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In NYC, these drug stores also treat all of their customers like criminals. Everything non-perishable that is worth more than $5 is locked in a cabinet that you

In NYC, these drug stores also treat all of their customers like criminals. Everything non-perishable that is worth more than $5 is locked in a cabinet that you need an employee's help to open. The hours had been restricted to mostly operating during daylight. It used to be nice to go down to your local Duane Reade 24 hours a day and get anything you needed, often for only a small premium on the Amazon price. It's a different story now. Amazon loses you availability of access, and while it's nice to get stuff by mail, you can't get stuff by mail right now. That availability is going away.

Scoundreller 2y ago
Once Amazon gets into cool/cold chain, it’s game over for grocery stores too.
- digging 2y ago
  Well, they already bought Whole Foods. Which probably showed them the complexity of a grocery store; it's not just about supporting refrigerated shipments.
- knowaveragejoe 2y ago
  ...you mean Whole Foods?
  - Scoundreller 2y ago
    Whole Paycheque Foods? I do buy more and more shelf-stable “grocery” type items off Amazon every year.
    - dml2135 2y ago
      > Whole Paycheque Foods? Tell me you don't shop at Whole Foods without telling me you don't shop at Whole Foods. Whole Foods is actually cheaper than many (most?) grocery stores for staple items. Sure, the grass fed organic beef is expensive, but stuff like rice, pasta, ketchup, snacks, hell even a lot of produce, is way cheaper than other grocery stores. At least in an urban environment like NYC.
      - Scoundreller 2y ago
        Have gone to a Toronto area Whole Paycheque Foods. It lived up to its (informal) name.
      - mrguyorama 2y ago
        Here in the Northeast, Whole foods is more expensive than Hannaford, Shaws, CostCo, Sams, and Marketbasket. Their in-house brands can't compete with even Hannaford's bottom tier in-house brand. Their prices are absurdly high. They lean into fads and grifts like "organic" and "superfoods" and all that dietism bullshit to profit. Trader Joes is cheaper.
        knowaveragejoe 2y ago
        This is surprising to me. Surely the place is a loss leader, or their position is not as starkly poor as you make it sound. I'd wager the latter. Trader Joes will always be cheaper given how they work.
        dml2135 2y ago
        Maybe it's an NYC thing. We don't have any of the chains you mentioned. Local grocery stores like Morton Williams, Gristedes, and C-Town are all pretty expensive. Trader Joes and Whole Foods are comparable on price for staples, at least the last I checked, which is admittedly a few years ago. Things like store brands of olive oil, canned beans, frozen foods are cheaper at TJs, yes, but usually by less than a dollar.
- recursive 2y ago
  My local Whole Foods closed. The other groceries seem to be doing great.
asdasdsddd 2y ago
That's because laws aren't enforced. Just a single anecdote. In SF shoplifting police reports tripled one month because a single target location tested a new system where internal shoplifting incidents were also sent to the police.
- John23832 2y ago
  As someone who lives in NYC, there is VERY VERY little brazen theft. Vastly less than would be warranted to lock everything as they do. It's surprising to me that employee shrink is never looked at as an issue. I personally think that is much more of an issue.
  - mixmastamyk 2y ago
    Theft doesn’t need to be brazen for it to cost money.
  - volkk 2y ago
    lol. the sky high addiction rates across the nation are definitely NOT what's causing burglaries to resell the stuff on the street. in fact, it's the pharmacists! it's the employees! thank god that facts don't care about your personal opinions on the matter[1] https://www.newsnationnow.com/crime/criminals-pharmacies-burglaries-dea/ https://www.newsnationnow.com/crime/criminals-pharmacies-bur...
    - John23832 2y ago
      This doesn't address what was said at all.
      - volkk 2y ago
        You've mentioned that according to your anecdotal evidence, there is very little brazen theft in pharmacies just because you happen to live in NYC. I showed you the DEA stating how theft has exploded. Addiction problems across the nation are only worsening as we're in an opioid epidemic. Yet according to your world, everything's fine and the actual issue are the employees. What am I misunderstanding from your posts?
AlbertCory 2y ago
Yep. The fact that they're not so convenient anymore is just one more nail in their coffin. In my case, I used to go to a Rite-Aid for my meds, even though it was less convenient, because (1) they recognized me when I walked up, (2) if there was a problem, a human would take care of it, and (3) there was never much of a wait. The store was always near empty, which was the mark of doom. They closed it and sent me over to a Walgreen's, which sucked big time. So now I get stuff by mail. The customer service is not any worse, really.
huehehue 2y ago
I often can't even find someone with a key to open the cabinets. At my CVS there's usually just a security guard, who can't open the cabinets. If you need detergent, beer, shampoo, razors, or pretty much anything else you're out of luck. Lack of availability isn't even my main concern though. In this environment, everyone needs to order everything online. So instead of one truck making a shipment to CVS (I'm oversimplifying), now you have additional delivery vans and ebikes making door to door shipments, each with extra packaging. edit to clarify my stance in the context of the GP: I strongly dislike ordering things online when there is (or should be) a local alternative, and only use delivery services as a last resort
volkk 2y ago
you write this as if there's some evil force doing this, which is a nice story. realistically it's because safety is actually, a large concern. pharmacies get robbed often
monero-xmr 2y ago
I love how you blame the stores rather than the criminals and the government that turns a blind eye towards theft. If we had a culture that scandalized theft, and a justice system that penalized such behavior with real teeth, then goods wouldn't have to be locked up and "customers" treated with suspicion. I will never stop being amazed by the ability of "smart" people to be so illogical
- steveBK123 2y ago
  to me this stuff is one more sign of transitioning to a low trust society, and all the downsides that come with it
  - monero-xmr 2y ago
    A high trust society would be re-established if basic stuff like theft was prosecuted and children didn’t have to walk over drooling zombie drug addicts on their way to school
    - HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
      NYC is one of the safest cities in the country.
      - monero-xmr 2y ago
        And if you don't care about shoplifting, then expect all of the stores to lock up their goods, or close outright
      - AlbertCory 2y ago
        Thanks to Giuliani and Bloomberg, but the progressives are busily undoing everything they did. Wait 5 years.
      - pclmulqdq 2y ago
        That's what a biased set of statistics says. In reality, NYC residents rarely bother to report crime (they know the police will do nothing), so it doesn't show up in the statistics. In those "dangerous" small towns, every single crime gets reported.
rdtsc 2y ago
> In NYC, these drug stores also treat all of their customers like criminals. What's the idea there? I hear that those stores overexaggerate the risk. Ok, but why spend the time, effort and money actually locking things down and making it hard for their paying customers to shop. I can imagine if the threat is not real, they'll just issue press releases, write public letters to the governor, buy ads somewhere, etc, but not actually put plexiglass and locks everywhere, which makes it harder for them to do business in the end. EDIT: also, cheers to the fellow assembly language HN user name holder :-)
- pclmulqdq 2y ago
  The only rational conclusion is that the stories actually do not exaggerate the risk. Many downplay it.
radicality 2y ago
That’s not the fault of the stores. If we had sane crime policies, that would not be necessary. But NYC is becoming worse and worse, complete lack of enforcement of social orders like “no stealing”. Or re-releasing violent criminals where they end up killing someone. It’s basically now ok to walk into any store in nyc, and just take stuff worth less than $1k, and walk out. Nothing will happen, and police can’t do much since it’s been decided stealing is not a crime here. The people doing this then will sell that same stolen stuff on a street corner a block away for half price.
- underlipton 2y ago
  Blaming "crime" is incorrect and suggests a lack of understanding of the dynamics at play. 1) Pharmacies don't want workers going after shoplifters. It's a liability if the worker gets hurt, and even if the shoplifter gets "caught", now the witness needs to show up at the trial for it to mean anything criminally. In other words, the company has to pay the worker NOT to be in the store. The LEA has to pay the cop that responds to be in court. They don't want this. The company's goal is to get the police involved only insofar as is necessary to get an insurance payout. 2) No one wants to go to jail for stealing shampoo. They're doing it because the options for decent work are limited. A shoplifter grabbing $200 of merchandise and selling it for $100 is making 3/4 a day's worth of the cashier's pay in like an hour (partly because corporate workers for that company are overpaid and making that in 1-20 minutes). The solution has always been and remains to stop f*cking around with income inequality and opportunity hoarding, as a society.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

