Walmart. Thousands of police calls. You paid the bill.

[lostnfound]

Well worth the read. The Tampa Bay Times (which is still a darn good newspaper!) analyzed the extraordinary amount of police resources being consumed to protect Walmart, mainly from thieves and minor disruptions. Compared to their competitor, Target, they don't invest in their own security, instead calling police out to arrest people accused of stealing $3 bottles of eyedrops. Calls are so common the police often sit in the parking lots waiting for the next one.

*******
http://www.tampabay.com/projects/2016/public-safety/walmart-police/

Law enforcement logged nearly 16,800 calls in one year to Walmarts in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties, according to a Tampa Bay Times analysis. That’s two calls an hour, every hour, every day....

When it comes to calling the cops, Walmart is such an outlier compared with its competitors that experts criticized the corporate giant for shifting too much of its security burden onto taxpayers. Several local law enforcement officers also emphasized that all the hours spent at Walmart cut into how often they can patrol other neighborhoods and prevent other crimes...

Sheriff’s deputies in Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties were called to individual Walmart stores more than to any other location — by far. The same went for police in Largo, Pinellas Park, Tarpon Springs, Dade City, Plant City, Brooksville and Port Richey. For authorities in Pinellas and St. Petersburg, Walmarts were the second busiest locations.

Officers logged fewer than 500 calls for violence, drugs or weapons. They took roughly another 7,000 calls for potential thefts. An even bigger category was general disorder, everything from suspected trespassing to parking violations, lost property and people sleeping outside stores. Those roughly 9,000 calls consumed hundreds of hours of officers’ time, but resulted in just a few hundred arrests.

[braddy]

1. I hope the bad guys learn that if you do a crime at Walmart, that they will call the cops.

[lostnfound]

11. Obviously it hasn't worked this far, and it's a big waste of taxpayer money

Did you read the part about how Walmart generally pays much less taxes, as well?

[braddy]

18. I don't know if it works or not, the bad guys do something, and Walmart calls the police,

it is bound to have a positive effect on limiting criminal behavior in the community to have them identified and arrested, it seems that some of the other stores are doing what some bars do, letting the bad guys go and keeping their numbers of calls down artificially while not helping community policing of it's trouble makers and thieves.

[AllyCat]

41. No. Then Walmart can pay for it.

They can pay their fair share of taxes and hire a patrol company or staff security to defuse problems.

You are never going to arrest away poverty.

[braddy]

44. Helping to hide and protect the bad guys from being arrested doesn't help, we see that

in bars that conceal crimes to keep from having to call the police.

[Ford_Prefect]

58. The "BAD GUYS" were not the reason the police were called 98% of the time.

Read the whole report. Most of the calls are for parking violations and so-called "disturbances" rather than significant crimes of attack,theft or property damage.

One author compared Walmart’s high volume of calls to the parents of a misbehaving 11-year-old who call 911 every time their child acts out.

Walmart understaffs its stores as a cost saving policy. This is a common practice in many retail chains but Walmart has set the benchmark. They do next to nothing at all for site security including hanging bogus fake security cameras.

[braddy]

86. Those are all part of the bad guys, illegal parking, assaults, etc.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

110. Parking illegally makes someone a "bad guy"

Wow, must be fun living in your world.

[braddy]

111. If a store has a car or truck blocking their entrance or handicapped spaces, or fire zones

then who are they supposed to call?

[PaulaFarrell]

121. A tow truck

That's the norm

[braddy]

122. Why should someone stealing a handicap space get off so easy when the fine could be up to

many hundreds of dollars, and a tow means they can keep chancing it, with no increase in the penalty.

Just like stealing, keep doing it forever as long as you know how to avoid it getting recorded and creating a record.

[PaulaFarrell]

131. Ever had your vehicle towed?

It is not getting off easy by any stretch of imagination. Costs loads in money and time to rectify.

And I honestly cannot imagine living in such an authoritarian world as you seem to want, where a 'bad guy' who 'steals' a handicap space needs to be punished with the maximum possible fine and a police record. Hey, guess what? I park in handicap spaces when my mom visits - she has mobility problems due to age but is too proud to get a sticker. wanna send me to jail??

[braddy]

132. Yes, I have had my cars towed, that is why I know it is better than being ticketed for

a handicap parking violation which can be a fortune.

Why all this sudden defense for shoplifting, assaulting people and blocking handicap parking, if this wasn't about Walmart, I don't think that we would be seeing all this.

