Illinois AG, Top Retail Execs to Headline RILA Asset Protection Conference

Retail industry’s top asset protection event back in person, and more vital than ever to industry’s success

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA)’s Retail Asset Protection Conference, the leading event for retail asset protection executives, will meet April 24-27, 2022 in Orlando, Florida. In-person for the first time since 2019, attendees will convene with a fresh perspective on the vital role of asset protection in retail, ready to discuss the industry’s top challenges.

“Asset protection has evolved so much over the last several years and it’s truly never been more vital to retail’s success,” said RILA Senior Executive Vice President of Retail Operations Lisa LaBruno. “We’re thrilled to bring all the key players within the AP ecosystem – including retailers, law enforcement, solution providers, and more – together in person to discuss today’s top challenges and collaborate on real solutions that can propel our industry forward.”

The conference will offer attendees networking, benchmarking, and education around key topics in retail asset protection, including organized retail crime, workplace safety, supply chain security, diversity, equity, and inclusion, disaster relief, safe shopping protocols, and more. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who created one of the first-of-its-kind organized retail crime task forces in his state, will join for a conversation on how retailers can leverage partners in government to complement their own ORC strategies.

Click here to see the full list of speakers and sessions

Felony Thresholds, Theft & Inflation
As inflation keeps rising, more small-time thefts count as felonies

Steal $201 shoes in New Jersey and you face a felony. Steal the same sneakers in Texas, it's a misdemeanor.

The big picture: Some states haven't changed their thresholds for felonies in years. Advocates are pushing them to create updated standards, arguing that outdated laws are unfairly making felons out of people who committed minor crimes.

Details: An analysis by the police reform advocacy group Campaign Zero found that the felony threshold for larcenies like shoplifting can be as low as $200 in New Jersey or high as $2,500 in Texas and Wisconsin.

New Jersey hasn't adjusted its felony theft threshold since 1978. New York's remains at $1,000 -- unchanged since 1986 when the Mets last won the World Series. New Mexico, one of the poorest states in the country, has a threshold of only $500.

Why it matters: Felony offenses typically carry a penalty of at least a year in state prison. Leaving the bar for a felony unchanged for years on end is contributing to skyrocketing prison populations, which disproportionately affect communities of color, Campaign Zero executive director DeRay Mckesson told Axios.

What they're saying: "Because of inflation, $1 today is worth a lot less than $1 in the 1980s. And so a state (with a decades-old unchanged threshold) is then applying felony punishments to crimes of lesser and lesser significance," said Jake Horowitz, Director of Safety & Justice Research and Strategy at Pew Trust.

The other side: The National Retail Federation, which in recent months has been sending out alarms about jumps in shoplifting, has blamed increased felony theft thresholds for reported retail crime surges.

But, but, but: The Pew Charitable Trusts examined crime trends in the 30 states that raised their felony theft thresholds between 2000 and 2012 and found that raising the felony theft threshold had no impact on overall property crime or larceny rates. axios.com

California's ORC Explosion
Authorities work to crack down on retail thefts
Daniel Romero of the Fontana Police Department said the women are from Los Angeles and are part of a bigger operation. The Inland Empire isn’t alone. In a 2021 survey by the National Retail Federation, 69% of retailers said they saw a rise in organized retail crime during the previous year.

Police are working to fight back against retail thefts, which can include flash mobs and smash-and-grabs. Lt. Adam Smith of the Southern Division of the California Highway Patrol said they’ve had nearly 400 investigations since the CHP formed an organized retail task force in 2019.

So far, the CHP’s three divisions have collectively recovered more than $20 million in cash and stolen goods.

