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Is it just us or have there been an unusual number stories lately about shoplifting from Wal-Mart stores? Try a google news search for “Wal-Mart” and it seems that every other story is about a petty theft from Wal-Mart.

What’s going on? Is it the economy that’s driving people to steal or something else that’s driving reporters to write about it? We know the lengths Wal-Mart goes to prevent shoplifting in its stores, but we wonder how its PR department feels about Wal-Mart getting in the news this way....

Here’s a (very brief) sampling:

Albany Times Union, April 14, 2009:

“A 19-year-old Rensselaer man was charged with stealing from a Wal-Mart store, police said Monday… John W. Halacy...was confronted by a store security officer, whom he pushed away to escape, police said. Halacy then pushed others away before jumping into a gold Dodge Neon sedan that sped off, police said.”

Myrtle Beach Sun News, April 13, 2009:

“A mother and her two sons were detained in Wal-Mart after an employee told police they tried to steal water purifiers, silverware, clothing for a dog and other items, according to a police report.”

WOWT-DT Omaha, April 13, 2009 : 

“Omaha Police cited two woman for suspicion of shoplifting, and released them. Wal-Mart employees watched as they picked up various items of clothing and stuffed them into purses.”

WROC-TV Rochester, April 12, 2009 :

“State Police in Watertown arrested, 28 year-old, Loren N. Woodard, of Evans Mills, NY for 3 counts of Petit Larceny and 2 counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child… Both subjects are alleged to have stolen a camera, value $538.00, from Super Walmart, St-11, in the Town of Leray and using a 5 year old child to assist in the theft on March 24 and March 25. Mr. Woodard is also alleged to have stolen a USB thumb drive, value $42.00, from Super Walmart on April 4.”

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What a weekend at Wal-Mart. Over the past few days there seemed to be an usual number shootings, car crashes, suspected kidnappings, purse snatchings, and doubtless many other dramatic crimes.

At Wal-Mart Watch, we haven’t spent too much time talking about the crimes that occur every day in Wal-Mart stores and parking lots around the country. But it’s a very real issue.

When Wal-Mart moves in to many rural and suburban settings, it often becomes the busiest place in town, and thus a haven for criminals of all variety. Time and time again we hear stories of how Wal-Mart refuses to properly secure its parking lots and stores, and forces local police departments to pick up the slack.

Al Norman writes more on Wal-Mart’s refusal to acknowledge crime is a major problem on its premises, especially in its parking lots.

Here’s just one example of how bad the problem often gets, courtesy of the Associated Press:

A teenager wounded in a shooting at a Rochester, N.H., Wal-Mart last week has been charged with reckless conduct.

Seventeen-year-old Levi Downs is the third person to be arrested after Tuesday’s night’s confrontation. A prosecutor said last week that Downs accidentally shot himself in the abdomen, but police now say they’re not certain of that.

Downs is accused of brandishing a gun during the fight. Eighteen-year-old Stephen Miller of Rochester is charged with reckless conduct, falsifying evidence and having a gun without a permit. Thirty-4-year-old Cindy Byrnes of Rochester was charged with falsifying evidence for allegedly taking the guns from the store to hinder the investigation.

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Al Norman takes a good look at the Wal-Mart saga in Marion County, South Carolina. Originally posted on Battlemart.

The night sky will soon be returning to Mullins, South Carolina. Actually, the stars might not be visible, but the lights should be turned down lower at midnight, now that Wal-Mart has announced that superstore #1869 will close from midnight to 6 am. The decision takes effect on March 13th, and Wal-Mart’s website still lists the store at 305 Commerce Drive in Mullins as open 24 hours. According to a company spokesperson, the overnight shift of workers will be absorbed into the store’s other shifts during its new operating hours. No one will lose their job, but store Manager Willie Holland refused o answer any questions from South Carolina News about the why the hours were cutback as his supercenter. A sign posted on the doors to the store tell customers that the new hours will change in mid-March.

