Wal-Mart's US chief takes aim at urgent item: Theft  Greg Foran, head of the retailer's U.S. operations, told a media briefing on Thursday he added theft and other forms of "unknown shrinkage" to a list of urgent items to be tackled at Wal-Mart's 4,555 stores across the United States.

Foran said he saw an opportunity to boost margins by putting a dent in a problem that typically represents 1 percent for any retailer's sales. He noted that Wal-Mart generated nearly $300 billion in revenues in the United States in the past fiscal year. The retailing giant says that it loses about $3 billion every year from theft, or 1% of its $300 billion in revenue, Reuters reports.

"One percent of $300 billion is quite a lot of money. If you can save 10 basis points of it - boy I'll take it every day of the week and put it into lower prices for customers," Foran told Reuters after the briefing.

One basis point is equal to one hundredth of 1 percent, meaning that 10 basis points-or 0.1 percent-of $300 billion would be equal to $30 million.

Wal-Mart had flagged the issue when it announced its first quarter earnings last month, saying that "shrink" was a major contributor to a 13 basis point decline in its gross profit margin. It said half of the problem was related to food.

Foran said unknown shrinkage could include problems like mistakes in inventory record-keeping in addition to stealing by customers or employees.

He said the problem was not necessarily growing, but he decided to focus on it given the potential margin boost.

After Foran took over as head of the U.S. business in August, he instituted a series of "urgent agenda" items aimed at improving store management. Foran said he had taken two projects off that list and added two more, including the focus on shrinkage. He did not provide further details. cnbc.com reuters.com

One to watch - EEOC claims Dollar General's criminal background screening program has "disparate impact on a class of black conditional hires and cited a "gross disparity" in the discharge rates of black and nonblack candidates"  Filed in June 2013 the parties have been trading barbs over how much information they were required to produce, but on May 5 U.S. District Judge Andrea R. Wood ostensibly resolved the dispute. Judge Wood shot down Dollar General's request for the EEOC's hiring data and their use of criminal background checks. The court's ruling that the retailer hand over data on conditional hires from 2004 to 2008 lets the EEOC analyze the effect of "nonracial demographic factors," but the retailer argued that the litigation only relates to an alleged racial disparate impact and there's no need for the agency's experts to look at whether nonracial factors are causing the alleged disparate impact Dollar General's criminal background check has on black candidates. law360.com

Boston Officials Move Quickly to Share Video in Terrorism Suspect's Shooting - A Proactive Approach to Possible Civil Unrest  Immediately after the police and the F.B.I. on Tuesday shot and killed a black Muslim man who had been under surveillance for possible terrorism, law enforcement officials moved quickly to share information with civic and religious leaders, hoping to quell any potential unrest. Within 24 hours, the Boston police commissioner, William Evans, and the Suffolk County district attorney, Daniel F. Conley, had gathered a select group and played a video from a surveillance camera at Burger King near the shooting. Many in the group later verified the police account.

Boston's response has won praise for its speed and transparency. And as many police departments decide whether to require body cameras on officers and in squad cars, analysts said it could bolster the case for video. By and large, the decision to show the video quickly appeared to keep tensions at a minimum. "In Ferguson there was a lot of evidence supporting the cops, but the police handled it so poorly," Mr. Moskos said. "You'd expect a little more enlightenment in Boston, and I think you're getting that."  nytimes.com

Costco subpoenaed by DEA concerning prescriptions for controlled substances and related practices  The warehouse-club retailer said in its quarterly report that offices of the U.S. Attorney in various districts have expressed "their belief that the company has committed civil regulatory violations concerning these subjects." Costco made these disclosures in previous quarterly filings. The company reiterated that it is seeking to cooperate with the processes and doesn't expect any material adverse effect on its financial position.

