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Walmart Set to Close All Stores in Portland amid Record-Breaking Retail Theft
Walmart announced its plan to close its final two locations in Portland, Ore., at the end of March following underwhelming financial results.
“We have nearly 5,000 stores across the U.S. and unfortunately some do not meet our financial expectations,” the corporation said in a statement according to KPTV. “While our underlying business is strong, these specific stores haven’t performed as well as we hoped.”
The closures, which will result in nearly 600 employees being laid off, come after a statement by Walmart CEO Doug McMillion in December 2022 noting that record-breaking retail theft had undercut the company’s economic performance of late.
“Theft is an issue. It’s higher than what it has historically been,” McMillon told CNBC. Prices “will be higher and/or stores will close,” the executive added if Oregon authorities failed to address rampant shoplifting.
In late February, Walmart announced a series of other closures across the United States including in Florida, Illinois, Arkansas, and Wisconsin.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/walmart-set-close-stores-portland-154823875.html
That's an awful lot of "shoplifting" 
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yaesu
(9,365 posts)
former9thward
(33,424 posts)Thieves know it and the store knows it. So they close.
Polybius
(21,961 posts)It's a huge problem in some cities, and certain DA's and politicians need to be defeated because of it.
keroro gunsou
(2,305 posts)Food first, then electronics and media
Mosby
(19,491 posts)Some of the most stolen items.
Initech
(108,923 posts)
Trueblue1968
(19,268 posts)MichMan
(17,222 posts)
Deuxcents
(27,205 posts)Thomas Hurt
(13,986 posts)
cbabe
(6,685 posts)Stores say shoplifting is a national crisis. The numbers don’t back it up
By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN
Updated 9:35 AM EST, Wed January 18, 2023
…
Companies say these incidents have led to a spike in merchandise losses, known as shrink. The metric incorporates inventory losses caused by external theft, including organized retail crime, employee theft, human errors, vendor fraud, damaged or mismarked items and other losses.
But the retail industry’s own figures on shrink cast doubt on their claim that the problem is ballooning. Researchers say retailers may be blaming theft for losses when they don’t actually know the cause.
Shrink is an “issue where you’ve got a problem, but there’s no way to know exactly where the losses are coming from,” said Richard Hollinger, a retired professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Florida, who studies retail losses and launched the retail industry’s first annual security survey in the early 1990s.
According to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) annual survey of around 60 retail member companies, shrink is a “rapidly ballooning issue.” In 2021, retail shrink hit $94.5 billion, up only 4% from 2020 but a 53% jump from 2019.
…more…
MichMan
(17,222 posts)
Nevilledog
(55,091 posts)
live love laugh
(16,426 posts)in the works.
I read some time ago Walmart was threatening closures in areas that were highly dependent on them due to unionization efforts.
walkingman
(10,965 posts)which would result in less theft. The self-checkout concept is a green light for thievery.
MichMan
(17,222 posts)Do you seriously think if only the stores offered a better discount, the criminals would pay for everything? How is any discount more appealing than "Free" ?
brush
(61,033 posts)putting all those people out of work. All of their stores aren't failing so it's obvious that some upper mannagers in the closing stores aren't up to the job.
Polybius
(21,961 posts)Lock the theives up and stop releasing them right away. Extreme policies don't work.
f_townsend
(260 posts)Is it the managers' responsibility to tackle and subdue thieves swarming their stores?
Meowmee
(9,212 posts)Are now locked away. The most recent one was glucose tabs and other diabetes stuff. The first time I noticed it was with cosmetics I think or maybe it was charging cords. An employee told me it was due to everyone stealing those items.
Tree Lady
(13,320 posts)go back to clerks instead of self serve, I heard a lot of theft is people not putting through all of their stuff.
Karma13612
(4,990 posts)For issues that customers have while checking themselves thru. I’m sure they are also noticing if people are just popping stuff into bags without the scanner beeping.
And as you leave, you are sometimes stopped and asked to show your receipt to match up the # of items you scanned (shows on your receipt), versus the # of actual items in your bag.
