🌎 "My big issue with self checkouts and ordering kiosks is that the goods didn’t get cheaper when replacing a wage employee with a robot."

 

[TerryP]

The number is way off. In total, there are thirty stores in the State of NY. Twenty-six in New Jersey. They plan to close fourteen stores in 2026, including one in New York and two in New Jersey. Those closings are component of the 150 they announced in either late 2024 or in 2025.

I'll see if I can find the report clip. I have my doubts...not that I could find it, but doubt I'll spend the time today looking. The day has been turning on its head the last four hours and I'm not a fan of its direction. (All I want is to watch a baseball game at 2...geez.)

My gut tells me it was BNN Bloomberg though it may have been CBC. I have been a bit caught up in reading about their debates on Canada's doctors killing people euthanasia.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Fall of 1985, Memphis TN.

I met a guy named Bobby who worked at Sears, of all places, in loss prevention. Dude. The location was a little smaller than the Dillards in the Mall on McFarland. And by a little...10K+ SQ ft smaller. They had a dual-operated camera / monitor / video bank that looked like a TV production studio...and hand controlled joysticks following and recording people around the store. In the mid-80's that was "high tech."

As soon as a shoplifter left the store, crossed the threshold, it was on.

We had the same type of setup... they had just upgraded the system and cams before I started. You could zoom in enough to read credit card numbers.

We had the same policy on the threshold... allow them to cross every last point of sale to give them an opportunity to pay for or dump stuff, but if they didn't, as soon as they hit that first door or threshold, it was goodnight. On a few occasions we'd take them down inside the store if we knew they were professionals, people that had been trespassed already, or people that stole certain things, or had a getaway car waiting at the doors. In AL, concealment itself is considered theft, so once any of them put stuff in a bag, purse, pocket, down their pants, under a stroller, etc... it was already a crime. Most fun job I ever had up until they promoted a far left liberal white lady to be over our division and she took the fun out of it plus she was an ignorant bitch. So we all left.