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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 s

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?
      - John23832 2y ago
        The conversation above was talking about the locking up of everyday items due to retail theft. I said that from my experience that is not a real problem. The article you shared highlights smash and grabs of controlled pharmaceuticals from small mom and pop pharmacies. That's not the type of theft I have any experience with. You're also the only person who invoked drugs. The article only references one pix11 article, which itself only references a single bust... in Texas... of a ring operating in Arkansas... outside of New York. > What am I misunderstanding from your posts? The entire context of the thread above you.
        volkk 2y ago
        "The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reported there has been a 620% increase in pharmacy burglaries over the last two years across the state." The state being, in the article, NY. They just happen to mention Arkansas in a related fashion. As for pharmacies locking up small items as well, it's very obvious why it happens, it's becauase of a high occurence of theft. Is this rocket science? Do you think they do it because they can't get enough of the operational overhead of dealing with customers every time they need an item? I bring drugs into the mix because this is all interrelated. Robberries love pharmacies, or at least historically have until they started locking everything up. Drugs are a big factor, and by extension the small stuff gets taken too.
- steveBK123 2y ago
  Yes, there's blocks in the East Village where people are clearly selling stuff on the sidewalk they only recently stole from the nearby pharmacy/bodega/grocery. The recent double stabbing near 14th & 1st was a mentally ill guy in a drug deal dispute in which he was paying via stolen merchandise. People interviewed described him as a regular who would barter his stolen goods for whatever he needed (in the NYT before someone accuses me of reading the wrong sources).
  - John23832 2y ago
    > Yes, there's blocks in the East Village where people are clearly selling stuff on the sidewalk they only recently stole from the nearby pharmacy/bodega/grocery. Who said that there wasn't? Prior to current history, people sold boosted goods out of the back of cars or in the back of the same bodegas. > The recent double stabbing near 14th & 1st was a mentally ill guy in a drug deal dispute in which he was paying via stolen merchandise. People interviewed described him as a regular who would barter his stolen goods for whatever he needed (in the NYT before someone accuses me of reading the wrong sources). This still is not a brazen robbery, so it doesn't address what I said at all. Addicts have been fighting and killing each other in this city for literally decades.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
- dgs_sgd 2y ago
  > Vastly less than would be warranted to lock everything as they do Do you really believe you can conclude this from your personal observations? The company has all the data on theft. At the end of the day, they are motivated by profit. Don’t you think they ran the numbers and found that locking items to prevent crime, even if it’s an additional barrier to paying customers, was better for business? edit: fixed a typo
  - John23832 2y ago
    > Do you really believe you can conclude this from your personal observations? My experience is admittedly anecdata. > The company has all the data on theft. At the end of the day, they are motivated by profit. One of the modern fallacies that we've all fallen victim to at one point or another is that "more data" == "logical action". > Don’t you think they ran the numbers and found that locking items to prevent crime, even if it’s an additional barrier to paying customers, was better for business? It prevents an aspect of shrink that they can control through an affordable means, that does not mean that it is the vast majority of shrink. Companies are short term irrational thinkers. Thank the market for that. If they can lock everything up and say "You can expect a reduction in shrink, please pay me and my shareholders", they will. That's easier than locking up employee thieves, which is even easier than actually trying to fight Amazon (who is eating their revenue/lunch).
  - fzeroracer 2y ago
    No, I don't think they did. I think they'll find any excuse to close down a business that isn't 'we fucked up and made multiple terrible business decisions'. For example: A local target here in Seattle was closed, citing retail theft. I stopped by there before closure; they had everything locked up and most of the shelves were empty. A grim sight, but the key point of the story was that said Target was also surrounded by other grocery store alternatives which did not lock items up and whose shelves were not empty. All within roughly a block or a block and a half of distance. The empirical observation is that they closed the stores with less retail theft than the ones they kept open.
    - ranbato 2y ago
- pclmulqdq 2y ago
  I lived about half time in NYC recently and I personally witnessed no fewer than 10 events of theft over the last 6 months I was there. It usually isn't like the movies. It's usually just someone who grabs something off a shelf and then walks out.
HarryHirsch 2y ago
You can only enforce the laws so much, once the tipping point is reached where there are too many people who can't or won't abide by the laws there's nothing to be done any more. At the end it's an economic problem, the rent is too high.

