We are going to let insurance handle it and just tell the customers that the $800k shrinkage out of our billion dollar profit must be passed onto them by permanently raising prices on everything even though we could easily make that back in a day.
Merchandise display locks can be circumvented with bolt cutters, hammers, cutting power tools, and ramset guns, and there are organized retail criminals that are smart enough to do that. To curtail organized retail crime, incorporate choke points and making the entrance doors entrance only unless there is an emergency as well as adding Public views monitors at every self checkout, the entrances, exits, and pro pickup zones. Also we need state laws all across the United States that will make retail boosting an automatic felony.
I had about $300 in returns that I had bought at Home Depot. Only used one card to purchase the items at different times. None of the items came up in their system. So obviously they wouldn’t take them back.
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.
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.
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.
@Eric Knoblauch I agree on that. The majority of my AP career comes from Walmart. Where there were four of us counting the APM. Having another person to bounce elements off makes observation a lot easier. The camera software is fine. I prefer the software THD uses. As for the cameras, absolutely not. THD would benefit greatly with a fully covered store. Not so much for live observations unless there's another AP on the floor. But for thefts that occurred out of sight of the AP. We could easily grab video needed and just go get a warrant. We do that now, it would just be a lot easier.
@The Sneaky AP Guy The Home Depot needs to update the Theft Portal, and it's loss prevention incident reporting system. The company needs to see exactly how much is being recovered, and the dollar amount for the apprehensions that take place. Having only one person working Loss Prevention in a home depot is appalling. From my experience, apprehensions are better when two Loss Prevention agents are present. Other retail companies the size of a Home Depot, I have seen a staff of five or six agents. At The Home Depot where I worked they only had one agent, and a old and partially broken camera system.
@The Sneaky AP Guy The Home Depot has a poor recording system. The Theft Portal needs to be revised. At The Home Depot where I worked numerous members of the night crew were allowed to remove unpaid for merchandise from the store while working overnight. Around my area where I once worked, numerous former employees have said the overnight manager would unlock the doors, and they would load power tools into their vehicles which were parked in the contractor pick up area in front of the store. They reported to me they took unpaid for merchandise from the store while on the time clock. I worked for 10 years in retail loss prevention, and in the locations and companies where I worked internal employee theft was over 60 percent of the apprehensions. Also. The Home Depot was the worst job, and employer I ever had. I have been in the retail trade for over 30 years. The Home Depot management team spends hours writing people up for being late due to a medical problem that they were given FMLA paperwork for in a job market where retailers are having a hard time filling positions and are short staffed. They did that to me. After they did that, I went home, and contacted an old former manager who was at a different company. I had a new job the next day, and I told The Home Depot where they can stick their job. The Home Depot is being run by a poor management team, and I hope they go out of business like Sears did. Their management is doing the same crap the managers did who ran Sears out of business. I do not shop at The Home Depot anymore.
I agree on that. There are many areas that have Retail Task Force teams with PD and Sheriff Departments and it works great. Right as soon as we have observation of intent or we just know the suspect is about to or in the process of, we can contact the Task Force and if able, they'll be outside. Or they'll just come inside and arrest on the spot because concealment is shoplifting and concealment proves intent.
It is not only Home Depot. Stolen merchandise affects the manufacturer/supplier also . They raise the cost which does force HD, Walmart, Target etc to raise prices.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Outside stores there are yellow surveillance machines that can usually just do the job for u….only time they care is if the car is stolen and that leads to bigger arrest I guess everyone understands these are just large company stores n it doesn’t affect the employees or managers so they don’t care…either way there run doesn’t last long either there a super intelligent smart career criminal or usually what it is there just a person addicted to drugs that will either go to jail or die soon… n usually n back then if u would get them in trouble if it isn’t over 1000$ u can’t really do anything they will just be banned from ur store… n even that is a risk cuz if they run they usually do that because they have warrants and those people are already lossed causes so just let em be n they will just use drugs until there death…
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!
