Home Depot selling power tools that won't work unless they're activated at a register
- Thread starter y_p_w
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Which "costs" the stores more, this ^^ or just allowing rampant theft ? Sure seems like it's cheaper or more cost-effective for the stores to allow thievery.
Two decades ago when I briefly worked for Sears, I knew they were done when someone could be bring old/rusty decrepit "Craftsman's" tools and exchange them for new ones. One time did a $1200 exchange! Whoa....I will say Home Depot just announced that no returns w/o a receipt. (Effective 1/31/20220) No store credit either. So, if you used CC/have receipt or by entering your ProExtra Account # (if used), you're covered. I read somewhere Congress may also enact policies making resale of stolen goods harder. Something has to be done and I agree w/HD on this. I just hope these escalating prices/shortages come under control. Brave new world, hopefully one for the better.
Except I would get tired of having to wait for or hunt down a clerk to open up the cages just so I can look at things, and would be annoyed as they watched me, as if I needed to "hurry up" because they have better things to do. I'd just as soon shop elsewhere so their cage lost them a sale.
One Home Depot near me has a good middle ground solution. The most valuable things, corded and cordless power tools and accessories, are in a sort of caged off area, where everything inside is accessible to pick over, but there is only one entrance and exit to this contained loop and one employee per shift is in charge of monitoring it when customers go in. I don't mind that at all, is even better to have an employee so nearby instead of having to maybe walk 50+ yards to find one that isn't busy helping someone else, or else wait for them to be available.
Yes I can see a lot of future electronics will be tracked this way, thieves may steal 1 or 2 from customers at parking lot but that's not very profitable (eventually will be caught and won't be able to do this in large scale). You cannot deter all thieves only make them less / not profitable.Interesting how they're trying to deter theft using Bluetooth to enable the tools at checkout. Kind of reminds me of gift cards that have no value unless they're activated. This could probably work with things like expensive electronics. And of course who would steal a car these days when they're connected to the internet services like OnStar. I've heard of OnStar slowing down a car after it was reported stolen.
Home Depot Power Tools Won't Work Unless You Pay For Them
The digital content market has a big problem with piracy and most still resort to DRM technologies to fight it. Theft, however, has been a…www.slashgear.com
They is some concern that shoplifters will still steal this stuff and try to sell it to unsuspecting people. That, and stealing stuff from customers after purchases are completed.
HD didn't allow return without receipt I think since last summer around here.
Congrats, with customer like you, in 10 years every store will be a club store and your neighborhood will turn into a slum. They may lose 5% of the sales but they make it back with 50% reduction in loss from people who pretend to be just like you.
A lot of thieves are pretty dumb, wearing same clothing, especially winter coats that they normally wear so even with a mask on, someone who knows them can often make a good guess to ID. Plus, being the renegades they are (lol), many dumb shoplifters choose not to wear masks during covid. See example below.
Maybe where you're located, property crimes aren't pursued but they are here, every time it's a valuable enough item for the store to report it. How is it "risky" for a LEO? It has to happen, to be a deterrent. It's not a waste of time at all, that's what they are there for, to enforce all laws not just the ones that YOU feel should be enforced.
I'd rather they started aggressively stopping people for excessive vehicle headlights to serve as a deterrent to that too, but as I already stated, my local precincts DO post many pics of shoplifters caught on camera and many are identified. How many end up prosecuted, I couldn't say.
I remember reading an article that a long time ago, the first "self service" supermarket has through the ceiling fences and rotational, single direction "gate" thing that customer has to go through to get in and out of. Yes there were thieves and people with self checkout or self service (supermarket instead of general store) will end up stealing more things.
We today with all these self checkout are just repeating the same experiment, we are going from little to no services and little to no staffs. Stores are experimenting and so are thieves, eventually we will find some solution that is not more expensive than letting thieves go. Every box will be huge so you cannot hide under your coat (cosmetic with huge blister pack, Costco super pack that you can't steal enough to worth the trouble), kiosk that you pay then unlock a tag with a scanner on serial number, vending machine inside a store, etc. There'll be lots of way to get it working.
Plus they don't need to pay above minimum wage and a customer service manager to deal with alarmguy if they are all self service.
But didnt this all start on the West Coast?
(and other northeastern states which we know whom they are, including the famous praised and disgraced governor who had to resign, even got an Emmy from those over there on the West Coast)I think the lenient enforcement polices over there for real criminals ... well ... no politics allowed but its in the papers everyday.
Its the voters choice for those policies and nothing more... I can see why you may be defensive but its your backyard there, not ours.
Flash mobs, non enforcement of petty thefts allows people to just walk in and out of stores there, complete lack of quality of life enforcement action, tent cities, I hear its disgraceful to even go to Disney Land there??? unless the photos I am seeing in the media are lies?
Maybe if you all could get together over there and enforce the quality of life issues you all facing instead of revolving doors of lack of justice .... we dont have that there or allow it. So being spot checked for receipts are not a big thing here.
Even your post wants to tell me what I should be doing, not what is taking place over there and the policies people vote for. Deflection is rampant over there.