In October of 2007, the Mullins store was reopened as a superstore. The location for 15 years had been a Wal-Mart discount store with few groceries. When Wal-Mart expanded the store, it said 100 jobs were added, making the grand total 250 jobs. The superstore opened on October 24, 2007. In announcing the new store, Wal-Mart said: “After more than 15 years of serving the community as a discount store, residents will now find groceries, general merchandise and time-saving services in one convenient location. Located at 305 Commerce Drive, the new store was painted in a color palette complementary to the area. “This is an exciting time for our associates,” said Store Manager Jason Eudy, who is no longer the store manager. “We’ve all been working hard to prepare the store for
opening and are looking forward to serving our customers in Marion County with the conveniences, savings, selection and services that a Supercenter
provides.” The 153,430-square-foot Supercenter features a full line of groceries including bakery goods, frozen foods, meat and dairy products, fresh produce and a variety of organic offerings. Additional store features include a Tire & Lube Express, a family fun center, a one-hour photo lab, pharmacy and a Wal-Mart Connect Center for wireless phone sales. Leased areas and services include a SmartStyle Family Hair Salon, a branch of Woodforest National Bank and a Subway restaurant. “The store will be open to customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Wal-Mart boasted.

Now, less than a year and a half later, Wal-Mart is shutting down its overnight hours. There is only one reason why Wal-Mart would close down at night: business has not been as robust as the company expected. But corporate headquarters is not about to shed any light on why this Wal-Mart went dark.

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After a stinging loss to the Chicago Bears in 2006, coach Dennis Green flipped out at a post game press conference and uttered the now famous phrase “we are who we thought they were!” In other words, the Arizona Cardinals were prepared for the game and understood the other team’s flaws, but failed to capitalize on them. This quote reminds me of the many site fights around the country. Residents understand what Wal-Mart brings to the table before they get a store, yet are still surprised by some of the negative aspects after they get it. Despite what Wal-Mart says during the planning process, a supercenter will bring more traffic, more crime, and small business destruction.

Wal-Mart did not have an easy time building a supercenter in American Canyon. Finally, in late September 2007, a Wal-Mart supercenter opened, replacing another location in Vallejo, which had been open for 16 years. After one year of service at the new location, the supercenter is getting mixed reviews according to the Times-Herald. While Wal-Mart supporters and some local business leaders welcome the creation of good jobs and tax revenue, Wal-Mart critics feel the store

“...has hurt the area in the last year mostly by increasing already heavy traffic, and boosting crime.” Joel Feller, who also fought a Wal-Mart super store in Vallejo, goes on to say that “The store has had a profoundly negative impact on the regional economy for a couple hundred in sales tax revenues.”

To be fair, some residents are happy with the new Wal-Mart supercenter. They point to sales tax figures and the convenience of one-stop shopping; however, Wal-Mart’s growth is not without consequences. As Stacy Mitchell points out in her paper “Major Flaws Uncovered in Study Claiming Wal-Mart Has Not Harmed Small Business,” Wal-Mart will do more harm than good to a community in the long run. Also, don’t forget Wal-Mart’s use of subsidies and Medicaid as a way to drain funds from a local community.

For the latest story, see the Times-Herald:

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An LA Times piece gives us new insight into the crowd atmosphere that led to Jdimytai Damour’s death - an atmosphere that began long before the doors at the Valley Stream store opened.

Apparently, shoppers were already rowdy, pushing and reporting injuries by 3:30 AM, long before the store opened. At that time, the crowd “had grown to 2000” - well above the crowds of previous years. While the article might appear to be an indictment of shoppers’ own senseless animal behavior and unrestrained emotions, it makes it clear that Wal-Mart had plenty of time to observe the chaos, and to work with local police and its own security to protect its customers and workers.

A coworker tells the Times that Damour told him after he was placed at the front of the store, before the doors were opened and then broken off the hinges, “I don’t want to be here.”

