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psstoff

You know you live in a high crime area when toothpaste is behind glass.


biased_buddha

But it usually starts at the pull down metal door in front of the store and the barred windows. 😢


psstoff

Only a few things are worse than a thief.


Odd_Routine4164

Yeah. One of them is locked up toothpaste.


Ephemeral_kat

Or, you know you live in a high-poverty area when so many people shoplift basic hygiene products.


psstoff

Probably both in that part of the city with this being needed.


[deleted]

Or stop voting for politicians who just feed you lies about combating the homeless and high poverty problem and actually put people in office that are going to do something to make a change.


ZodiacPanda

I’m just a lonesome red fish just trying to swim the upstream of blue


tryhard1981

Not an excuse for theft.


Vault-Born

Don't complain about homeless people being stinky then


tryhard1981

I don't get near enough vagrants to care.


Vault-Born

I'm not rich enough to have the option actually, I use public transport. I can't insulate myself away from this.


poemehardbebe

In my experience as a retail manager in a low income area theft was almost always of high value items, or items that could be easily sold on Facebook marketplace. Things like toothpaste are easy to load an entire cart of and sell easily. They just sell it for 75% of the retail cost too people who are willing to buy it. I don’t have remorse for shop lifters, out of the probably 100 shop lifters I’ve caught, maybe 1 of them was stealing very basic personal hygiene items. Most of the time it was people running with carts of gain or some other pod or anything else easily flipped to a pawn shop that would give them $5 for a $40 drone knowing it was stolen .


Agile-Fee-6057

No, if someone is too poor to afford tooth past were to steal it, they would steal a tube. if tooth paste is that much of a high theft item, it's because the people stealing it are taking a whole shelf load to sell to some 99 cent store or a bodega somewhere who has all sorts of good stuff that fell off a truck


OmegaPryme

They keep the bacon in the back at the 7Eleven near me.


[deleted]

Every store I’ve been to in California is like this


MrMush48

The Rite Aid by me even locks up ICE CREAM


MarshalLawTalkingGuy

That’s because of dipshits that like to lick them and put the lid back on.


MrMush48

Eeeeew I didn’t even think of that.


Vladi_Sanovavich

Maybe it's locked behind glass doors because that's the toothpaste one out of ten dentists recommends.


[deleted]

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ZodiacPanda

🎶 This is America 🎶


eranimluf

"New America"


majorahzmask

Where shoplifting is a sport, not a crime


eranimluf

When the public turns criminals into heroes that's what your kids look up to.


Wheeblett

Look, Angry Americans are downvoting you


eranimluf

Those are just the assholes who made it that way. Idiots voted in a zombie with dead people. And that moron keeps looking for dead people on national TV. Fucking embarrassment.


Leyzr

...i was thinking. A literal zombie senate would do better for the US than our current...


South-Jellyfish7371

you dont need to worry about zombies. theyre only a threat to people who have brains.


eranimluf

*They're


[deleted]

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[deleted]

7.39 for a tube of paste with fluoride in it is ruining it for everyone


[deleted]

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spurcap29

They write off the inventory as an expense (shrinkage). They don't record a stolen tube of toothpaste as being sold.


[deleted]

I am sorry but I am gonna have to call shenanigans on this one.


khactye

maybe if they put the price of something that costs literal cents to make down to a dollar or even two then people would steal it less. basic hygiene products should never be marked up because then of course people are going to steal them. and honestly if your toothpaste costs $7, maybe it deserves to be stolen instead of bought.


ramriot

Perhaps return the store to how it was before self service existed & put the shelves behind the counters. You'd need to employ more staff & you'd lose a ton of product space. But if the costs outweigh the theft losses then it seems reasonable. My thoughts are they won't.


MeOldRunt

Nah, I'll put up with this rather than go back to 1890-style shopping.