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?
    - John23832 2y ago
      The conversation above was talking about the locking up of everyday items due to retail theft. I said that from my experience that is not a real problem. The article you shared highlights smash and grabs of controlled pharmaceuticals from small mom and pop pharmacies. That's not the type of theft I have any experience with. You're also the only person who invoked drugs. The article only references one pix11 article, which itself only references a single bust... in Texas... of a ring operating in Arkansas... outside of New York. > What am I misunderstanding from your posts? The entire context of the thread above you.
      - volkk 2y ago
        "The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reported there has been a 620% increase in pharmacy burglaries over the last two years across the state." The state being, in the article, NY. They just happen to mention Arkansas in a related fashion. As for pharmacies locking up small items as well, it's very obvious why it happens, it's becauase of a high occurence of theft. Is this rocket science? Do you think they do it because they can't get enough of the operational overhead of dealing with customers every time they need an item? I bring drugs into the mix because this is all interrelated. Robberries love pharmacies, or at least historically have until they started locking everything up. Drugs are a big factor, and by extension the small stuff gets taken too.
steveBK123 2y ago
Yes, there's blocks in the East Village where people are clearly selling stuff on the sidewalk they only recently stole from the nearby pharmacy/bodega/grocery. The recent double stabbing near 14th & 1st was a mentally ill guy in a drug deal dispute in which he was paying via stolen merchandise. People interviewed described him as a regular who would barter his stolen goods for whatever he needed (in the NYT before someone accuses me of reading the wrong sources).
- John23832 2y ago
  > Yes, there's blocks in the East Village where people are clearly selling stuff on the sidewalk they only recently stole from the nearby pharmacy/bodega/grocery. Who said that there wasn't? Prior to current history, people sold boosted goods out of the back of cars or in the back of the same bodegas. > The recent double stabbing near 14th & 1st was a mentally ill guy in a drug deal dispute in which he was paying via stolen merchandise. People interviewed described him as a regular who would barter his stolen goods for whatever he needed (in the NYT before someone accuses me of reading the wrong sources). This still is not a brazen robbery, so it doesn't address what I said at all. Addicts have been fighting and killing each other in this city for literally decades.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
dgs_sgd 2y ago
> Vastly less than would be warranted to lock everything as they do Do you really believe you can conclude this from your personal observations? The company has all the data on theft. At the end of the day, they are motivated by profit. Don’t you think they ran the numbers and found that locking items to prevent crime, even if it’s an additional barrier to paying customers, was better for business? edit: fixed a typo
- John23832 2y ago
  > Do you really believe you can conclude this from your personal observations? My experience is admittedly anecdata. > The company has all the data on theft. At the end of the day, they are motivated by profit. One of the modern fallacies that we've all fallen victim to at one point or another is that "more data" == "logical action". > Don’t you think they ran the numbers and found that locking items to prevent crime, even if it’s an additional barrier to paying customers, was better for business? It prevents an aspect of shrink that they can control through an affordable means, that does not mean that it is the vast majority of shrink. Companies are short term irrational thinkers. Thank the market for that. If they can lock everything up and say "You can expect a reduction in shrink, please pay me and my shareholders", they will. That's easier than locking up employee thieves, which is even easier than actually trying to fight Amazon (who is eating their revenue/lunch).
- fzeroracer 2y ago
  No, I don't think they did. I think they'll find any excuse to close down a business that isn't 'we fucked up and made multiple terrible business decisions'. For example: A local target here in Seattle was closed, citing retail theft. I stopped by there before closure; they had everything locked up and most of the shelves were empty. A grim sight, but the key point of the story was that said Target was also surrounded by other grocery store alternatives which did not lock items up and whose shelves were not empty. All within roughly a block or a block and a half of distance. The empirical observation is that they closed the stores with less retail theft than the ones they kept open.
  - ranbato 2y ago
pclmulqdq 2y ago
I lived about half time in NYC recently and I personally witnessed no fewer than 10 events of theft over the last 6 months I was there. It usually isn't like the movies. It's usually just someone who grabs something off a shelf and then walks out.

HarryHirsch 2y ago

You can only enforce the laws so much, once the tipping point is reached where there are too many people who can't or won't abide by the laws there's nothing to be done any more. At the end it's an economic problem, the rent is too high.