I was walking up to my local Lowe's Home Improvement, entering through the garden area, and I got pushed aside by a man with a cart heading out. The tag alarm went off, and it was slowly dawning on me what was happening. His cart was piled high with small garden power tools.
I proceeded in and took a turn away from the activity. An employee calmly followed him and took a few pictures of the thief loading his car. He came back and another employee yelled something at him like "that was dangerous, you shouldn't have done that."
I witnessed what they are calling "shrink." It is my first go around on this, although it is apparently common in other cities.
To say I was disappointed doesn't capture how I feel. It is deeper than that. This behavior is real, and in my opinion a statement on our society and more that we are not allow to speak of on this board.
Dick's and Target both recently reported severe issues with shrink. (Oh what a quaint word to use. When did "theft" leave our lexicon?)
Dick's shares slumped 24% yesterday when they reported their problems with shrink.
Yeah, brick and mortar has a problem. This is part of it. I am now a little more wary of going to these stores. I don't know what's next. The thieves burnishing weapons?
Worse yet, Amazon may be raking it in, but I have a bad feeling some of these products are finding their way back to Amazon, and especially Ebay. I don't want to be buying stolen goods, but it is likely that I have.