Reaping What They’ve Sown

 

Democrat policies — defunding police, turning criminals out of prison, and refusing to prosecute shoplifters and vandals — have resulted in a wave of smash and grab thefts, primarily in the bluest urban areas of the bluest states. Retailers hit by these policies are appealing to Congress.

Last week, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, representing 20 major retailers, sent a letter to Congress asking legislators to deal with the growing theft, shoplifting, and “smash-and-grab” mob attacks on retail stores. The corporations represented include giants like Target, Best Buy, Nordstrom, Home Depot, and CVS.

According to OpenSecrets.org, here’s how those same retailers donated politically in the 2020 Election Cycle:

  • BestBuy: 73% Democrat, 27% Republican
  • CVS: 70% Democrat, 30% Republican
  • Target: 73% Democrat, 27% Republican
  • Home Depot: 51% Democrat, 49% Republican
  • Nordstrom: 86% Democrat, 14% Republican

One other signatory, Levi Strauss, donated 99% to Democrats in the 202o cycle.

Notably, the legislation they are advocating doesn’t involve harsher penalties for shoplifting or cracking down on criminal gangs. It targets online third-party sellers.  Under the guise of protecting consumers from “counterfeit and hazardous products,” the legislation would create additional paperwork and “verification” requirements for anyone who has more than 200 sales or more than $5,000 in sales in a 12-month period and gives the FTC power to penalize those who do not comply.

While I am sure at least some of those Louis Vuitton bags that were smashed and grabbed will end up on eBay, this really doesn’t seem targeted at that particular issue. It seems more like an attempt to raise the barriers to entry into the online marketplace.

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  1. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Victor Tango Kilo: Notably, the legislation they are advocating doesn’t involve harsher penalties for shoplifting or cracking down on criminal gangs. It targets online third-party sellers. Under the guise of  protecting consumers from “counterfeit and hazardous products,” the legislation would create additional paperwork and “verification” requirements for anyone who has more than 200 sales or more than $5000 in sales in a 12-month period and gives the FTC power to penalize those who do not comply. 

    Our stores are being looted!

    What would you like Congress do to?

    Go after third-party resellers, of course!

    And of course, it’s packaged as “protecting consumers!” When what it really is doing is creating a higher bar of entry for independent sellers who maybe can’t afford a storefront, but can sell through the web.

    This clearly has nothing to do with looting.

    • #1
  2. Phil Turmel Inactive
    Phil Turmel
    @PhilTurmel

    Home Depot was almost even?  That’s remarkable.

    • #2
  3. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Phil Turmel (View Comment):

    Home Depot was almost even? That’s remarkable.

    Perhaps they know their clientele. I suspect that there’s a direct correlation between D-I-Yers and voting conservative.

    • #3
  4. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    Victor Tango Kilo: Notably, the legislation they are advocating doesn’t involve harsher penalties for shoplifting or cracking down on criminal gangs. It targets online third-party sellers. Under the guise of protecting consumers from “counterfeit and hazardous products,” the legislation would create additional paperwork and “verification” requirements for anyone who has more than 200 sales or more than $5000 in sales in a 12-month period and gives the FTC power to penalize those who do not comply.

    Our stores are being looted!

    What would you like Congress do to?

    Go after third-party resellers, of course!

    And of course, it’s packaged as “protecting consumers!” When what it really is doing is creating a higher bar of entry for independent sellers who maybe can’t afford a storefront, but can sell through the web.

    This clearly has nothing to do with looting.

    Well it does result in looting the consumers pocket.

    • #4
  5. Judge Mental Member
    Judge Mental
    @JudgeMental

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    Phil Turmel (View Comment):

    Home Depot was almost even? That’s remarkable.

    Perhaps they know their clientele. I suspect that there’s a direct correlation between D-I-Yers and voting conservative.

    True of home ownership in general.

    • #5
  6. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Why would they care about theft?  Just raise prices to cover losses.  As long as theft is the same or worse across all competitors stores all is well.  

    I worked in New York back in the late 80s and early 90s.  There were malls in my area that had rapes in the parking lots on a daily basis.  Nobody seemed to care and the shops did fine.  

