Receipt Checks coming to Fred Meyer (OMG Why)

[Bagels]

Legally, under Oregon law they can't force you to show a receipt. This is entirely voluntary. They just will not admit it.

Correct - there's no state or federal law that requires shoppers to show their receipt. But if you don't comply, those same stores have a legal right to deny you service in the future. If you have nothing to hide, it's not worth it. Ultimately, it's just a security deterrent anyway. At best, they can spot check for specific purchases (e.g. you have a $100 item in your cart - where is it on the receipt) but most stores are far too busy to do much more.

[storewanderer]

The Tenderloin has been shrinking for decades, but you've always been able to find some version of tragedy or outrageous behavior there or in Skid Row (LA or Seattle version), etc. There's always been organized shoplifting--I remember it from my time working in retail and my much older brother's time before that.

The drop in crime in DC is such that instead of being called for jury duty every year (as was in the case in the 90s), I just got my first summons in 6 or 7 years, but you wouldn't know that from much of the media.

The Tenderloin has expanded in San Francisco the past few years... it may be shrinking in some places but not in San Francisco.

Organized Shoplifting as I said up thread is a volume business since it is essentially a retail business for the groups doing the organized shoplifting. So anything that makes it easier for them at the retail level... -pathetically understaffed stores -major chains eliminating "department manager" positions so nobody is tending to departments and immediately reporting theft as it occurs and in many cases these stores are clueless until inventory time rolls around annually or semi-annually or whatever their cycle is - normalizing reusable bags/normalizing cartfulls of unbagged merchandise going out the door to help them blend in- so they can steal more. Normalizing online marketplaces for resale of items so they have more outlets to sell products than just out of their trunk, flea markets, or similar. So yes it has existed for decades but as the environment has evolved it has been given a lot more opportunities to have sources of merchandise and then have ways to sell its merchandise.

DC's population has gone up quite a bit since the 90's so maybe the juror pool is larger now... also maybe the number of trials is decreasing as more and more stuff gets settled before reaching that point.

[reymann]

some stores are now reducing the hours they are open due to high crime. 9pm or 10pm could become the new norm for the supermarket if theft isn't curbed. maybe late nights will be limited to instacart and curbside pickup only.

[Bagels]

Organized Shoplifting as I said up thread is a volume business since it is essentially a retail business for the groups doing the organized shoplifting. So anything that makes it easier for them at the retail level... -pathetically understaffed stores -major chains eliminating "department manager" positions so nobody is tending to departments and immediately reporting theft as it occurs and in many cases these stores are clueless until inventory time rolls around annually or semi-annually or whatever their cycle is - normalizing reusable bags/normalizing cartfulls of unbagged merchandise going out the door to help them blend in- so they can steal more. Normalizing online marketplaces for resale of items so they have more outlets to sell products than just out of their trunk, flea markets, or similar. So yes it has existed for decades but as the environment has evolved it has been given a lot more opportunities to have sources of merchandise and then have ways to sell its merchandise.

DC's population has gone up quite a bit since the 90's so maybe the juror pool is larger now... also maybe the number of trials is decreasing as more and more stuff gets settled before reaching that point.

Retailers have been making noise about theft in recent years -- Walmart started aggressively installing gates at store entrances, Meijer is including only a single entrance in its new builds + removing one during select refurbs, etc. But many experts point out that shrink as a percentage of retail sales has actually dropped in recent years.

It's kinda like air travel. People believe that the number of disorderly incidents onboard aircraft has increased, when in reality the number of times the police was called + the number of passengers removed reached a multidecade low last year. The problem is that unlike in 2004 (which was the all-time high per CBS News), nearly ever single passenger has a video camera at their disposal today in which they can easily discreetly record these incidents. And when shown on TV, they draw big interest so even if they're non-stories, profit-driven media show them.

Is retail theft really on the rise? Or is it that modern security camera systems + the abundance of video-enabled cell phones enable people to readily record these incidents?

[storewanderer]

Retailers have been making noise about theft in recent years -- Walmart started aggressively installing gates at store entrances, Meijer is including only a single entrance in its new builds + removing one during select refurbs, etc. But many experts point out that shrink as a percentage of retail sales has actually dropped in recent years.

