{"id":1147,"date":"2025-02-17T12:22:05","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T17:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/?p=1147"},"modified":"2025-02-17T05:05:33","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T10:05:33","slug":"walmart-anti-theft-measure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/walmart-anti-theft-measure\/","title":{"rendered":"Confirmed: This is Walmart’s new official anti-theft measure – Everything has changed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Big box retailers like Walmart<\/a> are regularly dealing with issues of shoplifting or theft which contribute to the overall shrinkage of the company. These companies have taken various preventative measures to ensure this problem is eliminated, or at the very least, lessened, — but to no avail, it seems.<\/p>\n

Previous attempts at hindering this problem has not always been met with acceptance from customers. Stores have been known to keep inventory in locked cases to prevent theft, a measure that was not well received by customers. Some retailers have opted to increase security at entrance and exit points, whilst others limited or removed self checkout counters. Despite this, the issue of theft persisted on, and now a Michigan based judge has come up with a creative solution to aid this matter.<\/p>\n

Walmart shoplifters sentenced to creative punishment<\/h2>\n

Rather than cuffing shoplifters, a judge is handing them soap and buckets. Come Spring, Judge Jeffrey Clothier is ruling that shoplifters caught at Walmart will be washing the cars of customers in the retailer’s parking lot. This innovative method of community service aims to make people think twice before shoplifting. Additionally, reducing shoplifting will also prevent an increase in store pricing and save the store from having to shut down entirely due to excessive losses. These car washes will be a sort of reward for paying customers and they will be done free of charge.<\/p>\n

Recently elected to Genesee County District Court, Judge Clothier shared, “I don’t think everybody that steals is a bad person. Sometimes people are just down on their luck, but there’s going to be consequences when you break the law.”<\/p>\n

Why make offenders wash cars?<\/h2>\n

Dubbed the “Walmart Wash” sentence, Judge Clothier shared with The Associated Press<\/strong> that he had begun handing out this creative sentence for misdemeanor shoplifting as of this week. The sentences have been handed out to shoplifters caught at a Walmart branch located in Grand Blanc Township, 50 miles north of Detroit. The judge has estimated that eventually 75 to 100 people will be made to wash cars at the Grand Blanc location. These free car washes will be available during weekend events at the store during March and April.<\/p>\n

Judge Clothier also shared that the retailer is “on board” with this new method of sentencing. The retailer will also be providing the water and supplies needed to wash the cars. The Arkansas headquarters was asked for a comment, but did not immediately respond.<\/p>\n

After joining the bench in January, Judge Clothier was taken aback at the extent of retail theft on record. He also noted that offenders were not solely from Michigan, but were from other states as well.<\/p>\n

Judge Clothier further shared that on one day, he even had a shocking forty-eight shoplifting cases on his docket. The judge commented on this massive pile of cases by saying, “It’s just crazy.”<\/p>\n

When asked about his reasoning behind this unique punishment choice, Judge Clothier shared, “I think it will be humiliating to be out there washing cars if you see someone you know.”<\/p>\n

To show his faith in this new method of community service and its effectiveness, the judge has also shared that he will be working alongside the offenders at these weekend car wash events.<\/p>\n

“I will be there washing cars with them,” the judge proclaimed.<\/p>\n

The future of anti-theft measures<\/h2>\n

This form of community service definitely has the potential to instill more fear in potential shoplifters than past measures, whilst simultaneously not being extremely harsh. Judge Clothier has struck an ideal balance in his sentencing for this misdemeanor because, as the judge noted, not every person is truly bad, some people are just left with no other choice — a fact that rings especially true now when inflation rates are at an all-time high with no hope for price decreases on the horizon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Big box retailers like Walmart are regularly dealing with issues of shoplifting or theft which contribute to the overall shrinkage of the company. These companies have taken various preventative measures to ensure this problem is eliminated, or at the very least, lessened, — but to no avail, it seems. Previous attempts at hindering this problem […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1164,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","share_position":"hide","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"custom","post_date_format_custom":"m\/d\/Y H:i","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"no-crop","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-715"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-1147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-retailers","tag-walmart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}