    Guy I was with got robbed one day coming out of a store.  He walked into a situation where a few black gents were robbing somebody else and tried to rob him also.  My coworker had $5 on him which upset them so they decided to rough him up.  Being a good boy from Kentucky and having rode with a bike group or two he decide to break a few arms to get them to leave him alone.  The bad part was afterward the other guy being robbed was flabbergasted.  He was scared because somebody fought back.  Said he had to clear out or the cops would lock them up for ?????   People can and will get used to anything.  This is what the Left wants and what it will get.  We will get used to it and learn to embrace it soon enough.  

    • #6
  7. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    They are so invested in their own virtue signals that they are attempting to accomplish their own security without admitting that their own policies are eating them alive. So they have invented a way to stop the sales of the products stolen from their stores thinking that if the thieves can’t sell them then they won’t steal them anymore. They are too elite to admit they are wrong and their soft-on-crime policies hurt the rich as well as the “others”.

    • #7
  8. Retail Lawyer Member
    Retail Lawyer
    @RetailLawyer

    The looting is a local (state) issue while the interstate sale is federal, so this lobbying of Congress may not be as nefarious as it appears.  I once worked of Levi Strauss back when they made stuff in the USA and am very disappointed with their current donations.

    • #8
  9. Hang On Member
    Hang On
    @HangOn

    Victor Tango Kilo: It seems more like an attempt to raise the barriers to entry into the online marketplace.

    That seems clear. And why the legislation should be opposed.

    • #9
  10. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Retail Lawyer (View Comment):

    The looting is a local (state) issue while the interstate sale is federal, so this lobbying of Congress may not be as nefarious as it appears.

    Or more nefarious since it has absolutely nothing to do with looting and everything to do with crushing competition. 

    • #10
  11. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Why would they care about theft? Just raise prices to cover losses. As long as theft is the same or worse across all competitors stores all is well.

    I worked in New York back in the late 80s and early 90s. There were malls in my area that had rapes in the parking lots on a daily basis. Nobody seemed to care and the shops did fine.

    Guy I was with got robbed one day coming out of a store. He walked into a situation where a few black gents were robbing somebody else and tried to rob him also. My coworker had $5 on him which upset them so they decided to rough him up. Being a good boy from Kentucky and having rode with a bike group or two he decide to break a few arms to get them to leave him alone. The bad part was afterward the other guy being robbed was flabbergasted. He was scared because somebody fought back. Said he had to clear out or the cops would lock them up for ????? People can and will get used to anything. This is what the Left wants and what it will get. We will get used to it and learn to embrace it soon enough.

     

    • #11
  12. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Why would they care about theft? Just raise prices to cover losses. As long as theft is the same or worse across all competitors stores all is well.

    I worked in New York back in the late 80s and early 90s. There were malls in my area that had rapes in the parking lots on a daily basis. Nobody seemed to care and the shops did fine.

    Guy I was with got robbed one day coming out of a store. He walked into a situation where a few black gents were robbing somebody else and tried to rob him also. My coworker had $5 on him which upset them so they decided to rough him up. Being a good boy from Kentucky and having rode with a bike group or two he decide to break a few arms to get them to leave him alone. The bad part was afterward the other guy being robbed was flabbergasted. He was scared because somebody fought back. Said he had to clear out or the cops would lock them up for ????? People can and will get used to anything. This is what the Left wants and what it will get. We will get used to it and learn to embrace it soon enough.

     

    Actually it was a bit like that from what I heard.  My time in NY while working projects there was interesting.  New Yorkers seem to expect to be robbed and actually facilitate it.   One woman I worked with had somebody break the light on her car.  They later pulled her over to tell her about it.  She actually drove home and got them some money to make them go away.  It was almost like they lived at a base level of fear there.  It was a bit much for my hills of Kentucky good ole boy ways.  It made for some interesting times and scary stories that are now funny in retrospect.  

    • #12
  13. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Retail Lawyer (View Comment):

    The looting is a local (state) issue while the interstate sale is federal, so this lobbying of Congress may not be as nefarious as it appears. I once worked of Levi Strauss back when they made stuff in the USA and am very disappointed with their current donations.

    Yes.  I’m not quite sure Congress can do about it.

