Tractor Supply has guards.

Yesterday I was in Tractor Supply, in a town of less than 9,000 people and there was an armed security guard.....amazed, that one was needed. He said there had been robbery attempts so now guards,.

He used to work at two juvenile detention centers, said everyone of the kids in those places had poor parenting.

 

It's a sad state of affairs in a country like ours when stores, schools, churches require armed guards, and more citizens than ever before feel it necessary to carry a gun as they go about their lives. Makes me wonder how much longer we can last.

 

.....yes, and sadly we all know that it is going to get worse.

 

The Home Depot next town over had armed guards for a little while. It's a small city, about 50K. If you're a store manager, and you have a security issue, you bring in a contractor for a while. It creates a deterrent. In a small town, things will likely change after less than 6 months. A town like that doesn't have enough targets to sustain ongoing criminal activity from the same people. They'll have to move on.

 

If Rural King or Farm & Fleet near me were hiring armed security, I'd jump on it. I currently work at a juvenile detention center, oddly enough.

 

I was a young and naive rookie cop many years ago. Sometimes, while working a night shift, I'd park my car and walk the back alleys, checking doors and windows. I recall even wondering at times why, in a supposedly-civilized society, a job like mine was even necessary.

 

Armed security is a contractor business. Retailers rarely hire security guards as employees. It's much better for corporations to contract out the liability that comes with that work. They will hire "loss prevention" people, which do things like watch video, work a radio, and call police. But if they have a uniform and a duty belt, they're almost always contractors. It used to be that loss prevention employees would confront kids shoplifting, but in some corporations nowadays, they won't even do that. The potential liability is too much. They just call the police and as big as the stores and parking lots are now, the police are usually there before the kids can leave.

 

I do remodel design for large food store chain. One location had a police substation in a small office witha window facing the parking lot. The office on duty when I was there related the story of watching a drug deal go down right outside his window the day before.

I guess the dealer and his customer were rather surprised when the officer tapped them on the shoulder.

 

My daughter worked for a while at a clothing retailer . The policy if they saw someone shoplifting was to try to sell them matching accessories for whatever they saw them stuffing into a bag."Would you like some blue tights to go with that shirt in your bag?" Any other action would result in termination.

 

Actually the dealer and his customer were actually safer next to the cop shop.... What little I know of that world isn't good in any sense of the word. Back during the height of the craziness down here in south Florida - the eighties when the "cocaine cowboys" were the just the most visible problem, we learned about the "Miami Special dope deal.. No one brings dope -no one brings money... both sides bring guns....

 

Stayed in the Philippines for a while a little more than 10 years ago. Literally, EVERY establishment had heavily armed guards from MacDonalds to the local grocery stores.

 

I remember visiting Guadalajara Mexico maybe like 20 yrs ago. Shopping at a local mall I saw armed police at jewelry stores, atms and other stores.
Got tapped on the shoulder and a finger wagged in my face because I was taking pics. I put the camera away quick!

 

It's not just the liability. Shoplifting used to be a nonviolent property crime often, as you said, perpetrated by kids. That's changed. Many shoplifters now are hardened criminals willing to fight security personnel and sometimes are armed.

Not all stores are pushovers for shoplifters. Nebraska Furntiture Mart is the largest home furnishings retailer in the country. It was started in 1937 by Jewish immigrants from Belarus. The wife ran the furniture store while the husband ran their other business, a used clothing store. The furniture business prospered and was eventually sold to Warren Buffet although it is still managed by the family. They now have stores in Omaha, Iowa, Missouri and Texas. I don't know how big the others are but the showrooms, warehouses and parking lot for the Omaha store occupy 45 acres.

NFM is very hard line on shoplifting. I don't know whether their security people are contract or employed directly but there are credible reports of their chasing shoplifters across the parking lot, taking them to the ground and holding them for police. If they have had legal problems with indignant shoplifters, it hasn't made the news. I suspect that no lawyer would take on a rich company that won't back down in a community with little sympathy for thieves.

NFM used to post No Guns signs which have the force of law in Nebraska. They took them down several years ago.

 

And the PC (Philippine Constabulary) will grease you in a heartbeat!

 

So far it hasn't happened in my area and I thought we were somewhat high crime.

 

As long as there have been people selling wares there have been people trying to steal from them.

Ancient works like the Bible and others have discussed it, it’ll never go away.

Whenever armed guards are on their posts, I always wish them the best. It’s tough being a potential target, especially for the sums these men and women are paid.

Stay safe!

 

Actually violence is at or near historic lows in most of the US. Cable news and social media have frayed a lot of nerves, but fortunately just because things feel a little frothy doesn't make it so.

 

I worked an armed gig in a drug store due to robberies of mostly drugs. It’s sad when wedding reception halls and apple bees need armed guards!

 

It's been a long time, and before I moved out west, that I saw an armed guard in a store or a bank.,

 

When I was a kid in NYC, every bank had an armed guard. They were usually retired cops, now handing out lollypops to kids.

Eventually banks figured they had more liability from someone being shot than by being robbed and having insurance cover the theft.

Looks like in certain places they're going back to the past.

 

Yet another incentive for big banks to close local brick and mortar branches and move online.......

 

I saw armed guards at 7 Eleven`s back in the 70`s.They sat behind a two way mirror.

 

I don't know why they ever stopped having armed security at retail establishments.
Or at schools.

 

I live in western PA, and there's no guard here.....
sounds like a local problem......

 

How do you shoplift furniture?