Behind the scenes of Home Depot's operation to take down professional shoplifters

As a former Home Depot employee I once witnessed a guy run out of the store with some stuff. I took a note of his car and plate number. I reported it to the manager on duty and she did NOTHING about it. Her reason was she said that they didn't want to accuse anybody. Fricking bs.

Shoplifters still going strong. On the other hand contractors having trouble returning items they paid for with a receipt.

That’s halarious!!! Home Depot has already passed it along to the customer. Prices are rediculous.

My niece was working at a Home Depot where they put in charge of loss prevention. She found out contractors were taking tools out the back rollup door and then around the building to their construction vehicle. When she told management what she had discovered in her investigation, they did nothing and told her to back off. Was the store management getting a kickback? She quit them and now has a wonderful architect job with a major power provider company.

Let me explain the problem I saw with Home Depot. They rotate managers...a lot. What they don't do is inventory on his way in. After a year they inventory and he is responsible for the loss he walked into...then he's transferred. You could have literally ZERO loss and when they do inventory you're responsible for the stuff that was supposed to be there but wasn't when you started.

Having worked at a Home Depot for almost 3 years, it was always weird seeing how much of the shrinkage was from inside jobs🤷‍♂️

You have to take this with a grain of salt. These stories are always exaggerated by everyone involved. HD has been locking up portable power tools behind metal gates; how are they being stolen? Their large stores were built when they employed large numbers of helpful employees. Now you’re lucky if you can find an employee 5 aisles away! Of course theft is going to increase when there are no employees around!

Just make everything members only. Don’t make it hard for people to walk in and out of stores. Place barricades near the exits/entrances. You cannot enter or leave without a card. This might not be a full proof system. But the goal is to make it harder. Also place all items in a secured area. If someone wants to purchase they pay first and the item gets delivered from the back. If you want to see something ID is required.

I'm retired corrections and now work at Lowes. Recent policy has been to "stay out of the way" when these criminals make their way out of our stores with merchandise. Management thinks this policy is "safe," and yet have no idea how criminals view this with contempt.

This has been going on for decades. I worked as a kid for a grocery store on the Baltimore city line back in the 90's. Shoplifters would literally mad rush the store and clear the shelves of many things. I remember batteries and baby formula being a huge target. They came in numbers and security couldn't stop them all. The products ended up on unfortunately on small retailers shelves in the city. I imagined they either directed them or paid peanuts.

So what I learned from this video, go shop at pawn shops before going to Home Depot

Depending on what State this CRIME is committed. In Connecticut store security can use what ever means necessary to STOP the theft and get their merchandise back

Glad to see they are stepping their game up. I used to fleece Home Depot hard as a kid.

I worked at home depot a long time ago, the problem I saw is with the store managers stealing large items from them! marking them down as damaged witch you have to throw them in the trash but they go to the manager's friends and family.

Walmart, Target and the rest...they expect law enforcement to handle it. Hire your own security, equip them with the proper tools and training and let them do their job. They are too scared of lawsuits.

Let's be real, it went up the past 3 quarters because you put in all the self check out stations.

From what I've heard, they just let them steal here and don't even try to stop them. Matter of fact, if an employee tries to stop them, they get fired :/ I work for a competitor, so LoL! Good job guys!

PRO TIP: when you order something online usually they keep it in a cart by the back door somewhere. not that I would do it, but a person could easily add all kinds of stuff to said cart. when you pick up your online order curbside they call back and have someone bring you your cart they dont bother to check it over again because it was already loaded by an employee so they unknowingly shoplift for you. if your worried about cameras when loading cart wear a mask and a hat different color shirt they cant prove its you and you didn't actually have it in your possession and walking out the store.

Pay attention to his last statement. He said they've been good about not raising prices due to shrink. That doesn't account for a myriad of other reasons they raise prices, including "Just because we can".

I'm sure Amazon will benefit if stores like Home depot are forced to close down. What Home Depot might do is, leave all the stuff locked down, and each item on display chained down. If someone wants to buy it, they inform the warehouse.