Wal-Mart crowd unruly long before trampling [Los Angeles Times via Seattle Times]:

NEW YORK — He took his last breath on the floor at Wal-Mart, between the soda machines and a device that gives change for cans and plastic.

Trampled by a mob of bargain-hungry Black Friday shoppers, Jdimytai Damour, 34, died by asphyxiation, leaving people asking: Why, and how?

Audio-enhanced chatter captured on a cellphone video posted on YouTube and interviews with witnesses offer some hints.

The video shows a police officer crouching by a 6-foot-5-inch, 270-pound man lying at the entrance of the Long Island Wal-Mart. A paramedic pumps the man’s chest so forcefully his limp legs and feet joggle. Shoppers peer from behind glass doors or stand a few feet away, hands in pockets.

“They need to shock him,” a voice says.

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A Missouri City (Texas) woman convicted of a sex crime is out to prove that she has rights after being fired from her job at Wal-Mart.

Rebecca Vlasek, she of the inspiring mug shot, has filed suit claiming discrimination against our little Wal-Mart. Why you ask? Well, I’ll tell you.

Picture it: Brenham, Texas...1999. A sultry high school teacher pleads guilty to felony sexual assault of a minor. The charge: having a relationship with a 14-year-old female student. The result: 10 years on probation and the thrill of getting to register as an official pervert within the state of Texas. You can check out her rap sheet here and here.

So why is Vlasek complaining now? Well Wal-Mart, it turns out, discovered some time ago that it has quite a few sexual offenders working within its friendly confines. And, as it also turns out, every so often one of these offenders decides to, how shall we say, engage in some recidivism? Like this, and this...AND this........AANNNND this.

The result is that Wal-Mart, since adopting a new criminal background check policy, has fired approximately 800 employees who are registered sex offenders. Vlasek (pictured more recently), however, isn’t complaining about those that were fired...no, she’s complaining about the 25 or more (male, she claims) employee offenders Wal-Mart ISN’T firing. That’s right - according to her complaint, Vlasek is alleging that she has received disparate treatment because of her gender. We’ll see whether the court buys the arguments that Vlasek was fired not just because she “had relations” with a 14-year-old girl but because she is a woman...AND that Wal-Mart retained those other 25 or so offenders specifically because they’re men, and not for some other reason.

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Idea of new Wal-Mart Supercenter in Redlands raises concerns [Press Enterprise (Calif.)]

If all the pieces fall into place, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. could open a new Supercenter in north Redlands by 2010.

Longtime San Bernardino Wal-Mart shopper John Gibson plans to be among the first to visit the 215,000-square-foot store stocked with 150,000 items and featuring a full-service supermarket. Gibson talked during a recent visit to Redlands’ 17-year-old Wal-Mart at 2050 W. Redlands Blvd.

Opponents, on the other hand, say the project will result in increased traffic in the area and harm existing mom-and-pop stores, among other concerns.

“Why can’t the great Wal-Mart remodel the (store) we now have?” asked Redlands resident Robby Robinson. “If they sell the (existing) store, who’s going to buy it? Some swap-meet outfit like the one in San Bernardino? That should make Redlands look good.”

A battle could be brewing despite the fact that the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer has yet to submit an application to build the new Supercenter in Redlands. But there’s no doubt Wal-Mart is interested in a 40-acre tract at the southeast corner of Tennessee Street and San Bernardino Avenue.

Wal-Mart recently agreed to pay $450,000 for an environmental impact study on the property, according to an amended agreement approved at Redlands City Council’s most recent meeting.

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Delaware project has its doubters [Santa Cruz Sentinel (Calif.)]

As Santa Cruz leaders consider tonight whether to approve a 20-acre live-work development on Westside industrial land, some residents wonder whether there will be enough water, traffic control, fire and police services to tend to the hundreds of residents and customers the project is expected to attract.

“Single-family residences are a tax burden to the city, not a tax benefit,” said Westside resident and project critic Reed Searle.

Homes don’t produce the sales tax revenue that the city depends on to provide basic services, he said.

