4 ms·

And neither store has enough employees to get you any of the locked up stuff unless you wanna sit around and wait for 20 minutes for the one guy with the padloc

And neither store has enough employees to get you any of the locked up stuff unless you wanna sit around and wait for 20 minutes for the one guy with the padlock code.

malshe 4y ago
In the Home Depot near my house, even finding an employee to ask for help is a chore. Often I have to walk to the front of the store to ask for help.
rspeele 4y ago
At my local Home Depot the router bits are displayed on peg hooks with these little red plastic anti-theft dinguses securing them. I guess it's called a "peg hook lock". Inside this device there is a spring-loaded (I think) plunger that locks it in the closed position, preventing the device and anything behind it from being removed from the hook. The "key" is really just a magnet, which when applied to the bottom of the plastic housing, pulls on that hidden internal plunger to unlock the device. One evening, after searching to no avail for an employee to help, I went to the furniture hardware aisle where they sell small magnets that you could use for drawers and the like. Borrowed one, still in its plastic clamshell packaging, and used it to remove the peg hook lock and retrieve the router bit I wanted. Then I returned the peg hook lock to its locked position, returned the magnet to its aisle, and purchased the bit feeling rather proud of myself for solving this puzzle game.
- foxyv 4y ago
  Be very careful when doing this. Technically speaking, Asset Protection could arrest you for shoplifting between the router bit display and the cash register if they spot it. Similar to popping AP tags off of items before purchasing them.
  - Jemm 4y ago
    I would like to watch that trial.
    - foxyv 4y ago
      Tampering with theft prevention devices can be its own charge or simply be used to show intent. The reason for anti-theft devices like this isn't so much to physically prevent theft, as to require shoplifters to exhibit intent BEFORE leaving the store. If AP catches a person tampering with them then they can be arrested without having to wait for them to walk past the cashiers and doors. Edit: Example from Michigan https://www.michigancriminalattorneysblog.com/tampering-theft-detection-device/ https://www.michigancriminalattorneysblog.com/tampering-thef...
      - rspeele 4y ago
        Hopefully my intent could be explained to a reasonable person, as I did make a good faith effort to look for help. It was a quiet evening, about half an hour till closing time with very little business going on in the store. I didn't find any employees walking the aisles, just the guy working the register, who glibly advised me "yeah, you should probably look for somebody to unlock that" and provided no further assistance. Only after another fruitless search for such a somebody did I resort to my DIY technique. Edit: A funny side note, some months prior to this event I had been in the same store to buy a different router bit. On that occasion I did find a very helpful employee who wanted to unlock the bit for me but did not know how. He cut it off the peg with a utility knife on his belt, slicing through the plastic packaging. I was more nervous going to the cash register with that!
        foxyv 4y ago
        > Hopefully my intent could be explained to a reasonable person. Yeah. For sure! However, AP guys and cops can be pretty unreasonable.
      - jstarfish 4y ago
        > If AP catches a person tampering with them then they can be arrested without having to wait for them to walk past the cashiers and doors. Nobody gets arrested for only tampering with the device. > If you are arrested for tampering with a theft detection device, retail fraud, organized retail theft, or any other shoplifting offense it is extremely important to not make statements to loss prevention, police officers, or anyone else about what allegedly occurred. Intent is almost impossible to prove unless the suspect voluntarily admits it during questioning or walks out the door without paying (which speaks for itself). Tampering with the device is not enough to get you arrested. AP/LP may detain you (and the cops may even be called as a show of force). There's only one way you get arrested in this situation.
  - birdyrooster 4y ago
    do you think this would ever go to trial or even indictment?
    - foxyv 4y ago
      I've talked with AP guys who have caught people tampering with these. People have definitely been arrested and booked for these sorts of things.
      - birdyrooster 4y ago
        Is that justice? I don't think so but what do I know.
        foxyv 4y ago
        No, it is not justice.
  - bluefirebrand 4y ago
    This probably varies between regions. When I was working retail you couldn't stop anyone until they tried to leave the store.
jerlam 4y ago
Yeah, I'd actually be fine with locking stuff up if the stores reorganized their staff/purchasing experience so that you could still buy things easily. For me, Best Buy was notorious for not putting their stuff - not even a placeholder - on the shelves, but still had it in stock behind the counter. So you had to wait in the purchase line to check if they even _had_ the item you wanted. Pre-covid, before online checkout was popular and expected.
jgoewert 4y ago
This is giving me CompUSA flashbacks of going in to get a new Processor/GPU/MB and having the one salesman with the key stuck in a never-ending conversation with a customer who ends the whole thing with "Thanks for the info, I will think about it for a few weeks before buying." And since the salesman with the key was thinking they were going to score a big bounty would usually just ask me to wait my turn.

