So, I’m not sure this is the greatest policy in the world. Why would you publicly come out and state that you won’t prosecute anyone for stealing things under $25? It seems like a huge invitation for questionable people to come in to your store and go to town.
Another thing they said was that they wouldn’t prosecute anyone under 18 years old. WTF? So if you aren’t an adult, should you feel free to steal? Now obviously most people are honest and wouldn’t do anything with this information, but what about the percentage of people that are dishonest? It sure seems like they are opening a can of worms.
Yet another interesting tidbit in the article was that they are doing this so that they can focus on the professional thiefs and their employees. Wow. That’s a nice thought. It’s no secret that employers lose a percentage of their product due to shrinkage, but I’m sure it’s even more significant at Walmart:
http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/13/news/companies/walmart_shoplifters
So, please do not steal from Walmart, or any other company for that matter! It’s not nice!
I have seen a reason that a Walmart should not be built is due to all the Crime at the Store. They get police stats on how many calls a store has had and then point out that it must have a lot of crime (Don’t mention that Walmart called on every shoplifter and half the town it seems is always at the store). So don’t build a new one near me because of all the crime. This would for sure reduce the calls and reduce the “crime” around the store.
As I understand it, they didn’t actually come out and say it, but that their policy change got leaked to the press. Wal-Mart is usually pretty tight lipped about their policies to begin with.
The general idea is that they lose more money prosecuting petty shoplifters than they do by letting them go. This is for first time offenders, by the way. They also lose police protection if they call in somebody for lifting a pair of socks when the police decide that they don’t need to head right over to Wal-Mart because they are busy doing something more important.
I imagine they still have ways to embarrass you if you are caught. Most people don’t shoplift, not because it’s illegal but because the payoff is rather small in comparison to the potential shame.
Good points. I did see in the end of the article where it says the information got leaked, and I can understand why they would want to limit the amount of times they try to prosecute from a cost perspective, but it still seems to give a bunch of hoodlums one “get out of jail free” card.
This is insane. Even if Wal-mart decides to go along with this. I would be extremely mad if companies went public with what we are doing. You’re still going to get those idiots that steal $24.99 worth of stuff.
Next time, I think Wal-mart should do this without telling
Prosecute petty shoplifters? No.
But what they do to ‘em when they drag the hoods back to the Fabrics and Crafts Section ain’t pretty.