Lowes Home Improvement- how do they afford it?

Back when I was in Retail management, mid 2000’s, I wasn’t allowed to physically intervene. What I could do is distract and have an employee call the police. I often had shoplifters caught red handed with items hidden on them, but sometimes they ran out when they knew we where on to them. What was more worrisome is the the majority of shrink was internally related to employees. I did a dang good job at cutting that also, as my bonus was based on net profit ;). When I took over this certain store, shrink went from about 100,000 the year I took over, to 1800 my last inventory.

The best way I found to deal with known shop lifters is to kill them with customers service and prevent it from happening, instead of trying to stop it after it has happened. The current policy’s of most places protect the shoplifter, not the employee.
 
I don’t recall exactly where I got the number, but I believe that the shrinkage at both Lowe’s and HD is $1,000,000 per store per year.

I like the new return policies, they really don’t affect me and they prevent returns. They must be working because I don’t see store credits for sale on Craigslist as much as I used to. I’m seeing lots of inventory in pawn shops, sales may be slowing on CL as well.
 
I can tell you this might happen at my local store however the general public would put a stop to it. We do have our problems here but this would not be put up with. Yes the store should handle it however if I see it I'm not going to hide in my cell phone or type it up later here you watch it and do nothing hell you might as well grab a handful of stuff to. We should not rely on someone else to do the right thing.....if we all do what's right when something like this is going on then it will lessen. I understand not wanting to get involved and some issues that could arise from it but I can tell you if you always try and do what you know is right everything will work out in the end.

OK off my soap box now
 
Our local Lowes calls them their "Special Customers". It was a Saturday last year?? and we had an employee helping us but it was obvious she was distracted...… they were trying to catch some thieves. She said it was the same group of 2-3 people, sometimes they would come in the store multiple times per day. She said they also had some type of scam where they would return stolen merchandise for cash. I can't remember exactly how it worked , but they were crafty.
 
Some years ago but one of my shooting buds was a city cop and he was on a special crime unit investigating and making arrests for "blue collar and white collar" crime. Lots of embezzlement and inside "jobs". They got called to my local HD where they had a guy on security cam stealing stuff multiple times. HD asked for a stake out and got it. They caught the guy wheeling out a lawn mower. He presented them with a KFC receipt. The cops were like WTF. The HD folks said he had done that before too, showing an HD employee a KFC receipt as he was heading out the door with merch. The HD employees were like OK he has a receipt. It's just too easy and the stores make it too easy. Off duty uniformed cops cost a whole lot less than $1000 a day. My bud used to do it. Bought his and her Rollies one Xmas with the extra money.
 
gunbelt said:
States with laws that you can’t use deadly force to protect property are stupid. Killing thieves is the only way to be sure they won’t steal again.
Click to expand...
Cleanup at the Tool Corral. Too expensive for the Cleaners to show up daily.
 
Mike79 said:
I can tell you this might happen at my local store however the general public would put a stop to it. We do have our problems here but this would not be put up with. Yes the store should handle it however if I see it I'm not going to hide in my cell phone or type it up later here you watch it and do nothing hell you might as well grab a handful of stuff to. We should not rely on someone else to do the right thing.....if we all do what's right when something like this is going on then it will lessen. I understand not wanting to get involved and some issues that could arise from it but I can tell you if you always try and do what you know is right everything will work out in the end.

OK off my soap box now
Click to expand...


You hit them high , I’ll hit them low.
 
Doesn't just happen in the store...

Couple years ago, I was at Lowes on Hanes Mall Blvd in Winston. It was around midday. Was walking to my truck and saw a dude with his face pressed against the driver's side back glass. He had his hands held up to the sides of his head...reckon to shield his eyes from the sun so he could get a good look at what I had in the cargo area.

I was a few steps away when he moved up to the driver's door and pulled on the handle a few times. I hollered, "HEY...didya lock your keys in there?" He grinned and said, "Si...yes." Took my keys out, held them up, hit the unlock button and told him, "No sweat, dude...I have a spare set."

He started walking off pretty quick. Told him, "Good idea...keep moving, MFer." Must have understood, because he shot me a scowl. Made a motion like I was shooing a fly away and said, "Go on...you best get the hell on outta here."
 
So as some of you know I used to work at Walmart, in the electronics dept at first. My...... competent and attractive manager with impeccable personal hygiene decided it would be a grand idea to take a stack of 10 laptops and make a cool pyramid at the edge of our department to entice the passers by.

Apparently it worked because within an hour, six of them had gone! Huzzah! Oh wait, could that black guy with three in his cart, hustling towards the garden centre exit and looking around like he's wearing a pork chop tuxedo to a lion party perhaps be boosting? Let's follow him and find out (all we are allowed to do). I tag a manager to call for more managers on the way past and lose sight of the guy (more about her later). When I track the guy down he is stripping the packaging off the last laptop and adding it to a cache of them near the garden centre exit that they've hidden behind some flower pots on a shelf. He gawps at me and sort of freezes, then books for the exit. I can't chase him, because policy and because I am old and fat and don't actually feel like getting stabbed today so Walmart can lose a little less money.

The manager I tagged, a countrified Valkyrie of a lass, all blond tresses, dirty tequila stories, down-to-Earth hotness and totally lacking in BS doesn't even pause, she goes after him like she means business and chases the guy out the garden centre into the Stygian depths of the parking lot beyond, because they still haven't fixed the cable the tarmac guys dug up. I start to follow, because while I don't give a hoot about Walmart I am not modern enough to let a lady fight some booster alone, but my boss arrives and literally grabs my shirt to stop me.

I argue, she smacks me down like a drill sergeant (imagine a pitbull in dress slacks, awesome boss and so sick of customer BS) and we peer into the dark and see Valkyrie wandering back giggling like a nut. Apparently she cornered the dude and told him to drop anything he stole, he shucked his pants and said he dindunuffin, waving at his garish boxers to prove he wasn't concealing any merch. She started laughing so hard he had a chance to grab his pants and make a break for it before she could react.

LP was not amused. We were. I got a $50 gift card from boss for spotting the guys and we even managed to repackage all but one laptop.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom