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Post by lisacharlotte on Jun 5, 2023 14:48:14 GMT
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SweetieBsMom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,618 
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Post by SweetieBsMom on Jun 5, 2023 14:57:46 GMT
Can you blame them? I can't. I just don't understand how people think it's ok to steal stuff. I saw a TikTok this weekend, it was either a HD or Lowes and the couple had the big 32oz bottles of Tide, the carriage was loaded to the brim, and they were just walking out. Some employees tried to stop them and some customers got involved so they only made it out of there with 4 bottles vs. a whole carriage full. WTF? And these stores can't do anything. Look at that poor 80yo man that worked at HD who died. He was just asking for a receipt, the guy, who was stealing, pushed him, he hit his head and died. Employees don't want to get hurt so they don't do anything but then you have employees who do something and they get fired (I think it was Dollar Tree or Lululemon). Can't hire security b/c they'd be sued by the people stealing. It's a mess. I don't blame any of these stores for closing/locking stuff up.
There was another TT (can you tell I love TT) about the big box stores pulling out of these areas, which is a shame because the big box stores sometimes are the only stores people have access to. Quite a few TT from folks in the Chicago area basically said "we have no one to blame but ourselves". I feel bad for the folks that need these stores and are paying for their purchases, those are the folks that this is really hurting.
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Post by katlady on Jun 5, 2023 15:13:12 GMT
I couldn’t read the entire article. I needed to download some app.
Anyways, I too won’t buy anything from Walmart that is in the secured cosmetic area. But my Walmart is inconsistent. Sometimes there is no one at the entrance to the area, so you can take the item with you and pay at the regular cash registers. I usually just go to Target for those items. I definitely wouldn’t shop at the Walgreens mentioned above.
It is sad that it has come to this. Although back in the 90’s, there was a hobby store that sold rubber stamps. All the stamps were in a display case and you had to ask for the ones you wanted. And in Hawaii, believe it or not, some stores lock up the spam and corned beef hash!! Shoplifting is so out of hand now. I hope it never comes to the situation where every store has to lock everything up! Like the OP, I prefer to shop in person for my groceries.
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Post by hop2 on Jun 5, 2023 15:50:54 GMT
I hope it never comes to the situation where every store has to lock everything up! Like the OP, I prefer to shop in person for my groceries. It is more likely that more stores will go the route of cameras & scanners that tally as you shop then you just tap/swipe your card or phone on the way out. Not exactly sure what happens if you don’t tap or have your card/phone scanned. Also not sure what happens for people who HAVE to read labels ( like me ) and you put things back. I haven’t come across it yet so I don’t know how well it works. But I’ve seen advertising videos where the guy puts all this stuff in his trench coat pickets like he is stealing and then just waved his phone on the way out. www.zdnet.com/google-amp/article/if-cameras-at-self-checkout-make-you-uncomfortable-how-about-oh-this/ |
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Post by katlady on Jun 5, 2023 16:20:43 GMT
Not exactly sure what happens if you don’t tap or have your card/phone scanned. Maybe when you tap it desensitizes whatever metal strip that is placed on the item. So if you don't tap, it will set off the alarms at the door when you leave. I have never seen or tried it either. I don't know how you would put things back, or what about people who are not tech savvy. |
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Post by Mel on Jun 5, 2023 16:37:22 GMT
I hate having to do it too. I shop for those things at Target. The few cents difference in price is worth it to me not to have to deal with the inconvenience from WM.
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Post by epeanymous on Jun 5, 2023 17:17:50 GMT
Several stores here now lock a variety of items up. Half the time, the little "page an employee" button doesn't work, and, since the stores are all way understaffed, a five-minute pop into the drugstore ends up taking twenty minutes while I have to wait for someone to be free to unlock a case so I can buy a pair of $10 earbuds. I went to a Target branch where I had something like six different items I had to get people to unlock for me, and they seemed annoyed about it.
Honestly I end up ordering things on Amazon because of the inconvenience and irritation. So I hope that these stores are taking that into account.
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lizacreates
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,856
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Post by lizacreates on Jun 5, 2023 17:26:50 GMT
I’m fine with this. I predict more stores will follow, like CVS where I mostly go. How else will they mitigate their losses? I’d prefer this than continuously raising prices or more stores closing down. I actually prefer shopping via kiosk instead of going from one aisle to another because I can complete my shopping list more efficiently from one spot. And I won’t have to constantly press that red button on the wall to get someone to unlock merchandise for me, which nowadays is pretty much the majority of what I need.
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Post by papersilly on Jun 5, 2023 18:12:05 GMT
we were in a WM where they locked up men's underwear! all the other stuff people have mentioned above, i can understand. but men's underwear?
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Post by Merge on Jun 5, 2023 18:35:26 GMT
In other countries, drugstores seem to have everything behind a counter where you have to ask for what you want and they bring it to you. Even with the beauty products, like in Amsterdam, there was a woman to grab whatever you were looking for and walk you to the register with it.
I find that less annoying than the plastic cases and waiting for the one employee in the whole store to unlock it.
But honestly, I do probably 95% of my shopping online these days, so it rarely comes up. I hate being in an actual store.
