Retailers are spending millions to combat organized theft from stores • Hacker News Board

Re: Retailers are spending millions to combat organized theft from stores

#101

Post by noasaservice » Fri, Sep 03, 2021, 4:09 PM UTC

conductr wrote: post #60

EarthIsHome wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wage theft reported in Iowa using unpaid overtime as an example: http://www.iowapolicyproject.org/images/150818-wagetheft-Fig... EPI has some good articles as well: https://www.epi.org/publication/wage-theft-bigger-problem-fo...

The EPI article gives some interesting & specific examples of wage theft. However, I think that term and the discussion around it gives the impression that large corporations are looking for opportunities to steal employees wages. When I skim these examples I see a few honest mistakes / bad policies but mostly small likely bankrupt/distressed companies trying to keep the wheels from falling off their business. It's l…

If employee steals from store, they're fired and arrested.

If store steals from an employee, they're told to pound sand at a state level office and hope and pray that some mid-level bureaucrat looks into the issue and writes a "stern letter".

Re: Retailers are spending millions to combat organized theft from stores

#102

Post by joezydeco » Fri, Sep 03, 2021, 4:09 PM UTC

legitster wrote: post #59

A friend of mine is a manager at a Safeway. He says a typical store might lose six figures worth of product in a year. In a bad neighborhood it's not uncommon to lose over a million dollars a year. They hire security personnel, but people figure out that a) even when security catches you, they are not allowed to restrain you and b) the police do not respond to shoplifters (in certain jurisdictions they are not allowe…

Some goods serve as an alternative currency, like bottles of Tide laundry detergent:

https://nymag.com/news/features/tide-detergent-drugs-2013-1/...

Re: Retailers are spending millions to combat organized theft from stores

#103

Post by seph-reed » Fri, Sep 03, 2021, 4:10 PM UTC

neither_color wrote: post #78

floren wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The SF city government seems to have realized that there's another way to make crime "go down": refuse to prosecute for anything, ideally make it pointless for the cops to even show up, until people stop bothering to report crime. Wow, shoplifting is at record lows!

We're approaching a strange post-empirical world where the right chart or graph can be used to justify any public policy, and often changing how the data for the chart is collected, analyzed and presented is easier than solving the issue. The collective anecdotes of thousands/millions of people can be dismissed because the chart says otherwise. Disagree that crime in your neighborhood has dropped? Just because your c…

This is a toughy.

People who don't believe in covid vaccines -- for instance -- are living in a world of anecdotes, untrusting of easily manipulable data.

But it's where we're at. In a world where you can't trust the data and your friends are addicted to consuming propaganda, what the fuck is truth?

Re: Retailers are spending millions to combat organized theft from stores

#104

Post by swayvil » Fri, Sep 03, 2021, 4:11 PM UTC

frockington1 wrote: post #96

swayvil wrote: post #79

UBI might fix this. Criminals, as a rule, aren't doing it for lulz. It's like the free speech problem. Don't combat the bad by trying to stamp it out. Combat it by providing a better option.

Wouldn't people just collect UBI AND steal? The article explicitly mentions that most of the people doing this are also receiving state and feral unemployment benefits

If UBI (or feral benefits) fulfilled their needs then I doubt that they would resort to crime.

Re: Retailers are spending millions to combat organized theft from stores

#105

Post by babyshake » Fri, Sep 03, 2021, 4:12 PM UTC

floren wrote: post #30

bko wrote: post #3

> The target was no ordinary shoplifter. He was part of a network of organized professionals, known as boosters, whom CVS had been monitoring for weeks. The company believed the group responsible for stealing almost $50 million in products over five years from dozens of stores in Northern California. The story isn't about people selling stolen goods on Amazon. It's about organized theft operations. One way to stop th…

The SF city government seems to have realized that there's another way to make crime "go down": refuse to prosecute for anything, ideally make it pointless for the cops to even show up, until people stop bothering to report crime. Wow, shoplifting is at record lows!

In The Wire, this is called juking the stats.

