Target may have solved one of retail's biggest problems: Theft

I'm not shopping any store where I have to have a glass case unlocked except a jewelry store.

[quote] The closed stores included one in Harlem, New York City; two in Seattle; three near San Francisco and Oakland, Calif.; and three in Portland, Ore.

You don’t have to have a business degree or business experience to know that all stores selling consumer products should be closed in Seattle, Portland, SF, and Oakland. There’s no way to win against the thieves and lawlessness in those places.

So, Target putting its most desired products behind glass cases and forcing consumers to unlock the case to get the product is solving its problems with theft.

Bravo! I hate having to call someone to come open the case -- sometimes a long wait -- but if that is helping the stores reduce theft, then I guess it's worth the inconvenience I experience.

I remember as a kid in the 90s, they opened a store in a notorious suburb of Chicago which even had a reputation then for having higher crime. They put this camera inside of a long tube which went around the perimeter of the store. Basically the cameras would just rotate around the store in the black tube.

Simple solution if you don't like locked cases: Curbside pickup. It's free and there's no minimum at Target (unlike other stores.) Obviously this doesn't work for those of you who don't drive ...

[quote] Bravo! I hate having to call someone to come open the case -- sometimes a long wait -- but if that is helping the stores reduce theft, then I guess it's worth the inconvenience I experience.

That's exactly how I feel.

I hate it too, but if it helps stop theft, then good.

Too many good stores in my city are closing because of the ridiculous amount of theft, so if this keeps them open, then I'm happy.

R5 That's what I've been doing since COVID and it's great.

I’m on Long Island and the nearest Target to me doesn’t have cases, but I was in a Target in Nassau County that had locked cases towards the front of the store with stuff like shampoo and laundry detergent in them ….and a couple of aisles away, the same laundry detergent and shampoo were just sitting out on open shelves. What were the locked cases? Decoys?

You aren't fooling anybody, r2.

raci$t le$bian troll alert!!

Didn’t there used to be a store where you order in a front room and your stuff comes out on a conveyer belt or something?

If one were to follow R2's edict, Donald and Melania would be homeless because of all the lawlessness and thievery that goes on at Mar-a-Lago.

[quote]Didn’t there used to be a store where you order in a front room and your stuff comes out on a conveyer belt or something?

There were LOTS of stores like that -- catalog showrooms. Best Products, Service Merchandise, W. Bell, et al. They all went out of business.

The locked cases are such a turn-off. My Target only has a few. Amusingly, I noticed that they have one cabinet that contains all the condoms, lube, Plan B, and their growing selection of sex toys! ... What a theme!

The Walmart near me, has a few more locked cases. I try to avoid those aisles, because the wait to get them unlocked is tedious. I'll buy those things online or elsewhere. I recently stopped in one Walmart over in The Valley Where that Slut Brooke Logan is from. I couldn't believe how many products were locked up. Nearly everything in the OTC meds and sundries department. I had to waste my time waiting around for someone to unlock a cabinet three times. Never again.

They're all fucking around with self-checkout too. That must be a huge problem. Target was originally 25 items, then 15, and last week it was down to 10. Good grief. They might as well just hire another checker. Meanwhile, Walmart actually closes their self-checkout area during certain hours of the day. At that point, they corral everyone into two parallel lines - where you still have to check it yourself, but an associate is standing there watching you and helps if there's a problem. Again, they might as well have that employee check the items, because some people are so slow, and a checker could probably do it twice as fast. Seems pointless.

I was at Wal-Mart last week. DW-40 is locked up behind glass. No joke.

[quote]The closed stores included one in Harlem, New York City; two in Seattle; three near San Francisco and Oakland, Calif.; and three in Portland, Ore.

No surprise there.

Just order online.

R5 While that is good for some purchases but what makes Target successful from a business and brand perspective is the customer experience, the browsing , the surprising, the delighting and the unplanned purchases are all business sustaining components of Target's revenue strategy. Curb service isn't a long term growth plan. But it is essential to offer it.

Instead of using a cart, I walk around the store and put stuff I want to buy in a reusable bad. Then I go self checkout. I've never been stopped at any store, but I assume I'm being watched on cameras. I hate using carts because I'm 5'1" and they are hard for me to push around.

You don't need to have a degree in psychiatry to know R2 is nuts.

I couldn't get my Gillette razor refill a few weeks back at Walmart because the nearest one had put razors and a lot of high end shampoo etc. in its own little department, where you had to pay for the items right there before shopping elsewhere in the sore. Some huge heifertiti was checking a customer out and was moving as if in slow motion, so I just shrugged and left.

Got the razors at Target via curbside pickup. And better yet, Target had their own brand which was even cheaper. But it may have been the same instore, who knows.

