[HN Gopher] 'The bane of retail.' Many big chains now lock up al...
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'The bane of retail.' Many big chains now lock up all kinds of
merchandise
Author : dangle1
Score : 14 points
Date : 2024-04-25 20:35 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.latimes.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.latimes.com)
| dangle1 wrote:
| Joe Budano, chief executive of San Diego-based Indyme which makes
| buttons to beckon sales associates to specific aisles is
| interviewed:
|
| >His company also has developed technology -- the Freedom Case,
| they call it -- that allows shoppers to open cases themselves
| using personal information such as their cellphone number or by
| scanning their face. More than 40 retailers are testing the
| Freedom Case in stores, Budano said, including a national chain
| he declined to name.
| aerotwelve wrote:
| Wonderful! Want to buy a package of razorblades? It's time to
| get your retinas scanned.
|
| Absolutely revolting that any retailer would even consider
| doing something like this.
| lb7000 wrote:
| Retailers also seem to be deploying a solution that includes
| moving their stores out of cities that don't crack down on theft.
| hobs wrote:
| Most retail shrink is done by employees, not customers.
| gameman144 wrote:
| Do you have any data to back this up? That feels very wrong
| anecdotally, but I'd be glad to be proven wrong.
| blackeyeblitzar wrote:
| I have run into these locked up shelves up and down the west
| coast of the US in many cities. It is strange and inconvenient
| but very understandable - I've seen a couple times now people
| openly stealing things and the store workers doing nothing but
| requesting politely that the criminal leave. That is not going to
| work and until people are allowed to defend against crimes and
| police are allowed to do their work, it will continue. Or maybe
| it's prosecutors that need to do their job because they usually
| release these guys with no real punishment.
| vintagedave wrote:
| A year or so ago I, a tourist in America, went to a pharmacy in
| Boston to get some headache tablets (ibuprofen). This was
| somewhere in the city center, very close to Boston Common, and
| felt a modern, safe neighborhood so far as a foreigner could
| judge.
|
| Every single item on every single shelf was behind glass. I had
| to get help to get myself a pack of cheap non-prescription
| painkillers.
|
| This article focuses on the phenomenon, but it misses the key
| point that struck me that day. I could only imagine such
| precautions were due to endemic theft. And petty theft for
| essentials such as medicines doesn't speak to stealing for
| profit, but to desperation, like stealing food. I was left
| wondering: what is going on in America?
| quickthrowman wrote:
| > And petty theft for essentials such as medicines doesn't
| speak to stealing for profit
|
| You're 100% wrong here. There are a couple ways I'm aware of to
| go about selling personal care items and medicines for profit.
|
| -Sell them to a broker/fence who sells to 'bodegas' and other
| retail stores who buy discounted stolen merchandise
|
| -Box it up and ship it to Amazon and have Amazon fence it for
| you (seriously). I'm sure Amazon is aware but doesn't care.
|
| > I was left wondering: what is going on in America?
|
| Shoplifting under $1000 isn't prosecuted in a lot of places,
| which enables the above behavior.
| barsonme wrote:
| People have been stealing stuff, like laundry detergent or baby
| formula or power tools, in bulk then reselling it for half
| price on eBay or Facebook Marketplace.
|
| Maybe they're desperate for money. But they're certainly not
| desperate for $20k of baby formula [1].
|
| [1]: https://www.fox8live.com/video/2024/03/24/police-thieves-
| cau...
| jrm4 wrote:
| As with self-checkout theft, _cry me a river._
|
| This isn't all that logically hard to figure out, it's just not
| profitable.
|
| Big chains, almost by definition as they operate, don't care
| about their workers.
|
| Alternatively, if your store figures out how to take care and
| value your workers, your workers will care about your store and
| the locality in which the store exists, and they will work
| towards solving this problem.
| idopmstuff wrote:
| > Alternatively, if your store figures out how to take care and
| value your workers, your workers will care about your store and
| the locality in which the store exists, and they will work
| towards solving this problem.
|
| This is a pretty backwards view of this situation. The workers
| should not be the one solving this problem, and the store
| should not be putting them in a position to do so. Locking up
| goods deters theft at a cost to the store. A worker confronting
| a thief deters theft but at a potential significant cost of the
| worker being assaulted (or charged with a crime for assaulting
| the thief).
|
| The way this should work is that if the workers see the theft
| and call the police, who intervene appropriately.
| riehwvfbk wrote:
| Forget about confronting a thief, I've had workers at Walmart
| steal my purchases. Yes, in the Bay Area. Presumably they
| return the items for store credit afterwards. I don't even
| feel too bad about it because I can't imagine surviving here
| on a Walmart salary. They needed that money more than I did.
| I did, however, stop going to Walmart.
|
| But honestly Bay Area shopping is now worse than what you'll
| see in developing countries. Stores are rundown and dirty,
| many things are perpetually out of stock, homeless roam the
| aisles. I'm sure all the profit-related metrics are optimized
| to death though.
| mensetmanusman wrote:
| It has little to do with the chains and much to do with
| society.
|
| Big chains tell workers never to confront theft, because the
| insurance risks are not worth it.
|
| Society says that thefts are also not worth dealing with.
| kristjansson wrote:
| Unless these retail stores are letting their employees profile
| customers, and refuse to unlock the cases for undesirables, I
| fail to see how these are any real deterrent to shoplifting. Just
| ask to unlock the case, get the item, walk around for another
| minute, then walk out with paying.
|
| ... and if they are profiling customers, the settlements are
| going to make their shrinkage losses look like pocket change
| patch_cable wrote:
| Employees may still be able to limit the amount that is stolen.
| You may be able to steal one item, but are blocked from filling
| up a bag.
| skyyler wrote:
| >I fail to see how these are any real deterrent to shoplifting.
| Just ask to unlock the case, get the item, walk around for
| another minute, then walk out with paying.
|
| Most people do not get handed the item from the lock case. I
| believe it's policy at most stores, the item goes to the front
| where the person requesting the item asks for it at the
| register.
|
| People like you or I may be handed items from the lock case,
| but that's because we look trustworthy to the employees.
| (Wearing nice clothes, hair kept tidy, etc)
| thfuran wrote:
| >Wearing nice clothes, hair kept tidy, etc
|
| I can tell you've never met me.
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(page generated 2024-04-25 23:01 UTC)