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Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

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Re: Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

#91

Post by m463 »

neilv wrote: post #64

> National chains including Target have put much of their inventory behind glass in recent years as a response to what they call organized retail crime The Target personnel around here are usually nice, but the stores have the most conspicuous Loss Prevention activity in recent years, especially (besides the locked shelves) with what comes off as LP soft interventions. As a result, despite being a non-shoplifter, I'v…

There's a target I've gone to and the sketchy homeless people sort of invade the store. They bring their bicycles into the store with them (like down the aisles)

I think they could use some loss prevention personnel to clean things up.

Re: Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

#92

Post by deafpolygon »

giantg2 wrote: post #15
josefresco wrote: post #2

Talk about a downward spiral of terrible decisions. Cut staff and add checkout machines to save money. Customers start stealing (legit or not) so they lock down items behind glass, but have no staff to help customers so they see less sales! Wild. I hope the shareholders who accepted these changes feel pain.

Walmart locks their spraypaint now. Lowes does not. I'll go to lowes since it's easier than tracking down a associate at Walmart.

Breaking news; stores lock and store ammo separately from guns.

Re: Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

#93

Post by pixxel »

elric wrote: post #14

I recently tried to buy a single button cell battery at my local store. They're in a locked case near the entrance. I told the attendant which one I wanted, they handed it to me, I tried to putting it in my basket and was immediately told "no, you can't do that, do your shopping first and then come back for this". I went home and ordered it online. With free shipping. It ended up being cheaper than the one in the sto…

You’re blaming the wrong people. You’re blaming the response.

Re: Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

#94

Post by Doxin »

OptionOfT wrote: post #74
coolspot wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In civilized, high-trust societies self-checkout works well and is very convenient. Of course if you refuse to prosecute crime you will have everything locked.

The problem with self-checkouts is that (1) it shifts the work to me without any benefit to me. I don't get a % off (and often asks you to tip [0]). And (2) it actually presents a legal risk. If I genuinely forget to scan I can still be banned from a store, or worse, charged, because I am doing a job I am not trained for, or because of a glitch in the system. [0]: https://nypost.com/2023/05/15/self-checkout-machines-…

> The problem with self-checkouts is that (1) it shifts the work to me without any benefit to me.

A well implemented self-checkout is much faster than waiting in line for a cashier. Ever since the local supermarket implemented self-scan I haven't had to wait for a register to become available for more than maybe 30 seconds.

Of course if the self-checkout is of the "UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA" variety it'll be infuriating and much slower than a regular cash register.

Re: Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

#95

Post by wasteduniverse »

deepfriedchokes wrote: post #85
vel0city wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> legally allow them to use non-lethal force as necessary Corporations should be able to commit violence against those accused of property crimes. Interesting world view there. > All animals respond to violence Shoplifters aren't people, they're just animals. The above makes a little more sense > It works for bouncers, Because most clubs don't have billions of dollars a year in revenues to go after with lawyers itchi…

Corporations are legal persons with legal rights. Just the other day Kamala said on Oprah that if someone breaks into her house they’re getting shot! People have a right to defend themselves, as do corporations. All people are animals. Obviously. I’m sorry I triggered you, but I just think that doing nothing is acting as an enabler for breaking the law. I’m not some big law and order guy, but we need to maintain some…

[dead]

Re: Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

#96

Post by caeril »

etempleton wrote: post #37
vel0city wrote: post #6

> “A year ago, America’s stores declared a shoplifting epidemic,” stated the CNN article. “This year, retailers are telling a very different story—or no story at all. It’s as if the shoplifting crisis suddenly vanished.” Or maybe because they closed down a lot of stores which were the worst and then on the borderline stores, they put up all the locked cabinets. Maybe now the rates of shrink have been reduced. There's…

I have little sympathy for many of these big box stores because their policies have indirectly lead to an increase in shoplifting. Their official policy in many stores is to do nothing when spotting a shop lifter other than report it to police after it has happened. For a while some of these big box stores would hire a security guard whose only job was to stand next to a shoplifter in the hopes it would intimidate th…

> Their official policy in many stores is to do nothing

I suspect this is primarily a liability issue - an issue with the law, not the stores themselves.

Believe me, I'm sure the loss prevention departments would love to hire Terry Tate, Office Linebacker, or Dirty Harry, to handle the situation, but most jurisdictions will leave YOU on the hook for anything from personal injury, to unlawful detainment, to brandishing, to whatever.