In our area, they cannot get enuf people to work checkout. Nobody wants to work. If we didn’t have self-serve, the lines would be horrendous.
RandiFan1290
(6,711 posts)bullshit
newdayneeded
(2,493 posts)checkout people. Hell, about 2 weeks ago they closed a dollar tree for the day because they didn't have anybody to work.. I went to a Dennys recently and the cook waitressed/waitered our table. They had one waitress and him, that was it .
Wingus Dingus
(9,173 posts)for service. We recently waited in an astronomical drive thru line at our Chick Fil-A because they didn't have enough staff to run both drive thru and counter/dining room, so the dining room was closed.
Tree Lady
(13,320 posts)he says of millions of people who are boycotting working! He lives for free in my exes house. My daughter has tried to talk to him over and over but he thinks our system is wrong so he is not participating. It's crazy! I said are you paying his bills? She said she was but told him no more. Her dad lets him stay there because he doesn't want him homeless.
It's some weird belief about our money system its like he is brainwashed!
Is this a thing with the young? He is mid 20's. Unmotivated introvert that worries me.
renate
(13,776 posts)... deserve to be supported by the people who bore them. I mean, it's true they didn't ask to be born and be forced into a capitalist survivalist system.
But birds and bees and horses and trees didn't ask to be born, either, and they at least do something to ensure their survival. However, "success" in the form of a small house and a retirement plan and a little travel and a little leisure is increasingly out of reach for a lot of people whose grandparents were able to comfortably support a family on a single middle-class income, so I really sympathize with their frustration and I can also understand the temptation to just give up.
However, it's not what is probably best for your grandson. The system sucks A LOT but in most cases it's better to try to make the most of it than to do literally nothing. It must be a big worry for everyone who isn't him. I'm sorry.
Wingus Dingus
(9,173 posts)the same attitude toward work that my generation (Gen X) and older generations have had. My sons (late 20's) will call in sick or use PTO for what I consider to be insufficient/stupid reasons, just as one example. I was raised by Silent Generation parents (in their 80's now) who believed that you didn't call off work, EVER, unless they were rushing you to the hospital in an ambulance with blood shooting out of your eyeballs, LOL.
Tree Lady
(13,320 posts)went to work sick most of my work life.
My daughter is top manager of large Honda dealership in CA and when he was 18 she told him he had to do more schooling or go to work for her, so he worked but with the I don't really want to do anything attitude. Hard for my daughter since she out paces anyone at her job.
He did work there for years 25-30 hr weeks doing easy job of delivering cars to other dealerships. Then after he got this girl pregnant and she broke up with him because he wouldn't get better job and moved back east, he quit. I think a lot of his attitude was he felt manipulated by her and knows a lot of his paycheck will go to her.
We have told him, thats the tough part of being a adult if you have sex you have to be ready for responsibility.
Mariana
(15,629 posts)1. The Boomers are retiring en masse. This is the big one and was always going to happen.
Most of the rest is down to the pandemic.
2. Hundreds of thousands of workers have died of Covid.
3. Who knows how many were so disabled by Covid that they can't work.
4. Millions of people retired early during the pandemic.
5. Many two income families adapted to living on one income, and haven't gone back.
6. Many laid off people successfully became self-employed.
7. Many people who received enhanced unemployment took the opportunity to learn new skills.
I'm sure there is more.
It's just a fantasy that there's some vast pool of potential employees out there who are refusing to work. The unemployment rate is spectacularly low. People ARE working. Most of them have better options now than shitty restaurant and retail jobs.
inthewind21
(4,616 posts)Nobody wants to work for below poverty wages. There, I corrected it.
oregonjen
(3,647 posts)
area51
(12,713 posts)
Coventina
(29,784 posts)What has happened around here?
obamanut2012
(29,407 posts)Especially with trans folks snd younger adults.
Coventina
(29,784 posts)
Good gawd!
I guess I haven't been paying attention to this trend.
Sheesh.....
obamanut2012
(29,407 posts)Rants about younger people being lazy, etc.