Supporters say concerns are overblown and see the development as an incubator for research and design offices, engineering firms, software companies and other small businesses.

“In terms of tax dollars, they’re right,” the city could have less money to provide some services, said Mayor Ryan Coonerty. “From a city budget point of view, the best thing we could do is put in a Wal-Mart. But I don’t think that’s what this community wants or needs.”

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For years, the correlation between Wal-Mart stores and increased crime has been well-documented. A lesser-examined corollary to this phenomenon is the burden placed on city and county police forces when Wal-Mart refuses to patrol its own grounds. A recent article in The Repository reveals a disturbing picture of crime unleashed – Wal-Mart style – in the town of Canton, Ohio:

In the first half of this year, Canton police have been called to the two city Wal-Marts a combined 425 times, police records show.

Police reports show both 24-hour stores — the second is located at 3200 Atlantic Blvd. NE and off U.S. Route 62 — deal with everything from forged checks to armed robbery. A city officer was seriously injured after being attacked by a bat-wielding Wal-Mart customer last month.

Between Jan. 1 and June 30, officers were called to the Wal-Mart at 3200 Atlantic Blvd. NE 275 times. The majority of those calls — 150 — were for shoplifters, police records show…

The crime-related problems faced by both stores also are a problem for the Canton Municipal Courts, so much that Court Administrator Michael Kochera said an additional bailiff may be hired just to handle booking misdemeanor offenders.

In another instance, the increase in crime (and the taxing effect upon law-enforcement officials) was projected far in advance by city officials in an area where Wal-Mart would soon arise. In a memo uncovered by a community group in Suisan City, CA, the police chief admitted that the “commercial activity” of a Wal-Mart Supercenter has the “potential...for increased vehicle and residential burglaries.”

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Chandler Wal-Mart set to become a supercenter [East Valley Tribune (Az.)]

Chandler’s first Wal-Mart is going super. The store at 800 W. Warner Road, which has sold general merchandise for about 20 years, is in the beginning stages of an expansion that will add groceries, making it a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

According to Delia Garcia, spokeswoman for Wal-Mart in Arizona, the 29,000-square-foot expansion should take about 15 months to complete.

She said plans are to minimize inconvenience. There will be noise from the work, and customers will notice some disruption in the parking lot and merchandise will be moved around during construction.

“They might not find items where they expect to find them,” Garcia said.

When it is finished, the store’s square footage will be slightly less than the square footage of three football fields.

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Residents oppose Wal-Mart [London Free Press (Canada)]

They say you can’t halt progress, but a group of residents from the Meadowlily Road area are trying to make sure progress doesn’t take a heavy toll on the environment.

About 40 people, including London Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best, were on hand at Summerside Community Church last night to voice concerns about an impending big-box store invasion.

“I have grown up in this area and live not too far away from here, so I can appreciate some of the issues the residents have in particular the residents on Meadowlily Road,” DeCicco-Best told The Free Press.

Representatives of SmartCentres Inc., a development firm representing the Wal-Mart chain, met with residents to discuss changes made to the planned Wal-Mart store at the corner of Meadowlily and Commissioner’s Road in southeast London.

The proposed store would be located next to a complex that includes a heritage site, a working farm and a forest designated as an Environmentally Significant Area (ESA).

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Wal-Mart fires next barrage with suit against Zionsville [Indianapolis Star]

Zionsville residents are bracing themselves for another protracted court battle between the town and retail giant Wal-Mart, and some aren’t optimistic about the outcome.

The store filed suit against Zionsville June 18, nearly a month after the town turned down its plan to build a 185,000-square-foot superstore on U.S. 421. It’s a battle that’s been waging since 2006.

Local residents Martin and Anna Baker dread the thought of Wal-Mart coming to town, but Kathleen Rivers looks forward to seeing the familiar blue and grey box store on the town’s outskirts. All three believe a Zionsville Wal-Mart is inevitable.

