Stores Closing, Sadly No Surprise

[Yaz Pistasio]

Why must we call each other B!gots and racists when the other side disagrees with us? Asking for a friend….

 

[Yaz Pistasio]

No, he meant that the GOP debate is on now, as in, it started when he made that post.

ok trump avatar person …yes let’s keep politics out of it👍

 

[JiJi]

Heres a link to the reddit post about it.

As someone who lives near where some of these are closing, I can absolutely attest that crime is probably a good reason why they're closing in that area. It's ridiculously rampant where I live, and it has gotten to the point where literally nobody feels safe anymore, especially with how bad the homeless drug addict population has gotten here. Anyone doubting the crime doesn't understand that it's not just theft itself that is driving sales away. People are much less likely to shop in areas where they do not feel safe. So not only are you losing profit from theft, but overall sales are going down due to general crime rates rising in an area. This is an ongoing issue at my current job, it's not just a Target issue sadly. And yes, moving a few blocks away does make a difference in some areas.

 

[can't touch this]

The real reason target is loosing sales:

Guest: Do you have silverware?
Target: Yes, would you like them in neon pink, foliage mint, or lavender lilac?
Guest: You don't have any in.. silver?
Target: No...
Guest: Nevermind, I also need a charging cord though.
Target: deep teal, electric orange, or blush rose?
Guest: ... white?
Target: No...
Guest: ... a pair of sunglasses?
Target: PISS YELLOW, PUKE GREEN, OR POO BROWN?

 

[Sisyphus]

I don't understand why the big wigs don't use small formats to facilitate urban OPU ops. Why not allow for OPU for items not carried by the store? Amazon has Amazon Hubs + pickup now, why can't Target?

Does Walmart do it? If not, then that's most likely is your answer for better or worse. Besides they seem to be trying to cut overhead and that would mean spending $$$ they don't have, per se, right now. Lastly, that may be in the planning stages right now who knows.

 

[oath2order]

ok trump avatar person …yes let’s keep politics out of it👍

That is a Pokémon called Yungoos, who people memed about when it was announced that it looked like Trump. I have that avatar as a joke.

As an aside, totally corporate greed with CVS though.

Thieves ransack Columbia Heights CVS, leaving shelves empty

Staff say thieves target the store on new shipment days and steal merchandise before it even makes it onto the store shelves.

www.wusa9.com

 

[Yaz Pistasio]

Looks like cvs is being ransacked..how is that corporate greed?

 

[sunnydays]

cvs had net profit of over four billion dollars last year. they can afford better (read: more) security and better partnership with local police

but they don’t because that would cost money and drive down share prices that’s what corporate greed looks like

 

[oath2order]

Well, no, I'm being sarcastic. Forgot to use the sarcasm font.

CVS there is not corporate greed because that's shoplifting at the largest extreme.

cvs had net profit of over four billion dollars last year. they can afford better (read: more) security and better partnership with local police

but they don’t because that would cost money and drive down share prices that’s what corporate greed looks like

Sure, and then they have to face lawsuits over every person who gets injured by the security guards.

 

[Dream Baby]

cvs had net profit of over four billion dollars last year. they can afford better (read: more) security and better partnership with local police

but they don’t because that would cost money and drive down share prices that’s what corporate greed looks like

CVS thinks that Pharmacists and/or Technicians can be picked off the street.

Pharmacists need a SIX Year degree and Technicians take a least a year in most states.

 

[happygoth]

Well, no, I'm being sarcastic. Forgot to use the sarcasm font.

CVS there is not corporate greed because that's shoplifting at the largest extreme.



Sure, and then they have to face lawsuits over every person who gets injured by the security guards.

Yeah, any time you stop a shoplifter it can get dicey. The security person could get hurt or injure the shoplifter, even bystanders can get hurt.

In a lot of ways it's not worth the risk. But then that just emboldens the thieves because they know they will get away with it. IMO the best solution is cops on the premises, at least they are trained to deal with that kind of thing and have that risk built into their job. Another solution would be to have specially trained security that know how to deal with risky situations, but companies aren't likely to put money into that.

 

[Florida Dawg]

Wow dawg didn’t say any of that….

Well you know how a lot of liberals are, Gotta pull the race card and assume everything by a label. Too bad they won’t actually wake up and see what a joke these organizations are that they support and see the problem of how people are being raised.

 

[sunnydays]

Sure, and then they have to face lawsuits over every person who gets injured by the security guards.

so then maybe the police (an organization and class of individual i truly loathe) should actually do their jobs so that people can be suing the state instead of cvs or whatever

it’s all just excuses anyway because these companies don’t actually want to do anything about these problems

 

[Caliwest]

As someone who lives near where some of these are closing, I can absolutely attest that crime is probably a good reason why they're closing in that area. It's ridiculously rampant where I live, and it has gotten to the point where literally nobody feels safe anymore, especially with how bad the homeless drug addict population has gotten here. Anyone doubting the crime doesn't understand that it's not just theft itself that is driving sales away. People are much less likely to shop in areas where they do not feel safe. So not only are you losing profit from theft, but overall sales are going down due to general crime rates rising in an area. This is an ongoing issue at my current job, it's not just a Target issue sadly. And yes, moving a few blocks away does make a difference in some areas.