In 2013, Walgreen Co. WBA -0.66 % reached an $80 million settlement over the drugstore chain's distribution of painkillers in Florida. Last month, CVS Health Corp. said it would pay $22 million to settle a years-old fight with the federal government over alleged misuse of prescription painkillers.  wsj.com

Judge limits recovery in class action against Rite Aid to actual damages in background screening case  A Philadelphia federal judge has dismissed a portion of a class action lawsuit filed against Rite Aid over its practice of conducting background screenings on new hires. Plaintiffs in the suit can only seek actual damages under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. She refused to dismiss the suit in its entirety, finding the plaintiffs' FCRA allegations are "plausible." Kyra Moore initially filed suit against Rite Aid in March 2013 and followed that up with an amended complaint in August 2014, charging Rite Aid with "willful" violation of the FCRA through its use of LexisNexis Screening Solutions. The class action litigation represents any prospective Rite Aid hires residing in the United States who were declared ineligible for hire within a prior two-year time frame of the suit's initial filing, and to whom Rite Aid failed to provide a copy of their background report or a copy of the FCRA summary of rights at least five business days before such classification occurred. pennrecord.com

Staples settles $275,000 case with terminated sales associate over failing to notify him of Family Medical Leave Act rights  After Angstadt notified his supervisors in September 2010 that his wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer, he used numerous sick and vacation days to care for her and to accompany her to appointments, according to his complaint. Angstadt's supervisors never informed him that his wife's illness qualified him to file for FMLA leave, argued the DOL, which noted he was not aware of his rights. As he continued to miss his job as a furniture sales executive to care for his wife, Angstadt's supervisors opted in September 2011 to place him on a performance improvement plan, because they felt he was not meeting his monthly sales goals nor responding to his customers in a timely manner, according to his complaint. Four months later, Angstadt's supervisors terminated him, determining he had not met the goals of the PIP, according to the complaint. Not only did Angstadt's supervisors not inform him of his FMLA rights, they did not adjust his job performance expectations nor place the PIP on hold while he cared for his ailing wife, who died in 2014, the DOL argued. law360.com

Sears Can't Duck Duty-Of-Care Claims Over Peeping Tom  A California judge has refused to let Sears Holding Corp. escape negligence claims over a maintenance worker who spied on women in store dressing rooms for years, saying the fact that the worker had unsupervised access to the fitting rooms raised a triable issue of fact. Despite the store's policy against letting unescorted men into women's dressing rooms, the maintenance worker had unfettered access to dressing rooms and restrooms and was in and out of those rooms "in plain view" before and during store hours. law360.com

Petco takes full responsibility for dogs death while in their care - Internal Investigation reveals animal care protocols not followed  On May 29th Allison Marks took her dog to be groomed and learned a few hours later that he had died in a drying cage. On Thursday, facing mounting criticism, Petco released a statement taking "full responsibility" and disclosing that an internal investigation showed that its "animal care protocols" were not followed by the employees who handled Colby. As a result, the individuals directly involved are no longer part of our company," the statement said. Additionally, it said, the type of drying kennel Colby had been placed in had been removed from service in all Petco stores. But the company denied that excessive heat from a dryer had killed Colby. The investigation "confirmed that no heat was used, and is not used in any of our grooming salon dryers," the statement said. nytimes.com

Goodwill Industries of Chesapeake post Loss Prevention Director position in Baltimore City, MD  Today, with a budget of nearly $50 million, Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake, Inc., employs more than 850 individuals, operates 27 retail stores, 11 career development sites and provides a variety of commercial services at several locations. goodwillches.org

May Same Store Sales Results
Gap down 6%, Banana Republic down 5%, Old Navy up 6%
Zumiez down 2.2%

Quarterly Same Store Sales Results
Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores Q1 comp's down 1.2% with net sales down 1.2%
Claire's Q1 down comp's down 2.5% with net sales down 9.4%
 

Non-mobile shoppers seem happier online
Online consumers seem pretty satisfied with shopping the web, but doing so via a desktop or laptop tends to produce less frustration than via tablets, smartphones and stores, according to the latest UPS "Pulse of the Online Shopper" report. Now in its fourth year, the report finds that 84% of online shoppers using desktops and laptops report being satisfied with that channel. That compares with 74% with tablets, 65% for smartphones and 62% for stores. The report's findings stem from a January survey by web measurement firm comScore Inc. of 5,118 online shoppers who made at least two purchases in a three-month period. internetretailer.com

Home Depot nails the top honor in the first Internet Retailer Excellence Awards

Fraudsters Use Amazon's Cloud to Create Fake Web Traffic

Security Tops Reasons to Avoid Android Pay

Best Buy extends its online marketplace to Canada

American Greetings is the most trustworthy online retailer for the third year in a row

Indigo bookstore online sales up 11.8% from last year