100% it's really for anti-union bullshit because who the fuck is stealing in full view of an employee where the employees having body cams would make a lick of difference?

Or is it meant to deter the employees from stealing? 🤔

You could spend a lot of money on body cameras, or you could reduce your prices to being affordable again. I'd say either one has a decent chance of dissuading shoplifters.

But I suppose you can only write off the former.

I'd hate that as an employee. Imagine knowing that every time you talk to a coworker, it's recorded. Every time you sit for a few minutes to reset, it's recorded. Every time you check your phone, it's on camera.

This is part of a growing trend in the retail industry, as stores respond to an increase in organized retail theft(1) and violence against workers(2)."

The first has been proven to be a lie. The second is true, especially since the pandemic began.

It's a sad state of affairs when retail workers need to wear cameras to protect themselves, but that is the only value. Not an alleged increase in organized theft. That is just the line being brought out by big companies like Target to excuse bad behavior on their part.

No way in hell am I wearing a damn camera and volunteering to have my employer have a live video feed of everything I do at work while making next to nothing in wages. Hey, it's performance review time, sorry, we can't give you a raise because you have been chatting with your friends too much while on the clock. 1984 shit. Fuck that.

Don't forget to turn on your body cam before clocking in!

I have this great idea to stop an increase in organized retail theft and violence against workers. STOP PRICE GOUGING GROCERIES AND PEOPLE WILL STOP STEALING THEM!

We had these where I worked, what a lot of people miss is these don't actually record until the person wearing it presses a button, it doesn't have the battery life to record, encode, then broadcast video for 8+ hours. No doubt when that becomes feasible they'll give it a go though.

In the UK we have to announce to everyone it's recording. The gangs and thieves know this and don't care. They were happy to attack and rob us when we already had store wide CCTV.

The only deterrent that worked was a security guard we had for a short while, but the company withdrew them because we weren't losing over 5% of our daily take to theft, ignoring that we got the guard because two people had been sent to hospital after being attacked by a gang of youths.

CCTV already exists. What is this even

I hope eventually theres a document of like flagged words and phrases like that one online document of words and phrases that'll get you on a watch list from that.was going around very online circles a long time back. That way as a shopper I can say things or hold up pictures to the camera to create lots of false flags making their little AI throw the results to someone they gotta pay to review it.

The primary responsibilities of one job at a Marshalls in Miami Beach, Florida, are to maintain a “proper and professional stance” at the front of the store, act as a “visual deterrent to prevent potential loss/dishonesty” and wear a company-issued body camera. The description says that the camera is to record “specific events involving critical incidents for legal, safety, and training purposes.”

These employees, who wear a company-approved black vest, black pants and black shoes, are instructed not to stop or chase after shoplifting suspects.

It's the same reason I made sure the security cameras on my house are visible from the street. People with bad intentions just move on to easier targets.

They may have seen the studies down on police forces who adopted cameras. They saw a drop in complaints against officers, as well as fewer escalations by the public against officers. Likewise, they're hoping this translates to retail.

I'd imagine the biggest difference is that these employees could actually get fired if they turn theirs off.

I have a proposal for the next iteration of Tik Tok challenges, or whatever medium we're using to flaunt our bad decisions now-a-days: steal the cameras right off the employees.

I noticed in my local supermarket in the UK they started wearing cameras too it's really weird. I'm really not sure what their goal is - it will never help shoplifting as much as static cameras, and seems a lot of effort to safeguard against abusive customers.

I am wondering when teachers will get these. Little Timmy literally took a bite out of another students neck? No, you can't say it was someone else, I have it on video!

They think price gouging is going to increase theft and they wanna be ready. They'd rather waste money on this (and on advocating the govt for harsher penalties) than lower them.

Friendly reminder: if you see someone stealing from target? No you didn't. That goes for target employees too. Here's hoping your bodycams up with as much "lost" footage as the cop's.

Hey! Who want's to shop at a retailer where someone follows you around with a camera and the merchandise is overpriced? Raise your hand now! [crickets] Consumers will shop elsewhere. Making your business like the DPRK is not a winning strategy.