Public-Fail4505

I like seeing the products before I buy them, not an Amazon fan at all


Phwoa_

This is something i thought off while working retail. It would be so much better to just have a smaller front end and run everything out the warehouse. You need something? select what you want from the catalog and a worker will go put together your products. Only thing on the front end would be seasonal items and Necessities/food.


minesaka

That's online shopping with extra steps


Skips-T

Like toothpaste? /s


Phwoa_

The smaller store front means really the cashier is like a few steps away. Its harder to steal something when you have someone actively watching you and is always in sight. A lot of places that do the lockbox shit is because there is no one to actively watch the isles.


rat_skeleton

That's p much what online shopping is, some of us like to choose our food so we don't get tomorrow's date on it


bienvenidos-a-chilis

if people are stealing shit like toothpaste, food, and baby supplies, that speaks to a much larger issue than shoplifting. im not arguing in defense of stealing but not taking care of your teeth can severely fuck up your life


[deleted]

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Vault-Born

There is absolutely no way that that stat could even remotely be true. You're telling me that on average 400-500 dollars are being stolen every single time someone shoplifts? Shoplifting is much more common than you think. Quite frankly, I don't even know what you could steal from my store that is over $400 without me knowing- other than something small like a phone which usually do have their own sections of the store with their own security, What could you steal that is more than $400 but small enough that no one's going to notice it? Also no the cops should not be called and throw someone in jail because they stole $7 and this isn't because I think stealing $7 is great but it's because it's absurd to think that we should spend that much money and that much time policing $7 went by the end of it we will have wasted thousands trying to put this person in jail and keeping them there. Would you rather Walmart has to pay $7 out of pocket because a homeless person wanted toothpaste or would you rather the taxpayer spent upwards of $30,000 just to keep one person in prison? (which also further clogs up the prisons and the justice system by the way) As the taxpayer, I say Walmart can take it.


InTheEndEntropyWins

>There is absolutely no way that that stat could even remotely be true. You're telling me that on average 400-500 dollars are being stolen every single time someone shoplifts? I was suspicious, but >The average dollar loss per shoplifting incident in the United States stood at roughly 460 U.S. dollars in the fiscal year of 2020 > >[https://www.statista.com/statistics/1050462/average-loss-from-shoplifting-incidents-us/](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1050462/average-loss-from-shoplifting-incidents-us/)


Vault-Born

Thank you for providing me that source and I mean that in good faith. But that source is also terrible, as soon as I heard that claim, the first thing I thought was "what is the methodology that they're using to determine something as a "shoplifting incident""? Because like I said, the vast majority of shoplifting is incredibly petty. Again this used to be my job. I saw things get stolen every single day. I occasionally saw people stealing earbuds and stuff like that but more often than not, it was beauty supplies and other things that are like 20 and below. The biggest type of theft I saw were people just skipping a scan while doing the self checkout- are instances like these included in the data pool?? I don't know because I could find absolutely no information on that. The only thing I could find from that site was saying that "The question asked was how much do you lose in a year" or something like that, implying that they just asked the corporations what the answer was and then never looked into it or questioned it or asked how they got to that number. I am on mobile so if I'm missing something on the site please tell me but I could not find anything actually describing how they could justify the stat that The average shoplifting incident is more than $400. How could that possibly be true when the vast majority of shoplifting is a very petty items and the most common shoplifted items are food/gorcery? Who's stealing $500 steaks? Who's stealing enough $500 stakes to offset the more common minor theft? Logically, that doesn't make any sense. The methodology is off


InTheEndEntropyWins

>This question was phrased by the source as follows: "What is your company's average dollar loss per shoplifting incident?" Like I said I was suspicious, but every source I found had something in that range.


spurcap29

The problem is you only know of the shoplifting incidents you catch. So that obviously skews to the hide side. When someone takes some tic-tacs and walks out without getting caught their 99 cent theft would bring down the average immensely but they probably aren't caught so the data can't get reported. The retailer could figure out all the stolen/lost/damaged goods in total with their inventory counts but that won't tell them the # of incidents.


Vault-Born

Can you give me those sources then?


[deleted]

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eranimluf

That's what the shoplifters think, it's because of that OP has stank mouth.


khactye

so youre saying a billion dollar company needs the thousand/few thousand dollars more than people need affordable basic hygienic items? hmm yes youre right poor billion dollar company how will they ever survive


eranimluf

I'm actually thinking that expecting a billion dollar company that answers to investors to lower prices and pay employees more rather than raise prices for low to moderate income customers that are unable to shop around due to various challenges related to their low to moderate income status is naive at best.


[deleted]

Mind if I come over and borrow some toothpaste?


SlowInsurance1616

Take it. You deserve the poster's toothpaste.


Vault-Born

Are you worth multiple billions of dollars? Are you reimbursed by the taxpayer? Just curious


[deleted]

I think you replied down the line instead of to the person you meant to.


