Retail Crime is WORSE Than You Thought

On this episode of Common Sense Soapbox, Bob is out of luck because he can't get his hands on Baldur's Gate 3 or a new computer. The reason? The local store closed down due to theft. But is that a legit excuse for shutting down a store in 2024?
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CREDITS:
Written by Sean Malone and Seamus Coughlin
Animated by LtAmazil, Adamdonk, and Emily Slatt
Voiced by Seamus Coughlin and nosoup4knowles
Layout by Jaime Velasquez, Trevor Smith
Produced & Edited by Sean W. Malone
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LINKS:

[ispep]

And the average citizen would have stopped this theft in the past because they know the store will leave. But if you step in, YOU are the one who gets prosecuted. So people mind their own business and watch the inevitable happen when the store closes.

[reidbrinkley]

The people who are doing the stealing and blaming capitalism are getting mad at capitalism for leaving

[talongreenlee]

Was literally watching a short showing a woman complaining about how Target locked up all their products when I got this notification.

[arikutin]

3:00 Most unrealistic part of the skit. Bob should've been arrested for assault and vigilantism, which could've transitioned into the next episode of how the police refuse to enforce the law, and arrest the civilians who try to enforce it instead.

[FireFox]

You know things are bad when Walmart actually starts caring about its employees.

[MyNegaJay]

A decade ago while between jobs, I worked at a retail store within the number one shop lifting district in the country. We were a huge target, because we were a focal point between two large cities. Criminals would leave one city, stop off to shoplift at our store, and head to the next big city. When our loss prevention staff quit, the store and district managers never replaced them. We went almost eight months with only two loss prevention officers who only worked first shift. Theft sky rocketed. At the end of the year top management couldn't figure out why all of the theft. These stores really don't care as long as insurance takes care of them, which of course means higher prices for us.

[draighodge]

The lack of diversity among shoplifters is appalling!! Where is their DEI Consultant?

[HarveyDangerLurker]

I love how his hands grow additional fingers for a single gag.

[asahearts]

"Local business closes down out of greed."

[darthhodges]

I worked at a Toys R Us store where theft was particularly bad. Corporate wouldn't get us a loss prevention person at all so the most we could do is observe and report. Before we closed half the merchandise in the used baby clothes store up the street still had out security tags on them.

[Ploxtifs_OldAndDeadAccountXD]

It’s funny how most people who complain about “capitalism” and monopolies don’t realize that the only reason some companies can get so powerful and become a monopoly is because of lobbying to have the government stifle their competition.
It’s not a capitalism problem, it’s a corporatism problem.

[knottheory]

Even a massive retailer like Walmart runs off a really thin margin (Walmart makes its money on massive turnover i.e. they sell a lot of shit every day). It doesn't take much shoplifting or theft to make a store unprofitable.

[derkatwork]

Florida man having a Mohawk does not surprise me.

[CertifiedDoc]

I live near where Portland's Walmart used to be. The place is pretty run-down; we've lost lots of long-standing businesses in that area, and it's currently kind of a hotspot for hobo camps. Shortly before closing, they hired actual armed security guards. As far as I know, they were actually packing, and not just with tasers. They also had tons of shelves locked up inside, and heightened entry security with one-way gates.

I've heard people say these companies are lying about crime and just using it as an excuse to shut down stores. That's absolute horse hockey. Nobody hires armed guards if they don't have a reason to protect their assets. Armed security is expensive, and the liability is way higher than unarmed guards.

[justicedunham]

I’m glad my city still punishes shoplifting. The Walmart alone gets an arrest for shoplifting nearly every day

[justanotherchannelonyoutub]

This, yet again, feels like such an obvious truth that many people don’t seem to understand for some reason. Such a sad world we live in where basic knowledge is suddenly forgotten

[jeremyrm]

I’d consider a threat to my job a threat to my well-being, anyone caught stealing is directly impacting someone else’s ability to provide.

[reviewthis]

I worked at a Khols for three years, and while mismanagement is a problem, that doesn't mean that theft isn't. I primarily worked in the shoe department, but sometimes I also worked the register. In those three years I've seen people run straight out the door with armloads of stuff right in front of me. Oh, and what finally caused me to find a new job was the fact that due to a loss in revenue which was due (in part at least) to shoplifters, the full time position that I was trying to get was eliminated. Another thing to note is that privet companies (even the large ones) have to manage profits carefully. This can mean that if they're losing money, they might do something such as cut back on the amount of hours they give employees each week. Just think about that.

[ThatLeaf]

Even in places where there is punishment for retail theft, crooks still walk out with stuff because retail stores order employees to not fight back against thieves. Granted, it's nowhere near as bad as in the major cities.

Still, who'd want to do business in a place where shoplifting and looting isn't stopped? Or worse, a place where the government could seize your property because you're not part of the Uniparty?

[ashleypenn]

Not to mention, the continued theft results in higher prices because companies need to recoup all the income they lost from people taking the 5 finger discount. Those of us who are honest are paying more so those who are dishonest can continue being so.