Customers are fed up with anti-theft measures at stores. Retailers say organized crime is to blame ( www.cbc.ca )

Susan Dennison recently had an unsettling experience at her local grocery store, a Loblaw-owned Fortinos in Burlington, Ont.

Just as she was leaving, the wheels on her shopping cart locked up — making it immobile.

She said a store employee rushed over and demanded to see her receipt.

"I felt like I was ambushed," said Dennison, who scrambled to find her bill. "She's badgering me, like, 'Is it in your wallet? Is it in your pocket?'"

She said she was finally cleared when the employee found the receipt — in one of her shopping bags.

the16bitgamer ,
@the16bitgamer@lemmy.world avatar

Wow a rare time both consumer and retailers are in agreement.... oh. They're not talking about themselves.

yosh ,

Um, is it really theft if you are being robbed in the first place?

BradleyUffner ,

What? Yes, if someone is robbing me, it is considered theft.

Voroxpete ,

"Retailers say organized crime is to blame."

It's not, but they'll say it is.

phx ,

Well, if you consider the collusion and price fixing that happens in some stores, it kinda is

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

The corporation itself is the criminal organization they are are referring to.

no_kill_i ,

Maybe if a stick of celery didn't cost 11$, no one would need to steal it.

I don't believe for a second that organized crime is to blame, but again, if food was normal price, then there would be no resale black market for stolen groceries.

captainlezbian ,

Exactly, I can’t imagine a situation beyond sheer desperation that I’d go to a black market grocer

pedz ,

The local grocery owmed by Loblaws is not taking bottle and can refund tickets/coupons at cash registers from their own machines now. You have to go to the customer service counter with the damn ticket and they refund you in POCKET CHANGE right away so THEN you can give it back to them in a few minutes while paying for groceries. But you can't use the ticket from the machine!

They refuse to honor and refund their own tickets/coupons from their own machines at cash registers because apparently, there's been too much fraud. It's such BS.

canis_majoris ,
@canis_majoris@lemmy.ca avatar

Classic conservative playbook, accuse the opponents of what you're doing.

athos77 ,

In response to customers' complaints about its security measures, Loblaw, Canada's largest grocer, has repeatedly said that organized crime is to blame. "This surge in organized retail crime remains a significant problem for the retail industry," said Loblaw CFO Richard Dufresne during a conference call in late 2023.

Didn't they find that there hadn't been a surge in retail theft, that the "report" it was based on combined every source of shrink - including employee theft, retail theft, writing off stuff that spoiled in the store whether due to improper storage or inability to sell, writing off stuff that the managers over-ordered or mis-ordered, stuff that was exposed to mice and rats, etc etc etc. And that basically the "surge in retail theft" was actually just a cover to make managers feel better about mis-managing their stores?

Last year, the U.S. National Retail Federation initially reported a startling statistic: Organized retail crime accounted for nearly half of the estimated $94.5 billion US that retailers lost due to missing merchandise in 2021. However, the industry group retracted the claim eight months later, after it was revealed that the report was based on erroneous data.

Ah, yes, there it is. Funny how the corpos are still leaning hard on their discredited "report".

phoenixz ,

Link to said report and it's analysis? Not wanting to rain on your parade, but with something like this, <citation needed>

towerful ,

Maybe the amount of shoplifting hasn't changed that much, but reporting and detection of it is better?
https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/shoplifting-data-Target-Walgreens-16647769.php

m0darn ,

Yeah I remember watching/ listening to an analysis of this I don't remember who it was though. Maybe it was on Nebula?

TSG_Asmodeus ,
@TSG_Asmodeus@lemmy.world avatar

I thought random people stealing was why? Try to stay on a single reason here, grocery stores.

Anticorp ,

Somehow I doubt the Mafia is targeting grocery stores for heists.

AnUnusualRelic ,
@AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world avatar

Ok, we've heard of a job. About fourty dollars in Sugar Pops. Want in?

twack ,

I'm gonna need more than two boxes...

corsicanguppy ,

5 kids and a diversionary tactic is also "organized", I'll bet.

Mafia->Organized =/= Organized->Mafia

Prezhotnuts ,

I feel bad for the staff who have to enforce this bull shit.

kent_eh ,

I feel bad for the staff who have to enforce this bull shit.

When they try, shit like this happens:

https://old.reddit.com/r/Winnipeg/comments/1csp9ra/food_fare_staff_attacked_by_suspect_using_brass/

psvrh ,
@psvrh@lemmy.ca avatar

If by “organized crime" they mean "organized by Loblaws' price gouging", then yes.

But I suppose Mr Bread Price Fixing knows all about organized crime.

_sideffect ,

I say steal more from these pricks.
They've been gauging us all since covid started for no reason other than greed.

Fuck em.

corsicanguppy ,

This isn't how we solve this problem.

(Don't do the crime if you can't do the crime, as they say)

Yes. Loblaws look like dicks all the time. But when we steal from them, it's still a reflection on ourselves and not them. We're better than looters coat-tailing a protest to get a new TV.

_sideffect ,

I disagree. We're merely stealing back what they're stealing from us.

Nollij ,

Remember: If you see someone stealing food, no you didn't.

nbailey ,
@nbailey@lemmy.ca avatar

If they did this to me I would immediately drag my locked up cart to the customer service desk and return everything. Hard no. Not buying my groceries from a place that aspires to be a prison.

corsicanguppy ,

A buddy did this at Best Buy when they started this shit.

  1. Straight to the returns
  2. Pointed at that guy when asked why
  3. Ensured it was cash refund because "while I'm here every week for new tech stuff, I don't need to come HERE. I'm never comin' back."

He's not responsible for that store closing, but we like to say so. ;-)

Poop ,

Imagine how many people your friend told about this ridiculous experience. He may have been the spark that started the fire!

girlfreddy OP ,
@girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

In response to customers' complaints about its security measures, Loblaw, Canada's largest grocer, has repeatedly said that organized crime is to blame.

Loblaw has not provided data to support its claim.

According to Statistics Canada, police-reported organized crime makes up only a small portion of retail theft, and it has declined between 2018 and 2022.

Fuck Loblaws.

eezeebee ,
@eezeebee@lemmy.ca avatar

They are the organized crime

pbjamm ,
@pbjamm@beehaw.org avatar

The call is coming from inside the store!

stelelor ,

The boycott is "organized crime" in their eyes.

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