Mariana
(15,629 posts)and someone complained about the length of the lines or whatever, and said "nobody wants to work" she always handed them an application.
Coventina
(29,784 posts)I do a similar thing when anyone says "Teachers have it easy" within my hearing.
"Well," I say, "Come join us on the gravy train, then!!!"
The stupid, it burns.......
Lemon Lyman
(1,607 posts)That's always pissed me off too. I'm not a teacher, but support them. When people whine about "Teachers having the summer off" (or whatever), I'm like, so become an f'ing teacher if it's so great.
Karma13612
(4,990 posts)This was from the mouth of a walmart checkout clerk back during the height of the pandemic. They could not get people to work so if it wasn’t for self-check out, the regular cashier lines would have been unmanageable.
Please refrain from swearing at me in the future. Thank you.
obamanut2012
(29,407 posts)And, suncecwhen is "bullshit" swearing at someone?
Lol
Like what the fuck, you are still saying people don't want to work.
Ms. Toad
(38,707 posts)I routinely run into stores and restaurants which close early because they are without staff to cover their entire advertised hours.
Pretty sure it's not people being lazy. It's the low pay, unsafe conditions, mandatory overtime, lack of opportunity for advancement, etc. And employers taking advantage of the "people don't want to work" mantra to cut a few low income hours off of the day rather than pay to staff the store during under-performing periods.
Karma13612
(4,990 posts)I never said lazy.
I got this assessment from the mouth of a walmart employee back during the height of the pandemic. That is what she said. They could not get people to work. Period.
That is why I was remarking that without the availability of self-check out, there would not be enuf cashiers to check people out, and the lines would be unmanageable.
Ms. Toad
(38,707 posts)is a very different issue.
By now people are pretending the pandemic is over.
My guess is that Walmart didn't offer to pay double, for example, or provide health insurance at fewer hours, etc. Which means it isn't an inability to get people to work. Period. It's an unwillingness to pay enough/improve working conditions enough to make it worthwhile to work there.
In other words - a better focus is on the employer not doing enough to hire/retain workers than on workers being unwilling to work.
obamanut2012
(29,407 posts)Interesting you aren't blaming the employers for not wanting to pay a living wage and benefits.
MichMan
(17,222 posts)Last edited Tue Mar 7, 2023, 11:04 AM - Edit history (1)
Depends greatly on where one lives, doesn't it?
For the last few years it was said to be $15 per hour. Many campaigns and protests "Fight for $15". Now many employers are paying that amount and still struggle to find workers who will show up on time.
What would be an appropriate living wage today ?
I worked most of my career in small manufacturing plants located in more rural areas. Margins aren't very high and passing along increases due to raw materials and labor is problematic. Many of our customers would choose to source from suppliers located in Mexico instead. Its not as easy as raising the price of a hamburger by 50 cents like people think.
Mariana
(15,629 posts)If restaurants and retail outlets want people to work their shitty jobs with shitty hours and shitty treatment from the public, they're going to have to raise their wages.
I didn’t make this assessment.
It came from the mouth of a walmart employee. This was during the pandemic peak. They were having trouble getting people to work for them.
I was remarking that it was a good thing they have self-check outs, otherwise the cashier staffed lines would be unmanageable.
I was not implying laziness, or any other negative attribute to workers. I understand the job market. I understand the horrid minimum wage job conditions.
obamanut2012
(29,407 posts)Walmart saying people are lazy. Because that is the implication.
Tell me, did everyone stand and clap when they said this?
MichMan
(17,222 posts)
ProfessorGAC
(76,930 posts)Wonder how that happens if nobody wants to work.
Doesn't seem possible for both to be true.
MichMan
(17,222 posts)ProfessorGAC
(76,930 posts)That only applies to U-1 to U-3.
U-4 to U-6 are also abnormally low.
I know you like doing the devil's advocate bit, but it only works if you have your information correct.
U-4 to U-6 include workers discouraged by the process and are no longer looking for work. This is not new.
MichMan
(17,222 posts)We are both right half of the time, depending on which ones are being referenced.