The problem is with the DA, not with the store, in most cases.

Re: Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

#97

Post by frenchman_in_ny »

vel0city wrote: post #80
OptionOfT wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but they often don't actually know where stuff is, whether they carry X That's the standard at all of the Home-Depots / Walmarts / Lowe's around here. If you ask the location of something the associate just looks it up on their devices. If you ask a question about an item the associate reads the description on the website and can't provide an answer, because I just read the description... and couldn't find the answ…

Meanwhile my experience at the Lowe's and HD's around me they'll know what you're asking down to the bay. Often even "bottom right of bay x on isle y". And the kids love the kits on the first Saturdays at HD.

Just FYI - at least through the HD website, they will tell you aisle Y bay X (though it may not say "bottom right"). So the assistant at HD isn't adding a ton of value.

Re: Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

#98

Post by vel0city »

frenchman_in_ny wrote: post #97
vel0city wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meanwhile my experience at the Lowe's and HD's around me they'll know what you're asking down to the bay. Often even "bottom right of bay x on isle y". And the kids love the kits on the first Saturdays at HD.

Just FYI - at least through the HD website, they will tell you aisle Y bay X (though it may not say "bottom right"). So the assistant at HD isn't adding a ton of value.

> So the assistant at HD isn't adding a ton of value.

They are, in that then I don't have to pull out my phone, wait for the app to load, wait for the app to interrupt my workflow to flash up the latest sale ad, wait for the search to time out a few times, then realize I'm in the store so it reloads to show the in-store experience, then go back to the search and have it not remember the history, then have to wait for the search to go through, then scroll through the list to find a version of whatever item that's actually in the store I'm at, then wait for the item to load, then finally get the isle and bay info. Pulling out the app is often my last resort.

Or I just ask the person standing next to me "hey where are replacement blades for utility knives?" and instantly get a response.

Re: Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

#99

Post by consteval »

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #41
vel0city wrote: post #6

> “A year ago, America’s stores declared a shoplifting epidemic,” stated the CNN article. “This year, retailers are telling a very different story—or no story at all. It’s as if the shoplifting crisis suddenly vanished.” Or maybe because they closed down a lot of stores which were the worst and then on the borderline stores, they put up all the locked cabinets. Maybe now the rates of shrink have been reduced. There's…

Exactly. Come to many parts of SF, Santa Monica and Venice and you'll see half the Target behind glass. Several pharmacies in Downtown LA got closed due to theft in the last few years, see 5th and Broadway. People who don't live in those areas can pretend nothing is happening, but your lying eyes as a local tell a different story.

I think everyone acknowledges shoplifting has gotten worse. What they don't agree on is the cause.

There's one camp who attributes it to demographics. This is a very hard sell, particularly to individuals who belong to those demographics, sometimes from birth. The issue is this camp is very dedicated to this idea, and they refuse to explore other explanations.

It's hard to argue with Eugenicists and the like. The correct response is to tell them they're wrong and move on. The problem here is that neo-nazi types sneak into the conversation and derail it completely.

It would be nice if we could talk about shop lifting without it dropping to blatant racism and identity politics. Unfortunately, I've never been a part of a conversation like that. When people are unreasonable you can't solve problems.

Re: Two in three shoppers won't buy products in locked display cases

#100

Post by consteval »

vel0city wrote: post #59
akira2501 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How does putting things in locked cabinets remove competition? You've taken my points backwards, again, for some reason. They don't _experience_ competition so they feel _comfortable_ doing this. I'm talking about the chicken, you're looking for the egg, which hatched already, years ago, the evidence this occurred is _the existence of the chicken_. > We want to eliminate the competition! "We already did that part.…

> You've taken my points backwards, again, for some reason. Because your entire premise makes little sense to me. You're acting like these things save money somehow outside of shoplifting (which according to you just doesn't happen ). > They don't _experience_ competition so they feel _comfortable_ doing this. But _why_ would they do it? You say "reducing customer service to it's bare minimum", but this increases cus…

> which according to you just doesn't happen

It doesn't, at least not on the scale to warrant these responses. Often these are implemented as sweeping policies, affecting stores with virtually no shop lifting.

My suburban Walmart in Texas locks up everything. I can guarantee we have extraordinarily small crime. But when the stores in Dallas do it, we do it too.

I also highly, highly doubt that shop lifting has gotten particularly worse in the past 20 years. Every single crime is down, and by a lot. I think this was/is an overreaction.

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