Retailers in crime-plagued San Francisco are abandoning their self-checkout lanes in a “defensive retail” measure to counter rising theft in the city.
A Safeway supermarket in San Francisco’s Fillmore district and a Target on Mission Street closed their self-checkout kiosks to customers, a change that other stores in the troubled city could follow, SFGate reported.
“While I can’t speak for any particular company, as you look at the trajectory of commerce over the last 10, 20, 5,000 years, it’s about reducing friction for customers,” Daniel Conway, vice president of government relations at the California Grocers Association . , he told the media.
“But now we’re seeing the opposite trend: armed guards and Tide Pods locked up,” he added.
Retail thefts and organized “smash and grab” robberies in the City of Golden Gate (and major cities across the country) have skyrocketed in recent years, forcing many major stores to close. certain locations.
Safeway and Target closed their self-checkout lines amid rising crime in San Francisco. Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Target blamed crime for closing three stores in San Francisco in September, according to SFGate. In 2021, Safeway said rampant thefts forced one city location to reduce employee hours.
The Post contacted Target and Safeway for comment on the removal of self-checkout machines, as many retailers have linked DIY kiosks to increasing theft.
There have been 29,739 cases of theft and theft in 2023, a significantly lower number than in 2022, when 61,715 were reported, according to the latest data from the San Francisco Police Department.
Retailers have faced an increase in theft in recent years. San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
California announced in September that it plans to spend $267 million to help dozens of local law enforcement agencies crack down on thefts. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said at the time that since 2019, law enforcement in California has arrested more than 1,250 people and recovered $30.7 million in stolen merchandise.
In New York, store owners said they lost $4.4 billion last year as a result of retail theft, according to the New York State Retail Council, a lobbying group.
Retailers in other cities, such as Chicago and Minneapolis, have also been targets of large-scale robberies when groups of people show up in groups for mass robbery events or to break into stores and vandalize and steal from storefronts.
In response, retailers have had to adapt, which can end up making shopping more difficult, Conway told SFGate.
“All the measures taken to reduce friction are now being put back into action,” Conway said. “I can buy whatever I want on my phone, but now when I want to go to a store to buy it, it’s harder.
“It’s hard to make a direct correlation, but I think in San Francisco you’re getting to the point where you’re seeing store closures, which is the ultimate form of defensive retailing,” he said.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn