Walmart has a habit of locating stores in small towns, driving local businesses into bankruptcy, then when the stores are not as profitable as their formula says they should be, blame it on shoplifting and close the stores. Same practice for Walgreens.
Walgreens is obsessed with shoplifting in NYC as well. Stores keep most items locked up behind plastic barriers. You have to wait for a staff person to unlock in order to access toothpaste or whatever. No other pharmacy does this. Now I’ll know to look out for the coordinating right wing media campaign about lawless shoplifters in NY.
Coming from India, the ruling govt.does the same all the time. The journalistic culture & integrity has been downgraded to such an extent in these past 7 years - you can't tell what's news and what's propaganda anymore.
Some years ago I worked as an assistant manager in retail. Corporate policy forbade physical intervention with shoplifting. Not all events were reported to police. Faces and sometimes names were taken down and shared with managers in our region. A common scam was to steal an item from one store, take it to another store and try to return it for cash. If seen by a manager at the store where the return was attempted, cops were called silently. Security video was available for review. Sometimes someone who did this was found to have done it many times and cops would get a warrant for their residence and vehicle, then discovering a trove of stolen items. The concept was to take action only when action would likely have great impact. I do not know what policies are in place today at Target, Walmart, CVS and Walgreens but ... reporting on that would provide greater context for this reporting.
Isn't there a difference between "incidents" and "reports"? The graphic shows "reports," but I imagine there is also some not-insignificant difference between the 2 numbers due to apathy from merchants who are tired of reporting and seeing nothing done (or who believe nothing will be done).
This goes beyond Walgreens. Target stores in the city now close at 6PM. The iconic Safeway in the Castro is no longer open 24 hours a day. They have all blamed these changes on an increase in shoplifting. So, either there is an issue with shoplifting or they have all decided that blaming decreases in revenue on shoplifting is a useful strategy. Anecdotally, my wife has witnessed someone instructing their daughter to steal a number of bottles of liquor from a local Safeway while the staff and security guard watched. Maybe many incidents aren't being reported, but you'd think that these stores would report everything to put pressure on the police and DA if the issue is really as rampant as they say. Maybe the number of incidents hasn't substantially increased but the average amount of merchandise per incident has increased significantly? As usual, the truth is probably somewhere in between what the stores report and what the police report.
Good question, but, maybe 6 months ago we were shown video footage repeatedly of shoplifters walking out of stores past security guards with no fear. The explanation given (on CNN and MSNBC)was that law enforcement had decided it was not worth it for such petty crimes. So the word was out on the street that this could be done without consequence.
"The New York Times piece did not appear in a vacuum. The false narrative of out-of-control crime in San Francisco, and California as a whole, is being pushed relentlessly by a far-right website run by a former Republican consultant who received a pardon from Trump." I'm shocked, I tell you. Just shocked.
In all fairness, look at Twitter, you'll see many videos of criminals breaking into cars, shoplifting all over San Francisco. Lots of horror stories of tourists getting picked clean of all their possessions because they committed the horrible crime of parking in San Francisco. Crime is somewhat out of control in SF, that is a fact.
Oh, well...Twitter! Gosh, I guess that settles it, then.
See, here's the thing: just because you saw something on Twitter and want to believe it, that does not make it a fact. And it also is not evidence.
The actual number don't support your belief, as the article indicates. So, of course, you are obliged to resort to anecdotes, tweets and, when all else fails, statements of belief presented as a "fact."
You and your team are amazing...to come up with these details. How can we expose behavior such as that of Young Kim before it implodes the service of another Democrat in the Congress?
Seems to me that PI kinda buried the lead in this story - which resulted in a lot of strange comments about shoplifting/property crime/policing, one or two about CA politics/policing, and maybe one about the real subject, namely right wing control of (local) media, and its seepage into the NYT (seen here as the national newspaper of record, which, umm, it’s not?). —I don’t see much problematic about Walgreens’ internal decisions to shutter individual stores, in other words - as a customer of a few Chicago locations (and, full disclosure, a longtime Walgreens shareholder), i too have personally witnessed brazen shoplifting, with employees basically shrugging - not to mention the looting following the Minneapolis murder of George Floyd, that shut down at least one chicago Walgreens location for months. Retailing has been rough for the past few years, policing even tougher - so, business owners will make decisions that will be argued, and even misreported, but…as I said, I don’t think this was the point of the article. (It just looked that way because of the title & first few grafs.)
Well, since the police and DA do absolutely nothing against crime in SF, or even discourage people from filing reports, it's not that surprising. There might not be organized gangs, but the complete lack of enforcement/penalties encourages everyone to shoplift, steal from cars and houses...