This is the craziest thing, I've every heard of. What happened to catching them and locking them up? Place a sensor on items! The one thing a thief doesn't like is an alarm, they run EVERY TIME! 😧

From what I hear Home depot better keep a better eye on their employees including their loss prevention security employees. They take it before it hits the show room.

Having an armed security guard at each exit checking receipts and stopping the ones who simply run out with cart loads of items would go a long way in stopping the thefts at Home Depot, but I guess they would rather lose $500k per year from a store than pay $300k for three well trained guards.

Home Depot are crooks. I’ve caught them charging a higher price at checkout then what is noted under the item in the store. When I bring it up to management they feign “it’s a mistake” I threatened to make a scene and manager gave me a huge discount. Target does the same thing, caught them charging a higher price at checkout a week ago and called manager, made a scene and manager gave me 50% off so I would go away. These large companies are the biggest crooks ever and they have the nerve to do this video painting themselves out to be the victims.

Did she really just say “isn’t Home Depot big enough to absorb this issue?”

Noticed how he said the cost would be passed to the consumer. Maybe you should hire more employees. More security. Because your prices are too high to begin with. People can and will turn against higher prices. Then that will be your down fall. This day and age retail greed has people realizing what they can live with and what they can do without.

It'll be everyone else's fault when they finally deny public access to the buildings. Bricking up the main entrances/exits and start filling orders out the side doors.

Great business plan "ultimately we will have to pass it on" when has that never not been the case?

If you don't have valid photographic or video evidence of the person leaving the store with the goods, you set yourself up for an epic lawsuit. A loss prevention person knows if they see someone stealing, (pocketing), something they can't stop them if they lose sight of them for even a second. One of the best HD LP people I ever met was fired for just that. The guy walked around an endcap, dumped the goods on it and the LP person didn't see it. He stopped the guy outside and didn't find a thing. The LP guy was fired a few weeks later. We didn't have a lot of grab and runs but they did happen. Most would hide things inside or under other things. That's all changed now and so has the thief. Screw that drill. When you can grab 20 of them and run to a waiting vehicle, there's not a lot the retailer can do. Walmart now has a uniformed city police officer assigned to problem stores. HD will do the same soon.

My home depot was getting robbed atleast 3 times a day taking tons of power tools and (funny enough mostly ryobi drills)copper wire. But we werent even allowed to stop them or even aproach them and they knew that. So it kept happening more and more. They wouldnt even run theyd walk out the front doors like nothing happened. It got so bad we werent even allowed to look at them

My son is a supervisor at home depot and got in huge trouble trying to stop a shoplifter in Owasso, ok store Very strange

I saw someone shoplifting twice in one store. When I got with security they said their policy was not to apprehend them, but to report it to the police. That's messed up, and i could understand how they let it go like that.

Home Depot has a no confrontation policy. On rare occasion they have asset protection officers in the building. They cannot follow the thief into the parking lot. If the employee deviates from this policy, they are fired. Therefore, shrinkage will continue to be a major problem at the Home Depot.

Hard to feel sorry for Home depot loses😳

I’m in law enforcement and I can tell you it’s a real problem. The only thing when we get their property back they never want to prosecute. They will also not call the police until the thieves have already let the store even if they have been watching them conceal items.