Re: Retailers are spending millions to combat organized theft from stores

#106

Post by amznthrwaway » Fri, Sep 03, 2021, 4:13 PM UTC

sfasf wrote: post #85

bluedino wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> but in Texas, how likely is the staff or the store owner to be armed, and actually confront you? At a CVS? Not likely at all.

In a fairly liberal area of PA I saw a manager of a Walgreens very aggressively (not physically) confront a shoplifter and yell out to never come to the store again. The punk tried to respond, but ultimately cowered to the anger of the manager. In TX they'd be more intimidating, I'm sure. Unless corporate bans guns.

There is absolutely no way that corporate would allow employees shooting people to defend property.

The resulting lawsuits would be orders of magnitude more expensive for the company than the lost goods, and “there was a shooting at walgreens” is not a headline that Walgreens wants to see.

Re: Retailers are spending millions to combat organized theft from stores

#107

Post by MisterBastahrd » Fri, Sep 03, 2021, 4:15 PM UTC

valdiorn wrote: post #41

tyoma wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The felony theft limit for Texas is $2,500, but their retail establishments do not report massive shoplifting sprees. Clearly there is more than misdemeanor/felony classification at work here.

but in Texas, how likely is the staff or the store owner to be armed, and actually confront you? No way that would happen in California. I keep thinking of this event that happened to me in the UK, where laws are equally useless at preventing theft, and staff are just powerless to do anything about it. I chased down a shoplifter. I cornered him in an alley. He stopped, looked at me, and this brief conversation took p…

Convenience store, pawn shop, or other stores in low income areas? Maybe.

The ones these people are hitting? Not a snowball's chance in hell. An individual could walk out with 10 baskets full of medicine and still not be worth the trouble to pull a gun for all the legal headaches that will bring.

Re: Retailers are spending millions to combat organized theft from stores

#108

Post by amznthrwaway » Fri, Sep 03, 2021, 4:15 PM UTC

Cd00d wrote: post #95

nitrogen wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The evidence for this happening in economically-meaningful numbers is scarce. It doesn't take numbers meaningful to California to have a meaningful effect on other states, where housing costs are massively skyrocketing due to an influx of new residents.

I grew up in Colorado, and complaints about housing costs and traffic increases due to the influx of Californians has been a constant since the 1970s. At least. I'm going posit that it's perception more than any actual changes due to fleeing 'fornians .

[dead]

Re: Retailers are spending millions to combat organized theft from stores

#109

Post by nonameiguess » Fri, Sep 03, 2021, 4:16 PM UTC

bko wrote: post #3

> The target was no ordinary shoplifter. He was part of a network of organized professionals, known as boosters, whom CVS had been monitoring for weeks. The company believed the group responsible for stealing almost $50 million in products over five years from dozens of stores in Northern California. The story isn't about people selling stolen goods on Amazon. It's about organized theft operations. One way to stop th…

If it's actually organized crime, then they can be prosecuted under RICO statutes, which allows for much stronger sentencing than shoplifting ever would have. Robbery is one of the 35 crimes included under the "racketeering" umbrella.

Re: Retailers are spending millions to combat organized theft from stores

#110

Post by nonameiguess » Fri, Sep 03, 2021, 4:18 PM UTC

valdiorn wrote: post #41

tyoma wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The felony theft limit for Texas is $2,500, but their retail establishments do not report massive shoplifting sprees. Clearly there is more than misdemeanor/felony classification at work here.

but in Texas, how likely is the staff or the store owner to be armed, and actually confront you? No way that would happen in California. I keep thinking of this event that happened to me in the UK, where laws are equally useless at preventing theft, and staff are just powerless to do anything about it. I chased down a shoplifter. I cornered him in an alley. He stopped, looked at me, and this brief conversation took p…

All of the downtown CVS locations in Dallas don't even have checkout employees. It's automated self-checkout. You can just walk out of the store if you want to. Nobody is going to shoot you. Whoever owns CVS doesn't live anywhere near the stores.