Home Depot Store Security

I've had those things go off at Walgreens, Wal-Mart, etc...

I just keep on walking, I don't slow down or even look behind me.

I paid for the items, and I'm sure not going to react to a alarm that they failed to operate correctly.

Never once has anyone tried to stop me or even say anything.

It=92s not the security that=92s the deterrent but the potential punishment. Chances are if someone is stealing from someplace like Home Depot they probably have an arrest record and here in California if you get arrested three times you go to jail for twenty-five years to life.

Reminds me of many years ago when I first moved to this area and got involved in the local sports. After a late softball game, most of the team went to a local bar to blow off steam. Wife and I had many beers and a burger or two. But I had always been used to paying for each beer or burger or whatever I got when it was delivered to the table but this place just trusted people to pay up before leaving.

When we decided to leave, we just went out to the car and nobody stopped us. I got behind the wheel and started the car and just sat there for a minute with my arms folded. Wife asked me what was wrong and I said that something just doesn't feel right. Then it hit me that I hadn't paid my tab. I ran back in the bar and paid up.

Ain't nothing like a clear conscience.

-C-

"G. Morgan" wrote

Sometimes that security device is on the outside. I've already peeled it off my package and stuck it on the bottom of the cart. Probably drove someone nuts at least once.

You are an evil, evil man. :^)

I stuck one to buddy's shirt one time. It freaked him out, he turned around all guiltily looking and s*it!

I've had those tags stuck to my shoe before and it would set off the alarms when I walked in the door.

TDD

You could have prevented all the confusion and commotion by carrying a large magnet in your pocket. Rub the item over your pant's and you're good to go.

Here's the one I use (95lb pull):

A few years back one of the local big box "associates" stopped and detained someone with a receipt in their hand for the items they purchased after they had set off an alarm because of a tag. It cost them some bucks to settle the lawsuit. If you operate a store on the cheap trying to copy walmart then it is your problem when stuff like this happens not the problem of someone who paid for the merchandise.

Smitty Two wrote in news:prestwhich- snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org:

Winning reply.

While checking out at Wall Maart the cashier told me that one item is going to set off the alarm. So just for the hell of it I told them to watch as I held the item above my head and walked out without triggering the alarm.

I can see it now. All the footballs are going to be stolen as people pass them out to their friends past the sensors.

Now I haven't tried it, but wouldn't a strong magnet disable those little suckers?

LOL! I like that!

I'm a country boy but I've been in Detroit and Chicago several times. Of the two, I feel much safer in Detroit.

-C-

I call the things "customer annoyance devices", since that seems to be their main function.

Yup. If they attempt or manage to detain you and you've stolen nothing they have a big problem on their hands. It could even escalate to criminal kidnapping, or unlawful arrest.

You would think all the loss prevention employees would know the rules inside and out, but I read about incidents all the time where they overstep their bounds.

No, not if they are RFID tags used in newer installations by Sensormatic and Checkpoint. They even have transmitters that they claim will go through foil-lined purses etc...

They work just like toll passes. A field of electromagnetic energy is emitted from the receiver location, which is enough energy to power on the small chip and it's transmitter that "wakes up" the tag long enough for it to send it's RFID identifier.

I once worked at a big box store. We were told NOT to detain anyone under any circumstances. Loss prevention employees were the only ones authorized to initiate detaining anyone, and that was only based upon one criteria. They had to have constant video surveilance, on tape, of the person walking from their car into the store without packages, video of them throughout the store without gaps in the video, and video of them exiting without going thru a checkout point. Any of that video missing and they had to let them leave unchallenged. Yeah, they missed a lot of thefts, but they were damned good at profileing the semi- pros.

The biggest scam though was stealing from one store, going to a nearby similar store's customer service with the stolen item and asking for a refund claiming a lost receipt.

OK, so nobody stopped you from walking out with the lockset, therefore you could have cleaned the place out with the right sized truck?

That's a bit of an extrapolation, don't you think?

It's interesting that you're making fun of Home Depot security after admitting that you almost walked out of the store without the item you just paid for.

Maybe you shouldn't be using the self-serve lines.

Are you thinking about Gary, Indiana. It's almost a part of Chicago it's so close. Another big industrial town gone to pot.

-C-