When I Was Hired At home depot I Was Over Joyed I felt This Is A Company I Can Grow With Like A Family I Worked 15 Months As a Front End Cashier Supervisor,Managers Called Me In To Work On My Off Days,I Worked Hard Alot Of Over Time, I Went Out Of My Way To Make Sure Each Customer Was Satisfied And I Created Proffesional Friendly Working Atmosphere For My Cashiers, Chad,Dee,Bri, and Joseph And My Cart Pushers Tee and Andrew...My One Year Anniversary I Put In For My Vacation For The Up Coming March (I was Denied My Vacation) I Went To The Store Manager Mindy She Approved My Vacation, Days Before My Vacation A Customer Ran Over My Foot With a Emtpy Lumber Cart,I Notified Store Manager ,I Went To A Doctor The Doctor Did X-ray Went On Vacation-After Vacation I was Called Into Work,I Went Into Work Wearing The Medical Boot Given To Me By My Doctor I Told Charlene I Will Try To Work My Foot Was Having Minor Pain At That Time,While at Work Chad Ask Me If I Was Leaving Home Depot-I said No Why?-Chad Said My Job Was Posted On The Computer,I went to the Break Room and On the Computer My Job Was Was Posted 3 Days Before My Vacation Was Over,I Thought It Was A Mistake,I Went Back To Doing MY Job,The Next Day I Tried To Work For 4 Hrs But My Foot Was In Severe Pain On MY Lunch Break I could Barely Walk I Told Manager Charlene I Am In Severe Pain I need To Go Home, Charlene Told Me I Could Not Go Home,My Husband Came and Got Me Took Me Home,Three Days Michelle H&R Called Ask Me If I was Coming Back To Work I told Michelle H&R I Will Be Coming Back To Work As Soon As The Doctor Release Me,Michelle H&R Ask For Another Medical Leave-I Told Michelle H&R The Doctor Said I After My MRI Is Done And The MRI Results is Given To Me By The Doctor-The Doctor Will Give Me Another Medical Leave Of Absense,June 3 In the Doctor Office With a Nurse In My Presense I Called Michelle H&R Ask For The Fax Number -Michelle H&R Told Me There Was a Meeting And I Was Terminated- I Told Michelle H&R I am At My Doctor Office The Nurse Can Fax The MRI Results And The Medical Leave Of Absense, Michelle Replied Oh I Do Not Know What To Do..I have Called Home Depot but Home Depot Does Not Return My Calls,June 4th I filed For Unemployment,I got Denied Unemployment Because (LIED Home Depot Said I Voluntary Quit..

It's not just the big box chains.And from what I've observed employees are often complicit.

Super simple solution, make the power tools section of the store it's own department, and nothing leaves the department without being paid for. That's how sporting goods stores handle gun sales.

It’s a shame that some people do not earn their living in an honest way and resort to stealing from honest businesses (big and small) for a few bucks. The cost of goods is past down to us, the consumers who don’t think of stealing from stores. Home Depot says that they don’t increase prices on items due to shoplifting, but they do.

I hope it stops the theft. I see us having to stand in lines to get into a store....losing our freedom to just meander while shopping. So sad.

The professional shoplifters know that major retailers now have a hands-off policy toward shoplifters. Employees can be fired for making any attempt to physically stop shoplifting.

They could start by..... not letting thieves leave the store. Lowes has a do no confront policy and just lets them walk. Once when I was in a store, a guy walked right past an off duty out of uniform cop as he was getting rung up. The cashier said "it happens all the time" and the cop went out in the parking lot and arrested the thief on the spot. So big box retailers: DOn't sit on your hands and watch your inventory walk out the door. STOP the thieves.

Thanks CNBC, that was super informative!

All of these stolen goods get sent to Amazon from multiple seller accounts. The stolen goods get put on the shelf right next to legitimate ones and are sold randomly. It is really easy to sell stolen goods on Amazon (not to mention counterfeit ones) because when a seller sells their product it gets pulled off the shelf randomly. It can be the actuall item that the theives sent in or an item from a legitimate wholesaler. Think about how scary this is for food, hygeine products, etc if you receive a counterfeit one with unknown chemicals in it from a reputable seller because the Amazon stock of the product is a mix of real, fake, or stolen products. Buying off Amazon has unfortunately become a direct support of organized crime. In turn you are also funding these crime operations which aren't limited to stolen power tools....think human trafficking, drug distribution, etc.

Both Home Depot and Lowes are terribly run companies. The store managers hide from the customers and the employees go out of their way to avoid being helpful. I hate going in to either one and I blame corporate management.

