Retail theft and store closings

[Markola]

Here’s a list of 23 stores Wal-Mart is closing thus year (here). Their locations don’t fit at all this narrative.

Walgreens is closing 150 stores (here). BedBathand Beyond closed all its sites.

My guess is the one common denominator they all share is not crime, theft, location, property taxes, pandemic, or rent cost. It’s profitability. As margins are squeezed and inflation continues to bite, retail chains have few options to grow their profit, but they must do so now, and with a growing economy, find it difficult to explain.

Closing unprofitable stores works - over the short term.

Look out, Michael. Like me, you dared suggest that there might be economic causes to the store closings besides the moral collapse of society. Stay strong [emoji123] to withstand the incoming fury.

It could also be Amazon eating everyone’s lunch.

 

[Koolau]

Well that's a different take... Can you speak towards the type of environments all 9 of these stores are geographically located in - as in, anything in common with those environments? Inflation is identified by BLS charts to specifically be worse in those particular areas? I'm struggling to identify what inflation has to do with the situation of these closings.

We all know it's not inflation.

 

[Koolau]

Well no it is not about inflation. But those jurisdictions have stopped prosecuting low level theft. That is in fact the common thread.

Retailers have little recourse after doing all they can to discourage it. At some point closing is the only remaining option.

When all else fails, gummint will finally address the issue(s). Until then, better find a Target in a cornfield someplace - well, at least in certain states/cities.

 

[Koolau]

I'd have no idea. I've never stole anything, expect maybe a ballpoint pen from work. But I used that for business work at home.

I still have w*rk pens that are finally running out of ink. Maybe that makes up for those thousands of hours of free overtime I w*rked. Or maybe that's just a major rationalization. Of course, all those pens walked home with me in the same pocket I wore all day in the lab/office, so it's not like I actually intended to pilfer them. I recall returning hands-full of pens from time to time.



Feeling better now.

 

[Koolau]

Costco.

Now they can definitely control a lot of the shrinkage by the membership card entry model. I'm sure they have it both through customers and employees, but surely this extra level of control helps.

My niece works there, going on 15 years. It is a good place to work. I think a lot of workers know that and it helps keep them on the level.

There used to also be catalog places like Service Merchandise. They had a model that pretty much confined shrinkage to the back warehouse. Alas, the concept is now dead and SM is no more, along with the others like it.

I hated shopping there. What a hassle.

 

[Koolau]

I was in Costco recently, I'll be they get hit soon and you see it on the news.
The guy checking membership is not going to stop 10->20 folks in hoodies and masks from running in and grabbing the 85" TV's right by the entrance !!

Only reason it probably hasn't happened yet is the parking lot is packed all the time

In a large parking lot - that would be the way to control it. A fenced lot with closable gates would stop everyone from leaving once a big theft had occurred. Of course, when the police arrived, there would be piles of merch on the ground (no longer in cars) but that WOULD be a way to slow down the rampant crime we are seeing - in some stores, anyway.

 

[Koolau]

One store in Harlem, 3 in Seattle and 3 in San Franscisco/Oakland.



https://corporate.target.com/press/...es-to-prioritize-team-member-and-guest-safety

I obviously couldn't have named the store locations (never been to them) but I could have named the cities without looking.



Nothing happens in a vacuum. Everything has a consequence. Sad to see.

 

[Koolau]

Struck a nerve to me when I was in the middle of one of these thefts. It wasn't a mob, just one guy. Still my nerves were frazzled. I detailed it here: https://www.early-retirement.org/fo...re-losing-customers-118603-4.html#post2976987

This isn't all organized. There are lone wolfs willing to do this. With the accessibility of Ebay and Amazon, it is an easy resale.

Theft has always been a problem since the start of time. However, there is something new going on here, and it isn't just the same old. This is escalating and becoming widespread and dangerous.

40 years ago, I was in our neighborhood Kroger and saw a guy pull a knife on a store employee who was trying to stop him from shoplifting. Very scary stuff.

 

[aja8888]

I hated shopping there. What a hassle.

You know you can do multiple quotes rather than post individual replies, right?

 

[Koolau]

You know you can do multiple quotes rather than post individual replies, right?

Yeah, but I read one at a time on different elements of the thread - often with several in between. I'm way behind as I was "out" for a couple of days. This is me catching up on a heart-felt story.


Hope I'm not wasting too much of the FIREforum's paper.

 

[aja8888]

Yeah, but I read one at a time on different elements of the thread - often with several in between. I'm way behind as I was "out" for a couple of days. This is me catching up on a heart-felt story.


Hope I'm not wasting too much of the FIREforum's paper.

Well, you are using extra bandwidth.

 

[Koolau]

Well, you are using extra bandwidth.

I thought that was covered in my dues.


But, speaking of bandwidth. How much are we using now?

 

[aja8888]

I thought that was covered in my dues.


