GordonGekko
Footballguy
Direct Headline: We visited stores like Walmart and Home Depot to see how they are tackling the industry's $95 billion shoplifting problem. We found an alarming amount of locked up items with security cameras watching every aisle.
Ben Tobin, Dominick Reuter Jan 26, 2023
....We found an alarming amount of locked up items with security cameras watching every aisle. We visited four retailers' stores to see what anti-theft measures they are putting into place. The stores had an abundance of spider wraps, items under lock-and-key, and security cameras...retail theft has become a $94.5 billion problem....more than $200,000 in stolen retail goods seized by the SF Police Department from a man who was reselling them online.....Walmart has installed cameras on medication and beauty aisles....Walmart is trying to deter theft by installing cameras in its parking lot......Like other retailers, Walmart locked many items, like beauty and electronics, behind glass doors, requiring customers to get an employee to retrieve products for them....
....A video game display at Target used a tether to let shoppers look at a title, but required staff assistance to get a copy from a locker ....Plan B emergency contraceptive pills were placed in security boxes....Elsewhere in Target's beauty section, the only items with security RF tags were fake eyelashes and press-on nails....Target protects its shopping carts with a cart retrieval system made by Gatekeeper Systems....An estimated 2 million shopping carts are stolen each year, costing retailers an estimated $800 million.
...At a Home Depot in Madison, Wisconsin, one of several security cameras monitoring the front entrance showed shoppers that they were on camera....Household electrical fuses were hung on twist-release displays, which make it harder to pull several off the rack at once....Higher-priced power tools were locked in merchandise cages at Home Depot....A padlock on a merchandise cage reminded store workers at Home Depot to personally bring items to the checkout....Some battery packs that were locked in cages were also tagged with RF devices at Home Depot....
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/visited-stores-walmart-home-depot-100000737.html
Direct Headline: Shoplifting is surging across America with dangerous and costly consequences
By Parija Kavilanz, CNN Business Jan 7, 2022
....Retailers have always been vulnerable to shoplifting. But the emergence of coordinated and organized robberies at high-value stores, even during shopping hours, has the industry on edge....In November, a group of 14 individuals barged into a Louis Vuitton store in Oakbrook, Illinois, while customers were inside and audaciously drove away with a $100,000 worth of merchandise. The entire incident was caught on the store’s surveillance video....That same month, a group of at least 18 people broke into a closed Nordstrom store at LA’s famous high-end The Grove shopping mall using a sledgehammer and an electric bicycle. They made off with several thousand dollars in merchandise. And on Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year, as many as 30 people robbed a Best Buy in Minneapolis.....
....The crime typically involves groups of people targeting stores that carry higher-value items like electronics, designer handbags and designer clothing, who resell the merchandise in secondary marketplaces, such as eBay, OfferUp and Facebook Marketplace or even back into the legitimate supply chain....“These are people who make a living stealing and reselling. This is not a one-time opportunistic or need-based robbery....For every $330 worth of products stolen, a retailer has to sell an incremental $300,000 worth of goods to break even....We’ve talked to retailers across America who say shoplifting is now 2% to 3% of their total sales. That’s up from 0.7 to 1% pre-pandemic....”
....Power tools are so popular with professional shoplifters at Home Depot (HD) that the home improvement retailer last year launched a line of power tools that won’t work until they’re first scanned and activated at the checkout register,....Some of most popular items targeted by professional gangs of shoplifters are designer clothing, laundry detergent, designer handbags, allergy medicine, razors, high-end liquor, pain relievers, baby formula, laptops, deodorant and high-end appliances....“Think about retailers that are staffed predominantly by women, like cosmetics stores and high-end fashion....Criminals target these stores because these are high-dollar items and they anticipate little pushback from the staff. But the fear makes it difficult to keep employees....”
....Elsewhere, drugstore chains have closed stores in neighborhoods where there’s persistent shoplifting. Walgreens, for example, has closed a handful of stores in San Francisco, citing rampant shoplifting....Then there’s the broader community impact. Shopping in stores generates sales tax, which in turn provides funding for essential public services....Some 50% of retailers surveyed reported an average dollar value loss of merchandise of at least $1,000 in 2020 compared to 29% in 2019. Overall, organized retail crime costs retailers an average of $700,000 per $1 billion in sales....
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/07/business/retail-theft-shoplifting-robbery/index.html
Direct Headline: Drug Store Managers In NYC Say Shoplifting Skyrocketing, Which Is Why More Items Are Under Lock And Key
CBS NEW YORK Oct 11, 2021
...It has become a common site at drug stores around New York City -- aisles and aisles of products under lock and key...."Shampoos, deodorants ... What I'm also seeing is that a lot of stuff is not even on the shelves....They have it locked up because sometimes they get boosters that come in there and steal their stuff...."... Boosters are people who steal products to re-sell them.