[lostnfound]

83. Most important bad guys to stop are $4 sock thieves

It's really good to waste police time on that, tens of thousands of times.

If I leave a ten dollar bill on my front porch in plain sight and unguarded, and I notice it getting stolen by the paper boy, should I call the cops on him?

[braddy]

88. Shop lifters are criminals, are we going to make it legal to steal a certain amount per theft?

[lostnfound]

91. You seriously think that's the only alternative? Use your imagination a little more.

Walmart needs to be responsible for its own stuff and its own actions. Stop depending on the public to control everyone of its unruly or misbehaving customers. Corporate laziness and corporate greed.

[braddy]

92. Either these crimes and criminals get reported to the police, or they don't, if someone assaults me

at a store, then I want him on record for committing assault, the same goes for all the other criminals who go to businesses to commit crimes.

[rhett o rick]

103. Oh plez. We are paying for Walmart security. Those calls aren't worth calling the police.

How many actually go to court? Not many.

[braddy]

106. Waiting for police and an arrest being made, or a ticket issued, means that crime is on the

record, the bad guys record.

When you keep letting a bad guy keep moving on after doing his thing, then he keeps that perfectly clean record until someone turns him in, depending on how serious it is, he gets busted for it good, or if he walks on a minor theft, or minor assault, or minor disturbing of the peace, or for parking in the fire lane, then he has already used up his clean record excuse, and the next time, the screws tighten.

[rhett o rick]

107. I bet the cops don't take action on most of those calls.

I see it as a waste of time just like picking up prostitutes

[braddy]

109. I bet they do, they file reports, issue tickets and summonses, and make arrests, all these count

toward a record that if not used for that crime, then will come into play on the next.

[Tribalceltic]

123. haters like you continue to waste our money

READ the last line
Those roughly 9,000 calls consumed hundreds of hours of officers’ time, but resulted in just a few hundred arrests

very little of those arrests likely resulted in jail time. a complete wast of resources. The last Sheriff that retired in Pasco county did so with over $1 million in retirement income

I have seen as many as 12 cop cars to issue a speeding ticket

not all who are accused are guilty, or even arrested.

[braddy]

129. Your complaint seems to be more about law enforcement and government waste.

[tomg]

126. When you read Les Miserables,

did you identify with Javert?

[braddy]

130. Did he shop at Walmart?

[scscholar]

80. How hateful

How do you know the motivations of the people they demand that the cops beat? The last time I saw cops at Walmart the manager wanted the cops to beat a man who had holes in his shoes and the manager thought that looked bad. He wanted to encourage the man to never return to Walmart.

[Callmecrazy]

113. Alright , That's it!

I call bullshit on your post and I want to say to EVERYONE upthread that you don't know what you're talking about.
They are the largest retailer in the world. Of course Walmart has in-store security. They have plain clothes security guards walking around in the stores monitoring suspicious customers. Why do you think the police get so many calls? In all of my area stores there are even security guards at the doors. They also have state of the art surveillance cameras and theft prevention devices.
And I'm not talking out of my hat. I've built 10 Walmarts here in Broward County. I've installed the cameras and microphones and I have instructed the security in their use.
And as for your post scscholar, I call BULLSHIT!
Provide a link to your post.
And if there is a link, I can guarantee you that the manager was unemployed the following day.
Walmart doesn't care how old you are, how you look, or how you dress as long as your money is green.

[rpannier]

120. Read the whole article the answer is in the piece

[braddy]

118. I see.

[niyad]

117. you might want to watch the documentary "the high cost of low prices" about wal-mart, and little

things like how they handle sexual assaults, etc., not exactly going after the bad guys.

reading the whole article would show you that even the police think most of their calls are bs.

[bonzotex]

2. the high cost of low price

It seems like Walmart is trying to get people to hate them. Like some sort of corporate self-loathing. They secretly want to be punished.

[Dustlawyer]

23. They are just "Takers" "moochers" on a massive scale!

The people's anger needs to be directed at the right targets, not the ones the MSM and the politicians point to.

[MH1]

3. They're just externalizing costs.

Isn't that what capitalism is about?

[Moostache]

65. Externalization is one of my (many) pet peeves with Corporations in the 21st century...

I recently had to go into a Wal-Mart to look for something that Target was out of stock on. I found what I wanted, then went up to the front to pay for it and found 1 register open with about 7 patrons in line and 6 "self-service checkout" lines each with at least 2 people in line. No other open registers. At 7 PM. On a Saturday.

