What is Digg?69 Comments
- chris9902, on 10/12/2007, -5/+25$30 billion in theft? pfff amateurs. Bittorrent's got that beat.
- vhold, on 10/12/2007, -0/+19"The pros are driving up losses dramatically, to $855 per shoplifting incident last year, from $265 in 2003, according to a survey by the University of Florida's Center for Studies in Criminology and Law."
What the? $855 per shoplifting incident? Something is very screwy about that statistic. - EvilTesdall, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19no, it takes 32 diggs in 4 seconds to make it to the front page, 32 diggs over 10 days would not bring it to the front page.
- cyclescott, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15Probably an average of several different types of stores. My mom works at a Borders bookstore in mall and she noticed that shoplifting is way up compared to when it was an independent bookstore.
But anyway, Borders carries iPods, DVD's and CD's besides books. So if a thief makes off with 3-4 iPods after picking open the case, that's a pretty big hit compared to stuffing a book down your pants. - ahawks, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Agreed.
The average incident isn't someone lugging a TV out on their back, it's a pack of gum, a watch, a toy, a video game, etc. - johndi, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17In ways these systems are just begging for pranksters to activate the the alarm without doing anything wrong. I can easily see bored kids locking up 20 empty shopping carts or bouncing large rubber balls to try and simulate a spill.
- kellymahan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16More than likely they are including the costs associated with combatting the shoplifting problem. In other words, they spent a lot of money on new systems, so cost per incedent is up. Or they are just found a different way to calculate things so it sounds like they are losing more. It's the same tactic the RIAA uses to calculate there losses.
- kingfoot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13And in 3 months time, they will figure out the vulnerabilities.
- seether166, on 10/12/2007, -6/+17By and large, I don't think the people that have a penchant for such childish pranks are really intelligent enough to know how to trip these systems or, in most cases, that the systems even exist. While I agree what you say might be true in rare cases, I bet these systems provide quite a benefit where they are implemented.
- 4NDr01D, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13copying is not theft
that being said,
good artists copy, great artists steal. - minorproblem, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9We had at my work recently a guy come in with wire cutters, wait till some staff wern't around and quickly cut the lock off a laptop. Then he put the laptop under his shirt walked accross the store and hid it under a shelf. And had a friend (female) pick it up from under the shelf and walkout with it hidden.
When he left the store cause he looked so dodgy we checked him out 20 mins after he had left someone noticed it was gone (we have over 40 laptops on display) but he was long gone, and cameras are only good for identifying people totally useless 99% of the time. btw i work at Harvey Norman weekends. =p - SbooX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9"i would like to see you try to drive off with $855 worth of gas."
Just wait till next 4th of July, when we're knee deep in Iran and Syria... - r©ain, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9In related news, 2 dumpster divers have been sentenced to 6 months in jail for taking five cucumbers, four or five apricots, two bundles of asparagus spears and a handful of cherries from a garbage can at Sweet Pea Produce.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4963767,00.html
So if this sentencing is anything to follow, if you steal an iPod, you should be sentenced to death! - gwinerreniwg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7OK, I don't get it. Apparently, it's legal for the government to dumpster dive, but not private individuals? I thought the SC had ruled that trash is "public domain", so how is it these poor trash-diving sods get convicted? If they had been the local vice cop looking for drug remains, they surely would have been acquitted.
- MacParrot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I spent four years working with loss prevention systems (Sensormatic if you know who they are) back in the eighties and I was told a funny story about the first system they designed and installed gratis for real world testing. It was installed at a Military Post exchange and for the first few weeks everything seemed fine. The system was installed behind some hidden panels where you couldn't see it. One day, they got a call to come pick it up. When they arrived, it was already back in it's box. They asked why it was being removed, but everyone was pretty tight-lipped except for one clerk who laughed and said the Base Commander's wife was caught stealing something.
The end result was that from that time on, the system was installed in such a way to make sure everyone knew it was there. What they discovered was that actually catching shoplifters was a losing proposition. The goods have to be held as evidence and then there's court time and lawyers and all the mess involved. Usually the shoplifter was just given a slap on the wrist and released.
It is more efficient to keep shoplifters out by showing that you have such a system. Of course it won't stop the professionals, but the casual thief will look at it and just go to another store. Most thefts occur in Women's clothing stores and with 20 or more stores to choose from in most malls (and they mostly sell the same crap just with different names), they just pick on the one that isn't protected.
My experience was that once one store got a system, within 6 months to a year, many other stores got them as well. - WarMace, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Little old ladies are the worst, because when you feel bad catching them and asking them to hand it over, they verbally assualt you saying they have to do it because of our prices being so high. Dont feel bad for them, their not stealing medicin, or bread, they are stuffing candy in their purses.
- dayquil, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6There will always be pranksters, it's something you accept when attempting to protect your assets. As long as the egg-on-your-face ratio is reasonable (which it will be, because maybe 1% of people who think about pulling such a prank would have the huevos to try it) it's going to be cost-effective. And if cost-effective is achieved, nobody cares how often the security guard looks silly.