Food is rarely locked. It’s usually personal grooming/hygiene and healthcare products that are restricted. Since the items most prone to theft (hence the lock up) seem to be those important for wellbeing, the suggestion would be that this is the fallout from failed homeless policies and a broken healthcare system.

The razors cartridges at my nearest Walgreens (or CVS?) are in a case. I guess they're expensive and easy to steal (small and lightweight).

Well, R23, according to R22, people are stealing those razor cartridges because of failed homeless policies and a broken healthcare system!

I blame Gillette (Procter and Gamble). They make a superior product and have a monopoly on the razor cartridge market.

Easy way to prevent theft: don't let poor people into the store.

I suspect they are putting a lot of responsibility on minimum wage earners.

R22, I believe they target (no pun intended) those items because they are easy to sell on the street. Necessity items at cut-rate prices go quickly.

The homeless shave? Why?

I find it really gross and just won't shop there. Costco sells the same things and has solid worker pay. Fuck Target, I thought there whole proposition was a better retail experience.

[quote] Fuck Target, I thought there whole proposition was a better retail experience.

It still is, with the exception of locations in high theft areas.

They have to do this, as a necessity.

In areas where theft isn't a problem, it's still going to be the same Target.

But in those areas where theft is severely cutting into profits, something has to be done.

I think it's a smart plan.

Target's carts are too big and clunky.

The home depot near me recently put one cashier at the self service area. now instead of self service the cashier does it all. I wonder if they were having issues with theft too. (I live outside of Boston)

The Yahoo article (and many comments in this thread) is missing a crucial point: the overwhelming majority of shrink in retail is internal, i.e., from employees, not customers. Typically about 75-90% of shrink is internal, according to all of the loss prevention people I dealt with in my former career in retail management.

[quote] Food is rarely locked. It’s usually personal grooming/hygiene and healthcare products that are restricted. Since the items most prone to theft (hence the lock up) seem to be those important for wellbeing, the suggestion would be that this is the fallout from failed homeless policies and a broken healthcare system.

I'd have more sympathy for anyone stealing food or water, as those items would be a basic need and something important for wellbeing.

Razors, laundry detergent etc. is being stolen not for the use of the thieves, but to resell. Period, end of story. It's a particular category of non-perishable things that can easily be resold.

fucking immoral animals

it's all so random. the acme grocer around the corner locks nothing up, target, everything.

Former law enforcement here. Apparently, meat (steaks) get resold, too.

My local Target only keeps the booze locked up in glass cases.

R25 Fun Fact- semi-trucks carrying razor blades have the most expensive payload on freeways.

I just stocked up on some razor cartridges, Gillette, the ones with 3 blades, which are discontinued. Now, they only sell the ones with 4 or 5 blades.

Wait until they lock up the chips.

I once went to a CVS while on vacation in Hawaii, and they had SPAM and CORNED BEEF locked up in cases.

Bwahahaha.

Can you imagine locking up Spam and Corned Beef??

Seriously, WTF?

[quote] Easy way to prevent theft: don't let poor people into the store.

Yes, we know.

Costco also counts your items and compares it to your receipt as you leave the store.

I heard in Milwaukee they lock up the cheese!

[quote]Didn’t there used to be a store where you order in a front room and your stuff comes out on a conveyer belt or something?

I haven't lived in the US since this trend started. It's not exactly a welcoming trend. If I have to ask permission for each item I wanted in a store, displayed behind locked glass cabinets...

It *might* be one thing if the store were super-automated and you paid for the protected things by card as you shopped and then collected them, already paid for and awaiting your collection from a locker on the way out, but that doesn't remotely the case.

What a fucking pain in the ass. Mich better to buy everything from Amazon and super grocery stores offering non-grocery items. I suppose some of the empty real estate from disappeared retail atores can be repackaged as concierge package collection centers in front and "dark stores" in the back.

My local Safeway in Seattle had the booze (not beer or wine) locked. Staff member would accompany you to checkout, if there was a line your bottle(s) left with the cashier, customer never handled them until after paying.

As soon as it’s behind a case and I have to wait.. I buy it elsewhere.

Nothing is in cases in West Hollywood and the homeless really steal openly !

[quote] My local Safeway in Seattle had the booze (not beer or wine) locked. Staff member would accompany you to checkout, if there was a line your bottle(s) left with the cashier, customer never handled them until after paying.

Yup, I've seen that.

Kroger's is a little bit less authoritarian.

They have a sectioned off area for hard liquor, with an "enter" and "exit" gate that can lock.

There's also a security guard posted next to the cashier for extra emphasis.

You're free to browse the liquor section, but it's completely closed off by the gates and the security guard.

So it's like one BIG locked liquor cabinet. Lol.

But still, it feels less intrusive.

