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San Francisco's shoplifting epidemic gets out of control


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2021 May 21, 10:05am   3,889 views  105 comments

by Eric Holder   ➕follow (5)   💰tip   ignore  

Soon after moving to San Francisco in 2016, I walked into a Walgreens in North Beach to buy an electric toothbrush.

As I was paying for it, a man walked into the store, grabbed a handful of beef jerky and walked out. I looked over at an employee, who shrugged. Then I went to Safeway next door for some groceries and I saw a man stuffing three bottles of wine into a backpack and walking casually toward the exit. On his way out he bagged some snacks. I asked the Safeway clerk about the thefts.

“I’m new to San Francisco,” I said. “Is it optional to pay for things here?”

Five years later, the shoplifting epidemic in San Francisco has only worsened.

At a board of supervisors hearing last week, representatives from Walgreens said that thefts at its stores in San Francisco were four times the chain’s national average, and that it had closed 17 stores, largely because the scale of thefts had made business untenable.

Brendan Dugan, the director of the retail crime division at CVS Health, called San Francisco “one of the epicenters of organized retail crime” and said employees were instructed not to pursue suspected thieves because encounters had become too dangerous.

“We’ve had incidents where our security officers are assaulted on a pretty regular basis in San Francisco,” Dugan said.

The retail executives and police officers emphasized the role of organized crime in the thefts. And they told the supervisors that Proposition 47, the 2014 ballot measure that reclassified nonviolent thefts as misdemeanors if the stolen goods are worth less than $950, had emboldened thieves.

“The one trend we are seeing is more violence and escalating — and much more bold,” said Commander Raj Vaswani, the head of the investigations bureau at the San Francisco Police Department. “We see a lot of repeat offenders.”

San Francisco has suffered in a variety of ways during the pandemic. The city has had twice as many fatal drug overdoses as coronavirus deaths. Tents of legions of homeless people lined sidewalks during the lockdowns. But the hearing last week focused on something much more prosaic: One of the richest cities in America is struggling with sticky fingers.



https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/San-Francisco-s-Shoplifting-Surge-16193767.php

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

« First        Comments 66 - 105 of 105        Search these comments

66   HeadSet   2021 Jul 7, 7:46am  

Ceffer says
The strategy of property busting worked so well in Detroit, you can buy a house for $200, and forest is reclaiming large tracts.

I heard that even though the property is cheap, the buyer will be on the hook for back taxes and required fix ups.
67   RWSGFY   2021 Jul 7, 9:21am  

Ceffer says
The strategy of property busting worked so well in Detroit, you can buy a house for $200, and forest is reclaiming large tracts.


Wait, Wakanda is not what used to be called Detroit?
69   NDrLoR   2021 Jul 9, 2:44pm  

HunterTits says
Detroit
I have to believe the beautiful turn of the century home of Harry Lane, a record collector whom I got to meet on our trip to the northeast in 1964, no longer exists in its beautiful neighborhood. Harry and his wife were at least in their mid-60's or older by that time. I spent two hours going through records in his basement while my mother visited with them upstairs. He let me have my picks for a dime apiece and I got some good records that I still have. I bought off his auction lists for several more years, but I never could understand why he sent my Sam Lanin Domino of He, She and Me packed so poorly it was broken in half when it got here. I glued it back together as best as I could and it made me sick when I heard the Smith Ballew vocal and Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey solos after the vocal. It took me over 40 years to get another copy!
70   keeprubbersidedown   2021 Jul 9, 3:30pm  

Booger says
You could make a nice living stealing just under $950 per trip and selling on eBay.


Now eBay reports all sales to the IRS…
71   Booger   2021 Jul 9, 5:43pm  

HunterTits says
keeprubbersidedown says
Now eBay reports all sales to the IRS…


Why? IRS is responsible now for collecting some sort of federal sales tax I never heard of?
.

Power sellers need to pay income tax on their business.
73   mell   2021 Jul 11, 7:38pm  

Patrick says
https://notthebee.com/article/looting-is-so-bad-in-san-fran-that-stores-are-now-locking-up-toothpaste


They have been doing this for years. Toothpaste is somewhat popular for some reason. Probably because items like toothpaste you can easily resell on eBay and are impossible to track
74   RWSGFY   2021 Jul 11, 8:18pm  

mell says
Patrick says
https://notthebee.com/article/looting-is-so-bad-in-san-fran-that-stores-are-now-locking-up-toothpaste


They have been doing this for years. Toothpaste is somewhat popular for some reason. Probably because items like toothpaste you can easily resell on eBay and are impossible to track


Wouldn't shipping costs essentially double the price for a tube of toothpaste? I think they are reselling that shit face-to-face.
75   Onvacation   2021 Jul 11, 10:12pm  

"Hey" whispers the trenchcoated man in the Tenderloin alley, "Want to buy some Crest? "
76   zzyzzx   2021 Jul 12, 7:31am  

FuckCCP89 says
Wouldn't shipping costs essentially double the price for a tube of toothpaste?


