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Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

sfgate.com

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Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#31

Post by nostromo »

Veliladon wrote: post #17
zthrowaway wrote: post #4

Turns out defunding the police and not enforcing laws has consequences.

SF went from $668 million in 19/20 to $661 million in 20/21 for the SFPD, mainly due to police not being required as much at SFO. If the police can't stop crime and enforce the laws of 47 square miles and 874,961 residents for the princely sum of $755 per person/year or $14 million per square mile/year what exactly are people paying for? Like if I told you that you pay $62/mo for a police subscription and this was th…

This has nothing to do with policing and everything to do with local prosecutors, judges, and city leadership.

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#32

Post by woodruffw »

zz865 wrote: post #13

NYC is similar https://nypost.com/2021/10/02/nyc-man-leads-record-shatterin... > Rodriguez is finally in jail, but he rode the city’s revolving door of justice to allegedly rip off Walgreens 37 times this year. He was particularly partial to the drug store at 91-08 Roosevelt Ave. in Jackson Heights, which he hit 23 times, police said.

The NY Post has an editorial incentive to hype up cases like this. Having lived in the city my entire life: I've never heard anything remotely similar to this. It's a bit like the guy who keeps trying to steal subway trains[1]: you can write a great breathless article about him, but there's still only one of him.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_McCollum

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#33

Post by FormerBandmate »

BobbyJo wrote: post #21
rgergerger4 wrote: post #14

In a few years we will be hearing about all the food deserts in San Francisco and how they stem from racism and white supremacy...

Historic racism -> Intergenerational poverty -> Crime -> Area divestment -> Food desert.

It’s kinda weird that crime slumped as poverty skyrocketed in the 2008 recession. You would think crime would be higher in 2008 and 2009 than 2007 but instead it plummeted

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#34

Post by cmelbye »

dragonwriter wrote: post #15
zthrowaway wrote: post #4

Turns out defunding the police and not enforcing laws has consequences.

San Francisco never defunded the police. (IIRC, voters passed a measure eliminating a mininum funding mandate, but the actual budget has increased.) The SFPD may choose not to enforce laws, but I don't think anyone outside of SFPD directed that, it's just organized nonfeasance as leadership political protest.

SFPD was facing a shortage of new recruits this summer: https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/06/24/san-francisco-g...

The political and social climate in SF has led to a situation where the number of officers on the street can shrink even if the budget stays flat or grows.

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#35

Post by l- »

zthrowaway wrote: post #4

Turns out defunding the police and not enforcing laws has consequences.

Getting closer to being a capitalist utopia. No retail stores, no theft. All items have to be ordered online, rule by code. It would be interesting to know the stores financial statements to see if this was just an excuse to get rid of the retail footprint due to sales & property tax in SF. The current building demand with low interest rates and COVID re-opening should more than compensate the remodeling costs.

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#36

Post by short12 »

rmk wrote: post #16
themodelplumber wrote: post #2

> During this time to help combat this issue, we increased our investments in security measures in stores across the city to 46 times our chain average in an effort to provide a safe environment.” I wonder how they arrived at this number of 46x. 46x the chain average of single minutes spent reviewing security staff resumes? 46x the chain average of security camera photos sent to LEOs? 46x the average number of bic li…

36x 0.5 cents is 18 dollars. So they started spending on security and it made them unprofitable perhaps. Retail runs on razor thin margins, so there may be some substance to this 36x number.

I don't believe the trope that retail makes razor thin margins. Considering most major retailers including Walgreens make profit hand over fist

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#37

Post by woodruffw »

adventured wrote: post #28
BobbyJo wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Historic racism -> Intergenerational poverty -> Crime -> Area divestment -> Food desert.

That's fascinating. I grew up in an area - Appalachia, specifically an area among the poorest regions east of the Mississippi - with entrenched forever poverty, and vast underinvestment in pretty much every way you could name. It never occurred to anyone to put together organized retail crime gangs and endlessly plunder local stores until they were all forced to close. What other excuses do you have?

> It never occurred to anyone to put together organized retail crime gangs and endlessly plunder local stores until they were all forced to close.

I'm not particularly invested in defending SF, but comparing shoplifting in a dense urban center to one of the least densely populated regions of the Eastern US doesn't make a ton of sense. It occurs to me that Appalachia has plenty of entrenched and even organized crime (moonshining being the historical one that comes to mind), but most of it doesn't involve hitting up the store you live a block from.

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#38

Post by gruez »

l- wrote: post #35
zthrowaway wrote: post #4

Turns out defunding the police and not enforcing laws has consequences.

Getting closer to being a capitalist utopia. No retail stores, no theft. All items have to be ordered online, rule by code. It would be interesting to know the stores financial statements to see if this was just an excuse to get rid of the retail footprint due to sales & property tax in SF. The current building demand with low interest rates and COVID re-opening should more than compensate the remodeling costs.

People flagrantly disregarding property rights is a "capitalist utopia"?

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#39

Post by throwaway3776 »

Throwaway, but I can assure you as an SF resident, most of us are more than happy to see Walgreens go.

They pay and treat their employees terribly along with pushing junk food and other garbage to people just trying to fill a prescription.

We are excited for quality, owner operated pharmacies to return and replace them. Just like they served us before Walgreens came in and muscled them all out of business.

It’s almost as if not looking out for your community results in that community not looking out for you.

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#40

Post by gruez »

woodruffw wrote: post #32
zz865 wrote: post #13

NYC is similar https://nypost.com/2021/10/02/nyc-man-leads-record-shatterin... > Rodriguez is finally in jail, but he rode the city’s revolving door of justice to allegedly rip off Walgreens 37 times this year. He was particularly partial to the drug store at 91-08 Roosevelt Ave. in Jackson Heights, which he hit 23 times, police said.

The NY Post has an editorial incentive to hype up cases like this. Having lived in the city my entire life: I've never heard anything remotely similar to this. It's a bit like the guy who keeps trying to steal subway trains[1]: you can write a great breathless article about him, but there's still only one of him. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_McCollum

>you can write a great breathless article about him, but there's still only one of him.

Right, but even if 46 arrests in a year isn't representative of the median shoplifter, it's still an appalling example. Why is the justice system so ineffective that a shoplifter is allowed to be arrested 46 times in a year? You'd think by the 4th or 5th one he'd be denied bail.

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