I put the item down and walked out. I'd rather wait a few days to make my repairs than actually allow myself to work for Wal-Mart by checking myself out. That corporation is the height of evil and I will be damned before I self-check anything that allows them to hire fewer cashiers than they already do. Fuck that sideways.

[frankieallen]

90. why didn't you just steal it?

[SCVDem]

93. I do that a lot.

Usually it is due to a totally inept customer.

[Indydem]

98. Such a different outlook.

I love self checkout lines. I don't have to deal with imbeciles. I don't have to make small talk and hear them complain about their day.

All I have to do is ring up my purchases and pay.

YAY!

I don't view it in the same way you do.

Perhaps you think it is someone's job to wait on you? I'll do it myself, thanks.

[Moostache]

104. Not my intent at all...

Perhaps you think it is someone's job to wait on you? I'll do it myself, thanks.

Wal-Mart is a corporation that makes BILLIONS in PROFIT annually.
They treat their workers like shit, pay slave-level wages and extort benefits from the government in the form of employees who must accept food stamps to LIVE.

Doing anything for them that would enhance their bottom line - such as paying in the do-it-yourself check out line so they don't have to maintain headcount and can save more on labor costs than they already do is simply not something I am cool with...but have fun checking out your own purchases if you wish.

I don't think the fucking Walton heirs need any more goddamn money, but I think their might be someone in need of a wage that might be displaced if everyone thought that it was a great idea to eliminate checkout clerks.

[Fumesucker]

116. Do you only eat out at Automat?

[laundry_queen]

127. Ditto. Huge pet peeve here too.

They externalize everything - labor, supplies, environmental damage, security. Eff them all.

[liberal N proud]

4. Walmart loses about $300 million a year to shrinkage (theft)

You can pay for the police to haul the shoplifters off or pay for the loss in the stores. Either way you are going to pay for all those thieves to get free shit.

[Maeve]

8. Which is why they went back to 'greeters'

They tried to eliminate the 'Welcome to Walmart' folk and shrinkage skyrocketed.
And yeah, privitize profits while letting the public pay for policing.

[aggiesal]

52. Privatize the profits and socialize the loses. ...

This is WallyWorlds business plan.

[Hoppy]

13. I ain't payiing for the theft in the store.... I don't buy crap from Walmart.

[liberal N proud]

15. You pay for theft whenever you shop

Regardless of where you shop

There isn't anyone "paying" for anything

[rpannier]

21. Why don't they do like Target and hire their own store security

According to the article Target doesn't call the cops for everything and the security seems to keep the incidents of shoplifting down
Walmart ought to pay for their own security so police can patrol the whole city instead of the Walmart parking lot

[liberal N proud]

29. They do have their own security

The police are only called in when Walmart catches a thief.

[rpannier]

40. Is that why they are so often at the top of businesses calling the police

From the article:

Walmart would not say how many of its Tampa Bay stores have uniformed guards. Times reporters visited all of the area’s supercenters and regular-sized Walmarts and noticed only five had a security officer, all located at the entrance.

Also from the article:
Walmart makes plenty of money and attracts so many police calls “that it would be reasonable to expect them to hire their own private security,” said Scott, also a former Lauderhill police chief in Broward County.

also:
Walmart deals with high staff turnover, said Flickinger, the New York-based retail analyst, and it eliminated many management positions in recent years to offset wage increases.

“Walmart looks at everything as cost instead of investment,” he said.

also
According to law enforcement agencies in the area Target, Publix and Home Depot are almost never on high call lists
Hillsborough Sheriff's reported that the number 1 caller Walmart, 2 Walmart 3 Walmart. 7 of 10 were Walmarts

And if you think that Walmart is just responding to what is happening and their calls are somehow legit use of police manpower

Beech Grove, IN Police chief labeled Walmart's calls a nuisance and told them they'd be fined 2,500 dollars for every small shoplifting call they made. Calls dropped by 2/3rds

In Port Richey Walmart called over a 6.39 toothbrush shoplift. It took the officer 2.5 hours to talk to the people involve, drive the guy to the jail, fill out the paperwork... That's an awful lot of time for a toothbrush

To argue that somehow what Walmart does makes the area safer is just not true. They call on piddly things that could have been prevented (according to the retail analyst), they are doing everything on the cheap and they are using the hard-nosed crackdown on anyone they catch; stealing gum is as bad as stealing 10000 dollars to Walmart

Their model is flawed. I applaud the police in Beach Grove, IN for finally putting their foot down on this idiocy

[liberal N proud]

49. Walmart security isn't uniformed

They look like shoppers.

