Posted on 03/10/2020 11:01:38 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
PITTSBURGH — A Family Dollar store in Pittsburgh’s Sheraden neighborhood says so many people are stealing from them, it may put them out of business.
Neighbors said they rely on the store for their essentials, which is within walking distance of many homes and schools.
The manager of the store said a regional team is looking into inventory and what could be done, if anything, to help the business stay afloat.
A neighboring business said extra cameras and a policy of no backpacks and no more than two kids in the store at a time have helped cracked down on the petty theft.
Thanks.
“Buckeye can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that the last time Pittsburgh elected any Republican to office was back when Herbert Hoover was president.”
The liquor stores and pawn shops seem to do well.
They could go back to the old style where you go up to the counter and tell them what you want. A stock boy goes and gets it. The customer does not get to tour the goods. You don’t get them till you pay for them.
Markup and profit vary widely by category.
The highest is typically on clothing. The lowest is on food and electronic items.
“When I want somethin’, man, I don’t wanna pay for it!”
When my girls were in college, I took them on a shopping excursion. Comparing prices at the Wal-Mart close to school (ghetto) with the nicer Wal-Mart a few miles away. They could believe that some products were half as much on the expensive area. I was able to share with them that every store is it’s own profit center. If the local clientele steal or destroy product, then the rest of the local consumers get to pay for it.
Over the years, I have known quite a few people in retail who went out of business due to theft.
I worked retail in a shadier side of town. You are dealing with a different sort of beast not only with the customers but the clerks and staff who are often just as shady. Lots of in house theft, as well as not scanning merchandise as it rolls down the conveyor....So you see the employees are often enabling or assisting in the theft.
The ‘rules’ are strict but seldom inforced because the turn over rate is so high to begin with. If you’re a diligent and hard worker you can be assured your work load will be three times that of the other ‘bodies’ standing around you and will increase until you cannot possibly do it all.
I lasted two months and was out of that nightmare!
Time to go back to the old method of store keeping in which it is set up like a bank. Person comes in and hands the clerk a shopping list, he gives it to a boy to fill. Then the boy brings the items to the front, and is paid for over the counter.
At no time does the shopper get to go back behind the counter.
Sad time we have allowed the US to get into this mess.
Interesting article at same link site;
https://www.wpxi.com/news/national/pastor-who-bought-200k-lamborghini-for-wife-lives-in-18m-house-paid-for-by-church-1/907248710/. ( - it still looks like stealing to me, just a lot more successful ?)
In the 80s I supplied merchandise to tourist oriented gift shops in Florida. In that case the minimum markup was 100%. Licensed material like Disney and such got 125 to 150 percent markup.
And you are correct I’m pretty sure that’s definitely greater than a whole lot of the retail industry.
The reality is that in the retail market it’s no slam dunk to make a profit, under favorable circumstances. Local taxes and regulations also make a brick and mortar store an expensive proposition.
Just those pesky ‘yutes’.
Can you imagine trying to explain to someone 50 years ago that this state of affairs would exist in the USA?
The Burger King adjacent to the black historical college in Savannah, GA closed. Employees gave away food to the black customers. Paying customers were treated rudely.
A family friend used to run a grocery store recently “in the ghetto.” There were there for 3 generations (when it wasn’t a ghetto). They knew a lot of the people in the neighborhood and were the only grocery for several miles around. They had thievery but knew how to limit it. Business ebbed and flowed on welfare payment day, arrival of foodstamps, etc...
They finally sold out two years ago - to some Arab immigrants. The place is now on lock-down. Everything behind cages, no fresh fruit and vegetables, etc….
I lived in North Hills mid 80’s-1986 by Ross Park mall. Loved Pittsburgh back then. I was a field rep making $28k per year plus 100% paid company car-company paid all the insurance, gas and maintence and gave me a new Ford Taurus every 6-8 months. My only expense was the apartment and utilities. My boss would yell at me for not spending all the money on the company credit card allotted to me each month to take out clients. Told me to take my girlfriend out to dinner and use it up.
Hit the bars every night.
Truly the best time in my life.
In San Jose, Costa Rica—where theft and its prevention seems to be a national pastime—little neighborhood stores have one or two pretty rough-looking guys standing by the door. One will open the metal door to let you in. I assume if you try and steal something, they’ll let you know their disapproval.
And don’t even think about banks. One guy with a shotgun outside the front door lets customers in one or two at a time. Inside a guy with a shotgun watches you conduct your business.
Don’t think it’s catch and release there.
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