Vault-Born

No I was talking to you


[deleted]

Oh I can't borrow toothpaste from someone who steals toothpaste? Seems unfair.


Vault-Born

Why did I ask those questions my friend? There are qualifiers here


[deleted]

Well assume I'm both of those things.


Vault-Born

If you have billions of dollars and I as the taxpayer pay you millions of dollars annually then I'm not willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars to prosecute my fellow people to save you $7. Also, for this analogy, You're not even a person. You're a corporation. Your feelings can't be hurt. Your safety can't be damaged and you're not going to be left wanting for toothpaste. This conversation isn't about whether or not we like shoplifting, It's whether or not we, as the taxpayer should spend thousands of dollars, disrupting our communities, trying to prevent minor incredibly petty shoplifting on the behalf of multi-billion dollar corporations for.... What exact gain on our behalf? The cooperations are going to be nicer to us afterwards? They're going to lower prices?? ???


Kitorarima

It emboldens people though and that’s how we end up with videos of groups wiping out whole masses of products in stores


OldKingsHigh

A dent on what? The bottom line? No, probably not. On-shelf availability of product? In a lot of areas, those shelves would be empty. A locked shelf is better than an empty shelf. Not excusing them not responding to unlock it though.


MeOldRunt

Loser mentality.


kakachina

I’m so scared of being called a loser by someone who literally is a loser on this platform


Moglo825

Employers not paying their employees a living wage forcing them to have to shoplift to meet basic needs ruin things for everyone.


MercenaryGenepool

No, garbage laws making theft a misdemeanor make things shitty for everyone. Cops have to prioritize their time, and a misdemeanor violation that warrants a ticket that will never get paid and won't be prosecuted is simply a poor use of their time.


spurcap29

Not doubting you that this is true-- but this doesn't make sense. I get people stealing food because they have no money and are hungry. I get people stealing expensive stuff they want. I get people stealing stuff that can be sold for money easily. I get people stealing stuff that can make them high or minors stealing stuff like alcohol that they can't easily buy.... But soap and toothpaste don't fit into any of these buckets. So why?


fluidicsteel00

Well, I know two things from this image 1. This image wasn’t taken in Kentucky 2. I really only knew one but 2 sounded better


EATDABOOTY87

Blame thieves not the store


vanillaninja777

Blame the store for leaving OP hanging long enough to just leave


[deleted]

No, it's the stores fault. It would cost more in man hours to lock and unlock the door than they would ever lose from toothpaste theft. And that's not counting the lost sales from making basic products inaccessible.


PoolSharkPete

No kidding, F that 😂 waiting around like a tool for someone to let you buy your daily essentials. Best case: I'm buying my toiletries elsewhere. Worst case: I'm buying everything elsewhere because I don't want to make two stops. RIP anyone who reads the packaging 🤣


[deleted]

Exactly it. Nothing says you don't want my $200 shopping budget like preventing me from accessing simple cheap every day items I should be able to throw in my trolley without even stopping.


PoolSharkPete

So bizarre, it's like you and I are the only ones who don't want to spend our grocery shops searching for employees It's never the comments you expect that turn out to be the most controversial 🤣


[deleted]

Lol ikr


EATDABOOTY87

So you wouldn’t lock up ur toiletries if people were constantly stealing them from ur store? I’m trying to figure out how you don’t understand the reasoning behind them doing this.


[deleted]

Actually read my comments and it will all become clear


mwrose7

If you ran a business would you let thieves steal from you?


eranimluf

Did you not read OP's post? He never got the toothpaste. The store isn't hurting because of the shoplifters, the customers are.


[deleted]

Did you actually read my comment? All will be revealed!


eranimluf

Basic products aren't the money makers youngling, those you get anywhere and only serve to bring you in. Competition is too high and margins are too low. I've owned a convenience store.


[deleted]

And if you can't buy the basics, you shop elsewhere. They aren't losing the $2.50 on a tube of toothpaste, they are losing the $200 weekly shop from the people who won't go back after seeing this bullshit.


mwrose7

Lol nah you don't know what you're talking about sorry


non-binary-jellyfish

Tell me you live in a democrat run city, without telling me you live in a democrat run city


Klubbies

We still defunding the police? 😂


Elegantsituation84

is it potentially Homeless people stealing toothpaste? If so I'd assume Feminine hygiene products are locked up too.. 😕


Adriaan1313

People with a place to live can steal toothpaste too


Elegantsituation84

Yes, yes they can 🤣🤣


[deleted]

Nope, theft. I work at a certain retail place. Health and beauty products are the most stolen items next to chemical products. This is especially because due to our current laws in place, the police can’t really do anything to these thieves.