[Ford_Prefect]

61. Link to source????? Where's the Beef liberal N proud ?

Last edited Thu May 12, 2016, 04:57 PM - Edit history (1)

You've asserted a number of things about how Walmart stores operate without a single citation to back it up. Where is your reference that we all may be persuaded? You dispute the observations in the article and comments in this thread without a single substantiated instance. Play fair, you often insist on similar proofs from others.

Several local deputies live in my neighborhood. We barbecue, walk dogs and mind kids together. They all say the same things about calls to the Walmart being a frequent waste of time, just as this article relates. I can't speak about Walmart managers as a group but I know individuals of various ages who have worked at the local store who had little good to say about them or the store's employee practices.

[Doremus]

84. I can confirm.

They recently shuttered the WM in our town, thank goodness. Of course they don't admit it but coincidentally the tax abatements they were given when they moved in had recently expired.

In their years of operation they were by far the neediest community resident and heaviest user of municipal resources. As mentioned upthread, often the PD would post units in the parking lot to wait for the next shoplifting call. We're talking hundreds and hundreds of calls/yr.

Elected officials claim they were billed but if that revenue is on the balance sheet it's well hidden.

[lostnfound]

87. Why on earth Walmart would be entitled to tax abatements is beyond me.. Nt

[Hassin Bin Sober]

56. I suspect a big part of it is Walmart uses civil demands as a profit center.

They bill anyone who runs afoul their security and/or police. They send a civil demand on attorney letterhead with a threat to sue.

My brother learned this the hard way when his dipshit kid got caught with his dipshit friends swiping $8 dollar pocket knives.

At first I thought somebody was trying a scam. I googled it and and found they do it in every state.

Many (all?) states allow for tort claims three times the merchandise amount OR a minimum amount which, in our case, was $225 dollars. - for an $8 dollar pocket knife.

Even the kids involved but with no merchandise or charges recieved civil demand letters.

My brother paid it out of his son's graduation money and grounded the kid for the summer from his car. Lol, he said he would have been better off in jail because his wife was so pissed she planned on making him miserable. Dumb kid with straight As who had just recieved a scholarship. My brother was somewhat worried it would affect his scholarship.

[SheilaT]

60. Unless a kid commits a felony, colleges are quite willing

to overlook minor things like a shoplifting charge. If they even find out about it.

My younger son was picked up on possession of marijuana the summer before his senior year of high school, did the diversion program for the offense which included things like community service, some counseling, attending a couple of programs with parents. It did not affect his college acceptances, and two of his schools offered him merit scholarships.

So while I certainly wouldn't blow off what your nephew did, it's not the kind of thing that hangs around to haunt him the rest of his life.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

67. Yes. It didn't cause a problem.

My brother died suddenly of a heart attack a year and a half later while the nephew was a sophomore. This all seems so trivial now.

Now the goal is to get the kid back in school. He took it pretty hard of course.

[SheilaT]

69. I am so sorry to hear that your brother died.

That would have been devastating to all around him.

I sincerely hope the kid gets back in school.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

70. Thank you.

Yeah, it's been really tough.

I sincerely believe he was a victim of our for profit health business. But that's another story.

[lostnfound]

85. That's shocking. Would love to see the numbers on that! Nt

[christx30]

115. The 3 walmarts near where I live

have their own private security. They check each receipt at the door as you exit. It's a pain in the ass, but what can you do?
And what does a private security guard do if they catch a shoplifter? Fine the perp? Book him into a Walmart jail? Take a picture and ban him from the store? Or call the police?

[Feeling the Bern]

26. Democrats defending Wal-mart. Welcome to Bizarro World.

[liberal N proud]

30. Just presenting the facts

Do you have a problem with FACTS?

And some here do work for Walmart!

[intersectionality]

51. Facts?

You behave as if every crime was a theft, but it's not. read the article - they call them for violating any Walmart policy and expect them to wait around in their cars as their own security force. I've worked at several local stores and theft doesn't exist at the same rate there, and police were definitely called for shoplifting. The difference is we supported the community while the Walmart down the street tried to line the pockets of five greedy children in Arkansas.

[lostnfound]

32. In the article it describes cops taking 2.5 hours driving to get the $3 theft

Responsible businesses would pay for security guards to deal with their theft problem. It's not just after the fact, it's prevention.

Irresponsible businesses depend on the largesse of the public to deal with $3 thieves.

If I leave my expensive stuff on my front porch and I call the cops every time someone takes something, it won't be too long before they stop responding or they find. Areas on to charge me with a nuisance complaint.

