Behind The Blue Door: What you should know about Walmart surveilance polocies

reply to post by tonyb1968


thanks for educating us and maybe educating the poster who works there (people in most corporate offices don't know the grit that goes on at the bottom levels).

Something a friend and I do sometimes, when the weather is bad, is walk for exercise in one of the large stores. I walk pretty fast while doing this, and zip up and down the aisles of a store for about 20 minutes. Wondering now how this must affect the people trying to keep track of us, if they know we are just walking for exercise or if they think it's a scam to grab and tuck an item while doing it. If there are still posters on the thread who work at one of these stores, how do they treat the "threat" of exercise walkers? Thanks.

reply to post by tonyb1968


Yes I work at the home office, and I not only go to local stores on a regular basis, but also travel literally all over the country supporting all Walmart formats and SAMs Clubs. You clearly have no clue what you are talking about if you think that the people at the home office don't know how the stores operate. Over 60% of the associates at the home office came from the field.

reply to post by beautyndissonance


I hope you are correct about other stores. but if you have any say in the matter, I don't know your possition in the comp, you should look into the Ukiah store #2052, LP dept. If you need specific names I will PM you. I won't post names on the board.

reply to post by beautyndissonance


I am not saying that every person at Wal-Mart is a bad person. The policies are quite sound and make great sense to almost anyone who reads them. I am aware of the fact that 60% of Home Office associates came from the field and that they were assistant manager or higher in rank--a fact that you left out. I am also aware of a hard lines assistant that impregnated two employees under his supervision and that the company simply moved him to another store. It seems that once a person reaches that level, he/she can really do no wrong. Hourly employees can be fired for almost anything and are.
Yes, I was followed home one night. I can name the employee that did the following under the direction of the manager via an assistant. Same Manager attempted to physically remove my cellphone from my hand without permission...while I was off the clock and not on the floor.
As to the home office visits, most stores are usually aware of those visits before they happen. Often, managers have days' of advance notice and will correct anything they feel will get them into trouble with home office.
I reported all of this to home office and was simply dismissed as a "disgruntled employee". Nothing ever happened to anyone. Somewhere around here I have names and dates and store numbers saved. I assure you, my account is valid and truthful.
Fact is, the stores are not always operated per policy.

reply to post by beautyndissonance


I'm not trying to be rude in saying this, but if you do work at the home office and know what's going on at the satelite stores you really need to check into it. I couldn't care less about my "experiance" working for WM. I am just stating the facts.

The bank/card statement claim is new to me, but some of the others you mentioned are not. I have a friend who works for Walmart, and she's been treated pretty poorly over the years. Written up & thoroughly chastised for being a few minutes late because she was caught in a surprise white-out downpour and had to pull over to wait it out, belittled for having viral pneumonia and told "Get to work, or you're fired. Pneumonia is not an excuse for a day off." Nice, spread that around, thanks Hellmart. It's not as simple as just leaving the store for a better job, Hellmart set up shop in a small bodunk rural town, running all the little mom & pop joints out of business. She can't afford to jet around to other towns/cities to look for better work, after her basic bills and groceries, she's penniless.

Joki42
I was not allowed to socialize with anyone. While my fellow LP spent her weekends partying with employees and braging about their exploits to the Manager I was repremanded and thretened with termination for chating with a cashier at lunch.

I don't work for Walmart and never have, so I don't know if this is just a general rule, or a "manager's whim" kind of thing, but she's lamented that people in her store are not allowed to talk to employees in other departments, even if the isles are fully stocked, displays finished, end caps done, resets completed. If your work is done, fine, walk around your department and keep an eye on things, idle chatter between, say, employees in clothing and employees in housewares isn't allowed, and will get you written up.

Walmart phylosophy: Walmart has everything you could need. If you have an emloyee discount there is no reason for you to shop anywhere else. If an employee is "caught" shopping at another store they are put under investigation by LP for possible fraud. Employees never know they are being investigated.

Correct, at least in a rumor sense. If they're being investigated, they don't know it, but the rumors of being watched for being in other stores are rampant, and most employees at hers believe it enough to not enter a competitor unless they really need something badly. They're that afraid of being canned.

reply to post by beautyndissonance


From these well reasoned posts it sounds like you may have to open your mind a bit to the possibilities that some of this stuff may be real (I personally think it all comes close to what actually occurs under the radar of the home office). But you probably know what will happen if you actually bring it up at work and try to find out if some of the things are true, you yourself may be put on some kind of "troublemakers" list. That's how a company like yours keeps things under control and the less waves made the better. Then again, since you are on ATS, you may be better than that, and can actually look into some of these practices and make a universal change. Couldn't hurt to try.

Snarl
reply to post by redhorse

 

What is the point?

Deterrent.

The majority of retail theft is committed by staff ... often before product even reaches an outlet. They're just looking to stop theft where they can.

Okay. Good point about where the numbers fall with theft. So, I can see that for the employees (still immoral in my opinion). But taking all that effort to physically and financially track (kind of random) customers just to deter employees from theft seems too legally risky and wasteful of manpower to be worthwhile. All that just to scare employees about the omnipotence of Wally-world...? It just... doesn't quite add up for me.

beautyndissonance
reply to post by Bedlam

 

This is all a lie.

I've gotten some of it under subpoena. WM gives it up the second the court says to.

eta: And it's real handy that you guys associate the payment data with the photo. Thanks!

Ok I read through the whole 3 pages of posts, and still have no idea what the heck LP stands for??

Well, thanks for making me more glad than ever that I've never been inside a Walmart....

And OP if what you say can be verified, think seriously about talking to one or more of the many alternative news sites out there; Lip TV, Abbie Martin of Breaking the Set, We Are Change and maybe Alex Jones. This information deserves a true investigation and letting people know about it.