Labor participation rates are down compared to several years ago.
pinkstarburst
(2,052 posts)Some cities especially on the west coast (San Francisco is one) have changed their policies to where shoplifting is NOT prosecuted. At all! So like in San Francisco, I think the law is that you can steal up to $900 of merchandise before they will prosecute you, and since this is common knowledge, the thieves walk in, load up big sacks of stuff and walk right out the door without paying in Walgreens, in grocery stores, and then resell the stuff on the street. And the DA does nothing to stop them.
I do not blame Walmart or any other store one bit for pulling out of cities that have policies like this. It is the fault of lawmakers who create policies like this that promote crime. They need to be voted out. If you steal, you need to be charged with a crime. Period. This is hurting poor people, disabled people, minorities... everyone who depends on affordable groceries and medications in those areas and will now have one more source to them cut off because of dumb policies that favor criminals.
Calculating
(3,000 posts)Letting crime run rampant benefits nobody. Theft needs to be punished.
Hugh_Lebowski
(33,643 posts)Everything at the deli counter, so much meat that nobody will buy if it has the slightest tinge of discoloration, fruit salads and parfaits and just SO MUCH STUFF ... that I know a huge % of it has to be tossed.
I'd frankly be blown away if shoplifting is even a small fraction of their losses vs. the shit they just end up throwing into a landfill.
Another problem is just HOW FREAKING EXPENSIVE things are lately. I paid $6.99 for like the cheapest stick of bargain deodorant they had, just like Right Guard or something. Are you kidding me with that?
We're all being gouged at the store so hard lately, and while I'm in a position where I'd not have to steal to make ends meet, I imagine there's a shitload of people who basically have to.
And besides, Walmart can stick it in their anti-union ass.
Karma13612
(4,990 posts)Fresh produce.
All that fruit. I won’t buy it because I’m not confident on the methods they used to keep the fruit clean for consumption. I know, paranoid.
Here’s a “secret” about deodorant. I’ve stuck with Secret Solid for YEARS. The only brand I like for both functionality and pleasant scents.
In the last 5-some years, the Secret SOLID (no other attributes on labeling) has disappeared from most store shelves, including Walmart. The other versions of Secret have additives that apparently make our lives worth living. But not for me. The extra additives don’t come out in the wash. Leaves a residue that won’t wash out leading to yellowing.
All is not lost!
DOLLAR TREE still carries Secret SOLID! And it’s not expensive! You could get 3-4 sticks for the $$$ you just
spent on one. Long story short, Dollar Tree has become my go to when Dollar General fails me.
Your welcome!!!!!!
Cha
(319,451 posts)here on he Island for certain things.. not a regular.. But it seems like it would be hard to shoplift with the measures they take.
They check your receipt and purchases at the door and have lockers if you bring a backpack.. which I go out of my way not to do.
Cameras and a sign in the changing room that tells you not to shoplift and ruin your life.
Walmart is the one who takes the measures.
Karma13612
(4,990 posts)On the coast, I notice they have added quite prominent cameras in certain high ticket-easy-to-pocket items aisles like cosmetics. And they make it obvious. When you walk into the aisle the video feed begins along with a sound effect. Makes you look up and see your image on camera.
Smile and say cheese!!!
Kaleva
(40,374 posts)
multigraincracker
(37,780 posts)flea market/antique mall.
Mopar151
(10,349 posts)At Wal-Mart near me, prices are significantly higher than at Market Basket nearby. Traffic seems down, help looks unhappy. Market Basket has no self checkouts, help is friendly, happy to be there, take care of their customers. If WallyWorld has the only one in town, I'm there! But no more than I need.
MayReasonRule
(4,112 posts)I rarely shop anyplace that does not have a self-checkout.
I pack our purchases with care, insuring that it makes it to the car, and all the way home to the fridge and pantry.
Otherwise, without fail, our purchases fall through overpacked bags of crushed, bruised and damaged goods.
