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Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(107,111 posts)
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 01:33 PM Jul 2021

Home Depot plans to foil shoplifters with power tools that won't work if they're stolen

Home Depot has a clear message for professional shoplifters: Stay away.

The home-improvement chain is unveiling power tools that won't work unless they're properly scanned and activated at the register via Bluetooth technology. If a thief managed to smuggle a power drill out of the store without paying, the drill simply wouldn't turn on.

Scott Glenn, Home Depot's vice president of asset protection, told Insider about the company's fight against organized retail crime. He made a point to distinguish between "professional shoplifters" and disorganized solo thieves. The pros, he said, frequently are connected to a larger network that can, in some cases, function as a sophisticated "shadow business."

"There are very organized groups where the leaders at the top are recruiting people that are drug-dependent, homeless, or down on their luck and offering them incentives and providing shopping lists to go out and bring back certain products," Glenn said. "At the top levels of these hierarchies, there are absolutely good administrators that understand the return on their money."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/home-depot-plans-to-foil-shoplifters-with-power-tools-that-won-t-work-if-they-re-stolen/ar-AAMrJaS

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Home Depot plans to foil shoplifters with power tools that won't work if they're stolen (Original Post) Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Jul 2021 OP
This is a necessary development. Mosby Jul 2021 #1
A response is needed for sure Devil Child Jul 2021 #10
Fry's is still around Archetypist Jul 2021 #19
Uh... they went bankrupt and closed all their remaining stores a few months ago Initech Jul 2021 #20
wow, OK, that's too bad Archetypist Jul 2021 #26
Or, you know, they could just keep them in locked cases. dawg Jul 2021 #2
You know that they will inactivate themselves 18 months after purchase for certain? Sherman A1 Jul 2021 #15
No, but it adds one more complicated component to the tool that can potentially fail. dawg Jul 2021 #17
+1 leftstreet Jul 2021 #21
Like we can trust Home Despot PurgedVoter Jul 2021 #3
Ace hardware. Locally owned franchise. Lochloosa Jul 2021 #13
If someone steals a drill and sells it on the street, it won't matter whether it works or not. Towlie Jul 2021 #4
And that technology will be hacked in what, a few months? Pobeka Jul 2021 #5
Wait for it... Wait for it... Wait for it... Hugin Jul 2021 #7
then the thief sells it on ebay... Takket Jul 2021 #6
The construction industry has been using Bluetooth for a while dalton99a Jul 2021 #8
Oh great, Home Depot is now floating a trial balloon on power-tools as a service Devil Child Jul 2021 #9
Scott Glenn almost gets it. WhiskeyGrinder Jul 2021 #11
If it's a well thought-out, one-time procedure at the cashier, it should be feasible DFW Jul 2021 #12
Agreed Sherman A1 Jul 2021 #14
Imagine if you purchase a tool and take it home zuul Jul 2021 #18
Of course it would. DFW Jul 2021 #23
Keep the items in a store room. roamer65 Jul 2021 #16
walmart has display and sale items in a locked case , and that includes power tools . AllaN01Bear Jul 2021 #22
This message was self-deleted by its author ExTex Jul 2021 #24
One of my jobs during High School was at Service Merchandise. That's exactly how it was done. Progressive Jones Jul 2021 #25
I bought my first stereo system at Service Merchandise in the late 1970's. madinmaryland Jul 2021 #27

Mosby

(16,168 posts)
1. This is a necessary development.
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 01:43 PM
Jul 2021

Because you can't safely stop or confront shoplifters anymore. People are aware that major retailers will not touch a person so shoplifting is spiraling out of control. The only exception is when employees and customers are threatened.

 

Devil Child

(2,728 posts)
10. A response is needed for sure
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 02:12 PM
Jul 2021

I'm leaning more towards keeping the high-value items in bulk off the retail floor. When I used to shop at Fry's Electronics (when they were in biz) you would choose your computer hardware, complete purchase, and they would pull it from the cage at the register.

Archetypist

(218 posts)
26. wow, OK, that's too bad
Mon Jul 26, 2021, 01:08 PM
Jul 2021

I swear I drove by one recently but maybe they just had not taken down their signage yet

dawg

(10,610 posts)
2. Or, you know, they could just keep them in locked cases.
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 01:45 PM
Jul 2021

But they'd have to hire an extra employee to get them out for customers, so fuck that added expense. Let's just make inferior products that will probably inactivate themselves 18 months after I buy them!

Sherman A1

(38,958 posts)
15. You know that they will inactivate themselves 18 months after purchase for certain?
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 02:40 PM
Jul 2021

Organized Retail theft rings are very, very real and very, very costly to the Retail Sector and I guarantee you that you are the one that ends up paying for the theft.