- josegutz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Nothing is more priceless than watching a surveillence video of an entire family of shoplifters (moms, dads, daughters, cousins, sisters...) working together as a team to shoplift at the clearance section of the department store and stuffing the loot into the baby stroller with the overgrown baby helping to hide it all sitting there chillin...
- vertinox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5To be fair, the shoplifters will spend less time in jail than a file sharer.
- Chompy, on 10/12/2007, -7/+12" Many criminals aren't stupid, of course"
I disagree. Anyone willing to risk the relatively high punishment for the relatively low reward of shoplifting *is* an idiot. They may possess a certain animal cunning, but that's about all I'd say. A criminal record destroys your life employment-wise, is that DS really worth it? - captinherb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@ derekbez
An asset is what you have directly into the product. It may change depending on what accounting method you use, LIFO, FIFO or average costing. But it doesn't include the gross profit. When I make an insurance claim on loss of an inventory item I get money on the cost of the product not on the potential profit. But, at least here in Michigan, the laws are specifically written to charge you with the retail price not the cost of the item to the store. - longman2g, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4ya, the cameras aren't really great, except when you catch a chronic shoplifter in the act at your store, and have proof to back it up. At radioshack, these two people would hit up stores all around the city stealing stuff, and then returning it for gift cards at other stores, and then purchase cell phone minutes. Finally they did it when my manager was in the store, and he recognized them, and when they tried to return something, he made up an excuse about having to reset the computer in the back and called the police. He stalled for a couple minutes, and they arrested the guy, and the camera footage is going to be crucial in prosecuting him.
- nj10ii, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I seem to remember statistics relating that in inventory slippage the main perpetrators were employees or internal people. Not that using technologies to catch the other half isn't a good thing.
Could you imagine the Casinos accepting a 30$ Billion lose, look at their security. Try to steal even 1$ from them, they'll slap your hands so hard, and prosecute you to the fullest. - longman2g, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5No copying is not theft, but the best way I heard it phrased is you aren't paying what is due.
- longman2g, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5i would like to see you try to drive off with $855 worth of gas.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"Steal" and "casino"? I prefer "odds adjustment", it's not like they are not even a legit business, they just happen to have a license to dupe ignorant people.
- vertinox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"My mom works at a Borders bookstore in mall and she noticed that shoplifting is way up compared to when it was an independent bookstore."
I had a regional manager tell me back when I worked in retail that the majority of theft comes from employees rather than customers because they have the tools or the access for theft
Things such as giving friends employee discount or just not ringing up the product.
Of course they might have been paranoid... They made us do a pat downs every night to make sure we were stealing anything and a manager had to watch the janitors take out the trash to make sure they were hiding anything in the dumpster and then lock it. - Topher06, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Is this $30 billion at wholesale prices? I mean, a store charging $200 for a pair of jeans when it actually costs them $20 wholesale doesn't mean they lost $200. In fact, anyone charged with shoplifting should take notice of the amount the store claims was stolen because many stores charge against the sum of the retail price, and you can claim a mistrial because the store actually only looses out on the wholesale price. You steal a $20 wholesale pair of pants, the stores looses $20, period, not $200. Even though the store could have made $180 profit, since they didn't sell the pants, then they can only claim losses on the money actually spent to bring the pants into the store.
In fact, charging $200 for a $20 pair of jeans is more criminal in my opinion. - thewaz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3this wont stop me from walking out the hardware store enterance to "get a cart" with merch in my hand.
and definitely wont stop me from stealing those awesome pens with chains on them from the grocery checkout - greg544, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I hope this is bad news for the New Orleans Katrina "victims" stealing everything , er, scratching out a living here in Houston.
- justice7, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Chompy im not sure why you're modded down but i'm modding you back up.
You make a very valid response.. it is completely stupid to risk so much for so little.
Its like stealing from work.. is that $100 item really worth a 40K job? No i don't think so, no matter how clever the "heist" really was... if you get caught you end up looking like a tard.. actually, scrach the looking part.. - Obvioustroll, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Why bother switching products? Nobody's watching those kiosks very closely.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Having just recently quit Target Corporation. I find it interesting to go back and apply for the security position. Heck, after reading... "the system alerts guards SITTING in a back room", it makes you imagine just what kind of job they actually have.
- thatbox, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I don't know where you go to school, but my campus police are pretty serious business, assuming you're doing something other than underage drinking.
- 600SR20, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2When I worked at Bestbuy we were constantly getting hit by "professional" shoplifters. Groups of 4-5 guys with back stories and costumes would come in and walk out with a few thousand dollars of stuff before LP could figure it out. I acknowledge that there will always be a need for physical stores and thus always be some type of shoplifting, but I think this is another point for e-stores. Granted on-line ordering has its own bag of vulnerabilities, but I think the costs of on line security are far less than physical security. Any one working for an on line security company chime in here --->>>
- diggduggjoe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I do not know, if that is a high figure. Pros with foil lined bags do some serious damage and the most outrageous is people who will take an entire rack of high end clothes right out to the getaway vehicle. Loss prevention types are not likely to even bother with a pack of gum.
