Home Depot Rant: Crackhead Cam

[Orange Krate]

So I was looking for an oddball brass fitting at HD yesterday and I kept hearing this annoying dinging like an invisible tripwire that alerts someone you've walked into a store. It kept on and I kept looking for my fitting and it was driving me crazy. What kind of doorbell display am I walking through in the freaking plumbing aisle?

I look up and see my puzzle face looking back at me from an LCD monitor with red letters "LIVE RECORDING IN PROCESS" WTF? I get that it's to deter crackhead copper theives but ! I'm a paying customer, a contractor! Why I'm I subjected to this violation of privacy.

Finally I couldn't take anymore and got the manager. He informed me that these have saved Home Depot $millions keeping my cost down. My complaint as paying customer was met with the futility that it is SOP. For those of you who don't speak acronym, Standard Operating Procedure, not likely to change

 

[TorqueRanger]

LOL I use to work for home depot and everyday I would see our lp (loss prevention) guy bust people for stealing big ticket items all the way down to $ .54 of nuts and bolts... Also just imagine that if it was your business would you allow then to steal and cost you money or put up preventive measures up????






Laws are only used to stop the honest person because the criminal could careless..

 

[TeamCheap]

Its only going to get worse I'm afraid.

We already have cameras at most every street corner I wonder how long until we have them in our homes so the "powers that be" can keep an EYE on us there as well.
It sounds impossible but maybe they'll get a law passed under the guise of "universal home security".

 

[fowler]

Big Brother is in

it is funny how these out of the world si fi storys in the 50s and 60s about the government watching your every move, is accually happening now
to a point

i personally dont care they wont see anything dodgy in my bank accounts or see me doing anything bad on the street (wel i got a speeding ticket yesterday)

but realy the biggest privacy breach would be the internet
if I really had a concern i wouldnt come on here and i wouldnt have a facebook or skype account

 

[bighead]

in 2012 every car sold in the USA will have a black box inside the car.

 

[Orange Krate]

Also just imagine that if it was your business would you allow then to steal and cost you money or put up preventive measures up????

Laws are only used to stop the honest person because the criminal could careless..

1st of all, if 1% of my patrons were stealing, I wouldn't ostracize the 90% of my paying customers. This is the price they pay for offering self-service instead of, you know, real service. If loss prevention is a problem, find a measure that doesn't affect ME. I pay for my copper.

If it were my business I'd have all the merchandise in the back. You would walk in and tell me what you needed. I would know where EVERYTHING was and what would work best for your needs. You leave happy and only make one trip and I would have zero loss prevention measures.

Oh wait, this is what I used to do and it worked! Except, I couldn't compete against big box stores vommiting out self-service piles of cheap Chineese crap.

Oh crap, I'm a hypocrite for even being in there. From now on I will only shop at McDonnel's.http://mcdonnellfeed.com/

end rant...

 

[bighead]

If it were my business I'd have all the merchandise in the back. You would walk in and tell me what you needed. I would know where EVERYTHING was and what would work best for your needs. You leave happy and only make one trip and I would have zero loss prevention measures.

A lot of the times I do not know what I need. I like to look and decide for myself. Service help just slows me down in most cases.

 

[landuse]

I am going to have to agree with bighead here. I also like browsing. Usually I walk out with more stuff than I wanted to get in the first place. I suppose you have a trade off with keeping merchandise in the back, and saving money due to theft, and letting people walk around and buy more stuff than what they wanted, and getting some stuff stolen

I don't know which is best

 

[bighead]

In the Philippines you got cops with shotguns at each door.

 

[fowler]

solomons islands have got an elder at each door to watch the transactions

it is because the tribes from nereby islands and the town locals dont trust each other

mini version of the securaty cameras
but everyone listens to the elders and there is no buracratic bull****

 

[Orange Krate]

Service help just slows me down in most cases.

Yes service help today, especially at places like Home Depot does me too. But I remember a time, not so long ago where you walked in and they knew better than you what you needed. You can't train that. It had to be owned.

 

[landuse]

We have one hardware chain here where you have to search the whole store to find someone to help you. It is ridiculous. The few people who do work there are always busy with other stuff. I hate going there....

 

[AceEngineer]

Orangecrate,

What are you afraid of? Would you feel any better if a clerk continuously watched you? The store is a public place and you should have no expectation of privacy. Stopping the stealing is a big help in keeping the costs down for us paying customers. I wish more stores were that proactive at stopping theft.

 

[South Kart3377]

In the Philippines you got cops with shotguns at each door.

Thats abut how my uncles store was and is 12 gauge under the counter and 357 magnum on the side counter. No one has ever had the guts to try to rob or steal anything.

Yes service help today, especially at places like Home Depot does me too. But I remember a time, not so long ago where you walked in and they knew better than you what you needed. You can't train that. It had to be owned.

At my uncles they know me what I have and what I need and want.

Orangecrate,

What are you afraid of? Would you feel any better if a clerk continuously watched you? The store is a public place and you should have no expectation of privacy. Stopping the stealing is a big help in keeping the costs down for us paying customers. I wish more stores were that proactive at stopping theft.

If they where all like they use to be they would not lose a peny, so I do not go to any chain stores other than Kroger, because they lisen to what I want, and give me that.

We have one hardware chain here where you have to search the whole store to find someone to help you. It is ridiculous. The few people who do work there are always busy with other stuff. I hate going there....

I have been to places like that too.

 

[Orange Krate]

Orangecrate,

What are you afraid of? Would you feel any better if a clerk continuously watched you? The store is a public place and you should have no expectation of privacy. Stopping the stealing is a big help in keeping the costs down for us paying customers. I wish more stores were that proactive at stopping theft.

I’m not afraid of anything. All I’m saying is that, as a paying customer, I find it annoying, intrusive, and offensive. I understand public place means no privacy, but this is the difference between being seen and having a camera shoved in your face with a bell calling attention to your every move.

Am I really the only one who sees this as Orwellian conditioning straight from the ministry of Loss Prevention?

Beware the ideology of “in your best interest.” It can be a ratchet wrench with no reverse.

 

[sexyvicta]

i agree with orange crate