[Ptaz]

I think it's time to dump all my stock in this company. They've lost their minds. I realize it costs resources to prosecute the small shoplifter, but if you let people get away with stealing the small stuff, what do they go after next?

[theDentist]

If I steal something worth $25.50, will they still drop the charges? It's only .50 more...? How about $26? That's only a buck more... If $26 is acceptable, how about $30?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I think it's time to dump all my stock in this company.

The Walmart stock runup plateaued a long time ago. Retailer stocks have all been flat, except for Kmart right after the issuance of the new stock. I owned the old Kmart stock, until it zeroed out.

[television is just wrong]

LOL, so if I just keep making visits and five finger discounting items less than $25.00, I will never be prosecuted, LOL, so funny, I'll have to remember that. I can save even more at Walmart......

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Wal-Mart said the change would allow it to focus on theft by professional shoplifters and its own employees, who together steal the bulk of merchandise from the chain every year

Ouch.

[Izzy Dunne]

Weird.

My first reaction is: The NYT is announcing Wal-Mart's policy in order to promote petty theft from their stores.

Am I a cynic, or what?

[ShadowDancer]

Frankly, I don't know why anyone would want to bother stealing anything from there. They should be giving stuff away free for just having to endure the putrid smell of stale popcorn and cheap clothes that assaults you as you walk in the door.

[CindyDawg]

I wish they had this policy when my kids were growing up. I had a little one that put stuff in my purse. I always checked my bag at the register. I feared getting arrested over candy or cookies. Can you imagine having to explain that?

[rwilson99]

Absolutely stupid.

It's not the $3 pair of socks... it's the 20 other items the person will likely steal (somewhere else) that make prosecution worth it.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

J. P. Suarez, who is in charge of asset protection at Wal-Mart, said it was no longer efficient to prosecute petty shoplifters. “If I have somebody being paid $12 an hour processing a $5 theft, I have just lost money,” he said. “I have also lost the time to catch somebody stealing $100 or an organized group stealing $3,000.”

I thought the idea was to deter shoplifters, not recover money.

[Peach]

Then prices at Wal-Mart will go up because stealing of smaller, less expensive items will go up.

[P-Marlowe]

I think it is important that we avoid as much as possible posting any articles from the New York Times. Everytime we visit their site we are contributing money to their paper. They get paid by their advertisers based upon the number of hits and everytime a freeper posts an article from the NY Times and provides the necessary link, the NY Times makes some money.

That being said, I think we need to exercise a little discretion in whether or not we really NEED to post some stupid story if the primary source is the NY Times. If you can find the story elsewhere then post it from there. But I will NOT post a story from there, neither will I follow a link to the NY Times. I will not support traitors and everytime we visit their site we are supporting them.

Think about it.

[Gabz]

"Strange" WalMart Ping.

[YOUGOTIT]

If they are thieves they should be held accountable. If you let them go they will migrate to being bigger and bigger criminals.

[Vaquero]

HURRAY FOR WAL-MART!

[xrp]

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! .40 Smith & Wesson is $16 for 100 rounds at my local Wal-Mart. I'm going to go there today and steal about 10 or 12 boxes, 1 box at a time!

[Dionysius]

Those $20 DVDs are going to be jumping off the shelves.

[sportutegrl]

Under the new policy, a shoplifter caught trying to swipe, say, a DVD of the movie “Basic Instinct 2” ($16.87) would receive a warning,

I guess they figure that someone trying to steal a copy of Basic Instinct 2 has enough problems.

[Dixie Yooper]

I don't know what the policy is at my local Wal-Mart for shoplifters, but this is what we do to purse snatchers.

CLAYTON, N.C. -- Shoppers in a Clayton Wal-Mart used their carts to help apprehend a suspected purse-snatcher, authorities said. A man grabbed a woman's pocketbook while she was shopping in the children's clothing section of the Wal-Mart on Sunday afternoon, authorities said. As the man tried to flee, about 30 customers rammed him with their shopping carts in an effort to stop him, authorities said.
The man was tackled by a former State Bureau of Investigation agent near the store entrance and was arrested, authorities said.

[Hegemony Cricket]

Gary Coleman is going to go crazy with this...

[robertpaulsen]

Just think of this as $25. off your first purchase.