“These organized groups are putting out shopping lists of what they want people to gather and what they’re willing to buy that month from them so it could change from baby formula one month to a certain pair of denim jeans … Unfortunately, it’s a low-risk, high-reward for them right now, and that’s what our task forces are trying to change and it could be a very high-risk, low-reward with us being able to investigate them, capture them, pursue them and hold them accountable through the court system,” Smith said. ktla.com

Shoplifting Arrest Goes Viral Nationwide & Sparks Internal Police Investigation
Syracuse police stop a boy, 8, over stolen chips. Sobbing, accusations and a viral video ensue
In the video, viewed by almost 2,000 on Facebook and 1.3 million on Twitter, a Syracuse police officer is holding the boy from behind and walking him to a marked police vehicle. Bystanders, including the man who recorded the incident, are shouting at police to let the child go.

“Why would the police treat that child like that?” Weah asked, who said he wants to file a complaint against the police. “Over a $3 bag of chips.”

On Twitter, there was widespread condemnation of police. People saw the police response as a massive overreaction to a minor offense, an example of escalating conflict. The fact that the three cops were white and the child Black led commenters to connect it to a history of racial injustice in urban policing in Syracuse and nationwide.

Weah, who is from Ethiopia, acknowledges what his son did was wrong. But he also takes issue with the way the officers handled the incident, which is now under review by the police department. Another officer told Jackson the boy had been stealing. What didn’t make sense to Jackson, he said, was the officers’ response. One officer recounted recent shoplifting and vandalism in the area. syracuse.com

WSJ Letter to the Editor
Is Mass Shoplifting the New Cost of Doing Business?

‘Happens all the time,’ Walmart employees told me.

I’ve witnessed “America’s Shoplifting Epidemic” (Review & Outlook, April 9) twice in recent weeks at Walmart. The thieves scanned and bagged the items but then walked out without paying. The bags passed inspection at the door, if the guard was even paying attention. Each time I reported the thefts to an employee. “That happens all the time” was the response. wsj.com

9 security guards shot, 5 fatally, in metro Atlanta in 18 months
Nine security guards have been shot, five fatally, in metro Atlanta since October 2020.

Augusta, GA: Sheriff vows to halt shootings, but the criminals aren’t listening

Op-Ed: Legislature aims to make crime pay with CA taxpayers footing the bill

US: 82.5M Cases - 1M Dead - 80.3M Recovered
Worldwide: 507.9M Cases - 6.2M Dead - 460.3M Recovered

Former Senior Loss Prevention Executive
Know of any fallen LP exec? Let's remember & recognize.

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 354  
Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 759
*Red indicates change in total deaths

COVID Cases Up 24% in the U.S.
WHO: COVID-19 cases continue to fall globally while increasing In United States
Weekly confirmed cases of COVID-19 around the globe dropped 21.7% as of April 11, the World Health Organization revealed on its weekly tracker as cases continued to drop internationally. The WHO reported 5.76 million confirmed coronavirus cases around the world, a decrease from 7.36 million for the week concluding April 4. It marked the fourth straight week global cases have fallen.

While cases dropped around the world, confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States increased nearly 24% to 245,594 for the week ending April 11 from 198,085 the week before. Weekly confirmed cases in the United States had dropped to 193,417 on March 21. Cases in the United States had reached a record 5.61 million in one week on Jan. 10 during the rise of the Omicron variant. The dramatic increase forced some localities to return to pandemic restrictions until the recent drop in cases. upi.com

CA Businesses Speak Out Against Workplace COVID Rules Extension
Calif. set to extend workplace COVID rules through 2022 as businesses resist
California workplace regulators are poised to extend mandatory pay for workers affected by the coronavirus through the end of 2022, more than two months after state lawmakers restored similar benefits through September.

The decision expected Thursday again pits management against labor as the seven-member Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board renews revised workplace safety rules that would otherwise expire in early May.

Small businesses have particularly struggled with the obligation, Moutrie said. The Cal/OSHA rule applies in almost every workplace in the state, covering workers in offices, factories and retail businesses, while the state sick leave law applies only to companies with 26 or more employees.

