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Some Leeway for the Small Shoplifter
The New York Times ^
| 7/13/2006
| Michael Barbaro
Posted on 07/13/2006 5:44:24 AM PDT by Ptaz
Wal-Mart refuses to carry smutty magazines. It will not sell compact discs with obscene lyrics. And when it catches customers shoplifting even a pair of socks or a pack of cigarettes it prosecutes them.
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Paul Sakuma/Associated Press Customers outside a Wal-Mart store in Mountain View, Calif. But now, in a rare display of limited permissiveness, Wal-Mart is letting thieves off the hook at least in cases involving $25 or less.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: business; culture; shoplifter; walmart
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I think it's time to dump all my stock in this company. They've lost their minds. I realize it costs resources to prosecute the small shoplifter, but if you let people get away with stealing the small stuff, what do they go after next?
1
posted on
07/13/2006 5:44:27 AM PDT
by
Ptaz
To: Ptaz
If I steal something worth $25.50, will they still drop the charges? It's only .50 more...? How about $26? That's only a buck more... If $26 is acceptable, how about $30?
2
posted on
07/13/2006 5:47:10 AM PDT
by
theDentist
(Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll.)
To: Ptaz
I think it's time to dump all my stock in this company. The Walmart stock runup plateaued a long time ago. Retailer stocks have all been flat, except for Kmart right after the issuance of the new stock. I owned the old Kmart stock, until it zeroed out.
3
posted on
07/13/2006 5:47:22 AM PDT
by
E. Pluribus Unum
(Islam Factoid:After forcing young girls to watch his men execute their fathers, Muhammad raped them.)
To: Ptaz
LOL, so if I just keep making visits and five finger discounting items less than $25.00, I will never be prosecuted, LOL, so funny, I'll have to remember that. I can save even more at Walmart......
To: Ptaz
Wal-Mart said the change would allow it to focus on theft by professional shoplifters and its own employees, who together steal the bulk of merchandise from the chain every yearOuch.
5
posted on
07/13/2006 5:49:00 AM PDT
by
KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
("It'sTime for Republicans to Start Toeing the Conservative Line, NOT the Other Way Around!")
To: Ptaz
Weird.
My first reaction is: The NYT is announcing Wal-Mart's policy in order to promote petty theft from their stores.
Am I a cynic, or what?
6
posted on
07/13/2006 5:51:13 AM PDT
by
Izzy Dunne
(Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
To: theDentist
Thou shalt not steal (more than $25)............
7
posted on
07/13/2006 5:52:00 AM PDT
by
Red Badger
(Is Castro dead yet?........)
To: Ptaz
Frankly, I don't know why anyone would want to bother stealing anything from there. They should be giving stuff away free for just having to endure the putrid smell of stale popcorn and cheap clothes that assaults you as you walk in the door.
8
posted on
07/13/2006 5:52:45 AM PDT
by
ShadowDancer
(No autopsy, no foul.)
To: Izzy Dunne
I doubt many of the petty theft crowd reads the NYT WYTs..........or can read for that matter......
9
posted on
07/13/2006 5:52:53 AM PDT
by
Red Badger
(Is Castro dead yet?........)
To: television is just wrong
if I just keep making visits and five finger discounting items less than $25.00, I will never be prosecuted You must have missed this part:
Wal-Mart said it would closely track shoplifters it did not have arrested, and would ask that they be prosecuted after a second incident.
10
posted on
07/13/2006 5:53:21 AM PDT
by
Izzy Dunne
(Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
To: Ptaz
I wish they had this policy when my kids were growing up. I had a little one that put stuff in my purse. I always checked my bag at the register. I feared getting arrested over candy or cookies. Can you imagine having to explain that?
To: ShadowDancer
At least it doesn't smell as bad as Albertson's (dead fish)........
12
posted on
07/13/2006 5:53:54 AM PDT
by
Red Badger
(Is Castro dead yet?........)
To: Ptaz
Absolutely stupid.
It's not the $3 pair of socks... it's the 20 other items the person will likely steal (somewhere else) that make prosecution worth it.
13
posted on
07/13/2006 5:53:55 AM PDT
by
rwilson99
(Too soon... to forget. See United 93)
To: television is just wrong
"LOL, so if I just keep making visits and five finger discounting items less than $25.00, I will never be prosecuted, LOL, so funny, I'll have to remember that. I can save even more at Walmart......"Yep, they're really rolling 'em back now!
14
posted on
07/13/2006 5:54:26 AM PDT
by
guitar4jesus
(Black, Conservative . . . and I vote!)
To: Red Badger
I doubt many of the petty theft crowd reads the NYT Well, maybe. But that doesn't discount the possibility that NYT ran the piece just to encourage theft.
Or maybe I'm a tad cynical.
15
posted on
07/13/2006 5:55:44 AM PDT
by
Izzy Dunne
(Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
To: Ptaz
J. P. Suarez, who is in charge of asset protection at Wal-Mart, said it was no longer efficient to prosecute petty shoplifters. If I have somebody being paid $12 an hour processing a $5 theft, I have just lost money, he said. I have also lost the time to catch somebody stealing $100 or an organized group stealing $3,000. I thought the idea was to deter shoplifters, not recover money.
16
posted on
07/13/2006 5:55:47 AM PDT
by
Mr Ramsbotham
(Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
To: Izzy Dunne
The NYT has to hate Wal-Mart as much as most of the left does, so naturally they'll try to hurt it!
17
posted on
07/13/2006 5:56:43 AM PDT
by
JimRed
("Hey, hey, Teddy K., how many girls did you drown today?" (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help m)
To: Red Badger
I used to go to Albertson's in Clearwater all the time growing up but don't remember that smell. Of course after ten straight hours on the beach I probably smelled of that a little myself.
18
posted on
07/13/2006 5:57:12 AM PDT
by
ShadowDancer
(No autopsy, no foul.)
To: Red Badger
Well, I gues WalMart is just providing Get Out of Jail Free cards.
19
posted on
07/13/2006 5:57:19 AM PDT
by
theDentist
(Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll.)
To: Ptaz
Then prices at Wal-Mart will go up because stealing of smaller, less expensive items will go up.
20
posted on
07/13/2006 5:57:51 AM PDT
by
Peach
(Prayers for our friends in India.)
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