Guess a career at Lowes is out of the question.

[bcoop]

Damn, it's almost like they're welcoming thieves to just come in and take what they want. Anyone else here think the same?

lol

[soap]

Where I work at we punch. Drop kick. And body slame. And chock out shoplifters.
One time I was getting my ass kicked by a big black mofo. So bad I had to fake I was knocked out. Then I had to pull a bitch move. And do a Sneak attack from behind. I Choked his ass out.

[GeorgeG.]

Where I work at we punch. Drop kick. And body slame. And chock out shoplifters.
One time I was getting my ass kicked by a big black mofo. So bad I had to fake I was knocked out. Then I had to pull a bitch move. And do a Sneak attack from behind. I Choked his ass out.

lmao.... at least make something up.

[vert_95]

When I worked at best buy this kind of stuff happened on a weekly basis. A guy would walk in grab a couple of laptops or some x box stuff and walk right out the front door. Their policy was to ask them to stop but never get physical.

[pr1042]

I worked at Lowe's about 6 years ago and the policies are ridiculous. The LP guy had to have the thief on camera walking in the store, physically stealing the item(s), and walking out. If at any point they go off camera for more than 30 seconds he had to let him go. A case had to be built on each person. If LP watched someone take an item and run he let him go because he didnt know about the cameras.

Those are pretty standard policies for most major retailers

[brandon01rt]

Those are pretty standard policies for most major retailers

Fuck that. If you can't produce a receipt for the $600 dewalt set you just walked out with here comes a throat punch.

[DFWtechie]

Wally world has plain clothes guys who are walking the store and are on walmarts payroll. they are allowed to follow and try and try to get product back. My daughter works at one and she is good friends with one of them.

[Chili]

One of my brothers did loss prevention at department stores back in the malls in the 80's. Back then they used to run people down, physically restrain them and all that. Seemed like fun. That was in California though, so I'm sure they are all "hands off" now.

[Pokulski-Blatz]

One of my brothers did loss prevention at department stores back in the malls in the 80's. Back then they used to run people down, physically restrain them and all that. Seemed like fun. That was in California though, so I'm sure they are all "hands off" now.

They are hands off except for one or two chains (Fry's and Macy's). I have worked retail LP for three different companies now and will never do it again. It is a super boring field until you get into internal investigations and even then it isn't that interesting. The fiscal benefit of a store level employee makes no sense at all. I was working an average of 35-40 hours per case with an amount recovered less than $150 per case. The company was losing a lot of money on the store level LP program.

[Pokulski-Blatz]

When I worked at best buy this kind of stuff happened on a weekly basis. A guy would walk in grab a couple of laptops or some x box stuff and walk right out the front door. Their policy was to ask them to stop but never get physical.

Fuck grab and runs. There is no way to catch those fuckers other than file a police report. The Macy's I worked for would get hit weekly almost, they seemed to like Levi's.

[stevo]

really necessary to quote first post there?

If you weren't a noob you wouldn't have asked that question.

Stevo

[YALE]

They are hands off except for one or two chains (Fry's and Macy's). I have worked retail LP for three different companies now and will never do it again. It is a super boring field until you get into internal investigations and even then it isn't that interesting. The fiscal benefit of a store level employee makes no sense at all. I was working an average of 35-40 hours per case with an amount recovered less than $150 per case. The company was losing a lot of money on the store level LP program.

The value is in deterrence. If people think they might get caught, they're less likely to steal. If people think a store doesn't care if they steal, they're more likely to steal.

[Pokulski-Blatz]

The value is in deterrence. If people think they might get caught, they're less likely to steal. If people think a store doesn't care if they steal, they're more likely to steal.

There is no real deterrent, shrink numbers were out of control at my last store. They just so happened to be the number two store in caught shoplifters for the district. The number of shoplifters that steal like you would think are rather tiny. The majority of the shrink came from grab and run thefts (most were $2500 and up), bad inventory, and improper damages.

We weren't allowed to do anything other than look for the traditional shoplifter. No addressing issues with the product protection systems in place, no teaching employees proper damages procedures, no camping out the grab and run door to try to nab one of those bigger fish, no internal theft cases.

That added up to a shrink number of almost 4% of gross sales.

My dad has been doing LP for about 38 years now and after a long conversation with him he was astounded at the lack of action. Shortly after that I decided that it wasn't for me. The only way I would work in that field again is if I were working 90% internal theft or some sort of risk management.

It felt like we were chasing our tail, nothing more than a waste of time and money. But then again, I don't get paid the big money to make decisions.

[Sean88gt]

The value is in deterrence. If people think they might get caught, they're less likely to steal. If people think a store doesn't care if they steal, they're more likely to steal.

The deterrence of jail has sure worked to reduce crime in low income areas.

[talisman]

One of my brothers did loss prevention at department stores back in the malls in the 80's. Back then they used to run people down, physically restrain them and all that. Seemed like fun. That was in California though, so I'm sure they are all "hands off" now.

LOL, my sister worked at Dillards in Six Flags Mall in the late 80's and had some pretty entertaining stories about the LP guys chasing down people in the parking lot. Hearing those stories constantly is probably what caused me to snap when that guy stole that tool set so many years ago.

The real problem for most LP departments is internal theft and paperwork errors. This is where a majority of retail shrink happens at most companies, believe it or not.