And neither store has enough employees to get you any of the locked up stuff unless you wanna sit around and wait for 20 minutes for the one guy with the padlock code.

malshe 4y ago

In the Home Depot near my house, even finding an employee to ask for help is a chore. Often I have to walk to the front of the store to ask for help.

rspeele 4y ago

At my local Home Depot the router bits are displayed on peg hooks with these little red plastic anti-theft dinguses securing them. I guess it's called a "peg hook lock". Inside this device there is a spring-loaded (I think) plunger that locks it in the closed position, preventing the device and anything behind it from being removed from the hook. The "key" is really just a magnet, which when applied to the bottom of the plastic housing, pulls on that hidden internal plunger to unlock the device. One evening, after searching to no avail for an employee to help, I went to the furniture hardware aisle where they sell small magnets that you could use for drawers and the like. Borrowed one, still in its plastic clamshell packaging, and used it to remove the peg hook lock and retrieve the router bit I wanted. Then I returned the peg hook lock to its locked position, returned the magnet to its aisle, and purchased the bit feeling rather proud of myself for solving this puzzle game.

foxyv 4y ago
Be very careful when doing this. Technically speaking, Asset Protection could arrest you for shoplifting between the router bit display and the cash register if they spot it. Similar to popping AP tags off of items before purchasing them.
- Jemm 4y ago
  I would like to watch that trial.
  - foxyv 4y ago
    Tampering with theft prevention devices can be its own charge or simply be used to show intent. The reason for anti-theft devices like this isn't so much to physically prevent theft, as to require shoplifters to exhibit intent BEFORE leaving the store. If AP catches a person tampering with them then they can be arrested without having to wait for them to walk past the cashiers and doors. Edit: Example from Michigan https://www.michigancriminalattorneysblog.com/tampering-theft-detection-device/ https://www.michigancriminalattorneysblog.com/tampering-thef...
    - rspeele 4y ago
      Hopefully my intent could be explained to a reasonable person, as I did make a good faith effort to look for help. It was a quiet evening, about half an hour till closing time with very little business going on in the store. I didn't find any employees walking the aisles, just the guy working the register, who glibly advised me "yeah, you should probably look for somebody to unlock that" and provided no further assistance. Only after another fruitless search for such a somebody did I resort to my DIY technique. Edit: A funny side note, some months prior to this event I had been in the same store to buy a different router bit. On that occasion I did find a very helpful employee who wanted to unlock the bit for me but did not know how. He cut it off the peg with a utility knife on his belt, slicing through the plastic packaging. I was more nervous going to the cash register with that!
      - foxyv 4y ago
        > Hopefully my intent could be explained to a reasonable person. Yeah. For sure! However, AP guys and cops can be pretty unreasonable.
    - jstarfish 4y ago
      > If AP catches a person tampering with them then they can be arrested without having to wait for them to walk past the cashiers and doors. Nobody gets arrested for only tampering with the device. > If you are arrested for tampering with a theft detection device, retail fraud, organized retail theft, or any other shoplifting offense it is extremely important to not make statements to loss prevention, police officers, or anyone else about what allegedly occurred. Intent is almost impossible to prove unless the suspect voluntarily admits it during questioning or walks out the door without paying (which speaks for itself). Tampering with the device is not enough to get you arrested. AP/LP may detain you (and the cops may even be called as a show of force). There's only one way you get arrested in this situation.
- birdyrooster 4y ago
  do you think this would ever go to trial or even indictment?
  - foxyv 4y ago
    I've talked with AP guys who have caught people tampering with these. People have definitely been arrested and booked for these sorts of things.
    - birdyrooster 4y ago
      Is that justice? I don't think so but what do I know.
      - foxyv 4y ago
        No, it is not justice.
- bluefirebrand 4y ago
  This probably varies between regions. When I was working retail you couldn't stop anyone until they tried to leave the store.

jerlam 4y ago

Yeah, I'd actually be fine with locking stuff up if the stores reorganized their staff/purchasing experience so that you could still buy things easily. For me, Best Buy was notorious for not putting their stuff - not even a placeholder - on the shelves, but still had it in stock behind the counter. So you had to wait in the purchase line to check if they even _had_ the item you wanted. Pre-covid, before online checkout was popular and expected.

jgoewert 4y ago

This is giving me CompUSA flashbacks of going in to get a new Processor/GPU/MB and having the one salesman with the key stuck in a never-ending conversation with a customer who ends the whole thing with "Thanks for the info, I will think about it for a few weeks before buying." And since the salesman with the key was thinking they were going to score a big bounty would usually just ask me to wait my turn.