Direct link between crime and retailers closing stores.

If accurate, that’s an astonishing number. And Target said it’s not just theft that has plagued its stores and retailers across the country but also violent crime. Indeed, retailers like Walmart Stores Inc. Whole Foods Market (owned by Amazon Inc, and Nordstrom Inc have closed stores in cities where crime has anecdotally surged in recent years.

But here’s the thing: retailers have rarely said they are shutting stores specifically because of crime. Instead, they use words like “overall performance issues.” For example, Walmart recently announced it was closing 4 stores without ever referring to crime.

Target Drawing a Line
Cornell, though, drew a direct link between crime and closing stores. On top of that, Target threw in specific financial consequences from crime: $500 million loss in profits this year, following a $600 million loss in 2022.

“Safety of our guests and employees are our top priorities,” he said. “We will do everything in our power to keep our stores open.”

The company has hired extra security guards and is placing more and more merchandise behind locked cases.

https://www.thestreet.com/retailers/target-might-close-stores-because-of-this-rampant-problem?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO

 

That's why I order everything online, for delivery.

 

And that's exactly why many retailers are closing stores and ramping up internet operations. It gets rid of a whole host of problems, for buyer and seller. And occasionally - by no means always - it can save the purchaser a ton of money. It's done that for me a couple of times.

 

My city just had their biggest retailer recently announced that they were closing in the worst neighborhood in town. The store took exactly the stance of saying that it was performance while avoiding saying that it was crime, even though everyone knew. Now the city is trying to buy the building to figure out what could be done with it that would be useful to the community... including possibly using it as a shelter.

 

I see the consequences of retail crime around here. It's a multipart problem but I've come to the conclusion that the biggest issue is lack of political will. Repeated shoplifting offenders need to suffer actual consequences. They're professionals. They know what the risks are. They steal just little enough to stay in the misdemeanor category so they won't face prison and will not be held pending trial. But if the local prosecutor decided to take these cases seriously, for instance appointing an assistant district attorney to prosecute instead of the police officer and moved to revoke conditions of release upon new charges the result would make shoplifting much more expensive for these repeat offenders.

Where the defendant is found in possession of felony drugs, those charges should be pursued and where as a result of long standing drug abuse and mental illness the offender isn't competent for trial he should be detained and treated to competence. (Usually that means being sober more than anything else.)

This costs money, folks, and no one wants to pay for it.

 

I thought they were going to start combining the charges to turn them into felonies, had you heard that?

Also I completely agree with your statement that it has become something that people do as a living. I have straight out seen people take orders on the streets, often writing the orders down on a notebook.

 

Is the problem more apparent in liberal run cities?

 

I don't know, Lerner. Some of the worst hit cities I know of are on the West Coast and those areas are solid Democratic Party, Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco. I disagree sharply with the law enforcement policies of Seattle and San Francisco but I don't know enough about any others to have an opinion.

 

Combining misdemeanors to add up to a felony is a rather tricky business legally. You can't usually add up separate instances but if those instances are parts of an ongoing scheme or plan, maybe you could. It's very fact dependent.

 

Years ago, I was a retail assistant manager. One of the trainings I had was on loss prevention. Within that training, they provided some specific details in what theft costs the store. At that time, it was basically double. It also covered how those losses are passed along in the form of higher prices and reduced wages and benefits. I no longer remember the details, but the figures made sense. Unfortunately, some of the loss was internal. We watched a video where a few former thieves showed us some of the methods used to steal. Despite all of the training I had, one store I worked for ignored me when I warned them about a new store manager whose books weren’t adding up. She was on the job for less than a week before I saw the signs and reported it to upper management. It took them over a year to realize I was right. By then, she had stolen over $25,000 worth of cash and merchandise. I lived in PA at the time and they are an at-will employer. Meaning, they really wouldn’t have needed a reason to let her go. Although, i gave them plenty of evidence to support my suspicions. I hate thieves.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/were-investing-more-security-guards-133000754.html

Bethan Moorcraft
Tue, June 20, 2023 at 6:30 AM PDT

Retail giants have always had to deal with petty theft. But a growing trend of organized retail crime is now not just eating into company profits, it’s threatening the safety of workers.
“It’s a big problem for retail,” said Home Depot CEO Ted Decker “This isn’t the random shoplifter anymore.”

 

Perhaps this isn't about law enforcement. Perhaps it is a reflection of an American society lacking character. After all, we already incarcerate a greater proportion of our population than any other democracy in the world. I struggle to accept this is about a lack of enforcement.

 

We do have the legal tools we need to address this issue I think. I don't intend ever again to run for public office but I'd like to see if my approach could succeed. Who knows. Maybe my retirement won't be as retiring as I had hoped.

 

Not just democracies, Rich. A few years ago, (2016) US had the highest number of incarcerated - and the highest incarceration rate - of ANY country in the world - including non-democracies like China. US has improved a bit in more recent times. Second (to China) in numbers, and sixth-highest rate in the world.

"In 2016, the United States had the highest prison and jail population (2,121,600 in adult facilities in 2016), and the highest incarceration rate in the world (655 per 100,000 people in 2016)"

From here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_United_States_incarceration_rate_with_other_countries#:

Incarceration rates by country are shown in the following link. I ccouldn't find the age of the report - but yeah, most of the countries at the top (except US) don't look too democratic - with the possible exception of Thailand... https://wisevoter.com/country-rankings/incarceration-rates-by-country/

 

Well, District Attorney anyway.

 

After what he tried to do to Peter and MJ?

Oh, wait. Spelling....

 

Took a minute.