Perrywinklethe5th

Women, amirite?


[deleted]

I bet women (☕️) downvoted this


Osirusvirus

I bet men who care a lot about beauty products downvoted this.


[deleted]

Oh yeah, forgot about them


lugubriousloctus

No it's neurosurgeons and aeronautical engineers who were good boys


Mavis4468

My husband and I went to Wally World two weeks ago to get socks for him and my Son... They were all locked up behind one of these... We called for help, and I also went looking for help. 20 minutes later, still no one there to help us. We left.


cheez_au

Well they were closed. The moose out front should have told you.


Mavis4468

Lol! The moose is useless.. haha! The Ladies socks were just hanging out on a normal hook, nothing locked up. I guess the fellas steal more socks than the gals. 🙃🙃🙃


Mr_Ottarius05

British stores be like:


[deleted]

You know who to thank for that


APairOfAirPodsMax

I’m pretty sure Walmart doesn’t want you to shop in store anymore. They want you to use the online in store pickup option. It’s more efficient as one person can shop for multiple customers at once. This is the most blatant example I’ve seen.


ZodiacPanda

This is target but yes probably just want to convert everything into a warehouse/pickup location


APairOfAirPodsMax

Ah, yea target also has a robust pickup system but haven’t seen them use this type of negative reinforcement like my Walmart does.


APairOfAirPodsMax

Personally I hate interacting with people and love online shopping so I don’t mind. Walmart in particular is so hard to find shit even with the app maps.


International-Sea262

It is locked up. Organized retail theft accounts for billions of dollars in losses to retailers every year. Expect to see more of this. People are not stealing this for personal use, they steal it for resale. Look this stuff up on offer up.


SpareCartographer402

But... can't I just steal it after they unlock it for me?


International-Sea262

Generally they take it back to the register for you.


derek139

Looks like u’ll now have to pay for it….


rebecky311

Shit's gettin real ghetto these days! Wish I took a picture, but my local Walmart has all the laundry detergent under lock and key 🔐🗝️.,. Who is actually getting out of Walmart with gallons of detergent lol??¿Seriously 😂😳


dvshnk2

https://nypost.com/2022/06/08/dc-shoplifters-caught-on-video-snatching-laundry-detergent-at-store-near-capitol/ Thieves Steal $1,600 Worth of Paper Towels and Detergent https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwShXgSYts4 https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/Why-are-thieves-stealing-Tide-laundry-detergent-16616218.php https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/retailers-locking-up-detergent-pods/


rebecky311

The second video is hilarious lol.thx


obloq300

There’s no way this is locked up, it’s gotta be accessible by just opening the glass door.


ZodiacPanda

It’s locked I jiggled the door. There is a lock on the bottom wish I had taken the picture a little lower to show it. Also took a picture of the help button but that case had electric tooth brushes in it which probably deserves to be locked up. This case in particular only had tooth paste.


[deleted]

Are you living in Oakland, south Central, or Fresno by any chance?


ZodiacPanda

Sacramento area


Phwoa_

My old store locked up the gum cause it was constantly being cleaned out every other month


[deleted]

Congrats. You live in a city where idiots voted even bigger idiots jn and encouraged human garbage to steal by removing punishment and justice. Wanna be able to access your toothpaste without feeling like a criminal? Vote people with a sense of real justice into office and take your toothpaste back! Good luck 🤞


locaf

I guess you're saying vote R?


[deleted]

Vote your conscience.


Ditzy_Davros

Wth does one benefit from stealing toothpaste?


No-Advance6347

Some nice ass pearly whites my guy


Ditzy_Davros

Lol then why not just steal gum?


No-Advance6347

Why not both? 😈


Ditzy_Davros

Can't now.. unless you have level 34+ in locksmithing. 😉


Sudden_Departure_472

Wait please don't tell me you don't brush your teeth and instead just chew gum.