The pending regulation requires employers to keep paying workers’ wages and maintain their seniority and other benefits for as long as they can’t work because of a coronavirus exposure or infection through work, unless they receive disability payments or the employer can prove the close contact wasn’t work related. latimes.com

Philly Ends Mask Mandate Days After Reinstating It
Philadelphia Reverses Course & Ends Indoor Mask Mandate Again

The reverse decision comes only a few days after Philadelphia became the first major city in the U.S. to reinstate its Covid-19 mask mandate for indoor activities

"Due to decreasing hospitalizations and a leveling of case counts, the City will move to strongly recommending masks in indoor public spaces as opposed to a mask mandate," a spokesperson with the Philadelphia Health Department told NBC10 Thursday night. "Given the latest data, the BOH voted to rescind the mandate." The mandate will be lifted on Friday.

The reverse decision comes only a few days after Philadelphia became the first major city in the U.S. to reinstate its Covid-19 mask mandate for indoor activities as the highly contagious omicron BA.2 subvariant drives new Covid cases higher across the country.

Philadelphia reinstated its mask mandate on Monday after cases jumped 50% from April 1 through April 11, health officials said. Hospitalizations were steady as of April 11, but have since rapidly risen. nbcphiladelphia.com

Target Goes Permanently Hybrid
Target Corp., the biggest employer in downtown Minneapolis with 8,500 staff members, announced that it will permanently offer a hybrid style of working, where teams and employees decide when to work at home and when to be in the office.

"We really saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape the future of work and the experience of work," said Melissa Kremer, Target's chief human resources officer.

Target is not setting a minimum requirement for in-office time, based on employee feedback and the desire to attract and retain talent. The retailer modified its downtown offices with "flex floors," which feature desks workers can occupy temporarily amid a range of meeting spaces. shrm.org

More Than 90% of COVID Cases in U.S. Linked to ‘Stealth Omicron' Subvariants

Food businesses across the UK pivot again as crowds return to restaurants, shops

Australia: Retail groups rejoice at roll back of COVID rules

Behind the Numbers: Why 50K Stores Will Close by 2026
Stores proved their worth over the past few years - but will it be enough?

"The pandemic dramatically demonstrated the value of brick-and-mortar stores, and local retail in particular."

UBS has forecast that 40,000 to 50,000 stores will close in the U.S. by the end of 2026, downwardly revising research from April 2021 that estimated 80,000 closures. Part of the reason for the change is because physical stores have shown their value over the course of the pandemic.

The industry saw 5,000 net store openings in the last few quarters. A second reason for the reassessment is the rise in inflation. Mr. Lasser wrote, “Retail sales growth has been and will probably be strong for the near future due in part to rapid inflation. Retailers recognize sales in nominal dollars, so this provides support even as costs are growing rapidly too.”

UBS still expects e-commerce penetration to increase sharply over the next few years, especially as innovations like social commerce, virtual reality and automation/robotics advance. The updated forecast, however, assumes e-commerce penetration grows from 18 percent of retail sales in 2021 to 25 percent by 2026, down from its previous target of 27 percent.

Nonetheless, 40,000 to 50,000 stores — or between 4.5 percent to 5.7 percent of overall stores — are expected to close over the next five years as online’s gains drive rationalization. The steepest cuts are expected to be seen in the office supplies, consumer electronics, clothing and accessories, sporting goods and housewares channels. Stores in enclosed malls could account for nearly half of all closures being forecast, assuming 10 to 20 percent of them are closed or redeveloped. retailwire.com

Viral Videos Spur Dollar General Union Effort?
Dollar General manager fired over videos on difficult hours, staff shortages
A Tampa Bay Dollar General store manager went viral after posting TikTok videos meant to show how difficult it is to lead a store when hours and employees are limited. Mary Gundel, who managed the Dollar General on US 301 and Martin Luther King for several months, said her videos are the reason she was fired. She said she's been with the company for more than three years as a manager at various stories.

Gundel posted more than six videos, totaling to 18 minutes. Through the videos, she's told millions of TikTok users about staffing levels and workload. "I want fair treatment for Dollar General employees," she said. "I want fair wages for them."

