More stores locking up every single item

[MillauFr]

Well, you could go to the store and buy an Amazon Gift Card, or other gift card, but there are a lot of people......using the politically correct term.......who are "unbanked". That is why Check Cashing stores exist.
There is still a digital divide in our nation. People that don't do anything online because they can't. My company was surprised when we went almost entirely remote during the pandemic that there were employees who had no internet access at home. Or the school district who gave kids laptops only to find out not only did many not have internet at home, but in many poorer areas, the internet providers still hadn't even put the infrastructure in. Sac City Schools set up mobile WiFi systems in buses that they would park in those neighborhoods during the school day for kids who had no internet access.

I'm unbanked. I closed my US Bank account 15 years ago. Fidelity offers a much better deal than banks and credit unions do.

 

[tvguy]

I'm unbanked. I closed my US Bank account 15 years ago. Fidelity offers a much better deal than banks and credit unions do.

Fidelity is a member of the FDIC and their cash accounts are guaranteed by the FDIC so technically they are a bank. Just like Wells Fargo. The majority of my assets are with their brokerage firm so just like Fidelity they do both..

 

[sam_gordon]

I noticed Walmart here had legos locked up.

As a PP said, I did 90% of my shopping without stepping inside a store. I hate shopping anymore.

Back in the 80s when I worked at Kmart, the male employees took great delight in chasing down shoplifters. My boyfriend at the time reached in and grabbed a steering wheel and was dragged across the parking lot, tearing up his pants in the process. He wasn’t even 18 yet. Can you imagine that happening now? Not that it’s a good idea, but at least people weren’t afraid to take a stand.

I think you would find many people are willing to take a stand, even now. But they're instructed to not to by policy.

 

[MillauFr]

Fidelity is a member of the FDIC and their cash accounts are guaranteed by the FDIC so technically they are a bank. Just like Wells Fargo. The majority of my assets are with their brokerage firm so just like Fidelity they do both..

Fidelity is not a FDIC insured bank. Your funds are insured by the SIPC.

 

[tzolkin]

Nothing to stop the customers from walking out with said locked up products.

I've thought the same thing. Our local store employees also just hand you the item and let you continue walking around and shopping with it which does feel a bit awkward. I suppose this policy only allows the customer to potentially steal one item at a time instead of grabbing a stack of items off the shelf?

Nothing unusual locked up in our Walgreens or Walmart.

Ours only has a few items locked up, but I think they have been for quite some time. Baby formula has been locked up/behind the counter at least since the early 2000s. I have also recently noticed razors, spray paint, and perfumes but I almost never shop for those items so not sure when that started.

 

[tvguy]

Fidelity is not a FDIC insured bank. Your funds are insured by the SIPC.

Their website says their cash accounts are insured by FDIC. Your brokerage accounts are SIPC insured. They either have a division that is a bank, or have contracts with banks to handle the banking side of their operation. As a brokerage firm they could not offer credit cards or bill paying services without having some affiliation with a bank.
So to your point, you are NOT unbanked if you have a credit card or checking type account.

 

[sasywtch]

Right? It feels like an awfully slippery slope. If the excuse is crowded jails, then what happens when assaults, murders, or (pick your crime here) skyrockets? Ignore the "least violent" of those crimes too? Where does it end? I have no answers, but do know that waiving all consequences for committing one type of crime will likely lead to greater tolerance for others as well- and that won't end well for those voting citizens.

Welcome to California : )

 

[sasywtch]

Not sure I am comfortable defending politicians, but at least here in California, it was the people, the voters, not the politicians that changed the law and put police on the sidelines.

Well, you have to admit the way they word the ballots isn't the best. The Secretary of State is notorious in wording the ballots to get the outcomes they want and the politicians were out there defending this crap.

 

[sasywtch]

Our Walmart has electric shavers/beard trimmers etc locked up. It didn't take long for the person to show up to open the lock but the problem was, she was in a hurry so we couldn't take a few out to read which one was best. I did notice they started locking up Tide and ALL laundry detergents but their cheap brands were not locked up

 

[china mom]

Almost nothing is locked up where I live/shop. Newly released video games at Walmart is the exception but they have been locked up like that for decades.

But back when I was a police officer in the Washington metropolitan area, I worked off duty as security at so many stores, I think I bought a house with my extra income.

I had a very hard transition when I retired and got a job at Lowes and the drilled in to us that if we did anything akin to confronting shoplifters we would be terminated. Not that it was a big issue where I lived but it is a company wide policy.

 

[dioxide45]

It isn't defendable. I just don't understand why stores don't move to the Amazon Go Model where there are no checkout aisles. You just pick out whatever you want and walk out.

I suspect this is an expensive system to implement. Amazon made it work because of the small number of outlets. Imaging trying to install it in thousands of Walmart stores. They may get there some day, but it will be years away if it ever happens.

 

[tvguy]

Well, you have to admit the way they word the ballots isn't the best. The Secretary of State is notorious in wording the ballots to get the outcomes they want and the politicians were out there defending this crap.

True. But the opponents spend a ton of money warning that what HAS happened, WOULD happen, so voters had to be living under a rock not to have heard that warning.

 

[GreatLakes]

The only thing I've bought recently that was locked up is a Nintendo Switch but I also shop a lot online. I hate that we are allowing people to just break the law with no consequences and when you see an area complain about not having any stores because the shrinkage is too high they need to start taking a look at their neighbors and blame them.

 

[sasywtch]

True. But the opponents spend a ton of money warning that what HAS happened, WOULD happen, so voters had to be living under a rock not to have heard that warning.

I don't want to get points but yes, I think many here live under rocks as long as they keep getting that $2000 free money every voting year that just magicaly happens to appear at that time.