The best one was the You Tube Video of a guy on a bike just go in and take stuff while they filmed this Glorious Socialist Discount system. Look at all the California Discounts thanks to Socialist Newsom
As a tradesman you don’t mess with anyone’s tools. I’ve learned that lesson at 17 when I lost a $8 impact bit I borrowed and what I thought would be a cool situation from a normally nice and calm coworker turned to me getting almost getting in to a fight, but later realized that it was a lesson. A man’s tools is a how he make’s money and a living especially a tradesman. Another experience is someone stole tools out of a jobsite conex and the gc held a meeting and said when he finds out he’s going to personally make sure he screws with their money somehow.
employees can help you with an inside job and not even know it. 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 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.
When I work in retail that was one of the main issues. The employees are ripping off the business more than anyone. They get their friends to come in, shoplift, and split the money
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.
KEEP IT REAL........Walmart, Target and the rest.. "BAD DEBT INSURANCE".......their income revenue. No interest what so ever in hiring Security, in the even of incident, no notification to Police, which would at least provide information to law enforcement, heightened crime area, knowing, not only Criminal activitst , " Pivot" to.....Shoplifters/ Drug abusers ," pick pocketing, car jackings, robbery, etc. These establishments, covered, no loss, experience the daily occurennce.... recognize same individuals, daily / weekly, unconcerned jeopardy, the safety....of employees, customers, children, etc. 👋JUst like in the case of karen's, these people are escalating, more agressive., confrontational., and physical.....life endangerment of no concern. THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD " MANDATE LAW:" ESTABLISHMENTS THAT CARRY "DRUGS" /ALCOHOL......SECURITY MUST BE ASSIGNED DURING OPERATIONS. INCIDENT REPORT COPIES WEEKLY PROVIDED TO NEIGHBORING POLICE STATIONS, TO ASSIST THEIR MONITORING /ASSISTANCE 🖐 ********PLEASE BE ASSURED..........THERE IS NO LACK OF THE ANGLES THE CAMERAS ARE SET UP TO RECORD THE EMPLOYEES 👀👀👀👀
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! 😧
I bought a Milwaukee 12v battery that was in a large clear security box. I asked THREE HD associates to remove the box but got waved off, so I just took the whole box home and disassembled it at home. The box had an electronic security device, and the item inside had an RFID tag. Nobody stopped me leaving the store with the whole thing. And now, due to my having to disassemble it, I know how their security box actually works and could easily be defeated- not that I would, but not everybody is honest.
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".
@sjcflawless So, I lived way back when Sears was the anchor store of malls. I also lived when pop stars came to sing in malls. Seats went away waaay before Amazon was only selling books online. Also, Amazon didn't really compete selling washers and driers, and that made Sears close. Nope. Malls are out, Amazon took the void that was already there.
@Firebird Lover China had a lot to do with it also, Craftsmen tools were the shadetree mechanics tools of choice, big profit margins and quality at one time.
@sjcflawless Sears closed because of an inability to adapt to the market. Literally everything was more expensive at Sears than other big box stores, their customer service was virtually non-existent and they destroyed what was once one of the best home service teams in the world. They could have, and should have, survived Amazon. They just had their heads up their asses.
@danish american Amazon was really the ultimate reason why Sears closed. Stolen merchandise was the number two reason. In the end, I can only go by the earnings and media reports. Sears was everywhere! The appliances were the cheapest. I’m pretty sure most of the loss occurred in areas where theft occurs often. I miss Sears though!
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.
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.
this is only half the story, as expected with NBC reporting. home depot already got an insurance check on the theft. the cops now stole it from the thief. you think they will give it back to home depot or whatever store? hilariously no. the cops keep it and auction it off and pocket the money. they likely let the thief go because its likely a crime ring and racketeering job and all are in on it.
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.
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
@Doug Ales now you call your sister a backhoe? Instead of just a hoe? Weird it must just be a country folk saying. You guys Play Dueling Banjos out there?
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.
@Michael Lim people care about their families and supporting their families. Making their lives come together on a daily basis. Government and businesses have their hands out wanting more and more money from the people. Don’t act like businesses care about the consumers pocket because that is a lie.
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.
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.