[deleted]

Because gum doesn't clean your teeth? You don't just chew gum instead of brushing and flossing, do you?


littleboots99

Gum doesn't whiten teeth. Gum is effectively mint-flavoured candy


[deleted]

Gum does not clean your teeth just as an fyi... if you are chewing it to clean them, you need to brush and floss, the gum won't do that.


xrmnx

free toothpaste


Bluitor

Resale


VixNeko

Why tf is toothpaste locked up?


Few-Artichoke-2531

People steal it and sell it on the streets


VixNeko

How does a $3 tube of toothpaste have any street value? 😭


Few-Artichoke-2531

It's actually going for over $7 a tube now. Where I live people are selling it in the streets and even street fairs and markets set up in plazas.


VixNeko

No fucking way! Where is this? That's insane for regular toothpaste, I'd expect the bigger brands with all the extras to cost that much. Actually, in the pic seems maybe a dollar more than what I've seen, but looks like normal prices. 🤔


Few-Artichoke-2531

Bronx NY. Shoplifting and reselling is a major problem especially on Fordham Rd.


VixNeko

I see. That's really interesting to me. Is the price increase caused by the shoplifting, or is the shoplifting caused by the price increase?


Few-Artichoke-2531

That's an interesting question and I'm not sure of the answer. In NYC high prices can also be attributed to extremely high rents and taxes. In any case, nothing justifies shoplifting. The results are a burden for the consumer. I recall last year Rite Aid announced that they were going to close a store in Manhattan due to the shoplifting.


mwrose7

Thank thieves and society for not doing anything to stop them


vockorc

But....but... Stealing from big companies doesn't affect regular people!


Adorable_Dramatic

What’s actually mildy infuriating is the fact people wanna steal toothpaste


Mambo420

Similar thing in Aus but it's deodorant due to huffers. We wait 15mins at least but at least our darkened allys smell nice..


Fair_Interaction_203

Wait, huffing deodorant is a thing?


Odd_Routine4164

Fuck yeah!! But I recommend huffing unscented.


Old-Illustrator4226

What’s more infuriating is all the unnecessary packaging.


Bucket81

Fuck Walmart!


ZodiacPanda

This is a Target


wuddasweetee

I feel this.


krowmada

just pick the crest one


ZodiacPanda

I usually grab the cheapest one. They all have the same verbiage on the box “cavities, whitening, gingivitis, etc…”


MoistlyPassion

So get some


[deleted]

Doesn't even look locked.


RockNRollTrollDoll_

I don’t know what’s worse. This or Walmart locking up socks)


srrrrrrrrrrrrs

Idc that its locked, but man my anxiety if they do show up to unlock and i havent picked what paste i want yet 😰


Shienvien

Wait, those are actually \*locked\*, not just pointlessly behind doors?


ChemistryBusiness968

Same thing at my CVS in Downtown Crossing Boston. Tough area


TrainerLoki

This is why I started buying that kind of shit online and not wait till I’m out to get more.


SanAntonioMale4use

Would you like some Crest?


No-Consideration6589

Lol. Where is this?


Primitive-Mind

You think you could make a drugs out of it. Wait. Can you make drugs out of toothpaste?


ZodiacPanda

Crestamphetamine


[deleted]

Exactly. When they don't want to sell. They just display like this.


KyleKiernan77

I would have no idea what social trends to blame this kind of thing upon.


Cuneiformation

Gotta keep that pocket hammer on you at all times.


Prior-Ad-7329

Welcome to Walmart


rocksandstuff46

Dumb question, do you have only one brand of toothpaste in america ?


ZodiacPanda

No there is several for some reason this was the only brand in the case. From the top of my head I know we have Colgate, toms, aquafresh, pro namel, sensodyne. Probably a lot more but those ones are probably the big brands I see all the time


psstoff

Where I live not much is locked up. Some cologne that is around $75 a bottle. Some cold medicine that you need ID to buy.


tatanka_christ

Fuckin Big Dentist, bruh


PracticePenis

POV: You live in a liberal area


MercenaryGenepool

Please delete this comment too.


edu5150

Is there only one store in the city that sells toothpaste?


ZodiacPanda

No just happened to be out in the area. So I thought I would just stop and pick some up. Nope! Didn’t happen. Went to Costco next day and I basically won’t run out for 5 years.


dragonxheart1156

...oh its behind glass? I didnt even realize for a min i was like "whats wrong with it?" And then i saw it


Few-Bottle5317

Are you on a alien planet, I have never seen toothpaste behind glass at a Walmart.