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Comment by kortilla | Hacker News Reader

Has any city been able to do that? With the current hands-off punishment of theft, stores have multiple incentives working against them to open in low income neighborhoods.

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Retail theft as a new/major issue is mostly a lie, told by corporations and parroted by the media who love a crimewave story, even if its fabricated.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/business/walgreens-shopli...

If you google the New Yorker and Atlantic articles on shoplifting issues in the US, you get a slightly more nuanced take combining them all.

What I take away is that retail theft 1) is technically on the rise, mostly due to the ability to then sell those goods online, including on Amazon 2) It doesn't impact major retail chains by much, basically they do what they've always done and just adjust prices. It actually helps amazon on some other online sellers. BUT 3) it definitely contributes to how shitty it is to actually work retail 4) AND it will influence where places like Walgreens set up shop (I'm neutral on this, I would rather have a bunch of local corner stores than walgreens)

No it’s not. My local grocery store has incidents hourly, heck, you can get lucky and see it for yourself where some guy just walks out with a basket full of stuff (security can’t really stop them given liability). If it were fabricated, we wouldn’t see it happen in person so much.

> (security can’t really stop them given liability)

what does this mean? Isn't that the whole point of security?

Security is instructed not to physically restrain anyone, that is a power for the police alone. Because they can get sued.

Is there a problem with thievery of apples, oranges, asparagus and beetroots? I don't have the numbers but I would bet money that most store thievery is cigarettes, alcohol, maybe sodas, and small electronics, pills at CVS, etc.

So no, I don't think theft is the major factor.

Laundry detergent, baby milk powder are pretty popular if they aren’t locked up already. QFC in Capitol Hill had to lock up ice creams which is surprising to me since it can’t be fenced. Lego’s are popular at local neighborhood Targets, they were being fenced at Pike Place Market for awhile. I saw some lady buying up shop lifted paper towels on third and pine once when waiting for the bus (before they closed the stop down last year). I’m like WTF, really? If it isn’t perishable, it’s probably fair game.

Yes, but my point my OP was about the lack of grocery stores with healthier options -- i.e., fresh fruits and vegetables, etc. -- in lower income neighborhoods. Those are perishable and therefore much less of a target.

Yes, but perishables are more difficult to stock, so they still get neglected in lower income neighborhoods. But ya, unhoused neighbors aren’t shoplifting kale.

> perishables are more difficult to stock, so they still get neglected in lower income neighborhoods

exactly, and this is a big part of the problem; we have no problem subsidizing corn for Ethanol, why can't we provide incentives that provide lower income people access to healthier food?

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