What police, the defunded police? This liberal crap is getting very stupid and dangerous. It's like they purposely want theft, violence and breakdown to happen and legalizing pot to keep people numb dumb and addicted.
"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".
That's funny because retailers make next to nothing per sale, they make their money in other aspects of the business or other products. But I DeWalt drill that was $120 at home Depot was genuinely probably $99 out the manufacturers door...
@Alessandro narom Do you know any insurers who are willing to consistently pay out more than they get paid in premiums? If a HD store gets $100,000 dollars stolen per year and insurance pays $80,000 (or $400,000 per your claim), that can only happen if *on average* HD pays more than $80,000 (or $400,000) per year in insurance premiums. Insurance companies are not charities and do no print money. What I'd like to suggest: put a sign on your car inviting thieves to take what they want because it's not really theft since you have insurance.
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.
I look for the Businessman on the corner with the Trench Coat in San Francisco with the Socialist Discount system. I assume if their in no Penalty for stealing there is no Penalty for buying Socialist supplied Merchandise. So I do not need to show a sales slip for things I purchase off the Trench Coat Discount store on the street corner. Hey Y'all Welcome to the California Deep Discount system of Supply. No need to go to the Big Box Store, Also take out a Subscription to Craigs List of hot deals at a Discount Price, your neighborhood Thief will thank you for the business as he heads to his drug dealer on the other street corner.
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.
@Electronics For Fun yeah for Covid, we don't have the big theft problems like the USA.. if you look at the Camera footage almost every perp is a Sun Person.. way bigger populations in the USA..
ABSOLUTELY!! Last time I was in Walmart they had 4 registers staffed and about 15 self serves. There was 1 girl watching everything! As soon as she helps another customer they do their thing...
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.
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.
@PhillLsx Ga. Agreed. People who think shoplifting or organized retail theft is OK because it just comes out of the pockets of CEOs are naive at best. Nor does it come from shareholders pockets. Ultimately it all comes from prices charged to customers. Likewise those who think insurance just pays for it all anyway (as if insurance just prints up the money they disburse rather than charging premiums that must more than cover their disbursements). (Which is why a large company like HD is usually self insured; but this paragraph still applies to smaller entities). But the good news is that currently, 99.92% of purchases are paid for (if shrinkage losses account for 0.8 million per billion of sales). So society is still overwhelmingly honest. And all that said, I believe that in some ways the largest cost is not in dollars, but in a moral injury to the social compact. People witnessing open theft without visible consequence feel less positively invested in the society, or in following the rules. "Why bust your gut to pay when others just walk out with what they want?" It breeds cynicism and resentment.
@Barry Suss Technically, the courts allow anyone to physically "detain" since the courts have expanded citizen's arrest to include the commission of either a misdemeanor or felony in a citizen's presence.
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.
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
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! 😂😂😂
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.
Shoplifters are just trying to make a living. They should be bailed out by the government or there should be a shoplifter tax so we all can help them out. The next time you see a shoplifter get caught, just tell them to put it on your bill.
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.
Back when I was in retail in the 80's and 90's, you'd be surprised what deterrent effect punching a shoplifter in the face had. We used to beat their asses, and they didn't come back.
@Josh Marsh Yes they are. They’ll incapacitate a shoplifter, yet every day goes by with a government stealing trillions and they do nothing. Cowards! A missing mallet is not gonna stop no show. To be clear I pay for my goods and services…ijs
I seen that tactic backfire on a loss prevention guy who went out and tackled a guy who left this grocery store. The alleged shoplifter not only whooped the security guys ass, but it turns out he didn't have any of the stores merchandise either... it was so funny 🤣🤣🤣
It's not uncommon to see new items for sale on Craig's list, Marketplace, eBay. Almost impossible for people looking for some items to tell if someone's getting rid of a gift they were given, but don't want, or selling stolen products.
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.
Not there fault, they are not law enforcement, they are not allowed to touch or detain anyone, only report and by the time the cops get there the thief is gone.
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 ...