Main complaint and abandonment by guests is..dogs. in the store, in carts, fighting with other dogs, and no sco and long long lines to buy a birthday card. Teens don't come in anymore cause no sco. Theft must be way down. But leadership not worth a crap will still run the store into the ground.

 

[BurgerBob]

Yall do know this is cause there was early union efforts going on in these stores right?

Least in the portland stores there's been a ton of business pulling out of down town and every fuckin time, its cause the employees are standing up for them selves and trying to unionize.

And for the record the portland has 2 very well armed Rent-a-Riotcops & the usual target AP at their entrence.


But sure let's blame the roving band of criminals... yep. Definitely not union busting.

 

[JiJi]

I can't vouch for Portland, that's not where I am.
But from what I've heard through the TM grapevine, through reports, and the statement that came out, they've outright stated that it's too unsafe for guests and TMs here due to an uprising of criminal activity. This does not surprise me in the slightest considering the changes my store (different retail company) has made to combat this. We've already been given the "there's a possibility we may have to close the store" spiel if the new counter-measures they just implemented don't work. Like, again, crime has gotten ridiculously rampant where I live, and it has gotten to the point where literally nobody feels safe anymore. We have people pulling weapons on managers and security. We've had one mom and pop shop get completely wiped out 7 times in a 30 day period. People are being followed home. There are murders being reported every week here now. It wasn't like this here 10 years ago.

 

[sunnydays]

sucks, maybe the police should actually do their jobs instead of being fascists

 

[Captain Orca]

Anyone familiar with Columbia, S.C.? Remember the old Capitol Cafe restaurant near the Capitol building, 1970s-'80s. The owner carried a weapon and had them behind the register. No one fucked with him.

 

[jackandcat]

Most shoplifters fall into 3 categories according to the training we got at the big box bookstore.
1. There are crimes of opportunity, mostly teens and folks who want makeup or manga who grab something because they see a chance. They aren't going to fight you and but might try to run.
2. There are the pros. People who make a living at it and see getting busted as a part of doing business. They won't fight you either.
3. The people who are doing it to feed a habit. This is where things can get complicated. Most druggies just want to get their fix and not don't want trouble but occasionally you get one that's a serious problem.

I'd say that now there is a fourth kind. Hungry people.
The rise in shoplifting for basic food is a bit shocking.

As someone who spends about half of my daily shift monitoring SCO, the shoplifting I have personally seen is very rarely food items. Nearly every shoplifter I've observed has a SNAP card (food stamps) and pays for their food items with SNAP. I've often seen them start a separate purchase for the non-food items, then walk away from the SCO register without even trying to pay.

I don't know if some states make it harder to get SNAP than Washington State. I've even had suspects come to my lane to get some snack items and pay with SNAP, then walk away from the register only to be immediately confronted by AP for other stuff which (sometimes) is hidden away in their backpacks.

Lately our AP staff have been given more authority, and we've had closer cooperation with the local PD. Finally, with the recent decision to lock up close to 10% of our merchandise, I'm seeing some reduction in the real obvious shoplifters racing their filled-to-the-brim carts through SCO towards the exit. Personally, locking up the high-theft items has somewhat reduced my anxiety while working in the front end.

 

[nevermind]

cvs had net profit of over four billion dollars last year. they can afford better (read: more) security and better partnership with local police

but they don’t because that would cost money and drive down share prices that’s what corporate greed looks like

Corporate Greed looks like Brian Cornell.

 

[IWishIKnew]

This is a good read: America’s shoplifting problem, explained by retail workers and thieves - https://www.vox.com/money/23938554/shoplifting-organized-retail-crime-walmart-target-theft-laws

From workers:

Figuring out what to do about it all was above Jonathan’s pay grade. He’s got some ideas, like increasing staffing and, really, locking up the liquor, which would mean more work for employees but would also have increased safety. But these solutions would all cost money the company was apparently not willing to dole out.

...

There’s no strong consensus about what would really work, investment-wise. And loss prevention doesn’t bring in revenue, it’s just an expense. “Corporate offices want to see profit. Marketing brings profits, the buyers bring in profits. Loss prevention, in and of itself, does not bring any profits. We just try to deter loss,” says one loss prevention agent who works at a corporate office for a national retailer. “Loss prevention, typically, is the most underfunded department of any company.”

...
From thieves:

Asked whether he thought there was anything that would have stopped him, he says maybe customer service — where retail employees approach and sort of ask what’s up, if someone needs help, even acknowledge what’s going on — might have been a deterrent.

...

She tries not to take anything from mom-and-pop stores, only big chain retailers. The Ross in her area regularly throws out a lot of its inventory in dumpsters behind the store to replace it with new. “We could wait until stuff goes in the dumpster, but why?”

The last three paragraphs pretty much nail the whole situation.

 

[sunnydays]

Column: How the retail lobby sold a $45-billion whopper about organized shoplifting

Politicians and the press bought into the panic over organized shoplifting, but the source of the alarming statistic now admits that it was a lie.

www.latimes.com

i don’t want to say i told you so but i told you so