Quote:
Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive
I've had several conversations with Wal-Mart associates these past few weeks. One with a lady in electronics just this week revealed that she stopped a person with over $400 worth of stolen merchandise. When I asked what happened, her response was "probably nothing". Another time at another Wal-Mart I stopped to buy a flash drive. After the associate unlocked it and checked me out I commented that the store must be losing a lot of money to the shoplifters. He just smiled and said "Wal-Mart isn't losing a dime--YOU are!"
It got me thinking. If I could waltz out of the store the way I did, how many others, probably far more knowledgeable about the "art" of ripping off stores, are doing it too? Wal-mart is the undisputed leader when it comes to shoplifting targets but other stores are certainly not exempt. Retail stores have about a 3% profit margin and shoplifting must be cutting into that pretty well. But...if the stores' responses are merely to raise prices, along with the occasional shoplifting arrest hitting the papers...are they really motivated to do any more than that? We TV'ers are targets in many ways, and this is one of the more insidious, in my opinion.
Unless the stores do more to stop this, aren't we in effect subsidizing a criminal (petty, to be sure, but still criminal) enterprise? And what can be done to further motivate the stores to actually implement measures that REALLY work--and stop penalizing their customers for their inaction?
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I think this is a good, thoughtful question & I don't know the answer.
I did read recently (December 4th issue) in the online news site (I believe banned from this site), that a Walmart employee was arrested in her home for stealing snacks. She took items like Pepsi & consumed them in the break room & then when her shift was over she left without paying for them. I am not supporting her, I think theft is wrong & if she has memory issues, (forgetting to pay), then she should try to pay at the time she took the snacks.
But what does this say to your question? Is Walmart only going after low hanging fruit, regardless of cost? Is Walmart more stringent with employees than customers? Is there any consideration of the price of the stolen items? The article says they have video of six incidents. Are some of these questions decided solely by in store security personnel? Was the lady you spoke to right about the $400 theft, or did she not know the anwser & gave her opinion?
I don't know any of the answers. But am looking forward to the discussion.