    • #13
  14. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    Victor Tango Kilo: Notably, the legislation they are advocating doesn’t involve harsher penalties for shoplifting or cracking down on criminal gangs. It targets online third-party sellers. Under the guise of protecting consumers from “counterfeit and hazardous products,” the legislation would create additional paperwork and “verification” requirements for anyone who has more than 200 sales or more than $5000 in sales in a 12-month period and gives the FTC power to penalize those who do not comply.

    Our stores are being looted!

    What would you like Congress do to?

    Go after third-party resellers, of course!

    And of course, it’s packaged as “protecting consumers!” When what it really is doing is creating a higher bar of entry for independent sellers who maybe can’t afford a storefront, but can sell through the web.

    This clearly has nothing to do with looting.

    This is about using a crisis to destroy small sellers and decrease coemption. All calls by big companies for more regulations are always, about squeezing little guys out. 

    Always.

    • #14
  15. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    Thanks. Now we need to know what firms give more to republicans. If none what stores from abroad. 

    • #15
  16. John Stanley Coolidge
    John Stanley
    @JohnStanley

    This could be a story with two messages:

    1.   Larger companies are looking for an advantage, by use of crushing weight of paperwork and government regulations.
    2.   Larger companies maybe looking at getting out of the “brick and mortar” model.   It is much easier to protect a large shipping warehouse, in a rural area, compared to many stores, near highly populated areas.   

     

    • #16
  17. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    I Walton (View Comment):

    Thanks. Now we need to know what firms give more to republicans. If none what stores from abroad.

    We could just provide police protection to small businesses, and let the big ones take care of themselves.  (The big ones are aligned with the Democrats, anyway, and they have lots of money.)

    • #17
  18. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    I Walton (View Comment):

    Thanks. Now we need to know what firms give more to republicans. If none what stores from abroad.

    We could just provide police protection to small businesses, and let the big ones take care of themselves. (The big ones are aligned with the Democrats, anyway, and they have lots of money.)

    I think all the big business that donate mainly to Democrats could use a little antitrust checkup just for fun.  The GOP needs to start playing hard ball

    • #18
  19. Victor Tango Kilo Member
    Victor Tango Kilo
    @VtheK

    John Stanley (View Comment):
    Larger companies maybe looking at getting out of the “brick and mortar” model.   It is much easier to protect a large shipping warehouse, in a rural area, compared to many stores, near highly populated areas.   

    One can imagine urban stores being retrofitted to a new model that limits access to the merchandise. Urban retailers might adopt a highly secure model that only grants entry to customers using an app or a key card. Alternately, they might adopt a model where customers select merchandise at a kiosk and it is brought to them by employees protected behind reinforced plastic and delivered through a slot after payment. 

    • #19
  20. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Victor Tango Kilo (View Comment):

    John Stanley (View Comment):
    Larger companies maybe looking at getting out of the “brick and mortar” model. It is much easier to protect a large shipping warehouse, in a rural area, compared to many stores, near highly populated areas.

    One can imagine urban stores being retrofitted to a new model that limits access to the merchandise. Urban retailers might adopt a highly secure model that only grants entry to customers using an app or a key card. Alternately, they might adopt a model where customers select merchandise at a kiosk and it is brought to them by employees protected behind reinforced plastic and delivered through a slot after payment.

    That latter is sort of the way my grandfather’s country general store worked, minus the electronic technology. The groceries, etc. were behind a counter, and he would pull what the customers wanted off the shelves for them. Not all the goods in the store were set up that way, and that part was a very old-fashioned way to operate a retail store by the 1950s.  But in the 1890s, when as a teenager he had his first job working in a retail store, that was the norm. 

     

     

    • #20
  21. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Victor Tango Kilo (View Comment):

    John Stanley (View Comment):
    Larger companies maybe looking at getting out of the “brick and mortar” model. It is much easier to protect a large shipping warehouse, in a rural area, compared to many stores, near highly populated areas.

    One can imagine urban stores being retrofitted to a new model that limits access to the merchandise. Urban retailers might adopt a highly secure model that only grants entry to customers using an app or a key card. Alternately, they might adopt a model where customers select merchandise at a kiosk and it is brought to them by employees protected behind reinforced plastic and delivered through a slot after payment.

    Sounds like JAFCO stores, just add plexiglass.

    • #21
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