Scoundreller 2y ago

Once Amazon gets into cool/cold chain, it’s game over for grocery stores too.

digging 2y ago
Well, they already bought Whole Foods. Which probably showed them the complexity of a grocery store; it's not just about supporting refrigerated shipments.
knowaveragejoe 2y ago
...you mean Whole Foods?
- Scoundreller 2y ago
  Whole Paycheque Foods? I do buy more and more shelf-stable “grocery” type items off Amazon every year.
  - dml2135 2y ago
    > Whole Paycheque Foods? Tell me you don't shop at Whole Foods without telling me you don't shop at Whole Foods. Whole Foods is actually cheaper than many (most?) grocery stores for staple items. Sure, the grass fed organic beef is expensive, but stuff like rice, pasta, ketchup, snacks, hell even a lot of produce, is way cheaper than other grocery stores. At least in an urban environment like NYC.
    - Scoundreller 2y ago
      Have gone to a Toronto area Whole Paycheque Foods. It lived up to its (informal) name.
    - mrguyorama 2y ago
      Here in the Northeast, Whole foods is more expensive than Hannaford, Shaws, CostCo, Sams, and Marketbasket. Their in-house brands can't compete with even Hannaford's bottom tier in-house brand. Their prices are absurdly high. They lean into fads and grifts like "organic" and "superfoods" and all that dietism bullshit to profit. Trader Joes is cheaper.
      - knowaveragejoe 2y ago
        This is surprising to me. Surely the place is a loss leader, or their position is not as starkly poor as you make it sound. I'd wager the latter. Trader Joes will always be cheaper given how they work.
      - dml2135 2y ago
        Maybe it's an NYC thing. We don't have any of the chains you mentioned. Local grocery stores like Morton Williams, Gristedes, and C-Town are all pretty expensive. Trader Joes and Whole Foods are comparable on price for staples, at least the last I checked, which is admittedly a few years ago. Things like store brands of olive oil, canned beans, frozen foods are cheaper at TJs, yes, but usually by less than a dollar.
recursive 2y ago
My local Whole Foods closed. The other groceries seem to be doing great.

asdasdsddd 2y ago

That's because laws aren't enforced. Just a single anecdote. In SF shoplifting police reports tripled one month because a single target location tested a new system where internal shoplifting incidents were also sent to the police.

John23832 2y ago
As someone who lives in NYC, there is VERY VERY little brazen theft. Vastly less than would be warranted to lock everything as they do. It's surprising to me that employee shrink is never looked at as an issue. I personally think that is much more of an issue.
- mixmastamyk 2y ago
  Theft doesn’t need to be brazen for it to cost money.
- volkk 2y ago
  lol. the sky high addiction rates across the nation are definitely NOT what's causing burglaries to resell the stuff on the street. in fact, it's the pharmacists! it's the employees! thank god that facts don't care about your personal opinions on the matter[1] https://www.newsnationnow.com/crime/criminals-pharmacies-burglaries-dea/ https://www.newsnationnow.com/crime/criminals-pharmacies-bur...
  - John23832 2y ago
    This doesn't address what was said at all.
    - volkk 2y ago
      You've mentioned that according to your anecdotal evidence, there is very little brazen theft in pharmacies just because you happen to live in NYC. I showed you the DEA stating how theft has exploded. Addiction problems across the nation are only worsening as we're in an opioid epidemic. Yet according to your world, everything's fine and the actual issue are the employees. What am I misunderstanding from your posts?