“The whole thing is a big waste of town money,” Rivers said. “Wal-Mart is such a big company, they can win out easy against a small town. We could put the money to better use than trying to fight off some big corporation.”

The Bakers echoed Rivers’ sentiments, but hoped the Arkansas-based retailer would heed the town’s wishes and go elsewhere.

“If Wal-Mart thinks this would be a good area for them, there are better places for them than (U.S.) 421,” Martin Baker said. “Maybe they could look around the Anson area where the population would be more welcoming.”

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WAL-MART: Pleading their case [Tonawanda News (N.Y.)]

What is the economic impact of having a Wal-Mart or not?

That’s what one member of a group in favor of bringing the retail giant here asked members of the North Tonawanda Common Council Tuesday.

For all the boisterous public input Wal-Mart plans have generated in the past, Tuesday’s workshop was notably subdued, except for applause by some of the 12 attendees there in support of the group.

A police officer stood in the corner, assigned to the council chambers on a night the topic of a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter was to be discussed.

North Tonawanda resident Tammy Godyn, founder of the pro-Wal-Mart citizen’s group Lumber City Liaisons, thanked members of the North Tonawanda Common Council and others involved in the proposal’s environmental impact study for their “meticulous work,” in bringing that months-long phase of planning to a conclusion early this month.

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The Northwest Arkansas Morning News released over the weekend a Kim Morrison piece on some of the largest legal cases currently pending against Wal-Mart, and most of the findings really shouldn’t come as a surprise at this point. There is, of course, the Dukes gender discrimination suit, and the multitude of wage and hour cases pending - the full extent of which you can also see here, on Wal-Mart’s SEC filing. The two largest wage/hour cases to date - Savaglio and Braun/Hummel - have resulted in combined judgments of over $350 million against Wal-Mart, although the cases are currently in the appeals stages, so Wal-Mart has yet to pay a cent.

What you might find really interesting in the story is the way a company the size of Wal-Mart plans ahead for the day it will have to make a possible million billion-dollar payout:

“It’s not like they wouldn’t be able to pay the light bill if they had a billion dollar settlement,” said Patricia Edwards, fund manager with San Francisco-based Wentworth, Hauser and Violic. “It wouldn’t be good, don’t get me wrong. But the low point in cash last year at quarter end was just short of $5 billion.”

Edwards said Wal-Mart reserves cash for potential future lawsuit payouts so there would be a reduced impact on shareholders in the event of such a case. With Wal-Mart’s ability to absorb some of the impact, a billion dollar payout may show up in earnings as a loss of 5 cents per share, Edwards said.

Well that is certainly good to know, that Wal-Mart - instead of making sure its female employees are treated equally, and ALL of its employees are provided adequate breaks and paid for the overtime they work - has socked plenty of money away underneath its $150 bargain mattresses to pay for its legal shortcomings.

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Guest Soapbox: Wal-Mart Supercenter a badly done deal [Hi-Desert Star (Calif.)]

In 1992, a newly incorporated Yucca Valley town welcomed Wal-Mart with a gift of a million dollars and a look the other way as 468 Joshua trees were bladed down. This new store on the east edge of town and the first Gulf War ended many local businesses. Another war and maybe another Wal-Mart Supercenter on the east edge of town will bring much more sacrifice from the Yucca Valley business community. The Town Council soon decides if the Morongo Basin needs to serve this global giant from Arkansas. The Surrender Monkeys to Development at any cost say yes. The people who have considered the trade in local jobs, business loss and social damage say no.

The proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter is about 180,000 square feet with the grocery portion taking 60,000 square feet. That leaves 120,000 square feet for the non-grocery retail, which is 10,000 square feet or 8 percent more than the old Wal-Mart. Although that increase doesn’t match all the hype of Wal-Mart’s needed extra room, the grocery portion is the part that does the damage. Wal-Mart wants it customers that normally visit two to three times a month as a Wal-Mart to increase their visitation to two to three times a week as a Wal-Mart Supercenter. The resulting 400 percent visit increase captures even more non-grocery retail. This grocery outlet becomes a “Loss Leader” and Wal-Mart will subsidize its damage till Yucca Valley loses two grocery stores and a number of assorted retail businesses. Wal-Mart is about its sustainability, not Yucca Valley’s or the Morongo Basin’s.On May 22, the Town Council received more timely information about Wal-Mart Supercenter’s environmental impact report. Hundreds of pages of studies, reports and memos in PDF form and hard copy. We, as the Morongo Basin Conservation Association (MBCA), got permission to put this information on our Web site, http://www.mbconservation.org. Dr. Philip King’s memo on the urban decay of Yucca Valley exposes the impacts this project would have on retail demand, a glut of vacant retail space and the predatory grocery sales of Wal-Mart. The other reports re-affirm the increase in crime, traffic and social ills that this Wal-Mart Supercenter presents to Yucca Valley.

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Proposal to locate a Wal-Mart near Cheswold tabled [The News Journal (Del.)]

A proposal to locate a Wal-Mart Super Center off U.S. 13 between Dover and Cheswold was tabled Thursday night by the Kent County Regional Planning Commission, which had raised numerous questions about the project at a public hearing a week earlier.

Constantine Malmberg, the local lawyer for Cheswold Village Properties LLC, the project developer, requested the delay, promising to meet during the interim with residents of the area and to address a raft of concerns raised by the planning staff.

The site plan calls for a 225,000-square-foot Super Center on 22 acres and an adjacent strip shopping center offering 25,000 square feet of retail floor space on seven acres just off U.S. 13 south of Simms Woods Road. The two developments would be served by a traffic signal at a new access road on U.S. 13, about 1,000 feet south of Simms Woods Road.

At the public hearing, residents said the project would worsen existing flood problems and attract traffic and crime to the area. Several commissioners expressed dismay at the time that representatives of Wal-Mart and the developers had not met with residents to hear their concerns.

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NRA Chief Executive Officer Wayne LaPierre peppered Wal-Mart with a little sniper fire yesterday, but today broke out the heavy artillery. NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg took his share of the heat as well.

LaPierre, from yesterday’s AP article on the Wal-Mart’s new gun policy:

“I honestly think it’s a corporation trying to curry favor with politicians as opposed to doing anything meaningful about stopping crime.”

LaPierre, from today’s statement posted on the NRA website:

“It’s too bad Wal-Mart’s putting political correctness above treating their customers with respect.  If Sam Walton had treated his customers like this back when Wal-Mart was just a dime store in Arkansas, I doubt the company would still be in business.”

Ouch.

Bloomberg, Wal-Mart and You [NRA News]:

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s latest volley in his war on gun ownership is convincing Wal-Mart that they need to film every firearm purchase.

The goal, according to the mayor, is to reduce crime. But we know gun control doesn’t equal crime control. And this reeks of a public relations stunt instead of a crime-fighting measure.

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This article originally appeared on the Huffington Post.

Wal-Mart has often found itself on the wrong end of a gun.

The company sells more firearms than any retailer on the planet, but this week Wal-Mart took aim at its own lax guns sales policies---and hit the target with some powerful potential political allies.

Wal-Mart told the media that it has joined New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, in an initiative called The Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership. Wal-Mart pledged to implement new gun sale rules at less than one-third of its American stores. The retailer said it will create a new record and taping system for guns that are subsequently used to commit a crime. If the gun purchaser returns to Wal-Mart to buy another firearm, the system would warn the clerk not to make the sale. The system would also allow the police to view the tapes as part of a crime investigation. Wal-Mart said it would also institute tougher background checks for its “associates” who work in the firearms department. Wal-Mart admitted that the new policies would cost the company money. “The costs are, we think, part of what it takes to be responsible. Everything is not pain-free,” the company’s spokesman told the Associated Press.

