large thefts from Walmart, and the ridiculous handling by their management. The Asset Protection employees are so overworked, underpaid (they didn't get the automatic $15/hr raise the cashiers did), that half the time they can only stand around and watch while cartloads of expensive TVs, drones, etc., walk out the door.
They aren't even allowed to try to prevent it, and aren't allowed to follow out past the yellow barricades.

 

[Tinman]

Do what they do in the Middle East. If you catch a thief, they get their hand cut off.

 

[Deplorable Me]

Do what they do in the Middle East. If you catch a thief, they get their hand cut off.

Our politicians would be handless.

 

[Xae289]

Our politicians would be handless.

Headless, at this point.



I'm willing to bet that in a good number of cases, there are employees that are in on it.

 

[Jmac00]

the problem is politicians, In San Fran you can steal you to $500 and NOT GET PROSECUTED.

When I work for Sibley's (HVAC manit, also where I met my wife) they put a round rack of fur's next to a door, a Family came in, dad had bolt cutters, he cut the cable locking the furs to the rack, and the wife and three CHILDREN grab almost every fur on the rack, ran outside (maybe 30 feet) jumped in a car and left. they took almost $5000 in furs in less than 30 seconds,

 

[spat]

Remember Brand Names?

Worked out fine.


As for your idea of the warehouse...

I can go one further; close all stores in High Crime Areas.

Simple, the turds cannot steal if the store is not there.

Nah, that won't do.

How will Amazon put them out of business that way ?


You think this sort of crime is a sign of government incompetence ? It is not. It is working *exactly* as it was designed to. That is why they will not do anything to stop it.

It's a lot scarier when you realize your being governed by machiavellian sociopaths than incompetent boobs. Most people can't handle that realization, so they just keep thinking they are idiots instead of figuring out what their *real* objectives are.

 

[FrankenCub]

There was a place that did that, almost - it was named, "Service Merchandise".
The showroom was a catalog; you'd grab tags of what you want, buy them, then wait by the door for your box!

I worked at the JC location when I was a kid. Spent every day pulling items of shelves upstairs and putting them on the escalator that dropped down to the service desk.

 

[Acer-m14]

Do what they do in the Middle East. If you catch a thief, they get their hand cut off.

first theft one hand .. next time the other hand ..

 

[masterswimmer]

I was in management in two very large, very well known retailers prior to retiring. Both companies had the same policy on theft. If you saw a customer that appeared to have 'questionable' intent, we were to instruct our employees to service the customer to death. Stick with them. Ask questions of them, get them to engage so they had no opportunity to execute the 5 finger discount.

The most annoying part of the corporate policy's were when you actually saw the theft take place. If the customer walked out of the store with the stolen goods and you followed them into the street to confront them, YOU lost your job. It was a terminable offense. The companies both stated in no uncertain terms, the merchandise was the company's, not yours. Your safety and well being was more important to the company than the stolen goods. Made sense to me. Infuriating? Hell yes. That was the company policy and I became hardened to the act of shoplifting. Not my money, it doesn't bother me anymore. The cost of theft is already built into the price of merchandise on the shelf.

FYI, in case you're wondering who these retailers were, Bed Bath & Beyond and Home Depot.

 

[libertysnake]

I was in management in two very large, very well known retailers prior to retiring. Both companies had the same policy on theft. If you saw a customer that appeared to have 'questionable' intent, we were to instruct our employees to service the customer to death. Stick with them. Ask questions of them, get them to engage so they had no opportunity to execute the 5 finger discount.

The most annoying part of the corporate policy's were when you actually saw the theft take place. If the customer walked out of the store with the stolen goods and you followed them into the street to confront them, YOU lost your job. It was a terminable offense. The companies both stated in no uncertain terms, the merchandise was the company's, not yours. Your safety and well being was more important to the company than the stolen goods. Made sense to me. Infuriating? Hell yes. That was the company policy and I became hardened to the act of shoplifting. Not my money, it doesn't bother me anymore. The cost of theft is already built into the price of merchandise on the shelf.

FYI, in case you're wondering who these retailers were, Bed Bath & Beyond and Home Depot.

It makes sense to me. Liability is too high if anyone gets hurt. Once it's to the point a theft is taking place, their goal is to keep it as low as possible monetary wise. Far more to lose a court case.

Trust me, if it cost them less to give you a gun and tell you to start blasting on sight, they would.

 

[dwa12479]

Its sad, but it all revolves around costs. Is it cheaper to let the stuff walk out the door or spend big ti protect it? Usually the economical answer is let it go.

 

[spat]

Its sad, but it all revolves around costs. Is it cheaper to let the stuff walk out the door or spend big ti protect it? Usually the economical answer is let it go.

The problem is that is penny wise, pound foolish.

Just like negotiating with terrorists.

In any one instance, sure.

It's not worth risking a $50k legal bill over a $500 stolen TV.

But, in the long run, those $500 TV's add up to real money, and the $50k legal bills will pale in comparison.


Imagine if major retailers switched tactics, and redirected some of their "shrink" budget into legal defense and then got aggressive about stopping theft.

Pretty soon, the "shrink" would drop drastically, and so would the legal costs, since people would stop stealing from them (why steal from a "hard target" when their competitors are so much softer).

Appeasement and capitulation is never a good long term strategy.