Have you seen the price of some of those toothpastes? I assume that the one being stolen are some sort of teeth whitening + sensitive teeth formula variety.
77   RWSGFY   2021 Jul 12, 7:43am  

zzyzzx says
FuckCCP89 says
Wouldn't shipping costs essentially double the price for a tube of toothpaste?


Have you seen the price of some of those toothpastes? I assume that the one being stolen are some sort of teeth whitening + sensitive teeth formula variety.


Have you seen USPS shipping rates? =))
78   zzyzzx   2021 Jul 21, 7:12am  

Police say shoplifted merchandise being sold at Bay Area flea markets
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtkVL1W8pIM

I guess the flea markets are outside the city where shoplifting is still illegal, otherwise people would shoplift at the flea market, right?
79   RC2006   2021 Jul 21, 7:26am  

Any of you guys remember the store Service Merchandise? Everything in the store was behind glass and you took a number to the back of thr store paid for it and it came out on a conveyor belt.
80   Ceffer   2021 Jul 21, 8:17am  

They are selling their stolen merchandise according to their needs.
81   RWSGFY   2021 Jul 21, 2:53pm  

zzyzzx says
outside the city where shoplifting is still illegal


No such thing in CA - that shit is legalized statewide.
82   Booger   2021 Jul 21, 5:53pm  

RC2006 says
Any of you guys remember the store Service Merchandise? Everything in the store was behind glass and you took a number to the back of thr store paid for it and it came out on a conveyor belt.


I'm still using a made in USA Tappan brand microwave oven that I bought there in 1989. It's complete with a wood grain finish.
83   zzyzzx   2021 Jul 22, 10:53am  

Apparently it is statewide:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9811753/Two-thieves-brazenly-rob-TJ-Maxx-rash-California-shoplifting-continues.html

Two thieves brazenly stroll out of TJ Maxx with armfuls of clothes: LAPD cop says 'criminals are winning' because law that classes theft under $950 as a misdemeanor
84   Eric Holder   2021 Jul 22, 11:49am  

zzyzzx says
Apparently it is statewide:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9811753/Two-thieves-brazenly-rob-TJ-Maxx-rash-California-shoplifting-continues.html

Two thieves brazenly stroll out of TJ Maxx with armfuls of clothes: LAPD cop says 'criminals are winning' because law that classes theft under $950 as a misdemeanor


$950x365 = $346,750 per year. Tax-free.
85   zzyzzx   2021 Jul 22, 12:03pm  

Eric Holder says
$950x365 = $346,750 per year. Tax-free.


You can shoplift more then once per day.
86   Eric Holder   2021 Jul 22, 12:04pm  

zzyzzx says
Eric Holder says
$950x365 = $346,750 per year. Tax-free.


You can shoplift more then once per day.


Good point.
87   Patrick   2021 Jul 22, 1:07pm  

There is an interesting conflict here between liberal politicians and the rich people who support them.

At least some of those rich people own stock in Walgreens, Walmart, Target, etc, which are losing big bux because of the "go ahead and steal" laws in California.

Then again, maybe a higher level of rich people, like Jeff Bezos, actually do want to wipe out all in-person retail to kill all competition with Amazon and similar.

Maybe the Walton family will put out a contract on Bezos.
88   Eric Holder   2021 Jul 22, 1:09pm  

Patrick says
,... maybe a higher level of rich people, like Jeff Bezos, actually do want to wipe out all in-person retail to kill all competition with Amazon and similar.


Right. But where does it put the blatant leniency towards package theft?
89   Patrick   2021 Jul 22, 1:12pm  

Good point. Maybe even Amazon is going to lose more to package theft because of these misguided laws.

Who pays when someone steals your Amazon package?
90   Eric Holder   2021 Jul 22, 1:30pm  

Patrick says
Good point. Maybe even Amazon is going to lose more to package theft because of these misguided laws.

Who pays when someone steals your Amazon package?


