Thread: Some shoplifting is now permissible at Wal-Mart

http://link.toolbot.com/nytimes.com/78114

July 13, 2006
Some Leeway for the Small Shoplifter
By MICHAEL BARBARO
Wal-Mart refuses to carry smutty magazines. It will not sell compact discs with obscene lyrics. And when it catches customers shoplifting — even a pair of socks or a pack of cigarettes — it prosecutes them.

But now, in a rare display of limited permissiveness, Wal-Mart is letting thieves off the hook — at least in cases involving $25 or less.

According to internal documents, the company, the nation’s largest retailer and leading destination for shoplifting, will no longer prosecute first-time thieves unless they are between 18 and 65 and steal merchandise worth at least $25, putting the chain in line with the policies of many other retailers.

Under the new policy, a shoplifter caught trying to swipe, say, a DVD of the movie “Basic Instinct 2” ($16.87) would receive a warning, but one caught walking out of the store with “E.R. — The Complete Fifth Season” ($32.87) would face arrest.

Wal-Mart said the change would allow it to focus on theft by professional shoplifters and its own employees, who together steal the bulk of merchandise from the chain every year, rather than the teenager who occasionally takes a candy bar from the checkout counter.

It may also serve to placate small-town police departments across the country who have protested what the company has called its zero-tolerance policy on shoplifting. Employees summoned officers whether a customer stole a $5 toy or a $5,000 television set — anything over $3, the company said.

At some of the chain’s giant 24-hour stores, the police make up to six arrests a day prompting a handful of departments to hire an additional officer just to deal with the extra workload.

“I had one guy tied up at Wal-Mart every day,” said Don Zofchak, chief of police in South Strabane Township, Pa., which has 9,000 residents and 16 officers. He said the higher threshold for prosecution “would help every community to deal with this.”

J. P. Suarez, who is in charge of asset protection at Wal-Mart, said it was no longer efficient to prosecute petty shoplifters. “If I have somebody being paid $12 an hour processing a $5 theft, I have just lost money,” he said. “I have also lost the time to catch somebody stealing $100 or an organized group stealing $3,000.”

The changes in Wal-Mart’s theft policy are described in 30 pages of documents that were provided to The New York Times by WakeUpWalMart.com, a group backed by unions that have tried to organize Wal-Mart workers in the United States.

The group said it received the document from a former employee at the chain who is unhappy with the new policy.

In interviews, several current and former Wal-Mart employees said the new shoplifting policy undermines their work and would, over time, encourage more shoplifting at the chain.

But Wal-Mart said it would closely track shoplifters it did not have arrested, and would ask that they be prosecuted after a second incident. (Under the new policy, it will also seek the prosecution of all suspected shoplifters who threaten violence or fail to produce identification, no matter how much they are trying to steal. Not carrying identification is a popular tactic among professional shoplifters to avoid arrest.)

“There is not a lot of margin for success for those intent on making a living stealing from us,” Mr. Suarez said. “We will put them in jail just as we always have.”

Still, the new policy, which became effective in March, is in many ways a striking departure from Wal-Mart traditions. In the past, the company has proudly defended its aggressive prosecution of shoplifters, saying it helps hold down prices.

“Other retailers might offset the cost of shoplifting with higher prices,” a spokeswoman said in a 2004 interview. “But we don’t do that.”

Indeed, Wal-Mart’s zero-tolerance policy can be traced to its founder, Sam Walton, who tied employee bonuses to low theft rates at stores. Stolen merchandise, he wrote in his autobiography published in 1992, the year he died, “is one of the biggest enemies of profitability in the retail business.”

Over all, American retailers lose more than $30 billion a year to theft, according to the National Retail Federation, a trade group.

In the book, “Sam Walton: Made in America,” Mr. Walton boasted that the amount of merchandise lost to theft at Wal-Mart was half that of the retailing industry’s average.

With the new policy, though, employees “are confused,” said a former Wal-Mart employee who worked in the loss prevention department at a store outside San Jose, Calif..

“They want to stop shoplifters,” she said. “They want to do what they are trained to do.”

But if the shoplifter is under 18 or steals less than $25 worth of products, “they can’t do anything,” said the former employee, who left the company shortly after the new shoplifting policy was put into effect and spoke on condition of anonymity because she said she feared retribution.

Chris Kofinis, director of communications at WakeUpWalMart.com, said the policy “is a head-in-the-sand strategy that is far different than what Sam Walton would ever have wanted, and it’s not clear this is the best strategy for Wal-Mart workers.”

Mr. Suarez, the Wal-Mart executive, said there was “overwhelming” employee support for the new policy because it would more effectively deter theft.

