On January 25, actor and comedian Michael Rapaport posted a video of a man allegedly stealing condoms and shampoo from a Rite Aid on the Upper East Side of New York City. Rapaport claimed the theft, and others like it, were forcing the store to close. "I was just informed this Rite Aid is closing 2/15 because of this, leaving the workers JOBLESS," he wrote.
Thank you for this very helpful information. I especially appreciate when you are able to correct false information being spread by irresponsible people.
Thank you, Judd, for championing workers!In Greensboro NC, Rite Aid has ben bought out by Walgreen’s, and I miss Rite Aid, especially my pharmacist, but also the employees of the store who I knew on a first-name basis. Thee new set-up is more impersonal, more crowded because there is one less drug store chain in town. Corporate America (and its news outlets) does not have a heart, and your story illustrates one reason why: believing and touting the worst about people, including disinformation, in order to promote a self-interested political agenda.
I think of weeknight “news” shows like Inside Edition and the way they seamlessly tell scary tales of individual or small, coordinated shoplifting sprees as a crime wave coming to YOUR TOWN, USA, and compare it to the reality I only know because I seek out information like this newsletter. How it seems many of our headlines are designed to make us hate random acts of theft from insured companies raking in huge profits instead of the vast scale of theft these same companies attempt regularly. Really drives home the quote this newsletter is based on,
In the San Francisco Bay Area, where I live, there was a similar rash of stories stating that Walgreens and CVS stores located in SF were closing because of shop lifting with further bemoaning of “high crime” in these areas. When I looked at it in detail, these pharmacy retailers already had these locations on a closure list. It didn’t have anything to do with crime. This was mostly right-wing “news” media pushing this narrative, although one local news channel was sucked into the hype. Hmmm…it’s almost like there’s a pattern of these stories…building a narrative of high crime in mostly Democrat-run cities a year or two before mid-term elections and a presidential election? Yes, I’m that cynical.
I believed the story of rampant theft at RiteAid because I saw the video. It’s amazing no one bothered to check the facts. I look forward to your stories every day, thank you for this follow up and all the reporting.
You are right. In Right-Aid’s case, they might be closing stores because people nowadays order Drugs and other cosmetics more online. But the increase in crimes and shoplifting in cities is a reality. That’s because of the wealth disparity the mindless Pandemic relief spending created by benefiting the big corporations and their wealthy owners. Please see the Washington Post article.
During Pandemic time, from 2020:Q1 to 2021:Q3, The Top 1% of Americans accumulated 13.14 Trillion Dollars and the Top 10% accumulated 25 Trillion Dollars. This is mostly by wrongfully benefitting from the Pandemic reliefs, price gouging and extortion. If there is a real supply shortage, Businesses should be losing money, not making money. With any Pandemic in history, hoarding, extortion and price gouging have always followed resulting in looting and high crimes. The government was supposed to protect people from this and they failed. That’s might have caused the Inflation we are seeing now. In other words, these visible thefts we see around at the low levels are the result of invisible thefts at a higher corporate level.
"Shoplifting does not have a significant impact on profitability because these drugstore chains are insured and can recoup most of the cost from stolen items." Most drug stores and other retail stores have commercial insurance that protects them from theft due to robberies after closing. But most of these policies do not cover losses from shoplifting during open hours, which is insidious: neither noticed nor reported.
I am getting so tired and so very, very angry at CORPORATE GREED! It is very exciting to see workers again embracing Unions. I hope this action snowballs and Corporations once again have to be accountable to their workers and customers!
It is crazy how easy it is to believe these stories. I saw some posts about this and immediately wondered if anyone was really checking the stats. We're just in that world now.
Apropos of nothing, "Rite Aid, wrong crime" is a great title.
Thank you for this very helpful information. I especially appreciate when you are able to correct false information being spread by irresponsible people.
Wage theft is violent.
Thank you, Judd, for championing workers!In Greensboro NC, Rite Aid has ben bought out by Walgreen’s, and I miss Rite Aid, especially my pharmacist, but also the employees of the store who I knew on a first-name basis. Thee new set-up is more impersonal, more crowded because there is one less drug store chain in town. Corporate America (and its news outlets) does not have a heart, and your story illustrates one reason why: believing and touting the worst about people, including disinformation, in order to promote a self-interested political agenda.
I think of weeknight “news” shows like Inside Edition and the way they seamlessly tell scary tales of individual or small, coordinated shoplifting sprees as a crime wave coming to YOUR TOWN, USA, and compare it to the reality I only know because I seek out information like this newsletter. How it seems many of our headlines are designed to make us hate random acts of theft from insured companies raking in huge profits instead of the vast scale of theft these same companies attempt regularly. Really drives home the quote this newsletter is based on,
In the San Francisco Bay Area, where I live, there was a similar rash of stories stating that Walgreens and CVS stores located in SF were closing because of shop lifting with further bemoaning of “high crime” in these areas. When I looked at it in detail, these pharmacy retailers already had these locations on a closure list. It didn’t have anything to do with crime. This was mostly right-wing “news” media pushing this narrative, although one local news channel was sucked into the hype. Hmmm…it’s almost like there’s a pattern of these stories…building a narrative of high crime in mostly Democrat-run cities a year or two before mid-term elections and a presidential election? Yes, I’m that cynical.
I believed the story of rampant theft at RiteAid because I saw the video. It’s amazing no one bothered to check the facts. I look forward to your stories every day, thank you for this follow up and all the reporting.
You are right. In Right-Aid’s case, they might be closing stores because people nowadays order Drugs and other cosmetics more online. But the increase in crimes and shoplifting in cities is a reality. That’s because of the wealth disparity the mindless Pandemic relief spending created by benefiting the big corporations and their wealthy owners. Please see the Washington Post article.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/business/coronavirus-bailout-spending/
During Pandemic time, from 2020:Q1 to 2021:Q3, The Top 1% of Americans accumulated 13.14 Trillion Dollars and the Top 10% accumulated 25 Trillion Dollars. This is mostly by wrongfully benefitting from the Pandemic reliefs, price gouging and extortion. If there is a real supply shortage, Businesses should be losing money, not making money. With any Pandemic in history, hoarding, extortion and price gouging have always followed resulting in looting and high crimes. The government was supposed to protect people from this and they failed. That’s might have caused the Inflation we are seeing now. In other words, these visible thefts we see around at the low levels are the result of invisible thefts at a higher corporate level.
https://hram.substack.com/p/economy
"Shoplifting does not have a significant impact on profitability because these drugstore chains are insured and can recoup most of the cost from stolen items." Most drug stores and other retail stores have commercial insurance that protects them from theft due to robberies after closing. But most of these policies do not cover losses from shoplifting during open hours, which is insidious: neither noticed nor reported.
I wish FOX "NEWS" was as considerate of facts. I know. I know. Expecting Fox to get anywhere near a fact is an exercise in futility
I am getting so tired and so very, very angry at CORPORATE GREED! It is very exciting to see workers again embracing Unions. I hope this action snowballs and Corporations once again have to be accountable to their workers and customers!
It is crazy how easy it is to believe these stories. I saw some posts about this and immediately wondered if anyone was really checking the stats. We're just in that world now.
Shame on Michael Rapaport and so many irresponsible “news” outlets! Thank you Judd & co.
Great article, Judd. I'm sharing with every person I know who finds Rite Aid AND Michael Rappaport annoying... a surprisingly large venn subset!
Thank you for correcting misinformation and adding to our knowledge of what else is truly going on.
Excellent reporting!