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Yeah if it is because of the policies and politics why didn't it stop somewhere else? Let's be honest here, money talks, and the reason they currently aren't stopped is it cost more to tackle customers (insurance liability, employee injury, extra headcounts, etc). The only way it will cost one store more than the other is if only one does it and it makes more money than the others, other than that the cost is baked into the sale price and profit margin to sell the items.But didnt this all start on the West Coast?
I think the lenient polices over there ... well ... no politics allowed but its in the papers everyday.
So in layman's terminology: thieves is part of the cost of doing business and currently, it cost less to either 1) close the store in bad area, 2) raise prices, 3) lock the items up, 4) membership store selling harder to steal stuff, 5) hire more people to guard the items.
Which one do you want to pick? locking the thieves up isn't on the top 5.
No point discussing anything with you, its just not interesting for me, nor the forum we are from two different worlds and ideologies. Not a secret, one just need look at the politics of the states and law enforcement. Ill end this as the thread most likely will be closed. Good day my friend, live and let live, I dont tell people what they should do.
I was in the airport. Think it was Midway Chicago and I went in the sundry store. This was a different. You had to swipe your credit card to get in. You gathered what you wanted and walked out. Somehow it knew what you bought and charged your card. There were a couple employees standing outside explaining/monitoring it.
Except it is, at least here. Instead of trying to tackle them, a police report is filed, investigated, and many apprehended. Reducing chaos and criminal behavior in society is worth a few dollars and pays back dividends. For example if a store is known to be hard on riff raff, they are less likely to shop there, so I don't have to put up with them either, so yet another reason I'd prefer to patronize one store over another. For example, I only set foot in a walmart to buy automotive batteries, nothing else... and that WM isn't even in a bad part of town, but somehow all the undesirables in society prefer to shop there. I'm not suggesting everyone who shops there is an undesirable, but the % seems higher than other stores in the same few miles radius.
Ironically the local WM does check receipts, when they are too busy for staff to monitor whether someone is slipping past registers vs going to the bathroom or customer service desk, but it's typically an older gentleman or woman, who has little chance of stopping someone if they were to try.
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Maybe, maybe not. It is hard to imagine people filing police report on a $3 ebay item getting stolen, and sometime (although not right), local voters tend to vote not putting people in jail because it cost a lot of money jailing someone over $100 of power tool that "someone else" is paying for.
Heck, even in lawless area gangs also enforce their order differently based on cost. Not all violations get enforcers attention the same way.
^ I'm sure the stores don't bother on very low ticket items, but your typical shoplifter doesn't target things that inexpensive either.
Around here there is no concept of it being a problem that incarcerating people costs more than the loss. Where would that end? You rob a bank, get $20K, but don't get a year in prison because it would cost over $20K?
Seems like a terrible place to live, anywhere criminals aren't held accountable so no deterrence from repeat offenses. I see it a little different if it were, say a loaf of bread and lunchmeat to feed someone's children, but when it's more likely something they're going to sell on ebay, Craigslist, or FB Marketplace, throw the book at them! Get them off the streets! It's a better use of my tax money than some other crap the government wants to spend it on.
Around here there is no concept of it being a problem that incarcerating people costs more than the loss. Where would that end? You rob a bank, get $20K, but don't get a year in prison because it would cost over $20K?
Seems like a terrible place to live, anywhere criminals aren't held accountable so no deterrence from repeat offenses. I see it a little different if it were, say a loaf of bread and lunchmeat to feed someone's children, but when it's more likely something they're going to sell on ebay, Craigslist, or FB Marketplace, throw the book at them! Get them off the streets! It's a better use of my tax money than some other crap the government wants to spend it on.
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I suggest you actually talk to law enforcement. Property crimes, like these thefts, are not aggressively pursued. Too risky, too pointless, and few prosecutions are made. I know, I talk to law enforcement. And I pay attention to this stuff.
I recently was shopping at a big-box store and paid for my stuff. As I was getting to my vehicle, thieves pushed a cart full of goods out the door, and loaded into their vehicle. I took pictures. They fled. I told the store manager and he was so uninterested it was amazing. They simply know that it's a losing battle and waste of time filing reports to police who will do nothing, and courts which will do less...
My friend owns a gun shop. He was burglarized. Luckily he only had 1 gun not in the safe, but it was however stolen. The thief was caught, gun was recovered (destroyed/defaced by the criminal). The thief received effectively no punishment. My FFL friend was very upset. No restitution. No jail time. But my FFL friend's insurance premium doubled. Go figure.
In the end, my friend was out the gun (destroyed), his insurance premium deductible, received no "justice," and his insurance premiums doubled. The criminal received no real world punishment.
Thrice victimized.
They look at the cost of their time in reporting little things vs mass group shoplifting. But reporting takes time especially for something small and inexpensive.
I didn't start this to being a war over what state/town does what over shoplifting. I saw this as a national issue where a company like Home Depot is doing this across the board at every single store because "shrinkage" is happening at every single store. I thought this could be a civil discussion about the technology and the drawbacks.
It depends. If someone robs a bank or a convenience store of a really small amount, the amount may not matter so much as the perp pointing a gun at someone. Armed robbery over $200 in a cash register is far more serious than someone walking out the door with $1500 in power tools.
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