Re: WalMart search

[Baron Chandler <thebaron@mindspring.net>]

> This is one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't, situations.
> If you have ever parked a car in a parking garage you have no doubt seen
> the "Not responsible for... Etc." signs they have posted. Leaving your bag
> / purse / briefcase / whatever at a counter carries the same liability in
> that the store and its employees are not responsible for any loss or
> damage, but if you don't leave the item at the front you can't go in. And
> no most places do not have a "coat check" type of service for items.
> 
> Unfortunately this is again a problem that has occurred due to the decline
> of a polite society. If shoplifters didn't try to steal stuff by hiding
> them so often in bags/purses/etc. they brought in we, the honest shoppers
> wouldn't have to be subjected to infringements on our personal freedom.

Yes, but I must say that fraud/theft is just a cost of retail business. I pay
21% on my Searscharge. Why? Theft. Fraud. Loss. If they don't want to run
the risk of someone stealing shit, don't put it out for sale. I feel the 
same way about $$$ cars, but that's another post/topic.

What galls me is the direction of all this. Good, honest people, get screwed
because the crappy x% of society (that should be fucking killed on general
principle) can't play by the rules. I refuse to be caged just because 
someone can't stay inside the playpen. And I refuse to deal with any system
that does this.

As to the loss/liability - if they REQUIRE you to leave it they should be
responsible for it. I suspect thats why the oft back off when challeneged,
because a) most people don't challenge them and b) they have but a peg leg, if
any at all, to stand on. As a business owner you have the right to choose
your customers... well sorta anyway. I mean I suppose you couldn't hang a sign
that says "No Blacks" on the door and get away with it for long... Perhaps
therein lies the difference. When does the thing cross the line from being
"choosing your customers" to "being illegally discrimintaory?"

Of course, nobody hangs that sign on the door. They do other things. Banks
go thru their files all the time looking for trends in their customers. They
are constantly devising systems to encourage the business of customers that
make them money and discourage the business of customers that cost them money
or have little potential. 

The restaurants in Buckhead don't have signs on the door that says "No 
Fatsoes". They don't need to; their cheap-assed plastic lawn furniture does
all the talking necessary for them. They choose their customers I suppose;
I certainly choose who I give my money to.

I have to say again, tho, that it is just wrong to put the screws to everyone
over a bunch of yahoos. And, the same clerk that would kick the shit out of
someone for shoplifting tells ME not to worry about it (or is totally in
annoyed shock) when I bring something back into the store to pay for it when
I accidentally took it without paying.

> rates; to cover their losses). Me, I have a cross-cut shredder that makes
> wonderful confetti out of old bank statements, pre-approved credit card
> applications, old receipts, whatever else I don't want someone to get ahold
> of.

Yep. Same here. I have been laughed at a lot about shredding my stuff. I have
a bag of receipts and stuff that needs destroying. 

I have an issue w/ pre-approved credit card applications - if they same
company won't mail out a set of 50 $100 bills to you, how can they send you
pre-approved credit card apps...? I mean, the fraud potential is just the
same... but they try to shift the blame for their risky stupidity onto your
shoulders - how dare you let someone steal your mail!? 

Or what about the bankruptcy policies they're trying to push thru on credit
cards; you can't get out of the debt they try their damndest to put you in?
They gamble that you're an honest, good person or something. More often now
they're losing that gamble and I, personally, am loving every minute. Risk
is what it's all about, boys.

> Personally, I think if stores were allowed to hang the dead bodies of
> shoplifters they had caught and executed, from poles outside the stores, it
> would cut down on shoplifting overnight.

I dunno; it might cut down on the mood of the shoppers. Though, I must admit
that half the time I go into Target I smell the bodies when I walk thru the
door. Maybe that's why they don't have the checker people at the doors?

What you have to do is simply make it more lucrative to be honest than be
a crook... or more time consuming or more difficult. It just has to be no 
longer worthwhile. 

I do have a strong working theory on this -- and that is that there are just
people who will and people who won't. I'm at a loss as to why either way, but
I know that when I walk into a store the thought "I could make off with that
watch over there" never comes into my mind. I suspect that is the majority
of the population - it isn't a matter of being afraid of getting caught, or
letting someone down, or even conscience.... it just never enters their mind
to DO it in the first place. It is for that reason that I suspect the hanging 
bodies would prolly not work very well.

Well, now, that was a tome.

Baron.