Wal-Mart has had its own troubled history with guns. For example, in January of 2005, an investigation by the California Attorney General’s office revealed that Wal-Mart allegedly violated the state’s gun laws 2,891 times over a three year period. Wal-Mart illegally sold a gun to someone in California 2.6 times everyday from 2000 to 2003. The violations included selling to 23 people prohibited from owning guns, selling guns before waiting for a criminal background check, failing to identify the buyer’s identity, and allowing people to make “straw purchases” on behalf of another person prohibited from owning guns.

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This article originally appeared on the Huffington Post.

It’s been a quiet week in Wal-Mart parking lots and bathrooms. The market may be tanking, but crime at Wal-Mart shows no signs of slowing down.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened this past week at Wal-Mart---just the litany of usual bomb threats, drunk driving, child molestations, armed robberies, and assorted mayhem. While you were shopping for Mickey Mouse Lawn Furniture in Aisle 6, every miscreant on the planet seemed to be converging on Wal-Mart parking lots or bathrooms. Just this past week:

• Sunday, March 16: A 28-year-old man was arrested at the Santee, California Wal-Mart after a 9 year old boy reported being assaulted in the store’s bathroom. The boy was in the bathroom while his mother waited outside. Police say a man grabbed and groped the boy over his clothing. The boy ran out of the bathroom and told his mother about the assault. The woman then reported the assault to Wal-Mart staff and the Sheriff’s Department.
• Tuesday, March 18: A Wal-Mart in Bismarck, North Dakota reports another bomb threat. The south Wal-Mart received a call at 9:05 am from a caller who said a bomb been placed in the store. The employee who answered the phone asked where the bomb was, and the caller hung up the phone. The store was evacuated, and employees searched the building, A member of the bomb quad responded and found nothing suspicious.

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It is something, I’ll admit, I had heard very little about, even taking into account three years of law school. Civil recovery. It actually sounds very benign, sort of like something you might expect to receive if you slip and fall in a store check-out aisle, or get rear-ended on I-66 while driving home from work. What it really is, is when retailers refer names to lawyers and debt collectors, who then pursue the alleged shoplifters for monetary penalties with letters and phone calls.

The Wall Street Journal goes into great length on the phenomenon, including detailing the story of one Home Depot shopper who was told by a law firm to pay $3000 for a set of drill bits he had purchased legally, suggesting he would face a legal suit if he failed to pay up:

In the Home Depot case, Mr. Rudge, the handyman, had a set of drill bits poking out of his shirt pocket when he went through the checkout line at a Miami store in December 2002, according to a suit he later filed against Home Depot. After he paid $66 for his purchases, a security guard stopped him on his way out and asked him about the drill bits...Prosecutors charged the handyman with shoplifting, then dropped the charge in February 2003 when he showed them a receipt for the drill bits. But about a month later, according to his suit, he got a letter from the Palmer Reifler law firm demanding he pay a little over $3,000 within 20 days.

Mr. Rudge probably should have remembered to take the previously purchased drill bits out of his pocket before going shopping, sure, but that doesn’t change the larger story. Too many retailers, it appears, are going after anyone they can, regardless of whether they’ve actually done anything illegal. Often, the retailer sends out letters ordering suspected shoplifters to pay hundreds of dollars or more, threatening a suit that the company never plans on following up on. Too many people don’t understand their rights, and settle by paying what the letter states thinking if they don’t, a jail cell awaits.

Palmer, Reifler & Associates appears to be a favorite “gouge-happy” law firm of several retailers, including Home Depot, Walgreen’s, and yes, Wal-Mart. If you want disturbing, read this statement from one of Palmer’s “lawyers”:

A partner at the law firm has said that it sends out about 1.2 million civil-recovery demand letters a year but follows up by suing fewer than 10 times a year.

That’s quite a ratio, no? Feel free to check out Palmer’s website, they seem like good fellas so maybe we should cut them a break. The WSJ story is long, but interesting...you can enjoy it below.

Big Retail Chains Dun Mere Suspects in Theft (The Wall Street Journal)

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