Hear my prayer: A hardware store in San Francisco now requires customers to be escorted by an employee as they shop in the store due to “rampant theft,” …
Hear my prayer: A hardware store in San Francisco now requires customers to be escorted by an employee as they shop in the store due to “rampant theft,” …
I remain surprised that none of the stores have gone to counter-service only, wherein the customers ask for what they want and the employees go get it.
Customers can be just as ugly as they want on the other side of the bullet-proof glass, in the unadorned concrete box…
The return of “Consumers Distributing”
As a kid, the consumers distributing catalog was almost as good as the Sears christmas wish book!
Lee Valley Tools also follows the same model as Consumers.
Home Depot’s are trending that way, among other stores I am sure but it is the most visible transition for me. Most frequently stolen or high value items are locked up. Self checkouts sit empty. Lines to buy things are common now. There is an armed guard in the Fairfield, CA store, possibly more but I don’t visit others. Not coincidentally, I am sure, Target in Vallejo, 25 mins closer to SF city, was hit by an arsonist yesterday in broad daylight. Store is closed for a week now.
A rogue apostrophe and a gallery of commas. Sorry everyone.
My local Home Depot, Concord CA, has 1/3 of their inventory under lock and key requiring an escort. I refuse to buy anything that way. So I just get those items online. Why is this happening? Third world dregs are lined-up surrounding (and IN) the Home Depot parking lot … literally HUNDREDS of them. It’s disgusting what the leftists have done to our country … and my once-beautiful State that even had Republican governors once … Once upon a Time in CA
napalm
Self checkouts? I refuse to use them. I know if something screws up, Walmart ain’t going to jail. I am. Went through one once. There was no till open and I was looking pissed off. I handed my item to a clerk to leave. Then she did the self checkout for me for me.
The Beer Store in Kenora, ON functions like that. It does not have the rampant theft that the LCBO has, which is next door. But it is not a pleasant way to shop; slow and the place is not noted for cleanliness.
At Cdn Tire stores in YYC when I’m shopping for specialty tools like deep sockets those are all behind glass. If you get a store associate to get something out for you, they then escort you to a checkout and make sure that you’re in the process of checking out before they go. Different times…
There were stores that did that during Covid. Bulk Barn made you wash your hands, put on gloves and push a cart while an employee lead you around the store filling the little bags with what you wanted. They really had no clue.
I remember that Steve.
The first time my wife and I went to a Bulk Barn during Covid I just about blew a gasket. My wife noticed my annoyance and quietly said, ‘Why don’t you wait in the car while I do this?’ Smart woman, my wife. LOL!!
She sounds very wise. I didn’t have my wife with me to keep me under control.
l wonder if that factored in when the downtown plaza bulk barn CLOSED this month suddenly.
L – Given California’s regulations/policies against self-protection. Will the employees
soon be issued nail guns. This just in case a shingle or piece of interior siding comes loose?
A few years ago that would be sarcasm, now it’s on the H&S Committee agenda.
We need a Board of Equalization to handle that …
https://youtu.be/GjM6PyniYxU?si=7lUoUcDWEcsZbUSu
My great grandparents were proud to open the first full self service grocery store in their community 90-100 years ago.
Back to the future.
Back in the 1950s in my neck of the woods you gave a list over the counter and a clerk filled it and you took it home in cardboard boxes. Clothing stores had “brown paper packages tied up with strings.” These are a few of my favourite things.
Lee Valley Tools has a similar system in Canada, but i don’t think it’s because of theft. There’s a lot of stock out on the floor on display but normally, for most items you fill out a catalogue order form and then a clerk works with you to fill the order. It actually makes sense as some items might need to be ordered in for the client, and any queries about the items can be discussed. In that particular situation I like the one on one service.
They also offer excellent mail-order service.
https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca
Who shoplifts spud bars anyhow? Put ’em on display.
A spud bar makes a hell of a weapon. Lock them up.
I’m going to open an Irish pub called, “Spud Bar”.
Retail made the decision to pass the costs of theft onto other customers over 50 years ago.
Wally Mart is closing 63 “underperforming’ stores in the U S. Four in the Chicago area have lost money for 17 years, that is 16 years longer than I would let them lose. Theft of course is usually the problem.