Hell, even at the old-school high-end markets and liquor stores it's abysmal. Half the time I take in my own bags since the retail bags are flimsy and weak.
imanamerican63
(16,266 posts)They most them have self checkout or only a few lanes open with actual clerks and that makes it easier for people to steal. I know there are cameras all over but these people shoplifting are getting better with each attempt! Plus the blatant disregard for some Walmart employees to pay attention makes you wonder if they actually are involved? Not every employee is, but if you look around the next time you’re in a Walmart? Watch closely to the employee who is busy talking and not paying attention to the checkout line.
JanLip
(862 posts)My daughter had this thing happen to her at a Walmart. I was with her and she bought and paid for a DVD player. When we were in the process of going out the door an employee stopped her and asked for a receipt for the purchase. She checked and waved us on but she took the receipt and stuck it in a drawer. I happened to see her do it and told her to give it back to my daughter. She laughed and said she forgot which I knew she took the receipt to use later to steal a DVD player..some people have to be watched closer than others. Another employee was close by and told me this lady had done this before. It’s not just customers who steal.
BlueWaveNeverEnd
(14,435 posts)start watching about 5:45... they watch people just walk into Nike and walk off with stuff over and over. they follow one drugged up looking person and try to question here.
Calculating
(3,000 posts)It's like nobody gives a shit anymore. Maybe we need to return to the old ways of dealing with this crap.
ProfessorGAC
(76,930 posts)One of the Illinois locations is in a reasonably affluent area.
That said, there's another store only about 8 miles south so I think that one is more about a stupid location decision than about shrink.
newdayneeded
(2,493 posts)chain store, it's right in there policy that they're not allowed to stop any shoplifting. just let them walk out the door.
LisaL
(47,460 posts)the shoplifter of the employee. There are cases where employees ended up hurt or even dead trying to stop shoplifters.
That would explain why store is going to have that policy.
Calculating
(3,000 posts)It still needs to be done though.
pinkstarburst
(2,052 posts)need to change their policies that favor shoplifters by not prosecuting them when they steal. They are going to see more stores close down, which only hurts minorities, poor people, disabled people, the elderly and others who depend on affordable groceries and medication. Where are they going to turn to if all the Walmarts, Walgreens and CVS's in the area leave because of city policy that shoplifters aren't prosecuted when they steal? That's the issue here. I don't blame Walmart one bit.
panader0
(25,816 posts)and one of the four bills was a C-note. So I had $160 instead of $80. I went back in and told the cashier
about the error and she was shocked that I was honest. A lady in line made a remark about how rare it was.
The cashier told me that if her register was short, she had to pay the amount herself.
I have a conscience, I have to look at myself in the mirror. I'm poor so if I really want something, I save up.
Liberal In Texas
(16,305 posts)It's just the right thing.
Sometimes it's hard for them to believe me when I tell them I have too much change and have to go through an explanation of why they're probably going to be $10 short at the end of their shift.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Is the big rise we've been seeing on social media in anti-business hostility and grievance among much of the far-left also being manifested in a rise in business theft and other property crimes?
While RW hoodlums are more likely to look for nonwhite and liberal heads to break?
Wondering.
We know LW DVE are famously far more likely to blow up property and warn ahead of time so people won't be hurt, while RW DVE want to blow people up.
Who are most of these weenie hoodlums who think it's so clever to ride a bike through a chain pharmacy, load up, and speed away with their goodies? Those who join flash shoplifting mobs that smash businesses while robbing them?
Instead of, say, riding a bike by while throwing rocks at environmental activists? Kinda different from those currently planning violent attacks against immigrants when a tRump border restriction (Title 42) is lifted. Wouldn't you think?
Although a lot of store closings are for other reasons, only hastened by outrageous rise in shoplifting, it's nevertheless real problem and beyond doubt a reflection of the civil unrest of this era.