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Post by katlady on Jun 5, 2023 18:50:44 GMT
I am a browser. I like to look on the shelves and see if there is anything new that I haven’t seen before. I like to pick up items and read the packaging. If stores all went to kiosk mode, I would hate it. But, it may be good for my wallet. Plus, I like shopping with no store clerk hovering around me or assisting me. Oh well … sign of the times.
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Post by scrapmaven on Jun 5, 2023 19:21:56 GMT
It's a shame that shopping has come down to this, but I don't blame the retailers. I blame our justice system for hand slapping rather than punishing the criminals!
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jun 5, 2023 22:20:49 GMT
I feel bad for the retailers because they have no real recourse. They’re damned if they do anything and damned if they don’t. On the one hand, the losses annually can be staggering but on the other hand what is the life of an employee worth? Certainly more than any dollar amount of merchandise. I totally get that. I’m not surprised that they have to do something different to adapt.
Recently on our NextDoor people were posting about seeing someone run out of a Kohl’s store with a cart load of stolen merchandise and the person who witnessed them do it were dismayed that the store employees just watched them walk out without paying. When the witnesses went to the cashiers and asked to speak to a manager, they were told corporate policy is to not have any employees put themselves in harm’s way to attempt to stop someone stealing.
There are times when I really don’t care how I get my stuff as long as I get it in a timely manner. I know exactly what the stuff is so I don’t need to read the labels, etc. Then there are other times like today, when I was looking for some specific Lego minifigure blind bags (which I hate, and which is another story entirely) but I only wanted certain ones. To get the ones I wanted, I had to manhandle something like 30 individual packages to identify them. That wouldn’t work if I couldn’t look at and handle the packages first.
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Post by mollycoddle on Jun 5, 2023 22:33:44 GMT
That wouldn’t bother me. It seems like a better idea than locked cases. They will probably figure out a way to show the label, if they haven’t already done so.
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Post by tampascrapper on Jun 5, 2023 22:55:48 GMT
I can’t blame the companies/stores for doing this. I blame the criminals that made companies lock so many things up or pull out of an area. The stealing, threats to employees, etc is out of control.
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Post by Scrapper100 on Jun 6, 2023 0:01:19 GMT
I don’t blame them but I hate waiting for someone that may never come to unlock something. A lot of men’s clothes are locked up at our Walmart and it was such a pain trying to find certain sizes to see the options. It takes a while to find certain sizes out if hundreds of pairs of pants since of course they were all mixed up. At least the employee was nice and helpful but that’s not always the case. I also hate the separate checkout areas - ink, cosmetics. I sometimes do a pickup so I can avoid waiting for someone to unlock or have separate checkouts. I totally understand why they do it and don’t blame them but waiting 5-10 mins to get something unlocked makes me cranky especially if I need multiple things from multiple departments.
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Post by candleangie on Jun 6, 2023 1:07:29 GMT
we were in a WM where they locked up men's underwear! all the other stuff people have mentioned above, i can understand. but men's underwear? That makes sense if they have a large transient population like we do. |
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lindas
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Post by lindas on Jun 6, 2023 3:02:46 GMT
I feel bad for the elderly and handicapped people that may have trouble using the kiosk. I would hope they would have someone available to help them order their items.
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Post by papersilly on Jun 6, 2023 4:26:49 GMT
we were in a WM where they locked up men's underwear! all the other stuff people have mentioned above, i can understand. but men's underwear? That makes sense if they have a large transient population like we do. The thing is, they don't. At least nowhere near this WM. That's why it was so strange. |
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Post by smasonnc on Jun 6, 2023 11:56:56 GMT
It's a shame that shopping has come down to this, but I don't blame the retailers. I blame our justice system for hand slapping rather than punishing the criminals! At CVS in San Francisco almost everything in the store was locked up so I had to track down the one employee in the very back looking at her phone. The rest of us get inconvenienced and low income neighborhoods lose stores and jobs because we can't do anything about shoplifters. In the eyes of the justice system, the rights of shoplifters prevail over the rights of the rest of us. Bunch of scumbags. |
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craftymom101
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Posts: 3,637
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Post by craftymom101 on Jun 6, 2023 12:29:28 GMT
This may seem like a silly question, but if stores are losing billions of dollars each year, does it make sense to hire police officers to monitor the stores during the busy times? or from 8am - 8pm? A police officer can surely arrest people for stealing. I am shocked by the amount of loss these stores are expected to absorb each year.
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SweetieBsMom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,618
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Post by SweetieBsMom on Jun 6, 2023 13:28:04 GMT
This may seem like a silly question, but if stores are losing billions of dollars each year, does it make sense to hire police officers to monitor the stores during the busy times? or from 8am - 8pm? A police officer can surely arrest people for stealing. I am shocked by the amount of loss these stores are expected to absorb each year. I read somewhere that companies won't do this for a couple of reasons but the biggest one was litigation if things went sideways. Either the PD would be sued (which is why some PDs won't permit their officers to work those types of details) or the company would be sued and then it's a game of what costs you more: theft or litigation. I can't remember where the article was. If I can find it I will share it. |
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