Lawlessness In America - Retail Chains Forced To Lock Up Products

Crime is completely and utterly out of control in this nation.  During the first six months of this year, retail theft was up 109 percent in the city of Los Angeles.  In response to this tsunami of theft, retailers are starting to lock up products all over the nation.  But if we don't start locking up the criminals, we are literally going to have to lock up everything.  

Unfortunately, right now we cannot lock up all of the criminals, because the number of criminals far exceeds the number of empty spots in our prisons.  Even though we have more people locked up than any other nation on the entire planet, our streets are still absolutely teeming with predators.  This is what an advanced stage of social decay looks like, and it isn't pretty.

During a recent interview with CNBC, the CEO of Target insisted that customers are thankful that the retailer is now locking up body wash, toothpaste and deodorant...

Still, the retailer's CEO, Brian Cornell, claimed many shoppers are actually grateful to see their body wash, toothpaste and deodorant behind a glass panel.

On a media call with reporters discussing Target's fiscal third-quarter earnings, CNBC asked Cornell if the retailer can quantify the sales lost from shoppers who are frustrated with waiting for employees to unlock cases in-store. He said the shopper response to the policy has been "positive."

"Courtney, just in the last week I've been on the East Coast and on the West Coast in many of those stores that you've talked about where, items have been locked up," he said. "And actually what we hear from the guests is a big thank you, because we are in stock with the brands that they need when they're shopping in our stores. And because we've invested in team member labor in those aisles and make sure we're there to greet that guest, open up those cases and provide them the items they're looking for."

The reason why customers are thankful that those products are locked up is because they would never be in stock if they weren't locked up.

That is how bad our shoplifting epidemic has become.

As I mentioned the other day, CVS is even locking up toilet paper and paper towels...

Witness a CVS store in our nation's capital, forced by rampant, serial theft to pull toilet paper and paper towels from the shelves, replacing them with framed photos of the missing products and a buzzer.

Customers trying to buy Charmin or Bounty must buzz to summon a clerk, who will (eventually) retrieve the precious commodity from a back room.

In other words, the capital of the most powerful nation in human history has been reduced to Third World-style security systems to sell basic goods.

Did you ever imagine that theft would become so rampant in America that stores would actually have to lock up toilet paper and paper towels?

Sadly, this is our country now.

This is where we are.

Even if every single product in every single store was locked up, predators would still target the delivery trucks.

On Sunday, thieves in the Washington D.C. area actually carjacked an entire UPS delivery truck...

An armed carjacking of a UPS truck in Prince George's County was caught on a doorbell camera.

A UPS driver was out delivering packages Sunday when several suspects surrounded her, and took off with her truck in broad daylight.

Prince George's County police say around 2 p.m., detectives responded to the 9000 block of Elk Avenue in the newly developed Westridge Westphalia neighborhood in Upper Marlboro.

The carjacking was caught on camera and FOX 5 got a look at the exclusive Ring doorbell footage.

We have never seen thieves be as bold as they are right now.

In San Francisco, a Czech news crew that was there to cover the APEC summit was robbed at gunpoint...

Czech TV journalist Bohumil Vostal found himself in a tense situation as he aimed to capture a striking scene: the renowned City Lights bookstore in San Francisco, immersed in the dimming twilight.

Vostal and his cameraman fell victim to a harrowing robbery, orchestrated by three masked assailants wielding guns. The incident, occurring at 5 p.m. on Columbus Avenue, resulted in the theft of equipment and valuable footage worth over $18,000. The perpetrators targeted the journalists despite the heightened international attention drawn by the APEC summit, which gathered leaders from 21 economies.

The entire world is shocked by the crime and depravity that we allow to run wild in our streets.

An unwillingness to hold individuals responsible for illegal behaviors has created an environment in which lawlessness has become commonplace. Numerous employees who have fought back against shoplifters have actually been fired.

And if you think that things are bad now, just wait until economic conditions get really bad.

When millions of Americans cannot even provide the basics for themselves and their families, we will witness much worse theft than we are seeing now.

Resources just keep getting tighter and tighter, and the outlook for the years ahead is very alarming.  For example, the size of the U.S. beef cow herd has fallen to the lowest level since 1962, and it is being projected that it will "continue shrinking" for several more years...

Brazilian processor Marfrig Global Foods SA warned the US cattle herd will continue shrinking through the midpoint of the decade. Less supplies will pressure meatpackers and keep the prices of steak and hamburgers at elevated levels.

During a conference call, Tim Klein, the head of Marfrig's North American operation, explained the availability of fattened animals for meatpackers to slaughter and process should trough between 2025 and 2026. He said this is because ranchers have not yet started keeping cows for breeding.

As we've noted, years of drought and high feed costs forced ranchers across the Midwest to send the cows to slaughterhouses, leading to a sharp reduction in the nation's overall herd size. In January, the beef cow herd size was the smallest since 1962.

We really are moving into unprecedented times.

Originally published at The Economic Collapse Blog - reposted with permission.