I still don’t believe this, other than Walmart putting the cosmetics in an enclosed area. Then again, I’m in a midsized town in the Midwest so a lot of this is something I just read about or see on the news.

[quote] I still don’t believe this, other than Walmart putting the cosmetics in an enclosed area. Then again, I’m in a midsized town in the Midwest so a lot of this is something I just read about or see on the news.

Um, I think you just answered your own question.

[quote]My local Target only keeps the booze locked up in glass cases.

If only they'd lock up the boys, too.

R47 I remember stores like that in the 1970s - David Weis and Service Merchandise.

They were the forerunners to stores like Best Buy and Kohl's - they sold small household items and electronics, but yes, you'd see the items on a showroom floor, then go to a counter in front to order them, and they'd have it upfront for you in a few minutes.

One of the few stores I've seen that does something similar today is IKEA. But the regular shopping experience is still available too - just that IKEA will let some items be paid for and picked up, too.

I had to wait 15 minutes at Home Depot before an employee unlocked a case and handed me an $85 leaf blower. I was not escorted to a register with it. HOW does that prevent me from stealing it?

Blame Harry Selfridge. He was the first shopkeeper to let the unwashed masses touch the merchandise.

[quote] I had to wait 15 minutes at Home Depot before an employee unlocked a case and handed me an $85 leaf blower. I was not escorted to a register with it. HOW does that prevent me from stealing it?

Is the store in a good area, bad area, or in-between? It sounds like maybe an in-between area and after the employee unlocked the case they made a judgement call from your appearance that you were unlikely to try to run out of the store with it without paying.

My local supermarket has most of the hard liquor on open shelves. Some of the higher end hard liquor has that store-installed theft cap (sort of like the thing attached to clothing in clothing stores). IIRC (I no longer drink), some other bottles are behind glass.

Here you go, R19. Ironically, available at Target.

I prefer this one (old school: metal, not plastic).

[quote]Nothing is in cases in West Hollywood and the homeless really steal openly !

I beg your pardon. The WeHo Target on Santa Monica Blvd. at La Brea has more things locked behind glass doors than any other Target I've ever seen. The WeHo Target even has underwear behind glass doors that staff must unlock.

You go in that WeHo Target in the middle of the day and it looks like a homeless convention is taking place there.

[quote] I beg your pardon. The WeHo Target on Santa Monica Blvd. at La Brea has more things locked behind glass doors than any other Target I've ever seen. The WeHo Target even has underwear behind glass doors that staff must unlock.

You just know those broke ass queens are robbing that store left and right.

I know SO many gay guys with sticky fingers.

Especially younger ones who don't work. It's all a fucking game to them.

I do bulk orders every 2-3 months.

All the toiletries, skincare, makeup, & household items. I have groceries delivered every 2 weeks, along with cat food, kitty litter, treats, etc.

Clothing? Once or twice a year. I buy all my winter clothing in the summer, & my summer clothing in the winter. Same with accessories, & jewelry, except jewelry is barely purchased, unless I’ve lost a staple piece like one of my gold hoops or a diamond earring, which happened when I moved a few years back, so I needed to replace a few pieces.

No need to order more wigs, as my hair has grown out to a suitable, healthy length once again.

I used to love shopping at stores pre-covid. Now? Not so much.

[quote] I know SO many gay guys with sticky fingers.

DL posters freely admit to stealing in the threads about self-checkout. (E.g., putting something on the scale and punching in the code for a cheaper item.)

R65 ... and probably then complain the loudest about merchandise being locked in cases.

I was only discussing store theft with my friends, ranging in age from 27 to 60 and we all agreed we'd never steal. I am even afraid to rob a grape or a piece of broken easter egg that wont be sold. Its just a mentality I was brought up with..you dont take whats not yours. And these people ruin it for ordinary shoppers.

It's amazing what you can hide within a pregnancy pad under a muumuu!

Don't let poor people into the store.

One security officer at the door with a gun and one sign above the entrance saying "Thieves will be shot" would fix this problem right away.

That only works in Korean owned mom and pop shops.

Exactly, R71.

And unlike Target, they WILL pull out a shotgun on you!

My local Rite Aid put their deodoarant behind glass doors, but they're unlocked. If you lift the door, it beeps very loudly. Scared the bejesus out of me. Now they don't have any deodorant at all. Lots of bare shelves.

You get what you vote for.

[quote] Don't let poor people into the store.

You think it’s poor people stealing?

R22 stealing bottles of Tide to resell at a bodega indicates a “failure” of the healthcare system?

Plant random IEDs in merchandise and, if not neutralized at checkout, they will exploder the parking lot. It could become quite a spectator event too. There will be errors and losses along the way but so it is with all progress.

Bring back ribbon clerks!

It makes shopping…complicated. I either go to CVS, Walgreens or Amazon.