I LOST MY HOME DEPOT CARD THAT WAS FRAUDULENTLY USED BY AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON. THE TOTAL COST WAS ABOUT 2000.00 dollars. OUR LOCAL HOME DEPOT WAS VERY UNCOOPERATIVE. CITIBANK HAS BEEN OF LITTLE HELP. WE WERE TOLD BY HOME DEPOT THAT THE LOSS IS OUR PROBLEM. BUYER BE WARE.

Remove the self checkout and Home depot will save millions Note:I am a Home Depot employee

Pawn shops are required to turn in pictures and descriptions of each item to the local police department pawn detail unit. If the Pawn Detail unit is not doing their job then that is where media should ask questions. Pawn shops don't ask customers 50 questions where they got the item from the answer will always be "I bought it", Or "It was a gift". This is the job of the police department to figure out what is stolen and what isn't. If Home Depot is not reporting items that they had stolen to the police that's their own fault. Likely no pawn shop employee will ever be charged with a crime by not asking questions there is no legal requirement for a pawn shop to investigated the customer.

Here's a crazy idea, hire guards for the doors instead of firing employees.

They send out their on-line ordered power tools in big and bright orange Home Depot boxes. I lost a drill I had ordered through the freight carriers/warehouses involved. I checked the delivery within 2 minutes at my door and the expensive item (hammer drill) was gone from the damaged box. The smaller (and cheap) grinder was still there. I would hope they will eventually at least try to disguise those orders better...not in their orange logo boxes. I'm doing store pick-up orders from now on.

Thieves are scum - whether they’re shoplifters, or they’re huge corporations who gouge customers during a pandemic.

Yea they’re always watching me as I shop at the Home Depot. I’m a contractor. But because I’m covered in tattoos I look like a potential “criminal” It’s so disrespectful & humiliating. Because of these people and their theft prevention people I can never shop in peace.

It's really something to go buy a few materials driving through the parking lot when about 12 people jump in the back of your truck and Surround your vehicle beating on the windows and hoods looking for work before you can even get parked and get into the store and don't ever leave anything in the back of your truck or on your trailer I think if we started fingerprinting and putting fines on a lot of these people that are stealing we could recoup some of that money keep the prices down

They treat their staff so poorly that they don't care unless the store manager is in house that day.

"How is it that they can sell it for even less than a big box retailer can even buy that product for?" Well, I guarantee home depot buys a drill for $20 and then sells it for $120, $99 on "sale".

I have no pity for shoplifters and wish they would at least get a year in jail for the crime, not for the value. Let me explain: The cost to society goes beyond the store. Back in the 1980s you had greater access to products, you could open boxes to see if the product was what you expected and you could surely open your new purchase at home with your bare hands. Because of these miserable low lives, now everything comes sealed as it if were cash. I used to visit elderly homes and one problem the elderly have in common that is a direct consequence of the actions of these criminals is that the elderly cannot open the products they buy with their money. This is very sad, as any dependency on other people robs you of your dignity and we all will be old at some point: How stupid you will feel when you need somebody to open a darn toothbrush for you. And this is completely gratuitous, completely artificial, just the result of our decay in morals and liberals trying to make crime seen not as a bad thing but classifying it in different levels. Stealing from stores is BAD, period and there should real penalties for committing this crime, regardless of being a $3 screwdriver or a $200 cordless drill.

If the big retailers had enough employees, there would less shoplifting. Staffing levels are ridiculously low in many stores.

The people who couldn’t find someone to help in Home Depot finally figured out they could use that for their criminal advantage. But for real; why not put little cameras on the big item rows that the criminals can see kind of like Walmart and other retailers.

They make up for the loses with lumber pricing.

The only person that can approach you went caught stealing is loss prevention mgr. ..if an employee approaches you that employee is fired ..........fact worked at sunset valley home depot ...6 years ...

Saying the company is losing 700k would be much more impressive if it wasn't "per billion in sales". Great use of government resources there.

It would nice if something could be done to stop all the thieving.

