Shoplifters taking toll on California economy after Prop. 47
Rudy Ruiz owns World 1-1, a video game store at the Santa Maria Town Center mall. Shoplifters hit his store so often, he said, that he stopped calling police two years ago. Thieves know they're “only going to get a citation, which is equivalent to a slap on the wrist,” he said.

The problem stems from Proposition 47, which was approved by voters in 2014 and reduced crimes like petty theft and shoplifting from felonies to misdemeanors, if less than $950 in merchandise is stolen.

Prop. 47 aimed to curb recidivism and reduce the state's inmate population by making nonviolent, nonserious property and drug crimes misdemeanors unless a person has prior convictions for serious offenses. That means crimes like shoplifting, grand theft and receiving stolen property earn the offender a citation instead of jail time, as long as the value of the stolen property does not exceed $950 per incident.

Tracy Ruiz, Rudy's wife, helps run World 1-1 and said she believes voters who passed Prop. 47 didn’t understand the maximum theft threshold was $950 per incident, rather than per day.

"That value of $950 is not accumulated — it’s each separate incident, each time a shoplifter comes in,” said Tracy. “That means they’ll do it over and over again, and make off with a lot more than $949 per day if they’re given the chance.”

She added: “This legislation had a lot of social goals which is good, but unfortunately it hits retailers, big or small like us, really hard and people didn’t think about that. People also don’t realize that the more theft losses we incur, we’ll probably have to raise our prices which we don’t want to do for our community.” syvnews.com

Opposing View: 'Proposition 47 is working, despite glitches'
Proposition 47, the voter-approved ballot initiative aimed at easing prison overcrowding by releasing non-violent offenders, has generally succeeded in its goal. But the controversial measure also has run into some glitches.

Researchers find that Proposition 47, approved in 2014, contributed to a decrease in rearrest rates while spurring a slight uptick in property crimes. Proposition 47 also has significantly reduced crowded state prison and county jail populations throughout the state.

But the exhaustive study also found that Proposition 47 had a slight impact on property crimes — specifically, thefts from motor vehicles and shoplifting. Proposition 47 may have contributed to the roughly 9 percent increase in larceny-theft, the study found.

There are concerns among law enforcement officials over the under-reporting of burglary and theft.

“Larceny is up 9 percent,” said California Police Chiefs Association president David Swing. “That’s what’s being reported. I know that if you were to reach out to the grocery and retail community you would see a stark difference in what’s being reported and what’s actually occurring post-Prop. 47. This means that we in law enforcement are not receiving all the calls about thefts that are occurring.” capitolweekly.net

Oklahoma retailers seeing theft increase since State Question 780
Raised felony threshold from $500 to $1,000
State Question 780 went into effect last July. It states that someone has to steal $1,000 dollars worth of merchandise from a store before he or she is charged with a felony. That amount used to be only $500.

Convenience stores, like QuikTrip, say they and other retailers have seen thefts on the rise since the law went into effect 365 days ago. The only way they now can put people in jail for the thefts is to keep track of surveillance video and loss each time someone steals until they have enough merchandise stolen to build a felony case against someone. Police say this means that thieves are stealing from businesses longer before they can do anything meaningful about the problem. krmg.com

Marshalls Hit With Gender Bias Suit Over Bag Check Policy
'Discriminates Against Women', who are more likely to carry purses
A proposed class of Marshalls employees in California hit the retailer with a wage and discrimination suit in state court Monday, alleging workers aren’t compensated for the time they spend going through security checks and bringing a novel theory that the practice discriminates against women, who are more likely to carry purses.

Named plaintiff Alicia Rodriguez, a stockroom coordinator at a Marshalls in Ontario, California, has worked for the retail chain for more than 17 years, according to the complaint. She seeks to represent a class of all nonexempt current and former employees who have worked at a Marshalls in California after Aug. 11, 2016, as well as a subclass of women who the suit alleges were disproportionately affected by the policy.

Marshalls requires all its workers to go through a security check whenever they leave the workplace with a bag or container, according to the complaint. These bag checks occur after an employee has clocked out at the end of the day and during their state-required meal and rest breaks, Rodriguez alleges. And because only a manager can clear workers’ bags, and the bag checks are required during a shift turnover, workers often have to wait in line for the checks, which is done “for the benefit” of Marshalls, Rodriguez says.

“The security checks are done after class members clock out and are off-the-clock, uncompensated time,” the complaint says. “Defendant’s female employees are far more likely to carry a purse, bag or container than their [male] counterparts. Defendant’s practice … disproportionately impacts defendant’s female employees, and deprives them of pay and other employee rights, including rest breaks.” law360.com

Bag Rage:
Shoppers Threaten Staff After Australia Bans Plastic Bags in Supermarkets
Grocery store staff in Australia are dealing with regular abuse from shoppers after supermarket chains were told to ax single-use plastic bags at checkouts.

According to the Independent, some customers have gone as far as physically attacking employees. One shopper in Western Australia put his hands around a Woolworths staff member’s neck.

