Walmart CEO warns company will close stores if theft doesn't slow down

[Stevicus]

Walmart CEO warns company will close stores if theft doesn't slow down (msn.com)

• Doug McMillon told CNBC that theft is 'higher than what it has historically been' at stores
• He said that along with stores closing if theft doesn't slow down, prices could be higher.
• Reuters previously reported that Walmart loses roughly $3 billion in theft each year.

The theft rate is on the rise at Walmart.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon issued a stark warning Tuesday: If theft does not slow down, the retailer will close stores across the country.

"Theft is an issue," he told CNBC. "It is higher than what it has historically been."

He added: "If that's not corrected over time, prices will be higher, and/or stores will close."

McMillon did not say during the interview how much money Walmart has lost in stolen items this year. Walmart did not immediately reply to an Insider request for that number.

But the world's largest retailer likely loses about 1% of its US revenue — or roughly $3 billion every year — to stealing by customers and employees, Reuters reported in 2015.

McMillon said the key to reducing theft is Walmart working with local law enforcement agencies and ensuring that those agencies are fully staffed.

The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retail giant is not the only retailer that has recently sounded the alarm on theft.

Missing inventory has reduced Target's gross margin by more than $400 million in 2022 compared with last year, and Target expects those profit losses to grow to $600 million by the end of the fiscal year, Target CFO Michael Fiddelke said in November during a company earnings call.

Target predominantly blamed the inventory shrink on organized crime.

"Along with other retailers, we've seen a significant increase in theft and organized retail crime across our business," Target CEO Brian Cornell said during the earnings call.

The article also mentioned that Target is getting hit with heavy losses due to theft.

I've seen it happen where some stores have to shut down just because of theft. It's happened in some of the lower-income areas where crime is typically higher, but the impact of these stores shutting down creates problems for people who have to travel further to get food and other necessities. The thieves create problems for others, more than just the storeowners. It can affect entire neighborhoods and communities.

I saw another article this morning about an elderly worker at Home Depot who was killed trying to stop a shoplifter (Death of elderly Home Depot worker who tried to stop robbery sparks outrage: 'Where are the reparations?' (msn.com)).

It's not that I have any real sympathy for the corporate executives who run these Big Box enterprises, but I also have no sympathy for thieves. In the end, it's the ordinary honest working people who live in these communities are the ones who suffer.

 

[F1fan]

It's easy to be middle class folks and think idealistically about theft at stores like this. Over the years it is apparent that these thefts happen in places of lower income, and communities with less opportunities. The poor want the American Dream, too, but have vastly more hurdles to get there than the middle class who take opportuniy as a given. Theft is illegal and morally wrong, but i can see how theft from super wealthy businesses as a sort of reparations from slavery and the ongoing racism against minorities and the poor. Abstractly there is a sort of justice in theft.

I expect the RF conservatives to condemn this as a blanket ideal, only assessing this problem from their narrow, personal perspective, and find another example to support their subtle bias against minorities and the poor.

 

[We Never Know]

Walmart CEO warns company will close stores if theft doesn't slow down (msn.com)



The theft rate is on the rise at Walmart.







The article also mentioned that Target is getting hit with heavy losses due to theft.

I've seen it happen where some stores have to shut down just because of theft. It's happened in some of the lower-income areas where crime is typically higher, but the impact of these stores shutting down creates problems for people who have to travel further to get food and other necessities. The thieves create problems for others, more than just the storeowners. It can affect entire neighborhoods and communities.

I saw another article this morning about an elderly worker at Home Depot who was killed trying to stop a shoplifter (Death of elderly Home Depot worker who tried to stop robbery sparks outrage: 'Where are the reparations?' (msn.com)).

It's not that I have any real sympathy for the corporate executives who run these Big Box enterprises, but I also have no sympathy for thieves. In the end, it's the ordinary honest working people who live in these communities are the ones who suffer.

I read that earlier. I see higher prices before closing stores. Although neighbourhoods may play a roll in store closings.

 

[PureX]

All those drug addicts have to get their drug money somehow. And they've learned that they can just walk in and walk out with lots of valuable stuff at many of these stores. No minimum wage security guard is going to risk their lives trying to stop them. And the cops can't sit there all day keeping them away. And it's not just Walmart, it's all the big box stores.

 

[Revoltingest]

Theft is illegal and morally wrong, but i can see how theft from super wealthy businesses as a sort of reparations from slavery and the ongoing racism against minorities and the poor. Abstractly there is a sort of justice in theft.

I expect the RF conservatives to condemn this as a blanket ideal, only assessing this problem from their narrow, personal perspective, and find another example to support their subtle bias against minorities and the poor.

It's like the "narrow, personal perspective" of the left,
ignoring the fact that few steal for genuine compelling
need to survive. They want.
To provide justification that those corporations are rich,
slavery, social injustice, racism, evil capitalism, etc. is
booOOOoooOOOOoooOOOOoooOOoooOOOogus.
This is particularly so, since organized crime is doing
much of the stealing.
What's the net result of such losses?
Higher prices, food deserts, & onerous security, all of
which lands in the wallets of rich & poor alike.

 

[PureX]

It's easy to be middle class folks and think idealistically about theft at stores like this. Over the years it is apparent that these thefts happen in places of lower income, and communities with less opportunities. The poor want the American Dream, too, but have vastly more hurdles to get there than the middle class who take opportuniy as a given. Theft is illegal and morally wrong, but i can see how theft from super wealthy businesses as a sort of reparations from slavery and the ongoing racism against minorities and the poor. Abstractly there is a sort of justice in theft.

I expect the RF conservatives to condemn this as a blanket ideal, only assessing this problem from their narrow, personal perspective, and find another example to support their subtle bias against minorities and the poor.