When you have a society where the businesses pay workers livable wages and the economy is well maintained and regulated by a competent governing body, the drug use and criminal activity like stealing will shrink substantially automatically. You dont even need said special units who stand around at the end of the day wondering why it keeps getting worse because when you address the real problems things only get better.

Saw it happening in pasadena petco disgusting Z. I cannot deal with how many people just got away with it. And they had to be very careful to have a manager see it . I was working for in store demo sales person full time. I used to work in a smaller pet store in Oregon store all by myself which was getting more and more yearly . Then people used the dog food to raise puppies and return empty bags saying they didn’t like the food. Eventually our competitor that tried to match our policy and lower prices died. And my boss got smarter.

Stores could put up security gates that are locked unless you scan your receipt to exit. I don't think they exist yet but it seems like someone could really make it big inventing and selling a system like that to stores.

I’ve seen ads for brand name tools, but ignored them because if something seems too good to be true, it is. I figured the merchandise was jut cheap, worthless knockoffs. Stolen is worse than cheap knockoffs.

Gosh, it's almost like the very media outlets that created and promoted this type of behavior is now reaping the rewards by making their own news.

That's what happens when you have self checkouts....one gets scanned one doesn't

Month ago I walked into Home Depot Kauai and some dude was about to walk out of the store with a cordless tool. Store employee yelled at him are you going to pay for that than the dude turned around and said I forgot to pay and walked back into the store.

I worked as a vendor, fixing all the merchandise racks as well as the uprights in the lumber department. I worked in the stores nationwide, on the graveyard shift. I seen people literally walk out the doors with THOUSANDS of dollars of merch. And I’m talking about OTHER VENDORS! 😂😂😂

In California, crooks can steal up to 950 and get a misdemeanor. Over is a felony. No one does anything about it.

I'm from Austin Texas and a general contractor and we've already had one Home Depot close to theft you could buy anything in the parking lot have price of what it was selling for in the store thanks to our immigration process and now I'm seeing teams in new stores were they come in in groves and just wipe them out totally it's a damn shame I hope you guys stay on top of it I'd much rather shop on Depot then Lowe's any day of the week

$800,000 out of $1,000,000,000 Looks funny when you write it down... That Is less than 0.1% out of the corporate fatcats and shareholders pockets. That isn't even taking into account the markup from production overseas that is happening, which can be anything from 20-80% or more. Do these companies even pay taxes? Let's go after more poor people on REAL taxpayer's dime.

There should be a law to allow the store clerks to have at least a teaser or bear maze. To stop this useless people and then call the authorities

What a racket against small business owners that cannot afford the losses like big-box stores. Why aren't the insurance companies chiming in on this. What happens to all the merchandise in the police evidence lockup?

When the Door Alarms 🚨🚨 go OFF, most staff at Home Depot and Lowe's just rush people through and turn OFF the alarm. That could be half their problem right there. They need more of their staff to watch what goes out the doors ...

Good going officers thanks for being on the ball

Have to wonder why Home Depot has more shoplifting than Walmart and has 3x the security per store. I have worked as a vendor at Home Depot stores and spoken with their security staff.

I find it hard to care about shoplifting when wage theft dwarfs all other forms of theft put together, including shoplifting.

Don't forget; _Employees_ account for a higher percent of theft, than customers.

"They're apart of the crime are they not" obviously if they're writing the list for the booster to steal, they're clearly part of it. Truly a stupid question

These are organized criminal organizations therefore they can be charged with a felony under the RICO statue. Under the RICO Act, a person can be charged with racketeering - which includes bribery, extortion, illegal drug sales, loan sharking, murder and prostitution and organized theft - if he or she has committed two of the 27 federal and eight state crimes under U.S. legislation within a 10-year period.

Homedepot also hires young adults in order to pay less per hour, Give part time hours to escape providing health benefits, and provide false incentives that only teenagers would fall for such as if you work hard here we promote within only to find that most promotions were beautiful cashiers who were having sexual relationships with managers or department supervisors. Home Depot is really a horrible company such as amazon or the like! I could care less about their shrink margins, I wouldn’t doubt it if most their so called associates are robbing them blind to afford ends meet!

