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Target Closing 9 Stores in cities because of Theft

Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by gator95, Sep 27, 2023.

  1. G8R92

    G8R92 GC Hall of Fame

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    From everything I've read, organized crime rings are the biggest contributor to company shrink.


    Home Depot Tracked a Crime Ring and Found an Unusual Suspect

     
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  2. demosthenes

    demosthenes Premium Member

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    Maybe not, that’s hard to say either way but the reported numbers don’t support such a claim leaving us to take the company’s PR for its word against reported numbers.

    At any rate, the more telling indicator to me is the type of Target stores closed in my area. One was located in a downtown area that doesn’t see much foot traffic anymore, one was in a hard to reach location off 84 and didn’t seem busy the last time i picked something up there, and the third was literally a remodeled bowling alley so it was about 1/4-1/3 the size of a normal Target. On the other hand, the Target closest to me is always busy with people streaming in and out.
     
  3. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

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    I know a lot of people in retail and shrink is a math problem. Prices are higher so retailers are selling few units at higher prices. People are not steeling fewer units though so the percent of stolen units is up and the cost per stolen unit is up cuz inflation. Bam. More shrink. Everything else is social media induced hysteria. There have always been theft rings and have always been mobs. They just weren’t on video and distributed easily.
     
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  4. BLING

    BLING GC Hall of Fame

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    Everything here is likely true, except I think the “flash mobs” are a bit driven by social media. A group of 50 or 100 showing up to smash and loot all at the same time? I don’t think that happened at all before social media, it’s a relatively recent phenomenon.

    That being said, those flash mobs I don’t think represent the big picture of organized retail theft. Thats where I agree with you. They just represent the most shocking looking video to post to social media.
     
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  5. surfn1080

    surfn1080 Premium Member

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    Look at all the food and diapers they are taking.

     
  6. WC53

    WC53 GC Hall of Fame

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    The interlacing of theft groups with the car burglary (to get CC and Id’s) has been a problem for a while. If arrested, disappear after bonding out.
    It seems there are a lot more traveling theft groups now or just media highlights.
     
  7. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

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    The purpose of this is to take random and rare anecdotal stories and flood them into social media to convince right wing voters the country is coming unglued so they shit their pants and go vote.

    26CBC645-9678-458A-8EF9-C01795688F6E.jpeg
     
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  8. gator95

    gator95 GC Hall of Fame

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    No, the purpose of this is to show that this is happening, even though some like you are trying to downplay it. Shocking.

    https://capitaloneshopping.com/research/shoplifting-statistics/

    upload_2023-10-23_13-38-59.png
     
  9. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

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  10. gator95

    gator95 GC Hall of Fame

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    You do it if you want it.
     
  11. surfn1080

    surfn1080 Premium Member

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    Funny because when I first started posting in this thread it was a report from Lowe’s showing they have large increasing amount of loss due to theft.

    Plus how many stores are even reporting this stuff to the police anymore?

    How about we look at what is being reported as losses by the companies.

    https://www.investors.com/news/reta...swelled to,and the National Retail Federation.

    upload_2023-10-23_15-14-33.png
     
  12. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

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    HILARIOUS. This entirely proves my point... Look at how the bars are taller even though the percentages bounce between 1.4% and 1.6%. This should end the discussion on this thread. The bars are higher cuz costs are up. The percent of loss is steady. "They" assume you are all simpletons. That chart is cracking me up.
     
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  13. gator95

    gator95 GC Hall of Fame

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    So companies went from $50Billion in losses in 2018 to over $100Billion in losses in 5 years and that’s just inflation? LOL. Weren’t you arguing inflation isn’t bad in another thread?
     
  14. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

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    • I was arguing inflation is mostly over and attributed to corporate price taking and some supply shortages on that thread, not what you stated.
    • Do you know what a percent to sales means? It means as sales goes up and the percent of people stealing stays the same.. and get this... shrink goes up. Yep even though no more people are stealing.
    • I have no idea where that meme chart came from. It was poorly annotated and graphically misleading. As you can see the actual retail sales went up by 35% from 2018 to 2022 and a shrink rate with a very small movement of 1.4% to 1.6% would make the amount of shrink go up a seemginly alarming 84% over that time. That seems like a lot but it isnt when you are talking 0.2%, especially when it was 1.6% in 2019 the very next year.



    [​IMG]
     
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  15. surfn1080

    surfn1080 Premium Member

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    Lol what is hilarious is you don’t understand the article or the graph.
    Anyhow let’s keep it simple.
    It’s gone from 50 billion to over 100 billion since 2018.

    But let’s talk about the shrink rate. Of course the rate didn’t change since we just experienced trillions of dollars entering the market. Of course that also helped push us into the current mess. But when sales are at all time highs, it’s going to help the shrink rate. What happens next year being retail numbers are going down for non essential items but theft maintains or keeps going up?
     
  16. surfn1080

    surfn1080 Premium Member

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    He doesn’t know what he is looking at.
    Inflation has some part in that since item cost went up. But it doesn’t make up for that big of an increase. The rate of theft has just increased.
     
  17. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

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    Did you just ask me what happens if numerator goes up and the denominator goes down? LMGTFY. Geez. The whole point of this thread is that the numerator and denominator have been growing the same so therefore the rate is virtually the same but someone posted a video somewhere so all bets are off. You guys crack me up.
     
  18. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

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    The rate of theft in that slide is the same in in 2019, 2020, 2022, and lower in 2021 and 2018. Im here all week for tutoring. Cost is $75 an hour but in two weeks time you’ll have fractions and percents down pat. I guarantee it.
     
  19. surfn1080

    surfn1080 Premium Member

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    That slide doesn’t show rate of theft.
    First the bars show theft in value.
    Second it shows average shrink rate.
    average shrink rate is total losses in value against total profits.

    If theft doesn’t slow down but profits do, guess what goes up…
     
  20. surfn1080

    surfn1080 Premium Member

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    No, the whole point is theft is increasing. Did you even read the article???
    If you don’t want to at least attempt to do your own reading and research just so you can maintain your political stance, let me know so I can move on from conversation.