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B8ta closing another San Francisco store after armed robbery

sfgate.com

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Re: B8ta closing another San Francisco store after armed robbery

#111

Post by ThePadawan »

tyingq wrote: post #6

I'm not sure how you solve this. They stock products that are smallish, and easily convertible to cash, so robberies are going to happen. The Devialet speaker in the article is a good example. Retails for over $3k, and weighs 12kg.

By designing stores around that premise?

If you check out jewelry or other luxury goods stores, they generally have

- concreted in pillars to prevent cars smashing into them

- a combined doorman/security person (you know the type - 6 foot 4, tight suit, earpiece)

- an airlocked doorway (possibly even a locking revolving door)

Re: B8ta closing another San Francisco store after armed robbery

#112

Post by Khaine »

Khaine wrote: post #104
cecida wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I traveled to SF a number of times with work 2 years ago. I'm not trying to sound like a smug social democratic European, but I couldn't get over the homelessness, the petty vandalism, the rubbish, and the overall air of menace in the place.

That was my sense as well, when I visited in 2019 for a conference. My boss said it was like watching the walking dead with 'zombies' everywhere.

To be clear, its absolutely tragic that 'zombies' are walking around everywhere

Re: B8ta closing another San Francisco store after armed robbery

#113

Post by justaj »

For anyone outside of SF / US is wondering:

"b8ta is a retail-as-a-service company with a chain of 22 standalone retail stores, which serve as presentation centers for consumer electronics and home goods. Companies can pay to rent out space for their product to be displayed inside the locations, along with a tablet that each brand customizes with software."

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B8ta

Re: B8ta closing another San Francisco store after armed robbery

#114

Post by thu2111 »

justaj wrote: post #113

For anyone outside of SF / US is wondering: "b8ta is a retail-as-a-service company with a chain of 22 standalone retail stores, which serve as presentation centers for consumer electronics and home goods. Companies can pay to rent out space for their product to be displayed inside the locations, along with a tablet that each brand customizes with software." Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B8ta

And the reason it's called that is because in American English it's pronounced "bay-ta" not "bee-ta". So "b-eight-a" sounds right.

Re: B8ta closing another San Francisco store after armed robbery

#115

Post by cema »

pwim wrote: post #44
stonesweep wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally think it leads to this theory which my life experience tends to agree with: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory

While the broken windows theory was popular in the past, the research doesn’t support it: https://news.northeastern.edu/2019/05/15/northeastern-univer...

I think that the study you refer to is open to interpretation.

Re: B8ta closing another San Francisco store after armed robbery

#117

Post by BryanBigs »

tyingq wrote: post #102
conanbatt wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like you do with anything else: rule of law and private property.

Robberies continue to happen in places with over-the-top rule of law.

True, but those places don't put up with the rampant public antisocial behavior on the streets San Fran seems to embrace. I've been around the world to many dangerous places for work and service, and the only place I saw someone take a dump in public on a sidewalk was in San Francisco. He was 3 feet from one of the public toilets the city had installed (this was 2001, I think they cost $0.25 to use at the time?) This isn't some new phenomenon.

Re: B8ta closing another San Francisco store after armed robbery

#118

Post by BryanBigs »

SheinhardtWigCo wrote: post #64
nimos wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is almost always a cop there. I walk by pretty frequently and I can't recall seeing it open without a cop. Could be wrong - not exactly casing the joint on my lunch walks.

They are among several SF businesses that hire off-duty cops under a program called “10-B”. They pay the officer’s overtime wage ($100/hr) plus a 14.7% admin fee to the city. Details here: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/philmatier/article/Busin...

Serious question: Are the off-duty police allowed to do anything if a "small" crime happens? Or is this for security theatre only? I mean, if I steal a 4TB SSD, it's unlikely there's going to be a prosecution right? So are they going to risk the career damage of brutalizing me when I resist, or knocking out some teeth tackling me if I decide to run?

Re: B8ta closing another San Francisco store after armed robbery

#119

Post by tomjen3 »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #71
systemvoltage wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since when is even stealing anything excusable? Stealing $300 purse or $30000 car is exactly the same thing morally. The value of the item is in some ways orthogonal. Theft should be punished in the strongest forms possible so no one even thinks about doing it. Minimum 1 year in prison for stealing anything . Convince me otherwise.

I mostly agree with you. But... Let's say someone steals a $300 purse or a $30000 car. Nobody needs either a $300 purse or a $30000 car. But let's say someone steals $10 of food from a grocery store. They may legitimately need that. (Or they may just have poor self-control.) If someone legitimately needs food, I could bend my mind far enough to call that "excusable".

If there wasn't food banks, food stamps or penhandling, maybe.

Re: B8ta closing another San Francisco store after armed robbery

#120

Post by hindsightbias »

cecida wrote: post #35
hindsightbias wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SF leads in all areas of innovation, including crime. In the Covid era, tourists are not present in the quantities required to sustain various career populations, including criminals. Guns aren’t really necessary in SF, so there may be some gang initiation threshold.

I traveled to SF a number of times with work 2 years ago. I'm not trying to sound like a smug social democratic European, but I couldn't get over the homelessness, the petty vandalism, the rubbish, and the overall air of menace in the place.

What would your social utopia be like if most of the rest your country and most the rest of the states made homelessness a crime?

Your trying to compare apples to apples. SF is an apple, but the US is one big orange.

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