I don't care for it either, which is why I kept insisting on evidence. Which, until now, you consistently refused to provide. Asking for proof is not trolling.
BTW, did you read past the headline in the SF Examiner story? Because it actually says that the situation is far more complex than you keep insisting it is. It's actually pretty decent piece of reporting.
Thanks for the links, though. The Washington Examiner is a right-wing propaganda outlet, of course, but the SF Chronicle (which is, alas, behind a paywall) is reliable. The story from The Hill is an opinion piece by "an analyst for Fox News," so color me skeptical on that as well.
Methinks you just did a quick Google and picked out the headlines you thought supported your beliefs.
There needs to be consequences, otherwise we'll end up in anarchy. And SF is close to that with neighbors and business owners having to pay for private security all over the city.
This is not how housing works. You can have all the rent control in the world (but really shouldn't: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/rent-control/), if you don't have enough inventory to have housing at all price points, you have housing issues. Until SF and the entire region densify significantly, things will not get better.
What you propose is not feasible because of how free markets function. Again, the only sensible solution is not to legislate, but to simply enable people to build densely with no NIMBY hassles.
Walmart has a habit of locating stores in small towns, driving local businesses into bankruptcy, then when the stores are not as profitable as their formula says they should be, blame it on shoplifting and close the stores. Same practice for Walgreens.
This story is about spreading lies. Jared Kushner’s magazine buddy intentionally made the shoplifting story up.
Walgreens is obsessed with shoplifting in NYC as well. Stores keep most items locked up behind plastic barriers. You have to wait for a staff person to unlock in order to access toothpaste or whatever. No other pharmacy does this. Now I’ll know to look out for the coordinating right wing media campaign about lawless shoplifters in NY.
CVS does
They lose millions across their stores in the US. They have every right to defend their goods from thieves.
Coming from India, the ruling govt.does the same all the time. The journalistic culture & integrity has been downgraded to such an extent in these past 7 years - you can't tell what's news and what's propaganda anymore.
*have
Some years ago I worked as an assistant manager in retail. Corporate policy forbade physical intervention with shoplifting. Not all events were reported to police. Faces and sometimes names were taken down and shared with managers in our region. A common scam was to steal an item from one store, take it to another store and try to return it for cash. If seen by a manager at the store where the return was attempted, cops were called silently. Security video was available for review. Sometimes someone who did this was found to have done it many times and cops would get a warrant for their residence and vehicle, then discovering a trove of stolen items. The concept was to take action only when action would likely have great impact. I do not know what policies are in place today at Target, Walmart, CVS and Walgreens but ... reporting on that would provide greater context for this reporting.
Isn't there a difference between "incidents" and "reports"? The graphic shows "reports," but I imagine there is also some not-insignificant difference between the 2 numbers due to apathy from merchants who are tired of reporting and seeing nothing done (or who believe nothing will be done).
This goes beyond Walgreens. Target stores in the city now close at 6PM. The iconic Safeway in the Castro is no longer open 24 hours a day. They have all blamed these changes on an increase in shoplifting. So, either there is an issue with shoplifting or they have all decided that blaming decreases in revenue on shoplifting is a useful strategy. Anecdotally, my wife has witnessed someone instructing their daughter to steal a number of bottles of liquor from a local Safeway while the staff and security guard watched. Maybe many incidents aren't being reported, but you'd think that these stores would report everything to put pressure on the police and DA if the issue is really as rampant as they say. Maybe the number of incidents hasn't substantially increased but the average amount of merchandise per incident has increased significantly? As usual, the truth is probably somewhere in between what the stores report and what the police report.
The reporting is the issue. If the police doesn't even show up, or dissuade you from filing a report, it doesn't end up in the stats...
What's your evidence that the reporting rate has gone down? Because if it hasn't, then your argument collapses.
Good question, but, maybe 6 months ago we were shown video footage repeatedly of shoplifters walking out of stores past security guards with no fear. The explanation given (on CNN and MSNBC)was that law enforcement had decided it was not worth it for such petty crimes. So the word was out on the street that this could be done without consequence.
This is just so disheartening. Thanks for sharing your findings.
Disheartening but incomplete. The reporting rate is also lower so fewer people report crimes.
"The New York Times piece did not appear in a vacuum. The false narrative of out-of-control crime in San Francisco, and California as a whole, is being pushed relentlessly by a far-right website run by a former Republican consultant who received a pardon from Trump." I'm shocked, I tell you. Just shocked.
In all fairness, look at Twitter, you'll see many videos of criminals breaking into cars, shoplifting all over San Francisco. Lots of horror stories of tourists getting picked clean of all their possessions because they committed the horrible crime of parking in San Francisco. Crime is somewhat out of control in SF, that is a fact.
