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When I set up a public-facing web server, I take every precaution to make theft of my data (and my customers) as difficult as possible for thieves. Firewalls, f

When I set up a public-facing web server, I take every precaution to make theft of my data (and my customers) as difficult as possible for thieves. Firewalls, frequent security patches, defensive programming, etc. Walmart and others seem to do the opposite. They fire cashiers and install self checkout lanes that are so hard to use that even honest people end up shoplifting accidentally, I can’t even imagine how much theft dishonest people are able to get away with. They have the antitheft alarms at the exits but whenever they go off, 90% of the time there’s no security guard to deal with it or employees just don’t care. So, it’s clear they don’t take it seriously. I don’t run my servers on Windows XP and allow anyone in the world to connect on any port and leave my database open with no authentication controls and then complain when the police aren’t arresting every person who is stealing my data.

pandaman 3y ago
I am pretty sure Walmart does the same with their webservers. I am also pretty sure that your home is less secure than a Walmart store, for one Walmart has armed guards and your home does not. Will you apply your reasoning to yourself and won't complain when your home is robbed eventually? As I said in another reply, there is nothing a store can do against theft if the police, DA and courts do not enforce the law. Private business cannot arrest and punish criminals.
- jliptzin 3y ago
  I don’t leave my front door wide open and let people walk out with my TV while the alarm goes off and don’t even try to stop it from happening…so no, I am not expecting to get robbed. I have cameras at every entrance and window and always keep my doors locked. The point is, they don’t make a serious attempt to stop shoplifting, because they want it to be as frictionless as possible for their customers. In theory they could lock up every item in the store and require an employee to unlock a cabinet every time a customer wants something, but obviously that creates so much friction that it would greatly reduce sales. So it’s a trade off. They’ve chosen the end of the sliding scale where almost all merchandise is freely available for customers to take off the shelves with very limited oversight, coupled with self check out lanes so they don’t have to hire as many cashiers. They know full well that some people are stuffing merchandise into their pockets and not scanning everything at the check out lanes and that tradeoff is clearly working for them because their annual profit is higher than ever: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/WMT/walmart/gross-profit#:~:text=Walmart%20gross%20profit%20for%20the%20twelve%20months%20ending%20October%2031,a%203.54%25%20increase%20from%202021 https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/WMT/walmart/gross-.... So no, I don’t think Walmart and others have any problem with shoplifters whatsoever, and I certainly don’t think that my tax dollars should go towards trying to catch every last person who steals a tooth brush from Walmart when they have little to no interest in making any kind of investment in curtailing shoplifting themselves. It sounds like you’re in favor of Walmart maximizing their private profits by making it as easy as possible to buy their merchandise (so easy in fact that you can find yourself stealing something accidentally!), making no effort whatsoever in theft prevention in their stores, and then putting the burden of enforcement on the public dime, which is a curious position - are you a large Walmart shareholder? If there’s a particular store that is having too much stolen from them by shoplifters, they are more than welcome to shut it down and make way for a local business who I can assure you will be way more careful with its merchandise. I am 100% in favor of that. When we’ve solved every murder and violent crime, then we can get to Walmart shoplifters.

pandaman 3y ago

I am pretty sure Walmart does the same with their webservers. I am also pretty sure that your home is less secure than a Walmart store, for one Walmart has armed guards and your home does not. Will you apply your reasoning to yourself and won't complain when your home is robbed eventually? As I said in another reply, there is nothing a store can do against theft if the police, DA and courts do not enforce the law. Private business cannot arrest and punish criminals.

jliptzin 3y ago
I don’t leave my front door wide open and let people walk out with my TV while the alarm goes off and don’t even try to stop it from happening…so no, I am not expecting to get robbed. I have cameras at every entrance and window and always keep my doors locked. The point is, they don’t make a serious attempt to stop shoplifting, because they want it to be as frictionless as possible for their customers. In theory they could lock up every item in the store and require an employee to unlock a cabinet every time a customer wants something, but obviously that creates so much friction that it would greatly reduce sales. So it’s a trade off. They’ve chosen the end of the sliding scale where almost all merchandise is freely available for customers to take off the shelves with very limited oversight, coupled with self check out lanes so they don’t have to hire as many cashiers. They know full well that some people are stuffing merchandise into their pockets and not scanning everything at the check out lanes and that tradeoff is clearly working for them because their annual profit is higher than ever: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/WMT/walmart/gross-profit#:~:text=Walmart%20gross%20profit%20for%20the%20twelve%20months%20ending%20October%2031,a%203.54%25%20increase%20from%202021 https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/WMT/walmart/gross-.... So no, I don’t think Walmart and others have any problem with shoplifters whatsoever, and I certainly don’t think that my tax dollars should go towards trying to catch every last person who steals a tooth brush from Walmart when they have little to no interest in making any kind of investment in curtailing shoplifting themselves. It sounds like you’re in favor of Walmart maximizing their private profits by making it as easy as possible to buy their merchandise (so easy in fact that you can find yourself stealing something accidentally!), making no effort whatsoever in theft prevention in their stores, and then putting the burden of enforcement on the public dime, which is a curious position - are you a large Walmart shareholder? If there’s a particular store that is having too much stolen from them by shoplifters, they are more than welcome to shut it down and make way for a local business who I can assure you will be way more careful with its merchandise. I am 100% in favor of that. When we’ve solved every murder and violent crime, then we can get to Walmart shoplifters.