The Nike store in Portland has apparently been closed for weeks due to crime but is looking for ways to be able to reopen. Employee safety is an issue, in addition to the theft and vandalism losses. They're offering to pay for additional police to guard the store, something other merchants, including Walmart, have been doing for some while as well.
pinkstarburst
(2,052 posts)people for shoplifting, that sort of crime is going to increase. San Francisco, another very blue city, is having the same issue. They decided not to prosecute any shoplifting crimes under $900 and so since criminals know this, they are loading up bikes with merchandise in the store and leaving. There's nothing employees can do since confronting them puts them at risk.
The problem is with the DA's office and local lawmakers, who need to get tougher on these sorts of offenses.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)businesses came first, with a new manifestation as pack behaviors.
MissB
(16,344 posts)And we decriminalized drug possession. And we have a huge stolen car problem, so the police are busy. The police won’t even stop by your house to take a police report unless it was a major crime (assault, murder).
Portland has slipped back into the lawless 1980s. It isn’t fun.
We have a huge issue with increased homelessness, and the solutions aren’t coming fast enough for either home owners/renters or the homeless.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)bad shape it could have actually crashed. A world-class city.
We almost moved to the Portland area, or Puget Sound, have friends in both places. So unfortunate that, although we got to the point of looking at properties, we didn't make it happen. Still my kind of place.
Again, though, my theory is that the shoplifting phenom in blue cities like SF and Portland at least initially took this pack form and was influenced by elevated culture of LW anti-business grievance (imagining kids raised by aggrieved LW parent-victims). Before and aside from organized crime coming in to organize it of course.
Also observing that this surge arose simultaneous with the surge in LW (and by far mostly RW) DVE and speculating that it's some kind of very low-grade variation -- without revolution or even pretense of great ideals, just a chance to act out, maybe smash a glass case or knock over a display, and relive the glory over stolen wine and potato chips.
Polybius
(21,961 posts)Extreme policies on the left are better than extreme policies on the right, but they are not good either. Normal, Biden-type liberal policies are the answer.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)agree. Imo, a huge function of liberal government is to provide a stable, healthy structure within which all people can be as free as possible to pursue their individual happinesses. And these cities have been failing to apply the "as possible" competently. Though, again, the shoplifting phenom came first.
But I'm speculating about cultural influences from a higher percentage of far-left types in west coast cities. Extreme, irrational degrees of grievance and extremism have been cultivated into conflagrations that new generations are being raised among.
Response to CatWoman (Original post)
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ripcord
(5,553 posts)Now they can live with the consequences, which could include enough grocery stores closing to create a food desert. These things happen when you enable shit-assed thieves.
inthewind21
(4,616 posts)did they expect when they made themselves a self service store and cut their staff? Walmart can't have their cake and eat it too. They wat YOU to check yourself out so they can cut employees. You leave your doors open with the store unmanned, what did they think would happen?
Happy Hoosier
(9,551 posts)I've accidentally shoplifted a time or two when the scanner missed an item and I mistook the "beep" of the scanner of an adjacent check-out with my own. I have terrible hearing and it's an easy mistake to make.
It would be fairly easy to do something like that deliberately it seems to me.
LeftinOH
(5,652 posts)is going to be theft on a massive scale--always. Not apprehending/prosecuting shoplifting is the same thing as allowing it. I've worked in big-box retail. Significant effort goes into preventing and limiting stockloss due to theft; if there's an official local "policy" that permits shoplifting up to a certain amount, you can be damn sure it will happen. You cannot expect the general public to be honest.
Chainfire
(17,757 posts)That is why they are willing to take the risk. Morals go out the window when a person needs a fix. If they already have a record, which many of the probably do, then they don't have to worry about that job application. I am not making an excuse for theft, I despise thieves, but I can understand the why part.
dembotoz
(16,922 posts)shop lifting is just a way they can close a store without scrutiny
rent increase?
roof leaks?
might go union?
minimum wage?
blame it on shoplifting
tinrobot
(12,088 posts)I don't see how this headline matches the reality of the situation.
They're probably blaming crime on the fact that most Portlanders don't like spending money there. The Walmarts in the surrounding (and more conservative) areas of the Portland area will remain open.
FakeNoose
(41,887 posts)They're just closing their losers and blaming it on theft, when they're really just losers.