Posted on 03/08/2021 3:48:50 AM PST by real saxophonist
‘I won’t go back’: New Walmart checkout policy called racially biased
by: Aimee Lewis
Updated: Mar 7, 2021
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (KDVR) — A new checkout policy at the Walmart in Centennial is under scrutiny for its security measures around beauty products for people of color.
The allegations of racial bias come almost a year after Walmart changed is practice on locking up beauty products for people of color at its stores.
“I honestly will probably not go back there again because of how I felt,” said Rachel from Aurora, who visited the Walmart store around 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning.
Rachel was purchasing shampoo in the beauty products for people of color aisle when allegedly stopped by a clerk who told her she needed to pay for the bottle at a special register near the back of the store before she could continue shopping in other parts of the Walmart store.
“I asked the sales associate, if I am purchasing Caucasian products do I need to do the same thing? She said no you can walk around the store with those products,” Rachel told the Problem Solvers. “I told her I had more shopping to do, she said it didn’t matter I still needed to pay for it back there.”
There’s also clearly more surveillance around that particular aisle. There are three cameras over the beauty products for people of color aisle and only one over the other shampoos and conditioners.
“Honestly, I was shocked, because this is 2021, racism and discrimination are still happening,” said Rachel. “It’s either one or the other. You monitor all haircare products, or you don’t. It’s not okay to point out one group.”
A Walmart spokesperson responded to the alleged incident saying:
“We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind at Walmart. We serve millions of customers weekly, crossing all demographics, and are focused on meeting their needs while providing the best shopping experience at each store.Like other retailers, we have policies in place that allow security for some items, such as cosmetics and other personal care products. In the case of this store, the entire section of products is under additional monitoring. However, we do not want those policies to create an unfriendly shopping environment for any individual customer. The goal is to keep the products our customers want in stock while providing a convenient and friendly shopping experience. We have followed up with the store to ensure those policies will be followed properly in the future, and to provide a welcoming environment for our customers.”
Rachel hopes to hear a personal apology from Walmart after calling its corporate stores but hasn’t yet heard back.
“The more we speak out about it and just let other people know what’s happening, maybe they will change the division and discrimination we have in the country right now,” said Rachel.
“I am hoping to hear an apology, I’m hoping to hear they will change this policy immediately, that’s what I’m hoping to hear.”
It is make-up, but mainly hair products I think.
they ought to add a nominal cost of business fee to each bottle of shampoo.
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I’d bet money that is already added in
some form as a cost of doing business.
I have been to 2 large super markets, in a crappy part of town. The have the booze separated from the rest of the store and you have to pay for it in that area. I ask the clerk and she told me scum bags would come in take a bottle and chug it, before they moved it to the separate area. Nice.
Solution. Stop stocking the stuff.
Let black stores carry it.
People of Color™ = Approved!
Untrue
ALL products have added costs due to ‘shrink’. Walmart is just so big nobody notices.
At my drugstore you have to ask for them at the drug counter. One night I had a date and stopped to get a couple of condoms, I paid them just picked them up to leave and the druggest asked don’t you need a bag? I said nah she’s ain’t bad looking...
And why would the store go through all that effort, unless there had been a major problem with losses of said items? Don't like it, don't shop there. And lean on your acquaintances and raise your kids to not take what is not paid for.
An opportunity for black entrepreneurs to open black-oriented specialty shops to sell the items that Walmart drops.
Do you live near an old folks home? There could be a good black market for arthritis pills.
LOL. I would’ve gotten out my phone and started filming this incident. Just for grins. Just to see what those characters would do about it.
Filthadelphia ... it ain’t just a play on words.
“I have heard that only a small percentage of WalMart theft is from customers. Most of the thieves are the employees.”
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Walmart closed a store in Homer, LA about 20 years ago for this very reason. We all would be amazed at how much lower prices would be if there was no “inventory shrinkage” at all stores. “Inventory shrinkage” includes loss from theft for whatever reason.
I remember that store. Homer is about a 45 minute drive from Ruston.
why aren't colored products mixed in wi white products like they want all the toy stores do wi boys and girls toys???
And post a sign saying as much.
>>Highly doubt it is about the race of the shopper. They are simply requiring immediate purchase of the products that are highly pilfered...I suspect a Caucasian buying one of the targeted high-theft item would have to pay at the special register as well<<
I don’t know about you, but I, as a white male, cannot make it through the week without my Afro-Sheen.
Of COURSE the issue s/b with the product and not the buyer (which is what I understood from the article). In this case the products are black-oriented. In my WM a few years ago they started locking up Similac and requiring a clerk to open it. I do not know why but from watching TV, it is also prevalent in black households.
Bottom line: WM will not tolerate net loss. The data for the products just say they are stolen more. The fact they happen to be for blacks is just fodder for the race pimps.
Yep, it’s a sure-nuff mystery! In Chicago, retailers weren’t allowed to sell spray paint at all, not even from a locked case. Folks would drive over the border into Indiana to buy it. I believe that policy may have changed since then . . .
>>An opportunity for black entrepreneurs to open black-oriented specialty shops to sell the items that Walmart drops.<<
And for only 3 times the price WM would have charged!
Such a shop would probably opened by Koreans. No joke.
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