If I called them to deal with the theft of a $3 item and they had to drive 10 miles to get there, they are going to be seriously pissed.

Stop giving Walmart a free pass. They've done little to earn the respect of the communities on whom they depend for their profit-making machine. Oh I'm sure they've sponsored some softball teams or similar, but as far as the fundamentals of paying taxes, not taxing public resources, and improving the local economy with decent paying jobs, they suck.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

112. To put that in perspective, Walmart had nearly 500 billion in sales in 2015

That $300 million amount may seem large, but it's less than 1/10th of 1 percent of their gross revenues. If a person is making $25,000 a year, it's the equivalent of about a $15 loss. $300 million dollars is peanuts to Walmart.

The problem is that Walmart is using public funds for their security, and I can guarantee that savings isn't being put into employee's wallets; it's going straight into already rich asshole's pockets. It's a redistribution of wealth from the poor and middle class into the upper class.

[Soxfan58]

5. I would like to know

Between their low wages, forcing many employees on government assistance. And the strain on local law enforcement. What is the cost to the American taxpayer .of this

[lostnfound]

33. Yep. If individuals need to be rescued because of their negligence...

There are some communities that pass the costs of that rescue on to the individual. A $50 fee for calls exceeding ten per month to a given location seems totally reasonable. If you need the police to show up more often than that, YOU are the one with a problem.

[csziggy]

79. How low-wage employers cost taxpayers $153B a year

How low-wage employers cost taxpayers $153B a year
Last Updated Apr 13, 2015 6:20 PM EDT

Here's a stark number for understanding how low-wage employers are relying on the kindness of taxpayers: $153 billion.

That's the annual bill that state and federal governments are footing for working families making poverty-level wages at big corporations such as Walmart (WMT) and McDonald's (MCD), according to a new study from the University of California Berkeley Labor Center. Because these workers are paid so little, they are increasingly turning to government aid programs such as food stamps to keep them from dire poverty, the study found.

While McDonald's has vowed to raise wages and Walmart is just this month boosting pay for many workers, that's come after intense political pressure from advocacy groups such as the Fight for $15, which is urging legislation and private-sector change to push the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. While the cost of living has continued to rise, the baseline hourly rate has remained at $7.25 since 2009. At the same time, the post-recession years have created more low-wage jobs than higher-paid ones, adding 1.85 million more Americans to the ranks of poorly paid workers.

"When companies pay too little for workers to provide for their families, workers rely on public assistance programs to meet their basic needs," Ken Jacobs, chair of the labor center and co-author of the new report, said in a statement. "This creates significant cost to the states."

More: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-low-wage-employers-cost-taxpayers-153-billion-a-year/

How McDonald's and Wal-Mart Became Welfare Queens
Nov 13, 2013 9:24 AM EST
By Barry Ritholtz

It seems that welfare queens are back in the news these days. The old stereotype was an inner-city unwed mother -- that's dog-whistle-speak for black -- having multiple babies to get ever bigger welfare checks (throw in a new Cadillac and the myth is complete). Regardless, welfare reform of the 1990s ended that narrative.

No, the new welfare queens are even bigger, richer and less deserving of taxpayer support. The two biggest welfare queens in America today are Wal-Mart and McDonald's.

This issue has become more known as we learn just how far some companies have gone in putting their employees on public assistance. According to one study, American fast food workers receive more than $7 billion dollars in public assistance. As it turns out, McDonald's has a "McResource" line that helps employees and their families enroll in various state and local assistance programs. It exploded into the public when a recording of the McResource line advocated that full-time employees sign up for food stamps and welfare.

Wal-Mart, the nation's largest private sector employer, is also the biggest consumer of taxpayer supported aid. According to Florida Congressman Alan Grayson, in many states, Wal-Mart employees are the largest group of Medicaid recipients. They are also the single biggest group of food stamp recipients. Wal-mart's "associates" are paid so little, according to Grayson, that they receive $1,000 on average in public assistance. These amount to massive taxpayer subsidies for private companies.

More: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2013-11-13/how-mcdonald-s-and-wal-mart-became-welfare-queens

Hidden Taxpayer Costs
Disclosures of Employers Whose Workers and Their Dependents are Using State Health Insurance Programs

Updated July 24, 2013

Since the mid-20th Century, most Americans have obtained health insurance through workplace-based coverage. In recent years there has been a decline in such coverage caused by a rise in the number of jobs that do not provide coverage at all and growth in the number of workers who decline coverage because it is too expensive.

