Retailers in crime-ridden San Francisco are abandoning self-checkout lanes in a “defensive retailing” move to combat the city’s rising theft.
A Safeway supermarket in San Francisco’s Fillmore District and a Target on Mission Street are closing their self-checkout kiosks to customers — changes that other troubled stores across the city may follow, SFGate reports.
“While I can’t speak for any company, you look at the trajectory of commerce over the last 10, 20, 5,000 years, it’s all about reducing friction for customers,” Daniel Conway, vice president of government relations for the California Merchandisers Association, told the outlet. that.
“But now you’re seeing a countervailing trend: armed guards and Tide Pods being locked up,” he added.
Organized retail theft and “break-and-grab” robberies in the Golden Gate City — and major cities across the country — have increased in recent years, forcing many major stores to close certain locations.
A Safeway and Target are closing their self-checkout lanes 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 theft forced city locations to cut employee hours.
The Post has reached out to Target and Safeway for comment on the removal of self-checkout machines because many retailers have linked the do-it-yourself kiosks to increased theft.
There were 29,739 robberies and thefts in 2023 — down significantly from 2022 when 61,715 were reported, according to the latest data from the San Francisco Police Department,
Retailers have been dealing with an increase in theft in recent years. San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
California announced in September it plans to spend $267 million to help dozens of local law enforcement agencies crack down on smash-and-grab robberies. 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 goods.
In New York, store owners say they lost $4.4 billion last year to 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 theft when groups of people show up in groups for mass shoplifting events or enter stores and break and grab from display cases.
In response, retailers have had to adapt, which may ultimately make shopping more difficult, Conway told SFGate.
“All the things that were put in place to reduce friction are now being put back in place,” Conway said. “I can buy anything I want on my phone, but now when I want to go to the store to buy it, it’s more difficult.
“It’s hard to make a direct correlation, but I think in San Francisco it will get to the point where you see stores closing, which is a major form of defensive retailing,” he said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
