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Comment by marcus0x62 | Hacker News Reader

Why would CVS make it objectively more difficult to make a purchase if they didn’t have an earnestly held belief that the risk of theft outweighed the loss in sales of having everything “locked up”?

In other words, what motive do retailers have to lie?

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Because there are dumb regional/store managers who took these now retracted statistics at face value?

The store managers can’t compare how much inventory they ordered with got much of it was sold?

If you're really worried about this kind of thing, would you not take precautions to protect against it?

Because shopping for things behind plexiglass is such a major hassle that people won't bother purchasing at all?

Time never moves slower than waiting for an indeterminate time, possibly forever, for someone to come to open the plexiglass for you, especially as you're not even sure the button you pressed to call for help even worked.

The retracted statistics weren't about the total amount stolen. They were about the percentage stolen by organized retail theft rings.

It still makes sense to lock up your inventory if you're seeing a high rate of theft, regardless of whether it's organized crime or not.

Store Managers at retail chains are not buying locked cabinets for their stores. That decision is being made for them.

Their businesses are failing because they’re mismanaged and online retailers are putting them out of business. Blaming a made up retail theft boogeyman distracts from their incompetence and hopefully keeps stock prices and golden parachutes up a little longer.

Yes, it is a massive conspiracy to detract from…checks notes… recent losses from online retailers. Yeah, that’s it.

No, it isn’t a massive conspiracy. A handful of executives decided to score some political points by publicizing a demonstrably farcical narrative around organized retail theft.

This is what I wonder about. Locking items behind glass has to have some second order effects? When Target started locking toothpaste and laundry detergent behind glass, I stopped going to that store entirely. They lost the sale of whole basket of goods to prevent shrinkage of one item!

When I see this I can’t help but think that these big box retailers are in a death spiral.

Thats my point, they might be saying one thing about shoplifting, but the locked up stores are telling a different story.

being high on their own supply isn't a different story

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