It's kinda like air travel. People believe that the number of disorderly incidents onboard aircraft has increased, when in reality the number of times the police was called + the number of passengers removed reached a multidecade low last year. The problem is that unlike in 2004 (which was the all-time high per CBS News), nearly ever single passenger has a video camera at their disposal today in which they can easily discreetly record these incidents. And when shown on TV, they draw big interest so even if they're non-stories, profit-driven media show them.

Is retail theft really on the rise? Or is it that modern security camera systems + the abundance of video-enabled cell phones enable people to readily record these incidents?

The noise is because theft has increased... a lot... in dollars... and units. The reason you see executives complaining today is because there is a lag in information, but inventories are finally starting to show the massive theft that occurred in 2021, 2022, etc. Also I think there is more theft going on at the distribution centers than some of these stores think too.

Retailers cut loss prevention throughout the 2000's and 2010's and theft rings are not blind to that fact either. This led to the opportunity for the thief. Combined with law changes in some states making it more difficult for them to be punished for shoplifting, they knew what they could get away with and acted accordingly. This helped them rationalize their behavior and become comfortable with the idea of stealing more items, more often, from more places. Plus as I said more outlets than ever for resale of stolen goods created the incentive.

Wal Mart has already removed those gates from some stores in my area where they installed them. Some of those stores in recent weeks now have 3 "greeters" hovering at the exit so I don't know... how that removal has gone. Or if those gates really accomplish anything.

[veteran+]

Organized Shoplifting as I said up thread is a volume business since it is essentially a retail business for the groups doing the organized shoplifting. So anything that makes it easier for them at the retail level... -pathetically understaffed stores -major chains eliminating "department manager" positions so nobody is tending to departments and immediately reporting theft as it occurs and in many cases these stores are clueless until inventory time rolls around annually or semi-annually or whatever their cycle is - normalizing reusable bags/normalizing cartfulls of unbagged merchandise going out the door to help them blend in- so they can steal more. Normalizing online marketplaces for resale of items so they have more outlets to sell products than just out of their trunk, flea markets, or similar. So yes it has existed for decades but as the environment has evolved it has been given a lot more opportunities to have sources of merchandise and then have ways to sell its merchandise.

DC's population has gone up quite a bit since the 90's so maybe the juror pool is larger now... also maybe the number of trials is decreasing as more and more stuff gets settled before reaching that point.

Retailers have been making noise about theft in recent years -- Walmart started aggressively installing gates at store entrances, Meijer is including only a single entrance in its new builds + removing one during select refurbs, etc. But many experts point out that shrink as a percentage of retail sales has actually dropped in recent years.

It's kinda like air travel. People believe that the number of disorderly incidents onboard aircraft has increased, when in reality the number of times the police was called + the number of passengers removed reached a multidecade low last year. The problem is that unlike in 2004 (which was the all-time high per CBS News), nearly ever single passenger has a video camera at their disposal today in which they can easily discreetly record these incidents. And when shown on TV, they draw big interest so even if they're non-stories, profit-driven media show them.

Is retail theft really on the rise? Or is it that modern security camera systems + the abundance of video-enabled cell phones enable people to readily record these incidents?

Thank you for your critical thinking

[Bagels]

The noise is because theft has increased... a lot... in dollars... and units. The reason you see executives complaining today is because there is a lag in information, but inventories are finally starting to show the massive theft that occurred in 2021, 2022, etc. Also I think there is more theft going on at the distribution centers than some of these stores think too.

Retailers cut loss prevention throughout the 2000's and 2010's and theft rings are not blind to that fact either. This led to the opportunity for the thief. Combined with law changes in some states making it more difficult for them to be punished for shoplifting, they knew what they could get away with and acted accordingly. This helped them rationalize their behavior and become comfortable with the idea of stealing more items, more often, from more places. Plus as I said more outlets than ever for resale of stolen goods created the incentive.

Wal Mart has already removed those gates from some stores in my area where they installed them. Some of those stores in recent weeks now have 3 "greeters" hovering at the exit so I don't know... how that removal has gone. Or if those gates really accomplish anything.

There's plenty of evidence to dispute retailers' claims; namely that shrink as a percentage of sales has remained stable for a decade:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/18/business ... index.html

Nor is their a standard measurement for shrink. For example, most grocers consider perishable goods that are disposed as they reach their sell by date to be shrink. When Kroger produces too much Private Selection deli meats and is forced to pay Grocery Outlet to dispose of them, that's shrink. Grocers really, really don't want investors to know much much product is really tossed.

