What depresses me most about all the Door Ladies that are starting to show up all over the place is that to me it shows that SHOPLIFTING has skyrocketed.....
Door ladies are just another symptom of the bureaucratic, zero-tolerance, unthinking mindset of so-called managers that because one customer may steal all are guilty or at least suspicious.
What these retailers with their silly little locking hook displays and everything of value behind glass don’t realize (or won’t admit) is that the vast majority of their ‘shrink’ is due to employee theft (including abuse of discounts) and waste.
Being treated like a criminal when I am returning a DEFECTIVE PRODUCT is a particular annoyance. Those women are obsessed with their little pink stickers. Shame the store wasn’t so attentive when they put the defective item out for sale without any QA.
One of the reasons some of these clubs have annual membership fees is that most shoplifters won't pay them.
Another interesting little note on this. Apparently, employee theft is a bigger problem than customer theft. Employees will get a cohort and deliberately not scan certain items when the cohort checks out. Usually the cohort will have three or four low price items in their cart and one high priced item. The high priced item is dropped in the bag without being scanned. That's the reason most of the cameras are over the checkout stands and point straight down at the scanning table. It's also why they check the receipts against the items in the bags.
I think you are right about shoplifting skyrocketing. I have noticed that the Costco stores I frequent have almost no selection of music CD’s anymore and what they do have is old music. I asked an employee about this and she said that they discontinued carrying most of their music as the shoplifting is so bad that they can’t make a profit. She also pointed out that BluRay is only available once you purchase it and take your receipt to the pick-up window.
The most depressing was the day I noticed our local Christian bookstore had put in anti-shoplifting devices at their doors. I don't fault them for doing it, but that is a truly pathetic commentary.