California Big Lots manager fired for trying to retrieve shopping cart from shoplifter

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WhatInThe

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A California Big Lots store manager fired for trying to retrieve a shopping cart off a shoplifter. Said they had 40 carts for Christmas and are now down to 5. The thief was in the process of stealing 15 jugs of Tide detergent when the manager tried to get the shopping cart back only.

https://ktla.com/news/california/fi...ng-to-get-shopping-cart-back-from-shoplifter/

Pathetic when that type theft has to be overlooked and a lost shopping cart is a bigger issue. They'll be no store merchandise to put in a cart to actually buy.
 

OK, so you can reprimand the managers to not intervene in a theft, however, in this case, they were offered their merchandise back, so there was no harm. The person who fired these 2 managers should have been the person to get fired. Thus random thievery has to stop. It us costing us, the customers, that have to pay for the stolen goods and I am tired of it. Lock up the merchandise. Charge $1 for a cart, which will be refunded at checkout. Stop charging the customers for your lack of willingness to stop the thievery.
 
It comes down to legal liability. If the Big Lots corp. told its employees to stop shoplifters, and the managers were hurt or disabled, even killed, they would be responsible for their medical bills, etc. So, if someone swipes a cart worth a few hundred dollars vs. $1,000,000 in legal fees and compensation. As company president which would you rather pay? They had to let the managers go, otherwise it could be construed the company allowed employees to put themselves in danger. (Lawyers!!!)
Today, legal liability drives decisions. I was a Registered Nurse. I remember the day it was exactly 7 years since I retired. That meant I could no longer be sued for my actions as a nurse. And it might not be something I did. I could be dragged into a suit, because of something a doctor did. For some reason, they have to sue everybody involved.
 
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It's not just employees many of these big corporations in particular are worried about being sued by the criminals. The problem is shoplifting has been minimized so much over the last decade by many states and cities that it's basically sanctioned looting.

I'm still wondering who the criminal thief is going to sell a dozen jugs of Tide to. Many go to organized gangs which ship overseas. But I've seen local yard sales where it was pretty obvious they were selling stolen goods even if they bought them off a thief. Who has over a dozen boxes of brand new sneakers to sell every yard sale a couple Saturdays a month?

To make matters worse this is the day and age of supply chain and inflation issues so these criminals have a bigger impact especially when stealing in bulk.
 
That thing with the shopping carts locking is real. I experienced this at Safeway once when I backed out of the self check out because the person in front of me was blocking, it locked at the exit door.

But yes, what a mess. The businesses use a tax write off for the losses I guess. This and everything thrown in dumpsters instead of being donated. Some items purposely slashed on red painted before thrown in the dumpster. I could never work in a store and do that.
 
RadishRose said:
They've been stealing Tide for years.
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yes because they go on facebook marketplace or ebay and say something like ....
"oops i bought too much will sell for discounted $$ "

yet no one implicates FB or others in distribution of stolen goods. Pawn shops need ID and many take a fingerprint too to make sure they do not buy or sell stolen goods but on internet listings no one cares.....
 
WhatInThe said:
A California Big Lots store manager fired for trying to retrieve a shopping cart off a shoplifter. Said they had 40 carts for Christmas and are now down to 5. The thief was in the process of stealing 15 jugs of Tide detergent when the manager tried to get the shopping cart back only.

https://ktla.com/news/california/fi...ng-to-get-shopping-cart-back-from-shoplifter/

Pathetic when that type theft has to be overlooked and a lost shopping cart is a bigger issue. They'll be no store merchandise to put in a cart to actually buy.
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...so it's not just the UK where this lunacy happens ?
 
Remy said:
That thing with the shopping carts locking is real. I experienced this at Safeway once when I backed out of the self check out because the person in front of me was blocking, it locked at the exit door.

But yes, what a mess. The businesses use a tax write off for the losses I guess. This and everything thrown in dumpsters instead of being donated. Some items purposely slashed on red painted before thrown in the dumpster. I could never work in a store and do that.
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this is the reason our supermarkets make us pay a deposit for a supermarket trolley... and also the wheels lock after the trolley goes over a certain parking lot boundary.. sometimes it's only as short as 20 feet from the door..
 
Remy said:
Lets enjoy shopping at Target San Francisco.

More retail
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They need to invent a large product vending machine for everything they sell. That way, you don't get it unless you paid.

Could you imagine watching your laundry detergent get pushed off the shelf and into the retrieval basket?

Then there's the gallon of milk that gets stuck.
 
hollydolly said:
this is the reason our supermarkets make us pay a deposit for a supermarket trolley... and also the wheels lock after the trolley goes over a certain parking lot boundary.. sometimes it's only as short as 20 feet from the door..
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I think they should start this here. I see shopping carts around town. There was a Goodwill one at my workplace when there were a lot of homeless in the gulch behind the business. I called Goodwill. It disappeared but I don't know if they picked it up or a homeless person took off with it.
 
Been There said:
OK, so you can reprimand the managers to not intervene in a theft, however, in this case, they were offered their merchandise back, so there was no harm. The person who fired these 2 managers should have been the person to get fired.
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If this story is accurately reported I agree. I guess I can understand stores not allowing untrained non security officers to intervene, but what happened here is over the top...
 
Remy said:
I think they should start this here. I see shopping carts around town. There was a Goodwill one at my workplace when there were a lot of homeless in the gulch behind the business. I called Goodwill. It disappeared but I don't know if they picked it up or a homeless person took off with it.
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We used to have a huge problem with stolen Shopping trolleys, they'd be found everywhere including rivers and streams,... so eventually something had to be done. I believe in some US States they've already implemented the coin deposit scheme

here it costs a £1 coin into the trolley slot, which as soon as we put the trolley back into it's proper place the coin comes back out..

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trolley-coin-hack-4426646.jpg
 
Remy said:
Looks pretty simple @hollydolly But I think Europe is always ahead on things. The U.S. can sadly lag behind.
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well it would make a huge difference if they implemented the same thing. We've had it for many years now... even Spain and Greece have the same thing..

you can see how neatly they stack, and of course the other thing is that it puts and end to trolleys rolling into parked cars..

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We’ve had coin locked grocery store carts here for years. Now there‘re some stores that have the locking wheels instead. When the coin locks started, people finally learned to return their carts to the central stalls so it’s not as much of a problem for stores that don’t use the locks now.
 

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