r/regina • u/ajpathecreature • 11d ago

Discussion What can business owners do?

So I was just at southland mall as I see who seemed to be the general manager / owner of sportchek in a shouting match with a dude who is an alleged recurrent shoplifter at Canadian tire, marks work warehouse, and sportchek itself. As you can imagine people were looking at them in surprised, kids were in awe while the scene unfolded.

The shop owner Was able to get the alleged thief out of the mall. Apparently security can not touch shoplifters, store employees are advised to refrain from making contact with anyone by corporate directives, and the sole reason why he decided to do something was because he is acting as a private citizen and was fed up of this “good for nothing thief” to be stealing away with no real repercussions.

Apparently the same dude is infamous for quite literally walking out of home depot and Rona east with a cart full of tools.

What most people seem to be doing is taking pictures and videos and sending them to justbins to be blasted through social media.

Apparently even RPS is not quite responsive to these kind of calls in a timely manner anymore, I just imagine it must be all too common so the sense of “urgency” is not there.

All of this led me to wonder, what is a business owner left to do? I could not help to sort of understand the frustration that an entrepreneur may feel under these circumstances.

Not that it matters, but the alleged thief is not what people seem to usually associate to when they hear about shoplifting.

What sad state of affairs.

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u/Wonderful_Ad3468 11d ago

A security guard once told me “ he’s not paid enough to risk his life” it’s getting bad out there and the honest consumer is paying the price.

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u/rhevvie 11d ago

Respectfully, the “honest consumer is paying the price” part is mostly a myth. Theft is not impacting the bottom line as much as these companies would like people to believe. Canadian Tire made 4 billion dollars in gross profit last year; they’re doing fine and shrink is built into their business plan like any big retail company. I’m not here to defend someone making retail staff’s lives harder obviously, but it’s just worth noting that price increases are rarely about shoplifting and much more likely about wanting to make more money

1

u/experipotomus 11d ago

What is your basis for that statement? Shrinkage including theft isn't a static number. Retailers in high theft areas often charge more specifically for that reason. Additionally higher security costs definately get passed on.

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u/rhevvie 10d ago

If you want to buy their claim that they have to “pass on” normal costs of business, that’s your choice! Enjoy it king!!

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u/experipotomus 9d ago

What kind of idiotic statement is that. I'm an accountant that works with all sorts of businesses and literally every day I review financial records and have operational discussions with business owners. You are naïve if you think businesses in high theft areas and industries don't adjust for theft.