Posted on 05/31/2023 3:13:11 PM PDT by Twotone
President of Giant Food, Ira Kress, has lamented the rise in shoplifting and violence, which has put a strain on the company's ability to do business in recent years.
Kress said that the chain of over 150 supermarkets in the eastern United States would be taking aggressive steps to combat crime and made it clear that closing stores is the "last thing" he wants to do.
"To say [theft has] risen tenfold in the last five years would not be an understatement," Kress said in an interview with the Washington Post, noting that violent incidents have also "increased exponentially" in the same time period.
He explained that while many of the actions the company has taken to deter shoplifters have added hassle to customers' experience, "the alternative is worse."
"The last thing I want to do is close stores," Kress added, "but I've got to be able to run them safely and profitably."
According to Kress, shoplifting has "continued to escalate" to a point where he can no longer predict exactly what thieves might be after. He noted that perpetrators appear to be going after anything they can get their hands on, from food to cosmetics, and household goods.
He reminisced about the days when an employee could simply chase a shoplifter and get the product back without worrying about them "pulling a knife or gun."
As The Washington Post reports, measures taken to deter theft have included closing certain entrances to restrict the flow of traffic in and out of the store, moving higher-priced items behind protective barriers, and stocking cheaper items on the shelves.
Giant Food is not the only American supermarket chain seeing an increase in theft and violent incidents, and many have taken measures to ensure products and customers are safe.
Whole Foods, for example, went so far as to close stores in San Francisco after safety concerns became too overwhelming.
I guess just shooting them is too extreme.
Btw, the starving person...or even the drug addict is one thing, but from what I read in the no-punishment big cities, these are organized bands of thieves that then sell to warehouses or sell online.
These are the ones I’d just shoot.
Do it. Shutter these stores. Starve the scumbags.
If I were in the shoes of the CEOs, I would oppose the alphabet nazis, the burn loot murder types and the shoplifters. Sure, lefties would be angry, but they are always angry about something and they always will be no matter what. It’ll never be enough with them.
Good idea.
What do you mean when you say “allow no-penalty shoplifting”? What do you expect them to do? Send the cashiers out to wrestle the shoplifters to the ground and get shot over a tray of steaks? Actually they all have elaborate security that captures the images of shoplifters and reports to law enforcement and to the local state’s attorney. But prosecution is the job of the state’s attorney, not a corporation. Unless they shoplifter has taken enough stuff to constitute a felony no state’s attorney will prosecute. (That assumes the shoplifter can be caught by LEOs in the first place.)
I see most “Dollar” stores on the local major highway, just at the edge of town. [Western small towns...]
I think a 1% or less profit margin. They are already on the edge.
An automated warehouse, like a vending machine.
You order, pay, and your order shows up behind a automated bullet-proof glass door.
“I hope the CEOS suffer.”
WHY
The more they suffer the more stores they shut down. Suppose they shut down the stores closest to you - would you applaud?
Like termites moving from house to house.
Funny, no mention of closings of any stores in the area I live in, but then again I don’t live in a democrat ran cesspool city.
I am on good ground here.
The CEOS get their money and live high on the hog.
The customers and then the employees suffer.
All those employees who have NO control over the workplace are losing their jobs due to the wokeism, the ignoring of the law and their enforcement, and policies of the bosses.
I feel sorry for the employees. A lot of bosses I’ve known or known about deserve to suffer.
And as a customer in an 85% always Dem voting region (the 4 counties of Southeast Michigan) I have lost many stores. The urban thugs drove them away if the anti-driver and useless bike lane road diets didn’t first.
100%
The Costco model seems to work well. Every Costco I’ve seen does a good business.
For single people like me, they might offer two-year memberships.
Yep. 1-3%. They survive because food is an absolute necessity.
Now let’s hear the howling about food deserts in the ghettos...
That’s the plan. It was revealed on CNBC a few weeks ago.
Since all the same 5 investment firms own every large retail store in America, now, including Walmart, they have run the numbers and decided to eventually shut all brick and mortar stores down and go to the Amazon model, which is much more profitable for them.
I'm seeing the same thing. Dollar Tree has opened stores in a couple of nearby towns with populations of around 2,000 or less. Those towns already have a Dollar General.
Ira is definitely saying it without saying it.
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