Retail Theft Impact on Purchased Goods

Thats too easy, obviously you're not ceo material.

it is middle management material though. Nothing screams middle management like asking someone to take a bat to a gunfight, while also giving them less than OSHA certified training on the bat.

For cheetos and a yoohoo.

Any CEO would delegate that shit to a middle manager.
 
Perhaps there is no impact on price because they don't need to hire as many people with self checkout. Although, in my experience, prices don't go down for any reason, including using less labor. Perhaps the real issue is corporate greed, but I understand we can't go after them because they have a certain lifestyle to maintain.
 
it is middle management material though. Nothing screams middle management like asking someone to take a bat to a gunfight, while also giving them less than OSHA certified training on the bat.

For cheetos and a yoohoo.

Any CEO would delegate that shit to a middle manager.
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Yeah, so...

I'm gonna need you to stop a methed up hobo with a .22 from stealing these Mickeys Big Mouths. Oh, and you get a pizza party next week when you're off-shift. Wear your uniform though.

And corporate denied your raise.

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You know there is so much truth to that it's scarey.

A good friend of mine worked on the North Slope in the oil fields. One year the company gave them a really nice thing for the record profits they had.

Keep in mind where they're working...the company gave them a 24 hour a day self-serve ice cream maker in the break room for all their hard work. I guess it beats an ice machine.

You just can't make this shit up.

Whoever made that decision, clearly worth their CEO Pay.
 
1. Vote with your wallet. If you can find sellers that actively resist theft, give them the $ you refuse to spend @ WALk-out-for-free Mart. This may be one reason for the growth of online shopping.

2. A 47 tariff on resale of stolen merch.
 
You know there is so much truth to that it's scarey.

A good friend of mine worked on the North Slope in the oil fields. One year the company gave them a really nice thing for the record profits they had.

Keep in mind where they're working...the company gave them a 24 hour a day self-serve ice cream maker in the break room for all their hard work. I guess it beats an ice machine.

You just can't make this shit up.

Whoever made that decision, clearly worth their CEO Pay.


No, it is the workers who are at fault for everything. If you won't stop Karl the snake guy from lifting a pack of purple wraps, then do you even America?
 
You know there is so much truth to that it's scarey.

A good friend of mine worked on the North Slope in the oil fields. One year the company gave them a really nice thing for the record profits they had.

Keep in mind where they're working...the company gave them a 24 hour a day self-serve ice cream maker in the break room for all their hard work. I guess it beats an ice machine.

You just can't make this shit up.

Whoever made that decision, clearly worth their CEO Pay.
Yep! Retailers can be some of the cheapest sob’s out there. So the ridiculous perk you mentioned above was also a write off for the retailer as an equipment expense.
 
Obviously it cost them less than hiring someone to check everyone’s bag and receipt. Don’t worry, AI will figure all this out.
Checking receipts generally is merely a request which you can ignore in most cases. You own the items once you pay so no need to show the employee anything. Just as you do not need to hand that receipt checker your wallet or let them view inside your underwear.

The store can trespass you, though, since is private property.

Costco requires you sign a membership agreement where you consent to having your receipt checked.

I have never refused a request to check my receipt. I do value my time. I resent stores for relying on self-checkout to save on labor but cheaping out on enforcement at the bagging zone so inconvenience me.
 
I've often thought stores in high crime areas should setup their vestibules with quick closing high security doors so that when someone obviously steals and walks out, you push a button and trap them in the vestibule until the cops arrive to deal with them. Since we know this isn't going to happen, it ought to be 100% legal for law abiding citizens or store employees to tackle and beat the snot out them. :cool:

Wishful thinking ......
Things may have changed but in NYC’s famed jewelry district I had occasions to shop at wholesale in the 1990s. I was not entering retail stores.

One particular building had an entry door where you were buzzed in one at a time then the door locked behind you as you waited to enter the next set of doors. An iris scan was performed and you waited a few moments. I wondered if the Fire Marshall also got discounts as being restricted from exiting seemed a fire code violation.

Another story.

I worked in a high rise in the 1980s which briefly lost power during a sheer wind event on a Saturday afternoon. Not sure of the wind speed but several rolling steel dumpsters were slapped onto their sides. I had just stepped off the elevator on the 21st floor as the building tilted causing several wooden doors to slam shut. Unfortunately for me, I had not yet scanned my I.D. badge to unlock the glass security doors which led to our offices. Elevators went offline. Lights went out.

The badge reader needed electricity so the security glass doors would not open. The stairs were accessed beyond the office doors. Emergency lighting came on in less than a minute but the badge reader remained inactive for another 10 minutes or so. I knocked on the glass but no one was in the office at that point. So the elevator lobby was temporarily a cage. Not a comforting realization.
 
I would like to think that paying a CEO an asspile of money they could figure out a way to stop theft at the stores they are responsible for. I mean, isn't that part of the job?

Nahhhh, lets let the cashier or front door greeter take care of the heavy lifting that are making $15 an hour, or even better yet, honest customers that give us money to take care of it.

What a joke.
They are actually being responsible when they tell their staff not to engage. Can you imagine telling that poor employees family that they lost their loved one while they were stopping a thief and they only got paid $15 an hour. It's not worth it. More especially if they are working for a convenance store with low $ amounts.

I managed several retail operations that had both an aggressive clientele and employee pool. Most of the employee theft came from people in the positions of power. An overwhelming $ value of the losses came from the back office by a long shot. Most people assume it's the clerk in the front (and that does happen but not as much as you would think).

As far as customer theft goes, It took a lot of convincing to get the team to just let it go and report it. If the theft was in the moment they all had code words and signals that would pass from employee to employee until it got to me and then I delt with it because that's what leadership does. It was fairly dangerous to steal from one of these locations so most of the theft came from unwitting people who didn't know any better. Some of it came from truly dangerous people that we would need to deal with on multiple levels.

This may be a little unethical but I've actually tried to wait until they stole enough stuff to hit the State Statue for felony theft before we moved forward to address. I had cameras everywhere so we could follow most of their movements. If the police came too quickly, I would usually post them in the security room and we would watch together gathering evidence.

If it happened too quickly, we captured the video and reported to the police and let them handle it.

I expected about 4-7% shrink every year and considered it the cost of doing business. We spent 10s of thousands on deterrents and in security systems such as cameras etc.. Employees would get very aggressive about the theft and try to lock everything down. However, if you want your customers to shop (meaning to touch and feel) the products you really need to limit the amount of intrusive theft deterrence systems prohibiting that behavior. Everyone has been frustrated with those systems keeping you from trying something on or grabbing the razor or whatever highly stolen item off the shelf that you wanted. Those devices are forcing a customer to ask a employee to unlock the item. I invested in hiring more employees to talk to customers while they are shopping instead.

I have had homeless folks issues but I never called the cops on them. I just ushered them along and let them know not to come back.

I never really had to increase pricing more than I would otherwise for the theft, but it was figured into the business.
 
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