In the grocery business they target, baby formula, batteries, Tide detergent among other easy to turn products.

As mentioned in the OP these folks come in with a list of things to steal and this is not a crime of opportunity for a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of booze.

dawg

(10,610 posts)
17. No, but it adds one more complicated component to the tool that can potentially fail.
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 03:25 PM
Jul 2021

This is just another example of the extreme lengths today's companies will go to in order to avoid hiring more employees or paying them more.

PurgedVoter

(2,191 posts)
3. Like we can trust Home Despot
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 01:47 PM
Jul 2021

And now they are painting the homeless as the evil. How much expense does this add to your bottom line and how likely is the blue tooth apparatus to help with planned obsolescence. Any organization will know how to bypass the Bluetooth block, by software or by wiring.

Since the Home Depot Founder said Retailers Who Don’t Support GOP “Should Be Shot”, and gave 7 million to put Trump in office, the clear message to smart compassionate customers has always been: Stay away. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/home-depot-founder-retail_n_144863 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/home-depot-distances-itself-from-trump-supporting-cofounder-after-calls-for-boycott-2019-07-10/

Towlie

(5,308 posts)
4. If someone steals a drill and sells it on the street, it won't matter whether it works or not.
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 01:48 PM
Jul 2021

 
?

And beside that how much effort do you think it would take to hot-wire a drill? Power tools are generally pretty simple machines.

Pobeka

(4,999 posts)
5. And that technology will be hacked in what, a few months?
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 01:49 PM
Jul 2021

Just stand there at the checkout with a bluetooth receiver doing a legitimate purchase, sniff all the bluetooth activity.

Hugin

(32,778 posts)
7. Wait for it... Wait for it... Wait for it...
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 01:51 PM
Jul 2021

Ransom ware attacks so you can use your drill or electric toothbrush are on the horizon.

dalton99a

(81,073 posts)
8. The construction industry has been using Bluetooth for a while
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 02:00 PM
Jul 2021

A Sawzall or battery would be useless if it leaves a job site or is deactivated




 

Devil Child

(2,728 posts)
9. Oh great, Home Depot is now floating a trial balloon on power-tools as a service
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 02:09 PM
Jul 2021

Pay per month to keep your shit running.

WhiskeyGrinder

(22,147 posts)
11. Scott Glenn almost gets it.
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 02:17 PM
Jul 2021
"There are very organized groups where the leaders at the top are recruiting people that are drug-dependent, homeless, or down on their luck and offering them incentives and providing shopping lists to go out and bring back certain products," Glenn said. "At the top levels of these hierarchies, there are absolutely good administrators that understand the return on their money."


Yes, pay more money to protect the property, not people.

DFW

(54,056 posts)
12. If it's a well thought-out, one-time procedure at the cashier, it should be feasible
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 02:26 PM
Jul 2021

Last edited Sun Jul 25, 2021, 09:36 AM - Edit history (9)

It doesn't sound much different from the clothing stores that remove a beeper that will otherwise go off if an unpaid article of clothing tries to leave the store "by mistake."

Sherman A1

(38,958 posts)
14. Agreed
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 02:36 PM
Jul 2021

I am sure that they don't want this to be any more complicated (and expensive) than it needs to be.

zuul

(14,615 posts)
18. Imagine if you purchase a tool and take it home
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 03:44 PM
Jul 2021

only to find that the scan failed and you have to go back to the store. This will surely piss off legitimate customers.

DFW

(54,056 posts)
23. Of course it would.
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 05:35 PM
Jul 2021

There would have to be a safeguard built in that any retail outlet blessing an article to leave its shop has to guarantee to replace it with a prefectly functioning device with an automatic 20% (as a suggested example) refund for the purchaser. Better yet, the store should have a testing station to check any item as it leaves the store so as to make any such scenario improbable. Attempted thefts and/or overrides should be dealt with by hitting the perps with fines to go into a general fund to defray the extra cost. Professional theft rings should be pursued under the RICO act with stiff mandatory minimums for the ringleaders, since pressing financially desperate people into positions where they are the fall guys for the bosses is nothing short of urban serfdom with a bigger downside.

roamer65

(36,739 posts)
16. Keep the items in a store room.
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 02:44 PM
Jul 2021

Store floor models under a locked case.

If you really want it, you will ask and wait to see it up close.

Response to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Progressive Jones

(6,011 posts)
25. One of my jobs during High School was at Service Merchandise. That's exactly how it was done.
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 05:56 PM
Jul 2021

I was an order picker. I located the item, and got it to that conveyor.

madinmaryland

(64,920 posts)
27. I bought my first stereo system at Service Merchandise in the late 1970's.
Mon Jul 26, 2021, 01:17 PM
Jul 2021

Pioneer receiver and speakers and a Marantz turntable.

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