Faced with the unavailability or unaffordability of health coverage on the job, growing numbers of lower-income workers are turning to taxpayer-funded healthcare programs such as Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

<SNIP>

Florida
In March 2005 the St. Petersburg Times published a summary of data it obtained from the Department of Children and Families on the employers in the state with the most workers who were enrolled in Medicaid or KidCare Insurance (Florida's version of SCHIP). Leading the Medicaid list was Wal-Mart with 12,300 employees or their dependents enrolled in the program. Wal-Mart also accounted for 1,375 employee children enrolled in Kidcare (second only to Miami-Dade County with 1,518). The other employers with the most Medicaid enrollees were McDonald's (8,100), Publix (7,900), Wendy's (4,100), Winn-Dixie (4,000) and Burger King (3,900). Publix ranked third on the KidCare list with 1,250 and Winn-Dixie ranked fifth (after Broward County Schools) with 379.

More: http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/corporate-subsidy-watch/hidden-taxpayer-costs

[sarge43]

6. Walmart: The true "Welfare Queen". n/t

[AzDar]

99. ^ This. Let's Drug Test Wal Mart Execs/Board Since They're On Welfare!

[sarge43]

102. It's to dream for. n/t

[Feeling the Bern]

7. This company is evil, and HRC was part of their Board of Directors

So I guess they aren't that bad to New Democrats.

[liberal N proud]

9. You might want to check your facts - Hillary is not on the board for Walmart

Aida M. Alvarez
James I. Cash, Jr.   
Roger C. Corbett
Pamela J. Craig  
Timothy P. Flynn  
Tom Horton  
Marissa A. Mayer
Steven S Reinemund
Kevin Systrom
Linda S. Wolf

Michael T. Duke
C. Douglas McMillon
Gregory B. Penner 
Jim C. Walton
S. Robson Walton
http://stock.walmart.com/investors/corporate-governance/board-of-directors-committee-information/default.aspx

[Hoppy]

12. 1986-1992, Hilllary was on the Board of Directors of Walmart.

[liberal N proud]

14. It was a much diffeent Walmart then

Sam was still alive and the company was not as greedy as it is now.

[Feeling the Bern]

17. Past union busting wal-mart = good. Gotcha!

Like I said, Wal-mart is getting rehabilitated on DU by HRC supporters and New Democrats. Why not? Kissinger wasn't that bad either according to her.

[Scruffy1]

73. This is funny.

Because of a PR movie some really believe that Sam was decent. Having spent some time in eastern Arkanasas I know a little of his real history. One way he tried to screw people was claiming that each store was a separate business and small enough to be exempt from the federal minimum wage law. When the courts ruled against him he called an employee meeting and told the employees they would be fired if they cashed their checks. Just goes to show how gullible people are. Sam Walton was one of the worlds biggest assholes, but had good PR people. The one film I saw even spun the retirement plan applying to employees as Sam's largess when it really had more to do with federal law.

[liberal N proud]

74. If you knew Sam, you would have liked him.

Trust me.

[HOPNOSH]

101. Poster just said Sam was an asshole

Yet you butt in with YOUR opinion and say "trust me". I trust the other poster, Sam was an asshole. You are full of yourself.

[liberal N proud]

105. Guess you would know!

Bye!

[HOPNOSH]

108. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Feeling the Bern]

16. I didn't realize the word "was" was the same as the word "is."

was = past tense
is = present tense.

Grammar lesson over.

[Plucketeer]

22. In some households

it's difficult to get a grip on the meaning of "is", let alone was.

[lostnfound]

34. Low blow but ROFL.

[Divernan]

46. Slick Willy always says, "It depends on what the meaning of 'is' is".

[whatthehey]

75. And yet Clinton was correct, for exactly the same reason as above

"There's nothing going on between us" is present tense as completely and as surely as "Clinton was on the Board of Walmart" is past tense. Correcting people who think otherwise is equally valid in both cases.

[LanternWaste]

63. Our bias compels us to insert petulant irrelevancies into conversations

"So I guess they aren't that bad to New Democrats..."

I like to pretend I know what other people like, too. Our bias compels us to insert petulant irrelevancies into conversations to illustrate how clever we are. You exemplified that quite accurately (though I'm certain you'll allege otherwise with a juicy justification that your insertion is somehow relevant-- we look forward to that waste of your glorious typing skill).

It's a tough cross to bear, ain't it little guy...?

