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A CASHIER was caught on camera stealing thousands of dollars worth of merchandise.
Jacalyn Hendricks, 21, was arrested last week and charged with theft after stealing $7,500 from the Family Dollar she worked at.
Hendricks was reportedly caught on camera not scanning customers’ items but still putting them in a bag, local CBS affiliate WREG reported.
The loss prevention team at the Family Dollar in Memphis, Tennessee, reported that Hendricks’ actions cost the store $7,528 in merchandise between July 3 and August 22, 2023.
EMPLOYEE THEFT
In Florida, a Walmart delivery driver was arrested for stealing $52,000 from the business.
Jeremiah Boyer, 43, was arrested on February 18 in Port St. Lucie, Florida, after a year-long investigation found he raked in $52,800 of fees.
The fees were charged on over 870 orders placed through Walmart’s online delivery service Spark.
Spark workers are paid extra if they handle heavy items during deliveries, local CBS affiliate WPEC reported.
The workers still get paid a heavy item fee even if an order cannot be filled.
Boyer allegedly used fake names and accounts to place orders for heavy items and then marked the items as “not found.”
Although the order couldn’t be fulfilled, he still received the fee for heavy items.
RISING CRIME
Retailers are fending off thieves now more than ever after losing a shocking amount of money to theft in the past couple of years.
In 2023, retailers lost $121.6 billion to theft, Capital One Shopping reported.
This stunning statistic has caused major retailers such as Walmart and Target to take extreme measures against theft.
These measures include locking products up, putting an item restriction on self-checkout machines, and, in some cases, eliminating self-checkout machines altogether.
Last year, Target began making significant changes to prevent theft, starting with locking up products.
“To be clear, we do not like locking up product, but we like running stores, and we want to keep our stores open,” Target CEO Brian Cornell told Yahoo Finance.
“We want to make sure they’re safe.”
Anti-theft measures rolled out by retailers
Retailers across the US and Canada have rolled out strategies designed to combat theft. The U.S. Sun has compiled a list of measures that have been implemented at stores.
- Locking items in cabinets
- Security pegs
- Security cameras
- Signs warning about the impact of theft
- Receipt scanners
- Receipt checks
- Carts with locking technology
The CEO said he “certainly hopes” the chain can unlock its products, but it will have to wait for the crime rate to decrease.
In addition to locking up products, the store also began limiting self-checkout lanes to 10 items or less.
“We’re getting back to the way self-checkout should have been used,” Cornell said.
“More team members running service-belted lanes, self-checkouts there for smaller baskets, 10 items or less.
“It’s the right balance and we get better interaction.”