As far as 'people who use cash must be trying to hide something' - yeah. Our privacy you fascist goons.

If Wally World would pay their employees a living wage, I bet they wouldn't have to worry about shrinkage so much. The local Costco created a minor sensation when they opened and hundreds stood in line for every job. They look damn happy to be working there several years later, too.

The people that live in these small towns that Walmart came into and killed off all the ma and pa stores should consider getting together and boycotting them long enough to kill them off. Then start up your own little stores and greengrocer businesses.

Tell that Billionaire Bit** in Arkansas to go where, you know...

morder1
Ok I read through the whole 3 pages of posts, and still have no idea what the heck LP stands for??

[/quote

Loss Prevention

Joki42
reply to post by VoidHawk

 

Yes. If you walk in off the street and buy headphones and leave, and an employee, customer or LP suspects you of a crime, the LP manager can access your bank statement. If he feels good reason to believe you might have done something he will call stores you shop at and ask for their info about you or that they need to watch for you.

How is this even possible? This kind of thing seems like a massive privacy breach.

reply to post by Joki42


Maybe in your case, but first hand I know they aren't watching everyone. My roommate used to shop lift from there every day, and eventually brought home drugs to sell, and me and my other roommate left and got our own place. I just don't think it's that hard from seeing him do it, and he told us his tactics. Wal-Mart has camera lenses in most every aisle, but if you look up, most of the ceilings in this area don't have tiles. Notice the pole the lens is hoked to either has wires or no wires coming out of the top. Just a hint, the lack of wires are a clue Ironic they go through these strict rules on hire, but don't hide their cameras very well lmao.

PS: This isn't a privacy breach, you are in their building on their property (or leased property), and if you think a few nerds walking around is a privacy issue think again, you have how many people in that building, and employees are pretty much (no offense OP) scumbags and so are the customers. Not saying everyone is, but might as well be McDonalds all around. Only not just food. Just junky everything. A tv that didn't meat the standards of Sears, a cell phone which has faulty equipment, refurbished audio speakers and head units. Last time I saw my roommate shop lift at WM, security was after him, but all they did was talk on walkie talkies and he just walked out, no one even went near him, just watched. They watched him take it, they watched him leave with it, and their policy is you can't touch even a shoplifter, just call cops, or certain people can stop you and try to hold you up, or write you up. Heard my ex roommate got taken down at a KMART after we stopped talking and he claims that he never paid their BS fine and it went away, because from what I researched, if it isn't a cop, they can't do anything. Unless they get a cop to do it, your freee. (Most of this is just hearsay so do not try to steal from wally-obama-mart (which isn"t a real place))

I work at walmart .

I know the lps

I hardly shop there

Everyone knows my stance on walmart and the world in general

Im in tle

And im not buying your story

Ok, I've got a humorous story about Wal-Mart. I've worked in the home renovation/construction business for about 10 years now, so 12 hours out of the day I'm sort of 'grungy' (work boots, jeans with some stains and maybe a hole, t-shirt).

Anyways one day I walk in to Wal-Mart to get a phone charger for my Jeep. I walk all the way to the back of our store, where they hide electronics and start poking around and almost immediately I'm being watched by this dumpy, middle-aged guy and his equally squat partner, an early thirties female spilling out of her off-brand size 12 jeans.

So I being to slowly meander, idly picking things up and looking them over, carrying it and switching it out for something else for approximately 30 minutes. It was painfully obvious that this pair of mouth breathing LPs were tailing me and were doing as sneakily as they could manage

I was furious that I was being tailed. I'm no thief. I'm the guy that picks trash up off the ground when I see it. So I decided the royally screw when them. I walked over and picked up one of the larger-sized minifridges (you know, they also have a freezer) and held it over my head like some sort of trophy (I'm also above average in build) and began toting up front this fridge. I made a beeline towards the entrance, walked calmly right past the cash registers stopping RIGHT BEFORE the noise-making theft deterrent gates and sat the fridge down. I turned around, looked the two slack-jawed employees in the eyes, laughed at them and then walked out the door.

reply to post by boncho


there are very strict federal laws on storing credit card numbers.
I call BS

Joki42
reply to post by VoidHawk

 

Yes. If you walk in off the street and buy headphones and leave, and an employee, customer or LP suspects you of a crime, the LP manager can access your bank statement. If he feels good reason to believe you might have done something he will call stores you shop at and ask for their info about you or that they need to watch for you.

...and how do they know where you bank?

reply to post by redhorse

But taking all that effort to physically and financially track (kind of random) customers just to deter employees from theft seems too legally risky and wasteful of manpower to be worthwhile. All that just to scare employees about the omnipotence of Wally-world...? It just... doesn't quite add up for me.

I don't know what to make of the rest of it myself.

The thing that also makes me wonder about Wally World is Sam Walton himself. The guy was the unnamed richest man in America ... while the title of the Richest Man in the World was being carried by Bill Gates. I just don't get it. All you have to do is look up the net worth of his kids after they inherited his wealth. IIRC, the total was over $125B, almost double what Gates had at the time.

The OP is well presented and follow-up comments are on an even keel. I may not be convinced ... but I'm far from sitting here in disbelief.

-Cheers

I know nothing about WalMart and have not been in one in at least 15 years. However one of my main jobs is checking through the nightly arrest reports and there seem to be fewer and fewer shoplifting arrest. This is due to enhanced punishment as once WalMart-or any store sign trespassing waivers a person with a conviction for shoplifting can no longer even walk through the parking lot much less go in the store.

Shoplifters are given one chance. The first arrest and plea there is no probation or court cost. They are told-and they must agree that they understand-that a second conviction is mandatory 10 days in jail.

That has really cut down on replete offenders.