Posted on 08/02/2023 2:08:42 PM PDT by lowbridge
hardware store in California’s Bay Area had an eye-watering $700,000 in merchandise stolen in a single year — as organized retail theft runs rampant in the Democrat-run state.
Dale Hardware in Fremont documented record losses in 2022 due to the brazen larceny, owner Kyle Smith told The Mercury News.
He said his business loses about $1,800 a day — and that his grandfather, who first began the business in 1955, would “roll in his grave” if he knew the financial hardship the store was facing as a result of the scourge.
“You’ll go, ‘Sir, sir, sir!’ and they don’t even turn around,” Smith told the outlet.
“Or they’ll give you a look, like, ‘Do you want to go there?’”
Retail experts told the outlet a variety of things have led to the current shoplifting crisis, including an increase in “organized retail theft,” or social media posts that have seemingly prompted people to flock to stores and steal.
-snip
Other shoplifters brazenly filled a shopping cart with $11,000 in specialty wire, and kept an accomplice at the door to warn employees against pursuing the thieves because they had guns, Smith said.
-snip
Staff at the hardware store say they only call the police when the loss is greater than $10,000 because authorities are unlikely to hold the perpetrators accountable over lower-level amounts.
Other Bay Area businesses have also reported a disturbing uptick in retail theft, but many incidents don’t get reported so the problem only persists.
-snip
The store owner recalled one woman who showed him a list of items she had been tasked with stealing by an Oakland man who sent a dozen thieves out to shoplift each day in the Bay Area.
“She had already been to Target,” he said. “She’d been to Home Depot. She’d been to Lowe’s.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Correction, if he claimed $700,000...
Two words ... “early” ... “retirement”.
It’s creeping into Idaho, now. Our local Ace Hardware store recently put up a big sign at checkout saying “Shoplifters will be prosecuted.” One of the clerks confided to me that the police won’t respond under $1,500. A crook walked out the side door with a $700 tool. The side door was always open to the nursery and you could walk from the nursery back to your car that way. It was always wide open and depended on customer honesty.
Those days just ended here a couple months ago.
There’s a lot of theft in construction, much of it committed by the industry’s own employees and contractors — tools, supplies, building materials, anything not nailed down. That’s why you see generators, compressors and toolchests hanging from cranes overnight. And that thief who was shot by the three good ol’ boys was looking for stuff to steal later. It’s a booming business.
Remember Service Merchandise? We had one for a while in Mountain View I think where there was a Gemco, and it eventually became a Target.
The hardware store has hammers and ax handles they can use on the crooks so why do they put up with the stealing?
AND??????
Don’t leave us hanging.
And the parents reactions were what?
Oh yes. You had to look in the catalog and tell them what you wanted. That's the way Sears
worked for years in small towns.
I used to think it was a miracle to order something at the Sears store, and you could pick it up
in a few days! Wow, it sure beat parcel post back in the days of the ubiquitous caution:
"Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for delivery".
If law enforcement in this area does not treat theft and robbery as a crime, then pay a couple of large thugs to steal back the merchandise and anything else the thieves have on them except their underpants as they exit the store. Don’t beat them up, which might be a crime. Are the thieves going to call the police? I doubt it. But make sure the security cameras capture only the areas where the thieves are stealing, with a big blind spot at the recovery zone.
I'll take joggers for $50, Alex
Or you walked around Service Merchandise store with the clipboard and wrote down number of what you wanted. Then waited for it to come out on the rolly conveyor thing.
If everyone went Bronson on them, we’d take care of the problem nationwide within one week.
I expect that someday soon retailers will go back to the early 1900 business model of the customer pulling their wagon next to the dock and handing their shopping list to a clerk and paying as the merchandise is loaded.
It would be a lot easier than locking up everything in the store and having clerks retrieve items one by one.
I hope they voted for the sippy cup guy. Uf so, they deserve what they get.
Whoa, I just read my post in your post. :-)
When criminals die, they stop committing crimes
The police respond when you add a dead criminal, in there.
I bought several key things from Service Merchandise.
At least one item continues to be used.
I miss them.
And people wonder why WalMart locks up practically their entire Health & Beauty Care area.
Maybe we could update that 1900 model a bit? How about we have people order online? Then companies could send the orders to huge distribution centers near populated areas and their trucks could rush the products right to your house. No more need to drive to the store.
Just a new business idea of mine. Feel free to implement.
Nah, to far fetched. That will never catch on.
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