We have about 5 lumber stores in our area, and all of them raised their retail prices when the supplier prices went up; they have all since lowered their prices. One is locally owned, two are local small chains, and two are big box stores. They compete with each other, and some will price match. This is not a case where HD gets to buy from lumbermills at the previous years prices while the others have to buy at today's prices. The major issue is upstream.
that is because of the cost of lumber. Lumber mills do not have enough people to work and the commodities market has gone through the roof. Demand has outpaced supply.
Really, so we're they robbing you when 2x4's were two bucks. They pay more and make the same percentage of profit like gasoline. Geez, read about economics
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
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.
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.
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.
Add a Serial Number and Registry to every High Ticket (Priced) item. Retailers then work with Law Enforcement to publish a list of Items/Serial Numbers that are Stolen. Then everyone from Ebay buyers to the local Pawn Shop has the ability to identify Stolen Items by Serial number. Make it a Federal Crime to sell such items without Serial Numbers of that actual item being posted. For Ebay buyers, that's an item to avoid and REPORT, for Pawn Shops same goes with the added responsibility for Criminal Penalties if they have such inventory. We live in an age of Computers and tracking, MAKE IT WORK TO STEM THE TIDE.
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 ...
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
I was walking in to a Home Depot and a guy just walked out with a tool kit in each hand. Jumped in a car and drove away. Employees were yelling at him to stop, but it happened too fast.
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.
That's not what is happening here. The Pawn Shop is telling the thieves what items to steal and then knowingly selling stolen merchandise. That's called "fencing", and it's a crime punishable by law.
"Nah. You keep it. If you aren't going to be any cheaper, then why would I shop here? I'm going to Lowes, where they treat their workers much better than you do."
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.
@Joey Bananas Stealing is a crime. Home Depot was hit hard with shoplifting when I worked there. I'm glad they're finally taking action against these common thieves.
@Jake Pyrett Yes, they are. I used to work there. It is true that the employees are not allowed to confront shoplifters. The company has indeed started cracking down with loss prevention.
Are they really? The media portrays the store as the employees are not allowed to stop them. And let them take whatever they want and go home. Obviously a whole warehouse full of stolen merchandise is not the pawn owners fault. It's the stores wide open door policy
"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
Its not its just speculation a Pawn Shop doesn’t need to give a list to Boosters and they are not the police to be asking ppl where they got some undervalued items they are just there to loan momey for the item thats it
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…
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.
@Raymond Same thing happened on a gig in a Vegas hotel back in the day. We were not allowed to make adjustments to our amps after the sound check. A union guy would walk out and raise your volume, or whatever, for you. I liked that they did the load in and load out. That part was great.
These aren't people that don't pay for some of the items in there cart, they just walk right out the front door with a loaded cart without even attempting to pay for them. The employees are not allowed to physically stop shoplifters. For liability/insurance reasons they can only verbally tell them to stop and pay for the items. Generally the liability/cost of a physical altercation (assuming people are injured) between a shoplifter and employee is higher than the actual loss of profit from the products being stolen so its not worth it. The problem is that its a death by a thousand cuts, sure any single incident of a couple of hundred dollars of tools is minimal but if every store (2,296) has $500 stolen a week that is over a million dollars a week. $100/day at every store is $83.8 million a year.
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.
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.
I have actually bought merchandise at Home Depot only to find damaged goods or even rocks in the box in place of merchandise. I have gone to the return desk of course once realizing this and Most times they are good about the refund...However, a few times they did NOT believe that I bought actual replaced items. In those cases I was in fact forced to "re-emburse" myself which means liberating merchandise in a value of at least 3 times face value to make up for my time losses and spite.
I witnessed Target employees and management watch a group steal an electric handicap scooter,.... they just called police, gave them LIC# and general direction.
That last bit where the VP of H.D. asset protection goes to show that H.D. will eventually raise the prices on products due to theft amongst many other reasons for their own profit. They just view it as "shrink" and write it off. In other words, they don't care and will just raise the prices.
$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.
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?
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.
800k out of 1 billion dollars in sales???? This is pathetic....Taking police time to fix something so small for large retails? No wonder crime is way up outside Home Depot. Inside the store is down since they have police working hard to protect their merchandise.
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.
