Simply-the-best-for-you Volunteer Community Mentor
This is only tangentally & possibly sales related, so skip if you're looking for direct sales related content only.
I was at my local cosmetics store (large retail chain) yesterday evening around 7:30PM. I was at the counter paying for my purchase, talking with the cashier since I had an exchange due to a problem & she kept not responding to me & looking over my shoulder. Then I noticed the other clerk was similarly distracted. That's when I see 2 burly guys dressed like homeless people in the old style army jackets I remember from the 70's. They stood out like a sore thumb.
It was a 'smash & grab' without the smash. They walked in, didn't try to hide who they were or why they were there, piled armloads of expensive perfumes into their arms (they didn't even have bags or anything) & walked right out with probably $1000 worth of perfumes. Whole thing was over in under 2 minutes. This was a nice area of town. Upon reflection, they probably know that cops are busy with other stuff on Saturday night. The clerks didn't even call 911, they said it happens all the time.
I couldn't help but wonder how many of those items are going to wind up on Ebay or similar sites. The whole thing was very unnerving. I think of shoplifters as being surreptitious. It blew me away that they were so brazen & that the clerks were so nonchalant. I offered to call 911 or find a cop in the center & they weren't interested. I was like, so all I have to do is walk out with my nail polish & it's free?
There's no real point to this, except to get it off my chest & to wonder how many, small time stolen goods like this make their way onto Ebay - it was my first thought after how does this happen in broad daylight. I'm still blown away by the whole thing, almost a day later. Who knew you could just walk into a store & take whatever you want in broad daylight, in front of all the customers & employees? I'm sure they were partially targeted b/c the clerks are mostly young women, unlikely to stand up to them. I'm still shocked though b/c I live in a VERY gun friendly, heavily military town. A huge percentage of people here are armed, at all times & we even allow open carry, yet this happened in broad daylight, in a crowded store.
I feel like I should *do* something. But if the clerks don't do anything, what would I do, ya'know. It's just really sad.
@soh.maryl wrote:Perhaps those stores who have that "don't get involved" policy and thinking first and foremost of the health and safety of their employees? And of the possibility of an employee tackling a thief, being injured, then suing the very life out of the store?
@soh.maryl No doubt. But calling the cops is all I expected them to do. I didn't expect them to tackle anyone. As I mentioned upthread, I have seen that happen twice & both times were a disaster PR wise & the perps would have probably won any lawsuit.
When I called today to talk to the mgr, they indicated that it's for the safety of employees AND customers that they don't do anything, but she declined to comment as to whether they call the cops (which I understand too, I could have been a thief trying to suss out their procedures.
I never expected them to get personally involved!
@soh.maryl wrote:How about this hypothetical: How would I, as a smash and grab thief, know whether or not "40% of a business was probably armed"? Would there be a sign posted somewhere? And would that deter me, since 100$ of me is probably armed also with stronger firepower than that store employee?
@soh.maryl If the thief lived in this town, they knew. Everyone here knows, it's open carry if you want & one of the highest CCW permit rates in the country. Everyone who lives here knows that & knows that every 3 or 4 people is military. You really can't live here & not know.
Sure it's possible a thief is armed with more firepower than someone else (I was not referring to the employees, I meant the shoppers).
@soh.maryl wrote:No one is able to make a blanket statement that any store does nothing, or that all stores have that policy in place.
They TOLD me they won't me call the cops. My statement was based on what the clerks told me at the time. They said there's nothing the cops can do. This is not conjecture on my part.
Now, whether or not they told me the truth, I have no idea.
@worldwidetreausures wrote:And this is another reason for the inflation - theft. Stores have to adjust prices and pass an increase on us, consumers, to cover the losses. Remember when WM was the cheapest store in the nation? And now, it is one of the most expensive ones because of the theft. I even witnessed a store manager stopping a "x" and making him taking meats from under his shirt. The manager knew the thief and let hm go with a warning. And yes, employees can`t stop them even if they see everything.
Sadly, I hear that at the thrift stores all the time. I'm friendly with most of the spvsrs & they tell me stories about the mgrs letting thieves go. One of the large chains doesn't even call the cops, something about the non-profit status & they tell me the thieves all talk & are well aware they don't call the cops.
@katzrul15 wrote:The company I work for is a large national broker.
We insure one of the largest big box retail chains described on this thread.
It is NOT apathy that prevents employees engaging these thugs - it is fatalities and folks ending up as a para or quad and wishing they had died.
It is never as simple as it seems. Telling their employees to stand down, not engage, not confront, NOT follow them to the parking lot to see which vehicle/license plate is keeping them alive/safe.
In 2018, the claim numbers were in the thousands and the fatalities, very high. 2019/2020 numbers were hugely improved.
Shrink/theft is huge. You can replace profits/merchandise. You cannot replace loss of life, limb, mental health.
And I will say this before anyone decides to be a "retail warrior" -don't. Do not engage, follow, confront, yell at them. Doing so can end up making you a statistic. Just don't.
Thanks for your insight @katzrul15 . To be clear, the only engaging I was expecting, was a call to the cops. I NEVER expected the young women employees (mostly) who work there to physically or verbally engage with them. I've witnessed 2 incidents at big stores, where the employees did engage & it was REALLY ugly & traumatic to witness & in one of the cases, I felt unsafe being at the store & hightailed it outta there. Contrast to Saturday, where I didn't actually feel unsafe at all. Thanks for sharing your knowledge on the subject.