We think that when we force people out of the system, they're just going to magically go away and disappear. Unfortunately, they become criminals with no hope and respect for life or property. And their number are growing.

 

[PureX]

This is particularly so, since organized crime is doing
much of the stealing.

Organized crime ... you're about 15 years behind the times. And those people moved around, and were small in number. Now days it's every neighborhood thug and meth addict, and they just blatantly walk in and start grabbing stuff, and walk out. They know that no one will stop them, and no one will come after them, later.

 

[Revoltingest]

Organized crime ... you're about 15 years behind the times.

Actually, it was mentioned in the linked article
in the OP. This is a current phenomenon, ie,
that organized gangs are doing much of the
stealing. Get with the times, ya old geezer.

 

[Valjean]

If the Wall family monopoly hadn't created massive unemployment and driven numerous local businesses out of business; if they didn't pay starvation wages and deny full-time employment benefits, people might be prosperous enough to pay for their purchases.

 

[wandering peacefully]

Organized crime ... you're about 15 years behind the times. And those people moved around, and were small in number. Now days it's every neighborhood thug and meth addict, and they just blatantly walk in and start grabbing stuff, and walk out. They know that no one will stop them, and no one will come after them, later.

I would ask why are they stealing? Is there any way to get to the root of the problem? If so, what needs to actually happen to make stealing and gang violence unnecessary?

 

[Shaul]

It's easy to be middle class folks and think idealistically about theft at stores like this. Over the years it is apparent that these thefts happen in places of lower income, and communities with less opportunities. The poor want the American Dream, too, but have vastly more hurdles to get there than the middle class who take opportuniy as a given. Theft is illegal and morally wrong, but i can see how theft from super wealthy businesses as a sort of reparations from slavery and the ongoing racism against minorities and the poor. Abstractly there is a sort of justice in theft.

I expect the RF conservatives to condemn this as a blanket ideal, only assessing this problem from their narrow, personal perspective, and find another example to support their subtle bias against minorities and the poor.

Your "class warfare" explanation is false. That isn't the cause. People didn't resort to rampant stealing in the Depression. Stop with the spreading of divisiveness.

 

[PureX]

Actually, it was mentioned in the linked article
in the OP. This is a current phenomenon, ie,
that organized gangs are doing much of the
stealing. Get with the times, ya old geezer.

They aren't really that "organized". It's just that it works, and the perps all know it, So they all do it. The drug dealers and fences that take in the stolen stuff are organized enough to know how to turn it into money, I suppose.

 

[Shaul]

If the Wall family monopoly hadn't created massive unemployment and driven numerous local businesses out of business; if they didn't pay starvation wages and deny full-time employment benefits, people might be prosperous enough to pay for their purchases.

Blame the victim? Since the recent rise in thefts isn't unique to Walmart your explanation is inadequate.

 

[Shaul]

Meanwhile in Philadelphia....

Philly gas station owner hires security guards armed with AR-15s and dressed in kevlar vests | Daily Mail Online

So it isn't unique to Walmart.

 

[Revoltingest]

They aren't really that "organized". It's just that it works, and the perps all know it, So they all do it. The drug dealers and fences that take in the stolen stuff are organized enough to know how to turn it into money.

Arguing about the level of organization is uninteresting.

 

[Revoltingest]

Blame the victim? Since the recent rise in thefts isn't unique to Walmart your explanation is inadequate.

The left bears much responsibility for fostering
a climate of hostility against business & the wealthy,
which appears to inspire & justify criminal behavior.

 

[Valjean]

Blame the victim? Since the recent rise in thefts isn't unique to Walmart your explanation is inadequate.

The impoverished are opportunistic. I doubt if they study corporate history so they can target only those most to blame for the growing underclass.

 

[PureX]

I would ask why are they stealing? Is there any way to get to the root of the problem? If so, what needs to actually happen to make stealing and gang violence unnecessary?

We really need to face the reality that it's too late for that, now. Very, very few gangbangers, drug addicts, or homeless crazies are EVER going to rejoin society. There is no "fixing" this. Once we've locked people out of 'normal society', and they've accepted their fate, they aren't coming back. Who even wants them back, really? We didn't want them around in the first place. It's why they are where they are.

So now we have to decide what we're going to do about all these broken people that we've created because of our greed, and our bigotry, and our selfishness, and our willful ignorance. Because their numbers have grown massive and we can't keep ignoring them, anymore. Our cities are fulling up with them. Our small towns are choking and dying all across the country from poverty. Thousands and thousands of them. And the people still living in them are getting more and more 'broken'. From drugs, and alcohol, and hopelessness.

We still don't seem to understand that this can't be fixed. And it's going to keep getting worse. The solution was not to push those people out of our society in the first place. But we did it, anyway. And now here they all are. Doing whatever they have to do, to survive.

 

[Stevicus]

It's easy to be middle class folks and think idealistically about theft at stores like this. Over the years it is apparent that these thefts happen in places of lower income, and communities with less opportunities. The poor want the American Dream, too, but have vastly more hurdles to get there than the middle class who take opportuniy as a given. Theft is illegal and morally wrong, but i can see how theft from super wealthy businesses as a sort of reparations from slavery and the ongoing racism against minorities and the poor. Abstractly there is a sort of justice in theft.

I expect the RF conservatives to condemn this as a blanket ideal, only assessing this problem from their narrow, personal perspective, and find another example to support their subtle bias against minorities and the poor.

But there's no real "justice" in it, even if they may gain some (very) temporary instant gratification for getting one over on the Man. The people who end up suffering are those who work in these stores and the people who live in the community.

 

[Shaul]

The impoverished are opportunistic. I doubt if they study corporate history so they can target only those most to blame for the growing underclass.

I see you assume all the perpetrators are "poor". I don't concede that.