[Feeling the Bern]

64. No, I'll just say I will take my coffee on the veranda since you are already on the cross.

[knightmaar]

10. Does Walmart serve a different demo in the U.S.?

In Canada, no one gives a crap. No one is saying, "OMG, I would never be SEEN in a Walmart." People just go there because they have better prices ... or don't go there because we know they treat their workers like shit and, really, Costco has a much better record and decent prices anyway.

[Feeling the Bern]

19. I'm in Asia. I would rather starve than shop at Wal-mart.

[Brainstormy]

55. I'm in Atlanta, Georgia

and I'd rather starve than shop at Walmart

[CrispyQ]

54. I was a Walmart snob for a long time.

Then I read how abysmally Amazon treats their employees, & I shop Amazon all the time.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

59. Wasn't there a Canadian Walmart shut down by corporate after the store voted to unionize?

[aggiesal]

81. I don't know Canadians like shopping at Walmart ...

When a Quebec Walmart store voted in a union,
Walmart closed the store 6 months later.
The Canadian courts ruled against Walmart, violated labor laws and
got penalized for doing so.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/06/30/3454511/walmart-canada-union/

[lostnfound]

89. Costco cuz they treat employees better, target if not available at Costco...Never ever Walmart unles

Someone's life depends on it.
Because they are a parasite on communities and mistreat their employees.

[My Good Babushka]

20. Businesses have been shut down under nuisance laws

for fewer disturbances.

[lostnfound]

36. Exactly. And domestic abuse victims who call cops more than three times can be evicted

Legally their landlords can often use that as a reason to evict them.

Which is one reason why some women don't call the police before they get beaten. Because they can't afford to find and move to a new apartment.

[Cryptoad]

24. I knew it wouldn't take long....

for the Hillary Haters to have accused , tried and convicted her for this!

[mercuryblues]

25. police

can pressure the city to close bars that they consider a nuisance, with far less crime that requires police resources. Why can't they do that with Wal-mart.

[rpannier]

42. From the article

The police chief in Beech Grove, Ind., once deemed the local Walmart a nuisance and threatened it with fines of up to $2,500 for every small shoplifting call. About three months later, calls had fallen by almost two-thirds.

More departments need to step up and follow suit

[mercuryblues]

68. when our

alarm system was installed we were told that we would have to pay a fine if we had more than 3 false alarms in a year. Yet WM gets away with this shit.

[Fast Walker 52]

27. outrageous!!!

[Fast Walker 52]

28. very cool intro graphic

[drm604]

31. Read some of the comments on that article.

Nearly all of them defend Walmart and attack the newspaper and the reporters for running the article. I have to wonder if some right-wing group (perhaps supported by Walmart) is encouraging people to post there.

[lostnfound]

37. Maybe they need some enlightened DUers who see this as corporate welfare

To provide balance

[drm604]

38. Those commenters are largely the same people who complain about "welfare" and "food stamps",

but they have no problem with Walmart sucking on the public teat by refusing to provide adequate security in their stores and by calling in the police for every $2 toothbrush theft.

[MisterP]

53. WM's always built up this quasireligious cult around itself

if they're helping the poor buy cheaply-made crap, the ideology's that they've done more for them than FDR riding on MLK's shoulders with LBJ and Bernie Sanders as the legs

[Cassiopeia]

35. This is what a "welfare queen" really looks like

Walmart is the epitome of that fabled welfare queen.

[Kip Humphrey]

39. I am getting really tired of subsidizing this welfare queen China depot where I NEVER shop.

[classykaren]

43. I live in this area the article is true.

Cops are always there. Once a customer got into a disagreement with a Walmart employee. The employee and a co worker followed her into the parking lot and beat her up. They were both fired.

[truebluegreen]

45. What WalMart does, par excellence,

is outsource it's costs. Effing moochers.

[Historic NY]

47. Near me the Walmarts hire off duty uniformed cops to

assist their store security. They pay the municipality who in turn pay the cops.

[drm604]

57. Good for them.

That's how it should be done. Municipalities need to pressure local Walmarts to do things like this.

[rug]

48. Theyve turned prosectors and police into their collection agents.

[CrispyQ]

50. Tell me again, who the takers are in our society?

[sulphurdunn]

62. A new Walmart is going in where I live.

The local government gave them over $1 million in initial tax abatements. Now a big fight is brewing over whether to cut the school budget and divert the money to the Sheriff's department to cover the cost of calls to Walmart. Of course raising new revenue is always a non-starter, so we steal from Peter to Pay Paul. Walmart is a curse.

