[seastay]

I know of a large grocery store chain in California that tells their employees not to confront shoplifters. The store has made a business decision that its cheaper not to pay out lawsuits should any altercations go to court, likewise they don't even want to pay professional security who would be trained to stop thieves. The store knows that 5 to 10 percent of merchandise is being stolen, its just an expense to them of doing business. New laws in ca also do not give the police much authority either... the bad people get what they want for free while the good people labor and have to pay , for their goods and the added losses, plus taxes !

[rb22982]

It’s a lot less than 5-10% (shrink) from theft. Closer to 0.5%-1%, but yes more stores do not want their employees confronting shoplifters. THe reason is if the employee gets hurt/killed, a single lawsuit could cost the same as 100,000 shoplifters (maybe 10k at HD, but 100k x for a regular retail isn’t that abnormal).

[sipow]

While it sucks that the good people are the ones paying for what the bad people get (hmmmm... sounds an awful lot like welfare to me... but that’s another story) it sounds like the alternative is to deal with lawsuits. Which the good, paying customers are once again going to be footing the bill for.

Both choices suck.

[Alas Babylon!]

Wow! Let me know the name of the store and I’ll start “shopping” there, too!

[Oatka]

the store has made a business decision that its cheaper not to pay out lawsuits should any altercations go to court,

My brother was an auto insurance adjuster back in the '73-'74 gas crisis days. He said it was amazing how many big, gas-guzzling cars suddenly had engine fires and were totaled.

Cases were so fraudulent that they screamed for justice - he had many where the smell of kerosene was heavy and in some cases the "engine fire" had started in the rear seat. He said it looked like the owner would just take a bucket of kerosene and slosh it throughout the engine compartment, but some didn't even bother with that.

More than once he complained to the higher ups and was basically ignored. One finally told the same story - easier to pay off than risk litigation - just add the cost to your next insureance payment.