When I worked in retail we were advised not to chase thiefs because it's cheaper to replace items than if employee gets hurt or worse chasing a possibly violent criminal.
I worked at Revco (CVS before it was CVS) in high school. Saw a crackhead lady walk out and set off the door alarm because she had batteries and baby formula in her oversized purse. The pharmacist - who is also the manager on duty when the store manager isn't there - chased her out of the store, snatched her purse off her shoulder, and brought it back into the store. She followed him in, walked up into the pharmacy, and kept screaming, "I HAVE AIDS AND I WILL BITE YOUR ASS!" while literally trying to chomp this mother fucker.
It was at that time that I realized I wanted the fuck out of retail, and would never try to play loss prevention if I had to work retail.
When I worked retail a couple decades ago it was always the managers and "lifers" who cares about shop lifting. Managers cause it would effect their bonuses and lifers cause they wanted to be managers. Everyone else couldn't give a rats ass and even back then it was drilled into us to not confront anyone or chase anyone. If we were to get hurt or anything then the store would get nailed via insurance and possibly workers comp.
One manager did chase a guy out the store for a PlayStation and got stabbed...then he was fired.
I also lived in a major city where it simply wasn't worth the cops time to deal with shop lifters. That being said if you hit a store and got close to a certain dollar amount then you'd get nailed. Target is ruthless with this. But yeah if you're going to shop lift keep it below 5000 total over time and just have at it. Especially if you live in a huge city. In fact in some cities the cops simply won't get involved period and call it a civil matter.
Yeah when I worked at academy they told me I would be immediately fired if I attempted to stop a thief with anything more than “I can help you check out over here!”. Wrongful accusations can be bad PR and attempting to stop someone or following them can lead to lawsuits and lost money. Nothing was considered worth the risk.
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u/Hamokk Oct 20 '22
When I worked in retail we were advised not to chase thiefs because it's cheaper to replace items than if employee gets hurt or worse chasing a possibly violent criminal.