[1939]

72. In some states, the localities get a penny or so cut of sales taxes generated within their borders.

It is very advantageous for the locality to convert real estate tax take from low taxed farmland into a real estate tax abated big box store that generates a shit-pot full of sales tax money every day.

[Betty Karlson]

66. I remember a certain candidate was on the board of Walmart...

[Spitfire of ATJ]

71. In response,...

.....Walmart had a sale on donuts.

[Hekate]

76. Walmart has become a bad citizen on so many levels; the founders must be rolling in their graves

Kicking to read the article at the link later, but too many of the comments here are using this as just another excuse at historical revisionism for Hillary bashing. Walmart was not then what it is now.

[Glassunion]

77. Mwahahaha!

"Several local law enforcement officers also emphasized that all the hours spent at Walmart cut into how often they can patrol other neighborhoods and prevent other crimes..."

Riiiight... The police "prevent" crimes.

[mrmpa]

78. In regard to shoplifting............

which is most of the calls from Walmart, what needs to be done by the legislatures is to decriminalize the offense. There must be a threshold, say $250 when it becomes a misdemeanor. Below that threshold it is either a citation and or a civil offense. If there is an off duty Police Officer in the store, or a uniformed security guard (who could write the citation), problem solved. Or Walmart could take the offender through a civil court.

The same for trespassing, it should be a summary offense, where a citation is issued. I know shoplifting is a massive problem, but Police man hours are lost due to it.

[dem in texas]

82. Walmart, McDonald's, other large corporations are living off the Tax Payers

Just another abuse by Walmart. Think about the people who work for some of these mega chains and are being paid minimum wage. Because their income is so low, they are getting Medicaid, food stamps and other government assistance courtesy of the American taxpayer. All of this, while the stockholders of the companies are getting richer every quarter.

This has got to change, Walmart and all the others have to start paying their own way. Write your congressman, talk this up with friends, people need to understand what is going on. This is part of drift towards further income inequality and decrease of the middle class..

[porkified]

94. corporate trash

Walmart,McDonald's,and G.E. are un-American. They are leeches that suck off of the country and leave nothing but their waste.

[KamaAina]

95. "Calls are so common the police often sit in the parking lots waiting for the next one."

For some reason, the theme music from Cops is running through my head. "Bad boys, bad boys..."

[ileus]

96. Gee, just who is responsible for law enforcement?

Once caught wal-mart security would call local LEO's anyway.

[former9thward]

97. Walmart does have its own security.

Security guards are not allowed to arrest people just detain them. So they have to call the cops for crimes. Do you think Walmart should just allow the loss of property from theft? Maybe everything should be free and people should just be able to walk into the store, take what they want, and walk out. Work for you?

[lostnfound]

100. If you read the article...

You would see that they could consider theft prevention in how they stock shelves, and how they design the store... I don't leave my expensive laptop sitting in plain sight in my car, because it encourages thieves. That's called exercising good judgment. When you are in the retail business, you ought to exercise good judgment and take steps to discourage theft OTHER than simply calling the police every twenty minutes.

If someone steals a 98 cent bottle of tea, you stop them, and say "hey, you didn't pay for that." And you keep an eye out for them the next time.

[former9thward]

125. Oh, should everything be behind locked glass?

You are a retail genius. Just admit you want everything to be free.

[lostnfound]

128. Strawman

Do you use those arguments in court?
Speaking of which, did you know that some states are so desperately strapped for finding (thanks to right wing budget cuts and excessive policing) that a public defender can end up with hundreds of cases and no way to spend more than 15 minutes within their client? To the point where the clients languish behind bars on waiting lists for defense?

If Walmart had to wait the same amount of time as those clients for their 15 minutes of police service..

But in modern America, individuals can be failed and blamed, while certain powerful corporations will be properly serviced and bailed out.

[Divernan]

114. Hey! DU accepts ads from Walmart.

Having just let my star expire, I'm now seeing DU's ads - I just got urged to buy some ice cream at Walmart. Perhaps some totally innocent, 100% coincidental (cause Hillary's supporters insist there is absolutely no such thing as quid pro quo in the political arena) connection between endorsing Hillary in the primary & getting ads from her corporate backers?

[NotHardly]

119. If a bar got that many calls ... the police would have had it closed as a nusance..

which is exactly what WalMart are... to belabor the point.

[Sunlei]

124. who is walmart supposed to call to 'arrest' people? isn't that the police & local courts job?

Their 'job' to arrest shoplifters, charge them and give them their court dates, set/collect fines or jail time.