🌎 "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.

 

[rick4bama]

Aight. I'm going to be a Walmart spokesperson again.

W+ - $99 a year; free shipping and delivery.
Walmart app.
(Walmart spend, I'll get to that in a minute.)

In the app you can click on scan and go. So, let's say you have five items. Scan them, in the grocery cart (the real one) and the cart in the app. When your done, both loaded.
Click checkout. You scan a QR code on the screen, click pay, and your done. It'll ask you how many bags, etc.

(Walmart Spend. It's a credit card. I have one where all my Walmart purchases go. Walmart doesn't take Apple or Google pay, if you use them, so it's a bypass with the app and the card.)

So, as an example. I stopped by one the other day to get four items for the mower and some wood chips for the smoker. I scanned them all when I put them in the basket. A few clicks on my phone and I was out the door: all it took was a shot of the QR code. I could have all that shipped free; didn't need it that day. But I wanted to look at their spring plants ...

E.Z.

April told me we never go out to shop anymore. I tell her it the best thing! It's keeping me out of jail!

 

[TerryP]

April told me we never go out to shop anymore.

It's not IF I go out, it's all about when and where. Before the delivery options became so prevalent, NOW is when I would do my "dry goods" shopping at places like Wally's world. At 1:30 AM, most of the people that are there are second shift folks...or third, with a little time off.

Here's what I consider to be a crazy side note. There's a vape shop up the street that is open 24 hours a day. Home Depot? No. But it SHOULD be!

 

[It Takes Eleven]

It's not IF I go out, it's all about when and where. Before the delivery options became so prevalent, NOW is when I would do my "dry goods" shopping at places like Wally's world. At 1:30 AM, most of the people that are there are second shift folks...or third, with a little time off.

Here's what I consider to be a crazy side note. There's a vape shop up the street that is open 24 hours a day. Home Depot? No. But it SHOULD be!

More folks look to satisfy cravings around the clock than to do home repairs.

More folks look to shoplift when there's just a skeleton crew at a store than when it's fully staffed.

I was at the Home Depot in Trussville several weeks ago, moving an outlet for a closet buildout, and needed an old work box, outlet with USB, covers, etc., and some wire. It irked me to have to buy a short run of wire, because I know there's some still in a box somewhere, but it was interesting that all the 12/2 and heavier copper wire was locked off. I had to have them call a manager to unlock the cabinet. When she got there, she asked, "are you done shopping?", I said yes, and then she walked me to the checkout. It was like buying a gun at Academy, getting the walk to the door.

@UAgrad93 do you guys lock off your copper wire in Alex City, or is that an east Bham thing?

 

[sean]

More folks look to satisfy cravings around the clock than to do home repairs.

More folks look to shoplift when there's just a skeleton crew at a store than when it's fully staffed.

I was at the Home Depot in Trussville several weeks ago, moving an outlet for a closet buildout, and needed an old work box, outlet with USB, covers, etc., and some wire. It irked me to have to buy a short run of wire, because I know there's some still in a box somewhere, but it was interesting that all the 12/2 and heavier copper wire was locked off. I had to have them call a manager to unlock the cabinet. When she got there, she asked, "are you done shopping?", I said yes, and then she walked me to the checkout. It was like buying a gun at Academy, getting the walk to the door.

@UAgrad93 do you guys lock off your copper wire in Alex City, or is that an east Bham thing?

We had to do that at Home Depot when people bought power tools, especially the batteyr0powered ones. Most didn't like it at first. But I always told them to blame the thieves for all the stuff being locked in cages and having to be walked to the register.

Also, meth heads don't give a shit how the store is staffed or how many people are there. They'll come in in the middle of the day, full staff, and try to steal stuff. We had several regulars that we KNEW were always trying to steal. So we'd just follow them around, talk to them a bunch, and generally try to make them feel uncomfortable. Also, we had a program on the computer that you could enter in information about a thief...description of the person, the items they stole or tried to steal, license plate number, car description, etc. And that information would then be available to all the other stores within a certain radius. And if that person went in to another store, the facial recognition software would recognize them (as long as they were tagged in the original store) and alert the loss prevention person on site (usually an assistant manager) that they were on the premises.

The exterior cameras at the Pelham Home Depot could read the license plates of cars out on Highway 31. They were pretty impressive. And the ones inside the store could track in individual throughout the store no matter where they went. There wasn't an inch in that store, minus the bathrooms, that wasn't covered by cameras.

 

[rick4bama]

More folks look to satisfy cravings around the clock than to do home repairs.

More folks look to shoplift when there's just a skeleton crew at a store than when it's fully staffed.

I was at the Home Depot in Trussville several weeks ago, moving an outlet for a closet buildout, and needed an old work box, outlet with USB, covers, etc., and some wire. It irked me to have to buy a short run of wire, because I know there's some still in a box somewhere, but it was interesting that all the 12/2 and heavier copper wire was locked off. I had to have them call a manager to unlock the cabinet. When she got there, she asked, "are you done shopping?", I said yes, and then she walked me to the checkout. It was like buying a gun at Academy, getting the walk to the door.

@UAgrad93 do you guys lock off your copper wire in Alex City, or is that an east Bham thing?

I went into Russell-Do-It Shop and pick up a box of 3/8 copper tubing. Same as for the wire too. Our Wally doesn't stay opened 24/7.

 

[Krimson]

More folks look to satisfy cravings around the clock than to do home repairs.

More folks look to shoplift when there's just a skeleton crew at a store than when it's fully staffed.

I was at the Home Depot in Trussville several weeks ago, moving an outlet for a closet buildout, and needed an old work box, outlet with USB, covers, etc., and some wire. It irked me to have to buy a short run of wire, because I know there's some still in a box somewhere, but it was interesting that all the 12/2 and heavier copper wire was locked off. I had to have them call a manager to unlock the cabinet. When she got there, she asked, "are you done shopping?", I said yes, and then she walked me to the checkout. It was like buying a gun at Academy, getting the walk to the door.

@UAgrad93 do you guys lock off your copper wire in Alex City, or is that an east Bham thing?

Makes me ill to be treated like a criminal. I mean I understand the store had to take measures but I'll leave in a minute to go to a local place that doesn't treat me that way.