Oh, well...Twitter! Gosh, I guess that settles it, then.
See, here's the thing: just because you saw something on Twitter and want to believe it, that does not make it a fact. And it also is not evidence.
The actual number don't support your belief, as the article indicates. So, of course, you are obliged to resort to anecdotes, tweets and, when all else fails, statements of belief presented as a "fact."
You and your team are amazing...to come up with these details. How can we expose behavior such as that of Young Kim before it implodes the service of another Democrat in the Congress?
Thanks for covering this as one of the Walgreens being closed is literally across the street from me. It's ridiculous.
What has Walmart done to sue this group?
There is an epidemic of shoplifting. The vast majority never gets reported to police. Most stores just take the hit on the losses.
Almost all the merchandise stolen from stores end up for sale on social media and Amazon.
Seems to me that PI kinda buried the lead in this story - which resulted in a lot of strange comments about shoplifting/property crime/policing, one or two about CA politics/policing, and maybe one about the real subject, namely right wing control of (local) media, and its seepage into the NYT (seen here as the national newspaper of record, which, umm, it’s not?). —I don’t see much problematic about Walgreens’ internal decisions to shutter individual stores, in other words - as a customer of a few Chicago locations (and, full disclosure, a longtime Walgreens shareholder), i too have personally witnessed brazen shoplifting, with employees basically shrugging - not to mention the looting following the Minneapolis murder of George Floyd, that shut down at least one chicago Walgreens location for months. Retailing has been rough for the past few years, policing even tougher - so, business owners will make decisions that will be argued, and even misreported, but…as I said, I don’t think this was the point of the article. (It just looked that way because of the title & first few grafs.)
Well, since the police and DA do absolutely nothing against crime in SF, or even discourage people from filing reports, it's not that surprising. There might not be organized gangs, but the complete lack of enforcement/penalties encourages everyone to shoplift, steal from cars and houses...
"since the police and DA do absolutely nothing against crime in SF, or even discourage people from filing reports, it's not that surprising" Evidence?
If the DA was prosecuting and putting people away, and the police making arrests that stick, do you think we would be in this situation?
I think if you had evidence, you would have provided it.
I don't like to engage with snide trolls but I'm in a good mood today so here you go:
https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/data-shows-chesa-boudin-prosecutes-fewer-shoplifters-than-predecessor/
https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/bayarea/heatherknight/article/She-s-a-progressive-homicide-prosecutor-who-16556274.php
https://abc7news.com/chesa-boudin-san-francisco-crime-sf-organized-theft/10869696/
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/san-franciscos-self-inflicted-organized-retail-crime-problem-isnt-going-away
https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/559465-the-little-things-are-turning-san-francisco-bad-in-a-big-way
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/after-san-francisco-shoplifting-video-goes-viral-officials-argue-thefts-n1273848
https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/We-obtained-never-before-seen-data-on-Chesa-16592626.php
I don't care for it either, which is why I kept insisting on evidence. Which, until now, you consistently refused to provide. Asking for proof is not trolling.
BTW, did you read past the headline in the SF Examiner story? Because it actually says that the situation is far more complex than you keep insisting it is. It's actually pretty decent piece of reporting.
Thanks for the links, though. The Washington Examiner is a right-wing propaganda outlet, of course, but the SF Chronicle (which is, alas, behind a paywall) is reliable. The story from The Hill is an opinion piece by "an analyst for Fox News," so color me skeptical on that as well.
Methinks you just did a quick Google and picked out the headlines you thought supported your beliefs.
Sounds like you only read news sites that confirm your beliefs also.
There needs to be consequences, otherwise we'll end up in anarchy. And SF is close to that with neighbors and business owners having to pay for private security all over the city.
Ok, then how do you suggest we solved "economic injustice" when the entire local government is anti-housing? I'll wait.
This is not how housing works. You can have all the rent control in the world (but really shouldn't: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/rent-control/), if you don't have enough inventory to have housing at all price points, you have housing issues. Until SF and the entire region densify significantly, things will not get better.
What you propose is not feasible because of how free markets function. Again, the only sensible solution is not to legislate, but to simply enable people to build densely with no NIMBY hassles.
Are you kidding me? Do you know anything about economics? Money loses value over time.
That's why $215,000 in 1969 is worth $1.7 million in 2021.
What you are proposing is a homeowner take a massive loss on the sale.
Your argument fails. I'm a firm believer in incarceration for crimes committed.
And shoplifting from stores is primarily done by organized criminal gangs. Lots of money to be made in the resale market.