AlbertCory 2y ago

Yep. The fact that they're not so convenient anymore is just one more nail in their coffin. In my case, I used to go to a Rite-Aid for my meds, even though it was less convenient, because (1) they recognized me when I walked up, (2) if there was a problem, a human would take care of it, and (3) there was never much of a wait. The store was always near empty, which was the mark of doom. They closed it and sent me over to a Walgreen's, which sucked big time. So now I get stuff by mail. The customer service is not any worse, really.

huehehue 2y ago

I often can't even find someone with a key to open the cabinets. At my CVS there's usually just a security guard, who can't open the cabinets. If you need detergent, beer, shampoo, razors, or pretty much anything else you're out of luck. Lack of availability isn't even my main concern though. In this environment, everyone needs to order everything online. So instead of one truck making a shipment to CVS (I'm oversimplifying), now you have additional delivery vans and ebikes making door to door shipments, each with extra packaging. edit to clarify my stance in the context of the GP: I strongly dislike ordering things online when there is (or should be) a local alternative, and only use delivery services as a last resort

volkk 2y ago

you write this as if there's some evil force doing this, which is a nice story. realistically it's because safety is actually, a large concern. pharmacies get robbed often

monero-xmr 2y ago

I love how you blame the stores rather than the criminals and the government that turns a blind eye towards theft. If we had a culture that scandalized theft, and a justice system that penalized such behavior with real teeth, then goods wouldn't have to be locked up and "customers" treated with suspicion. I will never stop being amazed by the ability of "smart" people to be so illogical

steveBK123 2y ago
to me this stuff is one more sign of transitioning to a low trust society, and all the downsides that come with it
- monero-xmr 2y ago
  A high trust society would be re-established if basic stuff like theft was prosecuted and children didn’t have to walk over drooling zombie drug addicts on their way to school
  - HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
    NYC is one of the safest cities in the country.
    - monero-xmr 2y ago
      And if you don't care about shoplifting, then expect all of the stores to lock up their goods, or close outright
    - AlbertCory 2y ago
      Thanks to Giuliani and Bloomberg, but the progressives are busily undoing everything they did. Wait 5 years.
    - pclmulqdq 2y ago
      That's what a biased set of statistics says. In reality, NYC residents rarely bother to report crime (they know the police will do nothing), so it doesn't show up in the statistics. In those "dangerous" small towns, every single crime gets reported.

rdtsc 2y ago

> In NYC, these drug stores also treat all of their customers like criminals. What's the idea there? I hear that those stores overexaggerate the risk. Ok, but why spend the time, effort and money actually locking things down and making it hard for their paying customers to shop. I can imagine if the threat is not real, they'll just issue press releases, write public letters to the governor, buy ads somewhere, etc, but not actually put plexiglass and locks everywhere, which makes it harder for them to do business in the end. EDIT: also, cheers to the fellow assembly language HN user name holder :-)

pclmulqdq 2y ago
The only rational conclusion is that the stories actually do not exaggerate the risk. Many downplay it.

radicality 2y ago

That’s not the fault of the stores. If we had sane crime policies, that would not be necessary. But NYC is becoming worse and worse, complete lack of enforcement of social orders like “no stealing”. Or re-releasing violent criminals where they end up killing someone. It’s basically now ok to walk into any store in nyc, and just take stuff worth less than $1k, and walk out. Nothing will happen, and police can’t do much since it’s been decided stealing is not a crime here. The people doing this then will sell that same stolen stuff on a street corner a block away for half price.

underlipton 2y ago
Blaming "crime" is incorrect and suggests a lack of understanding of the dynamics at play. 1) Pharmacies don't want workers going after shoplifters. It's a liability if the worker gets hurt, and even if the shoplifter gets "caught", now the witness needs to show up at the trial for it to mean anything criminally. In other words, the company has to pay the worker NOT to be in the store. The LEA has to pay the cop that responds to be in court. They don't want this. The company's goal is to get the police involved only insofar as is necessary to get an insurance payout. 2) No one wants to go to jail for stealing shampoo. They're doing it because the options for decent work are limited. A shoplifter grabbing $200 of merchandise and selling it for $100 is making 3/4 a day's worth of the cashier's pay in like an hour (partly because corporate workers for that company are overpaid and making that in 1-20 minutes). The solution has always been and remains to stop f*cking around with income inequality and opportunity hoarding, as a society.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]