....Drugstores in parts of New York City are on high alert amid a rise in shoplifting and are increasing security measures to stop theft. Cans of Spam, a cooked pork product that retails for $3.99 per 12-ounce tin, appeared to be encased in an antitheft container at a Duane Reade store in Manhattan....
IMAGE of can of Spam in protective "anti-theft" plastic case
Cans of Celebrity brand ham, which retails for $3.49, were also encased in plastic, according to a customer tweeted an image of the product.
IMAGE of can of Celebrity canned ham in protective "anti-theft" plastic case
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/new...ts-locked-up-nypd-national-retail-federation/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/store-slocking-up-spam-duane-reade-shoplifting-theft/
********
“Crime isn’t that complicated. People steal because taking something gives them something. If they’re not in it for the money, they’re in it for control. The act of taking, of breaking the rules, makes them feel powerful. They’re in it for the sheer defiance. Some people steal to stay alive, and some steal to feel alive. Simple as that.”
- V.E. Schwab
Here is another topic that is designed to increase discussion and participation in the FFA.
I see this as an interesting topic because this issue impacts everyone here and everyone across the modern world. Widespread theft creates a possible immediate safety threat for you and/or your family members if you are inside a retail location. And the costs of that increased theft are passed onto you as they raise the cost of essential goods and services. This will impact people putting food on the table for their kids or not. I believe there can be interesting discussion here without delving into public policy issues, public administration considerations and generally anything politically related to this topic. However this would classify, IMHO, as one of the more difficult issues to tackle only from the community/cultural/social perspective.
In recent times, have you seen shoplifting firsthand go up dramatically? Have you talked to local businesses and have they shared with you their concerns or their day to day reality with increased theft and shoplifting? Have you seen a dramatic impact, on this issue, based on talking with other people you know, your family, your workplace, your neighbors, your general social network, your overall community? And, for those who want to share, it might be helpful to share your general geographic location or what specific stores you see are being hit. What do you think should be done to deal with this widespread shoplifting problem? Do you believe it's a big enough problem to warrant a more heavily invested response or do you see it as simply more sound and fury to scare people? Will increased shoplifting / theft change any of your formerly routine shopping habits? Have you ever shoplifted before? What happened? Do you know anyone who has been caught for shoplifting before? What happened? What did you take? What did you learn or wish you learned from the experience?
I'll leave this here for others to discuss. (17/30)
Ben Tobin, Dominick Reuter Jan 26, 2023
....We found an alarming amount of locked up items with security cameras watching every aisle. We visited four retailers' stores to see what anti-theft measures they are putting into place. The stores had an abundance of spider wraps, items under lock-and-key, and security cameras...retail theft has become a $94.5 billion problem....more than $200,000 in stolen retail goods seized by the SF Police Department from a man who was reselling them online.....Walmart has installed cameras on medication and beauty aisles....Walmart is trying to deter theft by installing cameras in its parking lot......Like other retailers, Walmart locked many items, like beauty and electronics, behind glass doors, requiring customers to get an employee to retrieve products for them....
....A video game display at Target used a tether to let shoppers look at a title, but required staff assistance to get a copy from a locker ....Plan B emergency contraceptive pills were placed in security boxes....Elsewhere in Target's beauty section, the only items with security RF tags were fake eyelashes and press-on nails....Target protects its shopping carts with a cart retrieval system made by Gatekeeper Systems....An estimated 2 million shopping carts are stolen each year, costing retailers an estimated $800 million.
...At a Home Depot in Madison, Wisconsin, one of several security cameras monitoring the front entrance showed shoppers that they were on camera....Household electrical fuses were hung on twist-release displays, which make it harder to pull several off the rack at once....Higher-priced power tools were locked in merchandise cages at Home Depot....A padlock on a merchandise cage reminded store workers at Home Depot to personally bring items to the checkout....Some battery packs that were locked in cages were also tagged with RF devices at Home Depot....
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/visited-stores-walmart-home-depot-100000737.html
Direct Headline: Shoplifting is surging across America with dangerous and costly consequences
By Parija Kavilanz, CNN Business Jan 7, 2022
....Retailers have always been vulnerable to shoplifting. But the emergence of coordinated and organized robberies at high-value stores, even during shopping hours, has the industry on edge....In November, a group of 14 individuals barged into a Louis Vuitton store in Oakbrook, Illinois, while customers were inside and audaciously drove away with a $100,000 worth of merchandise. The entire incident was caught on the store’s surveillance video....That same month, a group of at least 18 people broke into a closed Nordstrom store at LA’s famous high-end The Grove shopping mall using a sledgehammer and an electric bicycle. They made off with several thousand dollars in merchandise. And on Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year, as many as 30 people robbed a Best Buy in Minneapolis.....
