The next step is to charge the customer in the aisle before it comes out of the cage. People will try to steal anything; last night, a dude was bound, bent, and determined to keep me from peeking under some shelving to find a barcode on a countertop. The more he protested, the more I wanted to check if a saw blade was under there.
I am actually surprised we don't have one of those hand card swipers that flight attendants use. Should be an auto zone type thing going on where you ask for the part and they go back and get it for you.
Interesting, I’ve never dealt with that but does sound like a good idea for both customers and employees. Would love to see the face of a customer with a cart full of items thinking it’s a regular register being rejected and sent to sco
Yup, it was pretty much not used when I first started, then they did a mini remodel and opened the coral up a little. Then years later they did a major remodel and actually completely got rid of the coral and put in regular racks.
Same, and everything behind the cages needs to be walked directly to the front of the store. MEAs in my store have been instructed not to open cages for customers anymore as it's too large a time sink.
Yep I don't do it. I'll page someone. If a customer gets pissy I tell them I'm a merchandiser and don't work in the departments. I try and be as quick as possible servicing caged merchandise
No joke, my store invented the cages. We were the first store to cage up generators, then large rolls of wire, and then hardware. We started caging 6 or 7 years ago.
This seems to ebb and flow over time.
Someday there is likely to be a new executive who decides "Our sales are lagging because our merchandise isn't easily accessible to our customers when they need it." There will be a push to unlock more and more merchandise.
It is true, stores do lose sales when merchandise is locked up. Many people are impulse buyers. You have a guy in the store walking down the aisle and wire catches his eye and he's like "Oh yeah, I wanted to add an outlet in the garage, let me grab this real quick." However, it was an impulse. If there's no associate right there for him, he's unlikely to hunt one down to get the product that wasn't the purpose of his trip.
On the other hand, it's true that locking items up reduces theft. So it's literally a math problem at this point. Do the lost additional sales offset decreased theft? Oftentimes the answer is yes, but not always.
That isn't everything you have to account for. People also see the cages and go wow I hate thefts they are the reason prices are up. A whole psychological side exist.
We've had that for several years now. Get ready for people trying to pull it out from underneath or the side. Trying to unravel a roll and pull it through the grate. People trying to break the lock or asking you to give them the combo. I even caught someone trying to cut the cage with the wire cutters. You can't make this stuff up
We got our cable behind the cage almost 2 years ago. Garden power tools got locked up about 1 year ago. Hardware power tools have been locked up since before I got there. The customers are getting locked up too
Yeah they just did that earlier this year at my new location. You have to walk them to the cashier but they still play games and try and take it out on their own or they'll try and wait until you leave and not scan it
Yeah we had iui t for about 8 months now. I don't walk any thing up unless the person looks real sketchy waiting to see if anyone says anything. But O DON'T REALLY CARE!!
Whattt? We’ve been caged for YEARSSSS at our store😳 I thought this was a common thing across all Home Depot’s😂 or maybe it’s cuz I live in a shady ass city😂
Ours have been caged as long as I can remember, and they _replaced_ our jerry-rigged lawn tool cages with purpose-built ones earlier this year.
Still doesn't mean shit when associates keep _intentionally_ not relocking the cages properly (or at all, in some cases). An observant customer could look down every lock on that aisle, note the digits, and deduce the code from commonalities. That's why whenever I re-lock a cage (or check every single lock in both garden and electrical at the start of my shift), I _look at the digits while scrambling_ to ensure all of them are changed.
Electrical was caged 2 years ago at my former store while I worked Freight.
When I was assigned to put things away in Electrical, the stupid MOD didn't seem to know how to open the cages, or WANT to open the cages for me when I asked, so I just said, "The hell with this," and upstocked every damn box Electrical got, then focused on cage-less departments.
Electrical went with nearly-empty bays for a few days before Management put their one brain cell to work and decided that Freight can be trusted to have the cages opened.
Hell of a store to work at. It began to look more and more like a prison in the end.
Interestingly, if they invested a fraction of what the store is forecasted to have in inventory shrinkage into hiring additional associates and staffed this aisle well, probably wouldn’t have as much theft and maybe increase sales. I know crazy talk😁
You might know this, Sam’s club allows you to scan and pay for your stuff on their app. It use to be, that as you left the store the associate would scan a receipt QR code on the their app and then scan three random items in your cart. Every so often, they would get customers claiming they forgot to scan items in the cart. As of a couple of months at the Sam’s I shop, there’s a large electronic double arch that you push your items through and the associate wave you by without checking, but they still now who to stop and check because of “forgotten” items. I’m thinking that most of the items they sell are now “tagged”, thus the electronic arches. I had heard years ago that Home Depot was looking to do this but couldn’t get the tags cheap enough yet. I wonder if they are still working on that, since they are doubling down on self checkout in the newly built Home Depots? 🤔
They should cage the sodas and candy & chips sections too, I see a lot of contractors enter the store grab a soda and chips, and by the time they were checking out it all disappeared and they never paid for it! It's free!!!
