The BORG is watching ... YOU!

[Mark & Juanita]

Take a look at:

ah, the times we live in.

[Leon]

I was shocked to learn that they did not have this already...

[Dave Balderstone]

As long as it's prominently announced with signage as I walk into the store I have little problem it.

djb

[Mark & Juanita]

They currently have analog cameras and VCR's. What is interesting and perhaps a little troubling is with the new technology, they can keep the imagery indefinitely.

[Silvan]

Remind me not to go to the Despot with toilet paper stuck to my shoe.

[Leuf]

This is highly unlikely. Digital video, even at reduced resolution and with realtime compression, eats through disk space like you wouldn't believe. 12 cameras going 24/7 is a lot of bits to store. No matter how much disk space they install, eventually it's going to fill up. Then it either has to be deleted or backed up to some other medium. It's pretty unlikely they would go to the expense of making the backups and storing them. More likely they have enough disk space to store as many days as they think is worthwhile to keep.

The real advantage is that with an analog tape the tape is recorded on over and over again until it degrades to the point of having to be replaced. With digital you don't have to deal with tape wear, or cleaning the heads on the vcrs. And a server takes up less space than a bank of vcrs. But on the other hand, you don't have to worry about the vcr crashing.

-Leuf

[Dick Durbin]

I figure that, if I am not doing anything I am ashamed of, why would I worry about them taking my picture. Of course, I am usually covered in sawdust when I go in there....

Dick "non-photogenic" Durbin

[hex]

Yeah the naive times we live in... Lifted from the article is this quote:

"I realize the ultimate cost [of theft] comes back to me in the form of price increases," Tatro said.

That blows me away. The market for home improvement stores is relatively tight competition -- HD has only limited flexibility to pass on theft losses to the customer. I would be amused to find that better surveillance correlates with lower prices for customers at big box retailers. My guess is that the reason for implementing security cams in a massive scale is to protect the bottom line so the stock price stays up and C_O's can keep the large numbers of zeroes in the pay checks. Big businesses aren't about serving the customer.

Cynically,

hex

-30-

[Silvan]

Don't have to worry about the computer crashing either if they had the good sense to base their system around pretty much any OS that didn't come from Microsoft. :)

[Eddie Munster]

I hope they are also going into biometric face scanning technology. That way they can eventually link names with faces at checkout time. Or scan all stores automatically for know offenders faces. That is the digital advantage and it is done in more places than casinos.( why did you think they scan your photo ID when you sign up for players club cards and such?) But it is all good for security and one day crooks won't even be able to go outside. But on the other hand, the mis-identifications have been fiascos. Over all I am in favor of it. It isn't cheap.

John

Mark & Juanita wrote:

[Jules]

[Dr. Rev. Chuck, M.D. P.A.]

How nice.

So who *else* has been nailed by HD's defective shoplifting detectors?

[C Wood]

Harddrives have a limit on reading writing also, so they have to be "cleaned" (trashed) and replaced. Most units don't use windows, so crashing isn't normally a problem. Things I can do:

1. Verify employee hours, even when I'm not here. 2. Watch individuals with keys during off hours (in the place) 3. Check outgoing stock/ incomming. 4. Know when the mailman came.

I spend less time checking the camera daily than I did writing this.

(Normal non-affiliation garbage here,

model D4) (Well, some affiliation, I sell them occasionally, but I don't work for them)

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

I've got to stop adjusting myself in the store.

Barry

[Rico]

Why? He or she who spies on me does so at their own peril :)

Dick

[Gfretwell]

I only hope one of their marketing specialists will see why they find so many carts abandoned, full of merchandise ... when we can't get anyone to help us.

[TomL]

Maybe instead of watching me they should be watching the orange aprons all congregated in some remote corner of the store.

TomL

[Rico]

I expect that's part of the plan.

[Leon]

That reminds me, 2 weeks ago I went to the local county tax office to dispute the tax value of my home. As I sat in a room of about 100 people waiting for someone to see me up comes a lady to the front of the room and sits down in front of every body. She had about 2 feet of toilet paper sticking out of the back of her pants. I commended myself silently for not busting out laughing...

[Gredo Goldenstein]

I wish it was part of the plan. I love Home Depot, up until I need help with something or want to check out. Invariably there is a herd of orange at the back of some remote aisle. Half the time I feel like Indiana Jones trying to find someone. Then when you get to the checkout and heaven forbid the item you have doesnt scan or has no bar code you can stand there until the next Olympic Games occurs. I tried to buy a single 8' piece of 1x3 maple the other day and could have grown the tree myself buy the time it got rang up. I tell the girl, "It's maple, $1.10 a linear foot, $8.80." I stood there 10 minutes to get it rung up. Sad.