Wal-Mart is not alone in giving shoplifters some leeway. Its new policy “is consistent with guidelines many retailers use,” said Joseph J. LaRocca, vice president for loss prevention at the National Retail Federation.

Retailers, he said, have learned that prosecuting small shoplifting cases “does not warrant the store resources or the judicial resources required, given the dollar amount that was stolen.”

In some cases, loss prevention executives said, retailers will prosecute only shoplifters who steal at least $50 or $100 worth of merchandise. The legal costs required for prosecution, they said, are simply too high. Stores must hire a lawyer for employees who become witnesses in a trial, for example, and pay workers overtime to appear in court.

Until now, they said, Wal-Mart was the exception. “They would arrest somebody for stealing a pair of socks,” said Chief Zofchak in South Strabane Township. “I felt we were spending an inordinate amount of time just dealing with Wal-Mart.”

Since Wal-Mart enforced its new shoplifting policy, arrests have fallen at the store in Harrisville, Utah, according to authorities there. But the town’s chief of police, Maxwell Jackson, still prefers the original zero-tolerance rule.

“Once the word goes out that there is a dollar limit,” he said, “there will be more stealing.”

But now, in a rare display of limited permissiveness, Wal-Mart is letting thieves off the hook — at least in cases involving $25 or less.

What a 5 for 5 deal. Must be the new 5 finger discount.

I know we have officers at my local Wal-Mart 24-7.

Dixie

I wonder what prompted this change? Too many illegal invaders stealing from them, and it's becoming too expensive to press charges

They deserve everything they get and its only going to get worse.
I hate Wal-Mart! I will not give them my money!

At this Theft course that was mandated....there were people who were busted by Wal-Mart that made easy-enough to do mistakes. One dad had taken his kids to Wal-Mart to get items for the new puppy. Didn't take a cart so everyone was holding various things. I think it was a dog collar he slipped over his arm...in view...but with the rucus of kids he forgot to take it off his arm. He made like 2 steps out the door...realized his mistake and in the process of explaining to the kids that they had to go back in and pay for it.....security busted him. No mercy. Another employee was busted because she forgot about the box cutter in her smock after she was doing freight and left the store on lunch break with it. No mercy. Now these people have criminal records when they made a mistake.....and blatent theives are going to get the go ahead. Nice.

JAK,

I'm with you on that one. I refuse to shop at WM.

Can you imagine the wave of shoplifting which will now occur at every WM nationwide?

This should be an interesting event to follow.

Smart move printing this policy in the paper for all to see

Smart move printing this policy in the paper for all to see
_________________

Wonder if they managed to print a Spanish version?

Those are thieves that steal those big items do it for money.

People looking for a better life just need a place to eat out. Now they can continue to eat at Walmart and not be afraid that someone will think they're thieves. It's OK. My my we're going to have to have PC regrooving here. Eat at Walmart it's free! No don't buy things thats how they make up for what you eat.

Originally Posted by ConcernedCitizen

I wonder what prompted this change? Too many illegal invaders stealing from them, and it's becoming too expensive to press charges

Hi Concerned Citizen, Perhaps WalMart perfers to be nice to the illegals; after all, walmart hires illegals (as evidenced by the many times their illegal workers have been apprehended).

Is it true, that Walmart is the largest corporate employer of illegals?
___ Largest corporation that includes illegals in their workforce?
___ Largest number of illegals on the property (all their properties)?

For the latest
http://walmartwatch.com


"How can I help you?"
The Pride of Walmart -
Decent, Hard-working, WalMart Employees ("associates")

Here's just 3 articles from WalmartWatch:
Illegal workers found at Wal-Mart renovation site
http://walmartwatch.com/clips/archives/ ... tion_site/
Authorities took 10 illegal aliens into custody after finding them working for a subcontractor that was renovating a Wal-Mart.
04/04/06 - Wal-Mart in the News

Illegal Aliens Arrested at Wal-Mart Construction Site
http://walmartwatch.com/clips/archives/ ... tion_site/
ICE agents executed federal search warrants on trailers belonging to five subcontracting companies working at the construction site of a new Wal-Mart Distribution Center in Butler Township, Pennsylvania.
12/19/05 - Wal-Mart in the News

Class Action Against Wal-Mart Picks Up Steam
http://walmartwatch.com/clips/archives/ ... tion_site/
Now that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to pay $11 million to settle a government probe into the hiring of illegal aliens, both plaintiffs lawyers and the company are using the settlement as ammunition for the next battle: a national class action in Newark, N.J.’s federal court.
04/06/05 - Wal-Mart in the News