....The crime typically involves groups of people targeting stores that carry higher-value items like electronics, designer handbags and designer clothing, who resell the merchandise in secondary marketplaces, such as eBay, OfferUp and Facebook Marketplace or even back into the legitimate supply chain....“These are people who make a living stealing and reselling. This is not a one-time opportunistic or need-based robbery....For every $330 worth of products stolen, a retailer has to sell an incremental $300,000 worth of goods to break even....We’ve talked to retailers across America who say shoplifting is now 2% to 3% of their total sales. That’s up from 0.7 to 1% pre-pandemic....”
....Power tools are so popular with professional shoplifters at Home Depot (HD) that the home improvement retailer last year launched a line of power tools that won’t work until they’re first scanned and activated at the checkout register,....Some of most popular items targeted by professional gangs of shoplifters are designer clothing, laundry detergent, designer handbags, allergy medicine, razors, high-end liquor, pain relievers, baby formula, laptops, deodorant and high-end appliances....“Think about retailers that are staffed predominantly by women, like cosmetics stores and high-end fashion....Criminals target these stores because these are high-dollar items and they anticipate little pushback from the staff. But the fear makes it difficult to keep employees....”
....Elsewhere, drugstore chains have closed stores in neighborhoods where there’s persistent shoplifting. Walgreens, for example, has closed a handful of stores in San Francisco, citing rampant shoplifting....Then there’s the broader community impact. Shopping in stores generates sales tax, which in turn provides funding for essential public services....Some 50% of retailers surveyed reported an average dollar value loss of merchandise of at least $1,000 in 2020 compared to 29% in 2019. Overall, organized retail crime costs retailers an average of $700,000 per $1 billion in sales....
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/07/business/retail-theft-shoplifting-robbery/index.html
Direct Headline: Drug Store Managers In NYC Say Shoplifting Skyrocketing, Which Is Why More Items Are Under Lock And Key
CBS NEW YORK Oct 11, 2021
...It has become a common site at drug stores around New York City -- aisles and aisles of products under lock and key...."Shampoos, deodorants ... What I'm also seeing is that a lot of stuff is not even on the shelves....They have it locked up because sometimes they get boosters that come in there and steal their stuff...."... Boosters are people who steal products to re-sell them.
....Drugstores in parts of New York City are on high alert amid a rise in shoplifting and are increasing security measures to stop theft. Cans of Spam, a cooked pork product that retails for $3.99 per 12-ounce tin, appeared to be encased in an antitheft container at a Duane Reade store in Manhattan....
IMAGE of can of Spam in protective "anti-theft" plastic case
Cans of Celebrity brand ham, which retails for $3.49, were also encased in plastic, according to a customer tweeted an image of the product.
IMAGE of can of Celebrity canned ham in protective "anti-theft" plastic case
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/new...ts-locked-up-nypd-national-retail-federation/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/store-slocking-up-spam-duane-reade-shoplifting-theft/
********
“Crime isn’t that complicated. People steal because taking something gives them something. If they’re not in it for the money, they’re in it for control. The act of taking, of breaking the rules, makes them feel powerful. They’re in it for the sheer defiance. Some people steal to stay alive, and some steal to feel alive. Simple as that.”
- V.E. Schwab
Here is another topic that is designed to increase discussion and participation in the FFA.
I see this as an interesting topic because this issue impacts everyone here and everyone across the modern world. Widespread theft creates a possible immediate safety threat for you and/or your family members if you are inside a retail location. And the costs of that increased theft are passed onto you as they raise the cost of essential goods and services. This will impact people putting food on the table for their kids or not. I believe there can be interesting discussion here without delving into public policy issues, public administration considerations and generally anything politically related to this topic. However this would classify, IMHO, as one of the more difficult issues to tackle only from the community/cultural/social perspective.
In recent times, have you seen shoplifting firsthand go up dramatically? Have you talked to local businesses and have they shared with you their concerns or their day to day reality with increased theft and shoplifting? Have you seen a dramatic impact, on this issue, based on talking with other people you know, your family, your workplace, your neighbors, your general social network, your overall community? And, for those who want to share, it might be helpful to share your general geographic location or what specific stores you see are being hit. What do you think should be done to deal with this widespread shoplifting problem? Do you believe it's a big enough problem to warrant a more heavily invested response or do you see it as simply more sound and fury to scare people? Will increased shoplifting / theft change any of your formerly routine shopping habits? Have you ever shoplifted before? What happened? Do you know anyone who has been caught for shoplifting before? What happened? What did you take? What did you learn or wish you learned from the experience?
I'll leave this here for others to discuss. (17/30)