From WWW.DAILYMAIL.CO.UK
Walmart’s CEO has warned that the retail giant may have to hike prices and shutter some stores amid ‘historically high’ thefts.
Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box Tuesday, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon admitted that theft has become a major issue for the chain known for its low prices, saying woke district attorneys’ lenient policies need to be ‘corrected.’
‘If that’s not corrected over time, prices will be higher and our stores will close,’ he told co-host Rebecca Quick.
McMillon did not specify in the interview which locations have experienced this record-high level of shoplifting, but his announcement comes after Walmarts in Los Angeles resorted to locking up most of their inventory to prevent further thefts.
Just one month ago, the chief financial officer at Walmart’s biggest rival, Target, also revealed that shoplifting at its stores had jumped more than 50 percent year on year, leading to more than $400 million in losses in 2022 alone.
Walmart executives have been notoriously secretive about how much of an issue shoplifting is for the company, though Forbes has previously estimated that the chain loses about $3billion a year due to thefts.
But in his interview on Tuesday, McMillon admitted: ‘Theft is an issue. It’s higher than what it has historically been.’
He said the company has been forced to implement new safety measures at different locations but stressed that he saw local law enforcement as the main solution to the growing problem.
‘I think local law enforcement being staffed and being a good partner is part of that equation, and that’s normally how we approach it,’ he said.
‘It’s store managers working with local law enforcement, and we’ve got great relationships there for the most part.’
Throughout the interview, McMillon was careful not to discuss which locations have experienced these high levels of shoplifting, even as Quick pressed the CEO on what he thinks of the woke District Attorneys in major American cities that are no longer prosecuting shoplifters.
He only said the issue is ‘really city by city, location by location.’
But a recent survey conducted by reporters at the Los Angeles Times found that all of the Walmarts they visited in the city have now partitioned off a portion of their pharmacies where high-price health and beauty products are sold.
Now, if a shopper wants to buy expensive makeup or shampoos, they must enter the partitioned area and pay a cashier before leaving through a narrow exit back to the store.
Men’s underwear was also locked up in several of the locations reporters visited last month, and to buy a pair of boxers at the store in Burbank, reporters had to wait eight and a half minutes to get an employee to open up the plexiglass case.
The city has seen robberies skyrocket 10.7 percent over last year, according to Los Angeles Police Department statistics, with burglaries up nearly 13 percent and motor vehicle thefts up 8.1 percent.
Personal thefts are also up nearly 14 percent, contributing to a 7.4 increase in overall crime across the California city.
At the same time, though, robbery arrests are only up 2.7 percent — while burglary arrests are actually down 4.9 percent and motor vehicle theft arrests are down 8.2 percent from last year.
Critics have blamed woke District Attorney George Gascon for this rise in crime.
Even before being elected, Gascon had been vocal about his belief that the criminal justice system needs to focus more on intervention and rehabilitation, blasting ‘tough on crime’ policies as racist.
Once he got into office, he limited the use of sentencing enhancements which would add more time to a theft’s prison sentence if, for example, they used a gun during the act.
He also barred prosecutors from charging juveniles as adults, regardless of the severity of their alleged crimes.
These lax bail reform laws in often-liberal cities, including New York and San Francisco, mean there is virtually no penalty for the thieves who carry out the crimes…. (Read more)