Dollar General released this statement:

"Maintaining two-way, open lines of communication with our employees is a priority. We provide many avenues for our teams to make their voices heard, including our open-door policy and routine engagement surveys. We use this feedback to help us identify and address concerns, improve our workplace, and better serve our employees, customers and communities. We are disappointed any time an employee feels that we have not lived up to these goals, and we use those situations as additional opportunities to listen and learn. Although we do not agree with all the statements currently being made by Ms. Gundel, we are doing that here."

Gundel said she's heard from many employees since posting her first video and that they are researching ways to unionize. "At the beginning of all this, I would have told you [this would not have made a difference]," she said. "But now standing in front of you, I would say yes."

She said she has started working for Uber and Lyft to help make ends meet for her husband and three children. She said a walkout is being planned for early May, in hopes of demanding better pay and hours. fox10phoenix.com

Starbucks alleges baristas union intimidated workers in new complaints with the labor board
Starbucks filed two complaints with the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday alleging that the union organizing its baristas broke federal labor law. This marks the coffee chain’s first time on the other side of accusations around lawbreaking behavior amid the union battle.

Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, has filed dozens of complaints of its own against Starbucks with the NLRB, alleging that the company has illegally retaliated against, harassed and fired organizers in cafes across the country.

More than 200 of the coffee chain’s locations have filed paperwork to unionize under Workers United since August. To date, 24 stores have voted to unionize, with only two locations so far voting against. cnbc.com

Is the Wage War Cooling Off?
Americans are still getting larger-than-usual raises, but the wage rallies are starting to slow in some cities

The labor shortage continues to push wages higher across the country, but some cities are set to enjoy the pay hikes longer than others.

The good news: working Americans are still seeing wages climb at a historic pace. Average hourly earnings rose by $0.13, or 0.4%, to $31.73 in March, accelerating from the mild gain seen through February and continuing the trend of above-average wage growth. With job openings and quits both near record highs through February, businesses continued to boost pay in hopes of attracting and keeping workers.

Yet the wage rally is starting to diverge. New Beige Book reports from the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks published Wednesday reveal just how labor markets differ across the US. While employers in some cities and the regions around them are preparing for another round of larger-than-usual raises, others are starting to rein in their pay-hike plans.

The pay-bump party is charging forward in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, but Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland, and Atlanta showed signs the pay rally is cooling. businessinsider.com

Bolstering Supply Chains to Keep Store Shelves Full
U.S. Companies Face Hurdles in Moving Production Closer to Home

It may take years to duplicate the supplier networks and availability of raw materials on a scale found in Asian manufacturing hubs, experts say

Companies looking to make their supply chains more resilient with nearshoring strategies may only be bringing production problems closer to home, experts say.

U.S. importers who are studying shifting their sourcing from the Asia-Pacific region to Mexico and deeper into Latin America are finding it tougher to find suppliers with the right raw materials, production quality and networks for getting their own components that have been established in manufacturing hubs like China and Southeast Asia. Reproducing that capacity and re-creating clusters of suppliers under a nearshoring strategy will take years, experts say.

Supply-chain disruptions over the past two years, resulting from the impact of the pandemic, have driven more Western companies to look at moving production close to home. The push has gained steam as bottlenecks have left seaports jammed, store shelves empty, factories idled and many billions of dollars of goods stuck in overstuffed distribution networks.

Nearshoring, or placing production closer to consumers and end users, is supposed to make supply chains more resilient to such shocks by eliminating the long supply lines that can subject shipments to more disruptions and higher costs. wsj.com

Mother's Day Retail Spending Surge
NRF: Mother’s Day Spending to Reach Record High
Mother’s Day spending is expected to total $31.7 billion this year, up $3.6 billion from 2021’s record spending, according to the annual consumer survey released today by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. Approximately 84 percent of U.S. adults are expected to celebrate Mother’s Day.

Consumers are planning to spend $25 more this year on Mother’s Day purchases and are expected to spend a record average of $245.76. nrf.com

Walmart Is Closing These Stores Permanently on May 20

Rite Aid rejected an unsolicited buyout offer

Workers at Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Seattle vote to unionize