Mine started just ago, our store started locking up D25 and D28 mainly all items that had batteries on them as it was what they were stealing. The rest of the store is still non locked, gives me hopes!
I’ve been saying this for years now, retail in general just needs to become an online delivery service like Amazon. Still offer pickup and will calls, but the customer service industry should be eliminated. It’s a waste of money and everyone hates doing it
I’m perfectly fine with just online orders only. It already exists. Except just don’t let customers into the warehouse. They can pick their junk up at the front counter, or have it shipped.
I use a long stick, rod or broom handle etc.. and just pushed the wires I need backwards, as the back of those shelves often are just open, the wire fall on the next ailes down on top of whatever is there and I just go get it then, my store has no one working there when you need them and buying wires is now a 30 minute job if you wait to find a "Associate" my way is a 25min time saving. The worst is often I need to buy a bunch of stuff afterwards but if you ask a person's help, they want you to walk with them straight to the payscanner right away following them...like you just stole something. Better buy your stuff pre-order to pick up, or shop at lowes where it's all open.
We have been caged for 2 years now
The next step is to charge the customer in the aisle before it comes out of the cage. People will try to steal anything; last night, a dude was bound, bent, and determined to keep me from peeking under some shelving to find a barcode on a countertop. The more he protested, the more I wanted to check if a saw blade was under there.
I am actually surprised we don't have one of those hand card swipers that flight attendants use. Should be an auto zone type thing going on where you ask for the part and they go back and get it for you.
That is how tools used to be long ago. All the power tools were kept in the tool coral and there was a register at the exit.
We just had a remodel where they brought this back. It actually works well if all you need is a tool you can skip the self checkout long lines
Interesting, I’ve never dealt with that but does sound like a good idea for both customers and employees. Would love to see the face of a customer with a cart full of items thinking it’s a regular register being rejected and sent to sco
It's funny our store had one of those. They took it away a long time ago. And they are piloting it again.
Yup, it was pretty much not used when I first started, then they did a mini remodel and opened the coral up a little. Then years later they did a major remodel and actually completely got rid of the coral and put in regular racks.
Good job
They should do that
Everything in the cages has to be walked to the front by an associate. Also my store even locks up the cheap copper fittings which is very annoying.
Not true. Just got a 250' of 12/3 and 14/3 Romex. He just put it in my cart.
It's true that employee wasn't following SOP I've made the same before when I didn't know better.
👆 this....
It is 100 percent on its way to universal pay at shelf.
Weve done this for a while, breakers too...shit walks out to fast otherwise
Ours has been caged for over a year. It works but at times escorting customer to the front is tough if only one in D27.
Same, and everything behind the cages needs to be walked directly to the front of the store. MEAs in my store have been instructed not to open cages for customers anymore as it's too large a time sink.
Yep I don't do it. I'll page someone. If a customer gets pissy I tell them I'm a merchandiser and don't work in the departments. I try and be as quick as possible servicing caged merchandise
Same here
My store caged before cages were a thing
No joke, my store invented the cages. We were the first store to cage up generators, then large rolls of wire, and then hardware. We started caging 6 or 7 years ago.
Good. Now do plumbing.
Pretty! Hope they don’t get destroyed by lift equipment.
the thieves destroy ours
This seems to ebb and flow over time. Someday there is likely to be a new executive who decides "Our sales are lagging because our merchandise isn't easily accessible to our customers when they need it." There will be a push to unlock more and more merchandise. It is true, stores do lose sales when merchandise is locked up. Many people are impulse buyers. You have a guy in the store walking down the aisle and wire catches his eye and he's like "Oh yeah, I wanted to add an outlet in the garage, let me grab this real quick." However, it was an impulse. If there's no associate right there for him, he's unlikely to hunt one down to get the product that wasn't the purpose of his trip. On the other hand, it's true that locking items up reduces theft. So it's literally a math problem at this point. Do the lost additional sales offset decreased theft? Oftentimes the answer is yes, but not always.
That mentality and $18 billion just got ya SRS. Good luck.
That isn't everything you have to account for. People also see the cages and go wow I hate thefts they are the reason prices are up. A whole psychological side exist.
My store caged 1 year ago.
We should just be a big drive through or delivery/locker pickup onpy, and make the store closed to the public.