- Obvioustroll, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4This has already been posted here.
http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Men_get_six_months_in_jail_for_stealing_food_from_trash_2 - jkramlich, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3First, I must say that Target as a company is great. They give tons to charity and in my experience, treat their employees fairly. However, having worked there in the past I can tell you their security policies often don't make much sense. Case in point, when I worked in the electronics department customers would routinely ask for merchandise that we were out of on the floor. I would have to go into the storage room to get more of it. Though this happened everyday, I was not given the keys to that room. Though the room had cameras everything, I was not given keys.
I would have to call the only security guard on duty via the radio to unlock the door. He would have to walk over to the door, leaving his post by the door completely unguarded. During this time theives would simply run out of the store with a cart full of things right into a waiting getaway van.
Yet still, they would not give me the keys to unlock the door. I also wrote the beginnings of a computer program that used their WiFi network and inventory system to check availablity of DVDs and CDs for customers. I was going to give it to them for free but instead I was told they would fire me if I pursued working on the project. - danielrh9, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Those Target guards crack me up. They are dressed in such an official manner that just seems silly. They seem to be just one step down on the totem pole from college campus police.
- carpespasm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i'd say the employee pat-downs are *****, and i wouldn't have been working for someone who wouldn't hold more respect for me than that, but the statistic about most theft being employee related is right on the spot. i've known people who have worked for various stores from computer stores to plain ol walmarts, and they've either taken stuff, seen people taking stuff off the truck or in the loading docks, or just had friends come in, check stuff out at a counter they weren't working at, and let their buddies walk out the door.
- danielrh9, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Anyone ever used those self check out kiosks like they have at Wal Mart? Those things are just asking for it in my opinion. I've often accidentally put things in my cart that I thought I had scanned, but hadn't. I didn't realize it until I had gotten home and looked at the receipt. Sure, they have a clerk working a group of kiosks, but it would be completely easy for any would-be shoplifter to act as if they are checking something out, but really placing two or three objects on top of each other.
- thatbox, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2It's also easy for underage kids to get alcohol with those things - since they use weight to check that what you're putting on the platform is what the barcode says, you can just grab a non-alcoholic item of the same weight (ie, sparkling grape juice, case of coke) to scan while you put the "contraband" in a bag. The machine won't know the difference, and the person checking your receipt won't either.
- ptrcd003, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1...See, this is how I know you're just BS-ing. How do you plan to run a charge/short circuit wires that are buried below concrete?
- carpespasm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1might one be able to use the same argument (among many others) for the **aa groups who would like to make you think they lose 20+ dollars every time you download a movie? the amount of material the disc and packaging itself is worth to them is probably only pennies, but they want to sue you for their total loss of profit they'd like to think they would have otherwise gotten.
- carpespasm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1yep, the movie/record/tv box set dvd industries are losing bajillions of dollars every day because of those darn kids and their darn download storms.
- zbeast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I was out shopping at a Safeway market when I saw this guy grabbed a whole sided
of ribs an stuffed it in his jacket. He phreaked when he saw me looking at him.
I just gave him a smile and waved him on.
I don't know how they got the number of $800.00 avrage loss in dollars.
You would have to steal a lot of ipods or digital cameras to get to that number.
most $800 dollar items are large laptops, dvd player, etc your not going to
be stuffing those in your pockets.
I would say that the average shoplifter gets less than $25,00 retail.
The most I ever got and I was not even trying to be a shoplifter.
The employees forgot to charge me. was $2500.00 in clothing. - thesnacker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1the best are the shopping carts that lock up, there so much fun, me and my bro's actually hacked the system theres many ways
1) Simplest way is to pick up the cart and carry it over the rfid field
2) Roll it really fast, if you don't roll it fast enough the wheels lock, the cart flips over and it'll probably break
3) roll it on the side
4) use a magnet to depower it/take off the lock
5) use a car jumper and run a charge through either the rfid in the ground or cart and unlock the wheels
6)you can also short circuit the wires in the ground (haven't tried it yet)
hours of fun!!! - MemeWarrior, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5Some of these shoplifting countermeasures are just going to create more annoyances for legitimate shoppers. How many times have you made a purchase at a store and the clerk forgets to deactivate the anti-theft device and you end up setting of the alarm as you walk out the door? Now instead of them waving you on through as they usually do your shopping cart is going to lock up and you're going to have to wait for someone to come over and unlock it for you.
- Archimboldo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1God, reading about all this theft pisses me off! What's worse are some of the replies to the original article saying, "If they paid us more, we wouldn't have to steal." What a crock of hsit!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I have worked at two retail stores, Old Navy and American Eagle. My particular Old Navy store lost over $100 worth of merch *per day*. AE isn't as bad but things still get stolen.
Shoplifters are despicable. -
Show 51 - 68 of 68 discussions
Check out the new & improved 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is