But, speaking of bandwidth. How much are we using now?

You will have to ask the System Admin folks.

 

[Chuckanut]

That makes leaving the store without passing several check-out counters, cashiers, etc, with a truckload of merch tucked under your coat rather easy.

Tucked under your coat! Who does that? These guys and gals load up a cart and roll it out of the store while people watch and the security cameras record them. They know store employees won’t stop them, and the police, understaffed by about 25%, can only handle calls where a person’s safety is threatened. My kid lived in an area of Seattle where she saw this happen. She was also the victim of two thefts from her apartment storage area and four car break ins. All in one year. The police did nothing since there is not enough manpower to handle these small crimes.

She moved out of state, and nor more robberies so far.

 

[Affinity4Investing]

We all know it's not inflation.

Thanks buddy. The facts are the facts. And please go easy on the work pens. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem LOL

 

[Sunset]

In a large parking lot - that would be the way to control it. A fenced lot with closable gates would stop everyone from leaving once a big theft had occurred. Of course, when the police arrived, there would be piles of merch on the ground (no longer in cars) but that WOULD be a way to slow down the rampant crime we are seeing - in some stores, anyway.

Those would have to be massive gates and fences with ditches, because often the bad guys drive stolen cars, so they don't care and would ram the gates or fence to bust through.
The advantage of using a stolen car.

Then the store would be sued because some other customer was trapped in the parking lot and missed their movie/dinner/appt/etc...

 

[punkinhead]

If a store tried to hold me hostage in a parking lot with a bunch of thieves they'd wish they hadn't.

 

[marko]

My guess is the one common denominator they all share is not crime, theft, location, property taxes, pandemic, or rent cost. It’s profitability. As margins are squeezed and inflation continues to bite, retail chains have few options to grow their profit, but they must do so now, and with a growing economy, find it difficult to explain.

Closing unprofitable stores works - over the short term.

Of course. That is the common denominator. But its hard to be profitable when a good percentage of your profit is carried out the door with no one paying for it. Margins are razor thin as it is.

There's also another component: locally a small, family owned, high end clothing store was victim of one of these mobs. They ran off with a couple dozen Canada Goose parkas. An elderly employee got in the way and was severely beaten.

The family permanently closed the store. It was just too much. Had little to do with profit. Employee safety comes into play. Lululemon, among others wisely forbid interfering with shoplifters which only greenlights the problem further.

 

[Badger]

In the 70s there were a couple of stores that had catalogs that you would use to select your item(s). The employee would then ask the workers in the back room to put the item on a conveyor belt that would take it to the register. Sort of like a precursor to Amazon but local. I doubt they worried about theft. About 10 years later they went out of business. Wouldn't work today but this was a time way before the internet.

Cheers

 

[JoeWras]

I'm not going to discount this problem. It is getting more serious. I don't know all the economics of it, but the crime-in-your-face is bad enough. This is not the same thing that has always happened.

Last year we had a local Home Depot worker die because he had the audacity to hold his hand out to ask for a receipt to a jerk who was going out with a cart full of goodies. The jerk violently pushed him aside, and the worker died from injuries when he fell. This is now a homicide.

When I encountered my thief at Lowes, I was in the exact same position as this worker; by the entrance and with metal shelving behind me. Thankfully "my guy" didn't violently shove me out of the way, he just pushed through as I stepped aside.

I won't link the stories with the violent video. Search for it if you want. NYPost has it, of course. Here's a more sanitized story with in depth comments from the victim's family. The good news is that the police have a suspect in custody.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/son-home-depot-worker-fatally-attacked-theft-seeks/story?id=99732402

 

[explanade]

Nobody took pictures of the faces of the thieves?

You don't have to accost them but in this day and age, people are filming everything.

 

[LateToFIRE]

Tucked under your coat! Who does that? These guys and gals load up a cart and roll it out of the store while people watch and the security cameras record them. They know store employees won’t stop them, and the police, understaffed by about 25%, can only handle calls where a person’s safety is threatened. My kid lived in an area of Seattle where she saw this happen. She was also the victim of two thefts from her apartment storage area and four car break ins. All in one year. The police did nothing since there is not enough manpower to handle these small crimes.

She moved out of state, and nor more robberies so far.

LOL, silly me, I need to catch up with the changing times! Other than groceries, I simply don't go into stores very often.

 

[Koolau]

You will have to ask the System Admin folks.

Heh, heh, I try to avoid them.

 

[indiajust]

Cosmetic theft is from addicts. Drugs destroy face, makes it hard to ply the trades. Far too many scenes of just emptying a rack into a cart and heading for the exit. number one theft in drugstores.

 

[LateToFIRE]

Cosmetic theft is from addicts. Drugs destroy face, makes it hard to ply the trades. Far too many scenes of just emptying a rack into a cart and heading for the exit. number one theft in drugstores.

learn sumptin new every day around here