Western Australia and Queensland state governments both set July 1 as the deadline for removing single-use plastic bags from stores. Shoppers can buy reusable bags for 15 Australian cents (about 11 U.S. cents). Some states, such as South Australia, have had single-use plastic bags banned for almost 10 years (since the beginning of 2009). newsweek.com

Texas AG Tells 11 Cities Their Plastic Bag Bans Are Illegal

Hope, AR: Undercover operation reveals more than chicken being sold at KFC
One of the five managers of a Hope, Arkansas, KFC was offering more choices than crispy and original to customers of his store at the Bypass and Hazel Street.

Over the past several months, undercover agents purchased methamphetamine at the restaurant from manager Edward Barzar, as part of an investigation that resulted in four simultaneous raids that went off like a well-choreographed ballet late Wednesday afternoon.

The raid was orchestrated by officers from the 8th North Task Force, the Arkansas State Police, the Hope Police Department, the Hempstead County Sheriff’s Office, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office, the Prescott Police Department and FBI Agents. arklatexhomepage.com

Turkey Hill Joins Sheetz in Testing Blue Lights to Combat Drug Use in Stores
Turkey Hill Minit Markets is the next Pennsylvania convenience store chain adorning blue-colored bulbs in its restrooms. The blue lights are meant to discourage people from using drugs in store bathrooms by making it more difficult for them to see their veins. It's an idea that's been around for years but is getting a fresh look as a result of the nation's opioid epidemic, reported Penn Live.

In Luzerne County, where Turkey Hill has installed blue lights at a store in Wilkes-Barre, Coroner William Lisman said people have died from overdoses in the public bathrooms of fast-food restaurants, big-box stores and other retailers.

"It can very easily go unnoticed until somebody else wants to use that restroom," he said. "Other patrons realize they can't get in, the manager opens up and we find people deceased."

At some Turkey Hill locations in hard-hit neighborhoods, store workers would often find used needles or even people slumped over from an overdose, according to Matt Dorgan, the chain's asset protection manager. csnews.com

Starbucks’s ‘full-scale racial equity overhaul’ will take more than an afternoon, outside review says
One month after Starbucks closed 8,000 stores for racial-bias training for 175,000 employees, two of the curriculum’s advisers laid out a new set of recommendations for how one of the world’s most dominant companies can further address diversity, equity and inclusion.

In a report published Monday, Heather McGhee, distinguished senior fellow of the public policy organization Demos, and Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-council of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, outlined how Starbucks and other companies could achieve a “full-scale racial equity overhaul.” While McGhee and Ifill served as pro bono advisers on Starbucks’s May 29 training, they conducted the report independently and in consultation with dozens of organizations and experts, from racial and religious groups to legal and policy centers.

“It’s really important that we wrote this report with an audience of Starbucks, but also with an audience of other corporations that might want to take steps to address racism in their company,” McGhee said. “Because not everybody is going to have 40 conversations, and we wanted to make sure that this broader audience understood what some of the key principles are in designing a training like that.” washingtonpost.com

Comcast Sued For Failure To Address Cell Phone Fraud
Comcast's new Xfinity Wireless service isn't all that old, but the company is already being accused of failing to adequately address fraud related to the service. A new class action filed against the company (pdf) accuses the cable giant of not doing enough to prevent scammers from opening wireless customer service accounts in users names--then using customer financial info to ship phones to alternative addresses. The lawsuit also alleges that Comcast has turned a blind eye to this problem as part of an attempt to artificially inflate the company's Xfinity Mobile subscriber numbers. dslreports.com

Hump Day Holiday: More Travel, Less Spending
Despite its weird Wednesday arrival, forecasters are expecting Americans to set some records this Fourth of July, with the AAA predicting lots of travel. Spending, however, is expected to be a little more subdued.

AAA says it anticipates 46.9 million people will travel at least 50 miles, up 5% from last year, and the most since it started tracking the holiday 18 years ago. That’s likely to translate to some Tuesday traffic nightmares, with INRIX, a global transportation analytics company that works with AAA, estimating that travel time in some places may be twice as long as usual.

The AAA’s forecast conflicts with the National Retail Federation, however, which predicts a decrease in travel, with 31 million people hitting the road, down from 33 million last year. And, it says, 25% say gas prices play a part in their decision.

AAA is predicting the biggest increase in air travel, with 7.9% more people flying for the holiday, marking the ninth straight year of gains. Orlando, Anaheim, Calif., and Seattle are the leading domestic destinations. Rome, London and Dublin are the top international spots.

Overall, consumer spending may slow a little this year, says the NRF. It says the Hump Day holiday is likely to result in $6.9 billion in sales, down from $7.1 billion last year, which was a record.

Its study, based on a survey of 7,200 adults and conducted by Prosper Insight & Analytics, says that 87% intend to celebrate, with 62% planning a cookout or picnic, spending an average of $75.35 per person. (Predictions only cover food costs.) mediapost.com

Sears adds 10 more stores to closings list; 78 set to close in September

Department store chain Magic Mart closing all stores in four states

Casual restaurant chains see sales rebound

The Army & Air Force Exchange Service balances profitability with community

Publishing Note: Our 'Canadian Connections' column will not be published this week due to the July 4th Holiday
 

The Daily will not be publishing Wednesday, July 4th.
We will resume publication on Thursday, July 5th.
Have a great and safe Holiday Weekend!