A woman in Chicago who purchased $40 in groceries at Whole Foods but was later snagged by security with a purloined bottle of kids vitamins in her bag is now persona non grata at the overpriced grocery chain. [More]
shoplifting
Universal Really Needs To Release This Movie On DVD
By 6.29.10
Often all you need to see is a movie poster to know that a movie will be unspeakably awesome. This 1950 drama, apparently never released on home video but somehow seen and rated by 58 incredibly lucky IMDB users, is undoubtedly a spiritual successor to Reefer Madness, but has been lost to the ages. [More]
Man Sentenced To Life In Prison For Shoplifting
By 6.27.10
A man in Mississippi is heading up the river for the rest of his life after he was caught heisting some stuff from a Kohl’s store and then led police on a car chase. Oh, and also because he’d been convicted 10 previous times. [More]
Reporter Caught Shoplifting Says She Was On The Job
By 6.25.10
A TV traffic reporter in Connecticut was snagged walking out of a Sears carrying several items she allegedly didn’t pay for. But, says the journalist, everything should be cool, because it was all part of a story she was working on. [More]
NYC Store's Vigilante Justice Against Shoplifters May Be Extortion, Or Maybe Not
By 6.21.10
The NYT says that a local independent supermarket in Queens has an interesting way of dealing with shoplifters. If they catch you, the store’s security guards take your ID, photograph you and then fine you. If you refuse to give up the money (usually $400, according to the manager), the workers threaten to post your picture and call the police. [More]
Walgreens Launches Innovative Showroom Store, Where You Can Look But Not Buy
By 6.9.10
The thing about locking up all of your merchandise behind glass is your customers can’t actually buy it. Well, they can if you have employees who give a damn about helping a customer. This Walgreens in Brooklyn does not have those kind of employees. [More]
Alleged Kohl's Shoplifter Threatens Guard With Hypodermic Needle
By 6.7.10
An alleged robber of a Connecticut Kohl’s threatened to get stabby with a security guard who confronted him. Threatening someone with a needle is disturbing stuff, but not as dangerous as the gun the man claimed to have had earlier. [More]
Walmart Employee Fired After Trying To Stop A Shoplifter
By 5.25.10
Here’s a sad story from Wichita, KS: A Walmart customer service manager noticed a man walking out of the store with a computer. She stopped him to ask for his receipt after the alarm went off and got punched and kicked for her trouble. After that, she got fired. [More]
CVS Employee Strangles Shoplifter
By 5.10.10
A CVS employee in Chicago chased a 35-year-old shoplifter out of his store and held him in a chokehold for “several minutes” on Saturday morning until police came. The thief–who had stolen tubes of toothpaste–was taken to a hospital and initially described as in “fair-to-serious” condition, but then declared dead about 45 minutes later, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. The death is being ruled an accidental homicide, and the police aren’t going to press charges against the employee. [More]
Retail Policies Do Little To Curtail Shoplifters
By 5.5.10
Shoplifters drive up costs for law-abiding shoppers, and store policies tend to be stacked in favor of thieves, according to a UPI analysis that reports 92 percent of retailers were victimized in 2009. [More]
Sprint Employees Fired For Capturing Apple Store Shoplifter
By 4.28.10
Two employees at the Sprint outlet at Cherry Creek Shopping Center, where that iPad customer had his pinkie ripped off by a criminal earlier this month, were fired for chasing down and holding a different shoplifter one day later. [More]
Watch Out, The J.C. Penney Security Guard Has A Gun!
By 3.30.10
If security guards start carrying guns at department stores, I’m going to stop referring to them as rent-a-cops. Not because they’ve suddenly jumped up on my respect-o-meter, but because they might open fire. At a mall in Virginia last Sunday, a J.C. Penney security guard pursued a shoplifter into the mall parking lot and fired a gun into the air. The shoplifter was arrested, and the police confiscated the guard’s gun. The store won’t say whether it was owned by the guard or issued by management. [More]
Shoplifters Sentenced To Jail After Bragging On Dr. Phil Show
By 3.23.10
A judge in California sentenced to jail a couple convicted of selling more than $100,000 worth of stolen goods online… after they went on The Dr. Phil Show and bragged about it. [More]
Maybe People Are Stealing From Your Drugstore Because You Only Have One Employee
By 3.8.10
I’ve stopped shopping at the two large drugstores in my neighborhood because they’ve put all the antiperspirant behind plastic flaps, like bagels at a supermarket. When you lift the flap to grab a Right Guard or Speed Stick, an alarm goes off that makes it clear to everyone in the store that you’re a potential criminal with stinky pits. My guess has been that this embarrassing anti-theft deterrent is needed because there’s almost no staff at either store anymore, and a new retail survey and a couple of loss prevention experts seem to back that up. [More]
Kmart Worker Killed By Shoplifters
By 1.20.10
A Detroit Kmart loss prevention officer was killed by a pair of shoplifters. He tried to stop them but they ran over him with their SUV. He became tangled in the truck somehow and was dragged at least 100 feet before he was dislodged when the truck deliberately hit a pole. They were both charged with unarmed robbery and homicide. The plunder the five finger discount duo killed to keep? $400 in CDs. [More]
Walmart Manager Takes Customer's DVD Away Because He Won't Show Receipt
By 1.19.10
Yep, it’s another Walmart receipt checker story! At the end of it, the OP asks, “What should I do?” And I sigh. I really don’t know. Don’t shop at Walmart anymore? Try to encourage your friends to not give their business to any company that acts in such a hostile way to honest, albeit uncooperative, customers? Spend a ton of money on a lawsuit that Walmart will use its very deep pockets to fight? [More]
Alleged Shoplifter Dies After Encounter With Walmart Security
By 1.18.10
A South Carolina woman died shortly after a run-in with Walmart loss prevention. Was the asthma sufferer’s death a coincidence, caused by the stress of being caught by security, or something even more sinister than that? Test results and a review of surveillance footage should clarify the situation somewhat in a few months. [More]
Hey Stores! How About Offering Some Cash Back With That Receipt Check?
By 1.12.10
In the comments to our most recent receipt check story, I noticed a reader argued that as long as the store wasn’t willing to reimburse him for his time, he wasn’t willing to give it to them. It makes sense; nothing in the marketplace is free, right? Why shouldn’t consumers be compensated for bag searches and receipt checks?
Another reader, Adam, suggested a similar idea in his email to us this morning. In fact, he thinks maybe the exiting-the-store moment could be a chance to make a little extra cash.