Let me guess, shop lifting got bad when they installed the self checkouts. Why not pay for more cashiers?!! There are no self checkouts at Lowes and it would be pretty difficult to walk out of things from that store. The lanes are close tight and blocked if not in use.

Also shrink comes off the employees profit sharing so the company doesn't loss anything from theft and fraud. It would take alot of shrink to hurt the company.

I entered Home Depo in Kelowna BC Canada to pick up supplies for a project. I was building in my head so I was looking for various options throughout the store. I was then approached by two different employees that were obviously in store anti theft detectives ( but not under cover). It was insinuated that I was under observation. I have never been so insulted in my life! I understand they have a problem. But I'm not it! I was an honest, legit customer. I left but made a complaint to management via telephone. The person I spoke to couldn't have cared less. That was two years ago. I haven't been back and never will.

Home Depot once accused me of stealing. Said they seen me on camera sticking a Circular Saw blade in my jacket...I laughed thinking they were joking, but then they said they will call the police if I didn't show them my waistband.....they didn't even apologize after I showed them .....shop LOWES ever since.

I guess it's more profitable in the long run for HD to just let the merch get stolen. Our store has no AP employee. No working anti-theft systems, etc. All we have is eyes and cameras. Thieves know this and take advantage! The hidden cost of this shrink is when a customer comes in and says "it shows you have 2 of these in stock!" but there are zero.

I can't think of a single reason why shoplifting has skyrocketed...

Ultimately you will have to have stronger preventative measures or just go strictly online/pickup, no more walking around in store.

All I saw was law enforcement going after pawn shops. Passing laws to take down pawn shops.

I only buy used stuff on offer up. And I pay for to rent movies through Amazon. There still honest people out here folks

Unfortunately this will continue as long as these criminals have a place to sell their stolen merchandise…like the pawn shop who claims they don’t buy stolen merchandise and have to log all serial numbers and give it to the authorities….right, just accidentally change or leave off one number… Even cart loads of beer and wine and meat as well being stolen and sold to restaurants, bars, gas stations…

Biggest shoplifting team I witnessed was in Spokane Washington there were atleast 20 of them I watched them make trip after trip out of a Walmart.....it was crazy!!! I'm positive management and the door guys had to all be involved as well....they probably stole 40,000$ of merchandise....

Since 1985 Home Depot has always been there when I needed them. They open at 6 am and close after dark. They carry a few contractor grade tools, but do carry a full line homeowner and wanna be a contractor type tools. They're nails, screws, fasteners by brand names like Bostitch, Teco are crap. The line of Behr paint is crap, Chainsaws, weedwackers, toolbelts- all crap. They also carry some contractor grade like Klein, Makita Pro, but the list is short. Stanley used to be a quality tool maker but their HD line is also crap. I wouldn't buy a saw blade, grinding wheel, or measuring tape from them, and surely wouldn't buy any of the lumber they sell, but I will buy some of the products that also sell extended warrantees.

That is a great idea 💡 not allow in the tool to work unless you go through the checkout > I love that technology to stop thieves !

I tried watching this on the official website but it kept stopping Stop thief! Ultimately I will shop from Amazon. Steal from others not good idea and HD needed improve they’re customer service for sure.

Almost 800k in theft per billion in sales yet most companies will say security cost too much. Also if liberal cities didnt make these thefts misdemeanors maybe they wouldnt be so out of control. If laws on theft were more harsh and security was hired and could detain these kinds of thefts would be more difficult and not worth it for alot of people.

So if Home Depot sells a drill for $129.99, the pawn shop sells it for $79.99…this means the pawn shop bought it from the thief for maybe $20.00! That’s right…they need to display it and they are taking all the risk if it doesn’t sell.

Figures it would be a CNBC reporter asking "why is this a problem?".