Shoplifting has always been a problem. Is it getting worse? Of course, especially with self check-outs, etc. But is it materially worse to the point that it's a major talking point? That I question.

Walmart and Target have (largely) fully built out national store fleets. So to facilitate additional growth, both entered so-called food deserts in the past decade. They've had some success stores and they've had some failures, which was probably in-line with their expectations (they couldn't possibly expect all of these stores to be a success). But when they lose the stores, certain media outlets politicalize the events. Let's be clear: any these stores, theft may have contributed to the shrink which may have been driven by the imbalance in food stamps (in most areas, benefits are dispensed on just one or two days per month). We really don't know.

In any event, when Meijer entered Detroit, they built stores that were designed to limit theft. Walmart's copying off this model in many of its remodels, which features things like electronics in their own, (de facto) sealed off department with most everything under lock & key, cosmetics area that are (de facto) sealed off with their own cashier and high-value items behind lock & key, etc. But none of this was implemented in their inner-city store buildouts and that's entirely on Walmart.

[Romr123]

I often shop at one of the Meijer Detroit city stores. It's hardly an imposition, and quite a pleasure---the store is well-merchandised and stocked reasonably and does not appear in imminent danger of closing. They were quite candid at the time the stores opened 10 years ago that they were taking some (entirely reasonable) actions to control the environments (not 24 hr stores; police substation in the gas station outbuilding, single entrance, isolated electronics) and they have continued to evolve, yet liquor is still on open shelves (I think they use alarm lanyards), HABA is generally on open shelves, they have a mix of self-checkout and normal check-out, there is a non-oppressive police/security presence in the vestibule at most times, etc etc. (I'd shop at the 8 mile Meijer 10 times out of 10 over the 8/Wyoming Kroger in Royal Oak Township, for instance...the 9/John R Kroger in Hazel Park isn't quite so bad)

There is enough racialization in Detroit that either overpolicing or underpolicing would get called out big-time, and no-one really has much bad to say about those stores.

They have actively tried to merchandise their small Detroit stores (Rivertown Market) with local vendors and push hard access to the buyers to vendors in the city (seemingly about every six months they're having a vendor day where the buyers hold court and meet local vendors)

[Bagels]

I often shop at one of the Meijer Detroit city stores. It's hardly an imposition, and quite a pleasure---the store is well-merchandised and stocked reasonably and does not appear in imminent danger of closing. They were quite candid at the time the stores opened 10 years ago that they were taking some (entirely reasonable) actions to control the environments (not 24 hr stores; police substation in the gas station outbuilding, single entrance, isolated electronics) and they have continued to evolve, yet liquor is still on open shelves (I think they use alarm lanyards), HABA is generally on open shelves, they have a mix of self-checkout and normal check-out, there is a non-oppressive police/security presence in the vestibule at most times, etc etc. (I'd shop at the 8 mile Meijer 10 times out of 10 over the 8/Wyoming Kroger in Royal Oak Township, for instance...the 9/John R Kroger in Hazel Park isn't quite so bad)

There is enough racialization in Detroit that either overpolicing or underpolicing would get called out big-time, and no-one really has much bad to say about those stores.

They have actively tried to merchandise their small Detroit stores (Rivertown Market) with local vendors and push hard access to the buyers to vendors in the city (seemingly about every six months they're having a vendor day where the buyers hold court and meet local vendors)

It's not intrusive, but the store built on the fair grounds was definitely designed to minimize theft (I went to high school with one of the project designers, who worked at the consulting firm that did much of the grunt work). Meijer learned lessons from Kroger, which opened a new build store in the city years earlier only the shutter it several months later after it lead the chain in shrink. Meijer caved to criticism and relented on some of the early determents, such as select shoes and clothing kept under lock. Ironically, Walmart is now doing the same -- even my local Irvine-Tustin Ranch store has a fair selection under lock. Many other attributes have found their way into Meijer - and now Walmart and Target - chainwide so they may feel normal, but when I toured the store when it initially opened 11 years agoish, it definitely had a different vibe.

[Romr123]

I guess that's the lesson--frog in boiling water--gradual imposition of greater security is less jarring to the system than sudden lock-downs. As I've said, new modern big-box was novel for the city of Detroit (as you'd mentioned, the Kroger on Gratiot fled, tail between its legs, years before).