The customer, I guess. Unless the package is sent with "signature required" option (which is not an option on Amazon, iirc). This is probably why AMZN is deploying lockers everywhere.
91   HeadSet   2021 Jul 22, 6:44pm  

Patrick says
Maybe the Walton family will put out a contract on Bezos.

Is Walmart one of the stores being shop lifted en mass?
93   RC2006   2021 Aug 1, 7:52am  

Booger says
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/san-francisco-robbery-wave-hits-governor-gavin-newsom-s-wine-shop/ar-AAMFpMG


I would guess a lot of the stats for crime in that article are vastly off since people have givin up on filing police reports.
94   Onvacation   2021 Aug 1, 10:25am  

RC2006 says
Booger says
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/san-francisco-robbery-wave-hits-governor-gavin-newsom-s-wine-shop/ar-AAMFpMG


I would guess a lot of the stats for crime in that article are vastly off since people have givin up on filing police reports.

The police have gone to an online system that requires a lot of details and then crashes when you click "submit".
95   Patrick   2021 Aug 1, 11:23am  

How convenient.
96   FortwayeAsFuckJoeBiden   2021 Aug 1, 11:43am  

Eric Holder says
clambo says
If you have a store, black kids will rob you.
If you have a car, Mexicans will steal your catalytic converter.


And if you try to protect what's yours you'll be prosecuted and thrown to rot in jail.


Last week couple of adult men did steal our neighbors cat converter. We almost caught them. But they drove off fast.RC2006 says
richwicks says
They do this ALL THE TIME on the East Coast by they take their time doing it, like decades. This is just being done a bit more quickly.


No it's been getting worse for half a century. We are talking about huge cities, maybe that might work on small ones. Detroit, LA, SF, Portland, ect are not turning around there populations have changed.


Oh they can turn it around. Just not very fast. Cleaning up bums is alreadyHunterTits says
Booger says
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/07/california-legalized-theft-everyones-packages-were-daniel-greenfield/


This is the best part @Booger ...in bold:

One article chronicled a multi-year effort by a socialist union leader, a Google employee, and a lesbian BLM supporter to stop a heroin addict who was repeatedly caught stealing packages. The junkie blamed racism, and refused to show up in court. Police officers came, wrote her tickets, and she went right on stealing. Judges issued bench warrants, and then released her, telling her to report to drug rehab, and she went right back to stealing. While one of her victims was in court waiting for the case to be heard, the thief was stealing packages from his porch.


So clown world that it made me laugh.
97   Blue   2021 Aug 1, 3:34pm  

Car breaking, mail theft becomes regular at my hood suppose to be one of the 'safest' in the country;) Spoke to two victims who showed breaking videos to cops with the guys faces and license plates. If the damage is less than certain amount they said that do nothing. The stolen credit cards were being used next day morning trying to spend thousands per card in San Jose. Good that card co. detected fraud and stopped transaction.
98   Hircus   2021 Aug 1, 6:23pm  

Booger says
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/san-francisco-robbery-wave-hits-governor-gavin-newsom-s-wine-shop/ar-AAMFpMG


OMFG newcum owns a wine store in SF? This makes me wanna don blackface with rainbow garb, and go rob his store.
99   zzyzzx   2021 Aug 1, 6:42pm  

Hircus says
OMFG newcum owns a wine store in SF? This makes me wanna don blackface with rainbow garb, and go rob his store.


If there is ever another a Patrick.net meetup in CA, that should be the after lunch activity.
100   Onvacation   2021 Aug 1, 6:45pm  

Blue says
If the damage is less than certain amount they said that do nothing.

It's just a matter of time before vigilantism brings swift justice to these CRIMINALS!

Shoot the looters!
102   zzyzzx   2021 Aug 11, 11:14am  

San Francisco locals react to rampant shoplifting, break-ins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU6o2MIuMQc
103   HeadSet   2021 Aug 11, 1:39pm  

zzyzzx says
San Francisco locals react to rampant shoplifting, break-ins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU6o2MIuMQc


My response: You voted for it.
104   zzyzzx   2021 Oct 29, 10:24am  

Not just San Francisco any more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z28Lik44dd0

NYC Crime Update: Shoplifting Tsunami

Also mentions that the new NY governor is worse, which is what I was expecting.
105   Robber Baron Elite Scum   2021 Oct 29, 1:33pm  

Sometimes shoplifters work for organized teams listing the items online for sale on various platforms like eBay, amazon, Etsy, mercari, alibaba - etc

Some of them actually wear and carry high-tech equipment to disable the detectors on high-value items and are quick with hands and concealment.

Have a quick exit and a motor bike with a license plate that can be covered for evasion.

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