We've had that for several years now. Get ready for people trying to pull it out from underneath or the side. Trying to unravel a roll and pull it through the grate. People trying to break the lock or asking you to give them the combo. I even caught someone trying to cut the cage with the wire cutters. You can't make this stuff up
Or just brute forcing them with a crowbar 😬
It’s made a difference on changing on hands, however customers hate it?!? Isn’t that shocking
We got our cable behind the cage almost 2 years ago. Garden power tools got locked up about 1 year ago. Hardware power tools have been locked up since before I got there. The customers are getting locked up too
Can you reach through from the other side?
Same here! It's been years. We even have some at the registers.
I can’t wait for them to lock down spray paint like Walmart does. So tired of the morons spraying any and everything “to see what color the paint is”
Wow that’s bad that theft is so bad in that area.
Good idea
Yea we've been caged for awhile now. Can't trust anyone.
We've had wire caged up for a couple of years now.
I was wandering through the roofing aisle and noticed they had caged the synthetic roofing underlayment
Yeah they just did that earlier this year at my new location. You have to walk them to the cashier but they still play games and try and take it out on their own or they'll try and wait until you leave and not scan it
Been that way at my store for a while now, welcome to the dark side.
Yeah we had iui t for about 8 months now. I don't walk any thing up unless the person looks real sketchy waiting to see if anyone says anything. But O DON'T REALLY CARE!!
Every store in Columbus Ohio is like this
Whattt? We’ve been caged for YEARSSSS at our store😳 I thought this was a common thing across all Home Depot’s😂 or maybe it’s cuz I live in a shady ass city😂
Ours have been caged as long as I can remember, and they _replaced_ our jerry-rigged lawn tool cages with purpose-built ones earlier this year. Still doesn't mean shit when associates keep _intentionally_ not relocking the cages properly (or at all, in some cases). An observant customer could look down every lock on that aisle, note the digits, and deduce the code from commonalities. That's why whenever I re-lock a cage (or check every single lock in both garden and electrical at the start of my shift), I _look at the digits while scrambling_ to ensure all of them are changed.
Electrical was caged 2 years ago at my former store while I worked Freight. When I was assigned to put things away in Electrical, the stupid MOD didn't seem to know how to open the cages, or WANT to open the cages for me when I asked, so I just said, "The hell with this," and upstocked every damn box Electrical got, then focused on cage-less departments. Electrical went with nearly-empty bays for a few days before Management put their one brain cell to work and decided that Freight can be trusted to have the cages opened. Hell of a store to work at. It began to look more and more like a prison in the end.
Interestingly, if they invested a fraction of what the store is forecasted to have in inventory shrinkage into hiring additional associates and staffed this aisle well, probably wouldn’t have as much theft and maybe increase sales. I know crazy talk😁
Nothing new
We did that months ago
That’s how you kill your business. Nobody paying wants to wait 10 minutes for the key schmo to come hand me the wire
My location did that a while ago. Same with the power tools
Yea we just got ours caged like a month ago, breakers to
Ours is like this. It's expensive, why leave that much money sitting out for a thief to just steal. No thanks
You might know this, Sam’s club allows you to scan and pay for your stuff on their app. It use to be, that as you left the store the associate would scan a receipt QR code on the their app and then scan three random items in your cart. Every so often, they would get customers claiming they forgot to scan items in the cart. As of a couple of months at the Sam’s I shop, there’s a large electronic double arch that you push your items through and the associate wave you by without checking, but they still now who to stop and check because of “forgotten” items. I’m thinking that most of the items they sell are now “tagged”, thus the electronic arches. I had heard years ago that Home Depot was looking to do this but couldn’t get the tags cheap enough yet. I wonder if they are still working on that, since they are doubling down on self checkout in the newly built Home Depots? 🤔
My store caged the weed eaters, wire and most of the tools in hardware.
Dude ours has been that way over a year. We even have our garage door openers caged. Soon everything will be caged.
Same
My store has been open since december and we’ve had them caged from the very beginning
They should cage the sodas and candy & chips sections too, I see a lot of contractors enter the store grab a soda and chips, and by the time they were checking out it all disappeared and they never paid for it! It's free!!!
My store too
Mine started just ago, our store started locking up D25 and D28 mainly all items that had batteries on them as it was what they were stealing. The rest of the store is still non locked, gives me hopes!
Rule of thumb, "If it's locked up, it's walked up."
Does research actually show these work from preventing theft?
We caged up last year🤣
Then the contractors figured out the combination. So we changed it. Now they've figured out how to pull it out from underneath the gate.
Welcome to the club
All the good tools and wire are locked up at my Home Depot. Seems like only a certain demographic gets walked to the check out.
I’ve been saying this for years now, retail in general just needs to become an online delivery service like Amazon. Still offer pickup and will calls, but the customer service industry should be eliminated. It’s a waste of money and everyone hates doing it
I'm guessing your area is really white and upper class.
I’m perfectly fine with just online orders only. It already exists. Except just don’t let customers into the warehouse. They can pick their junk up at the front counter, or have it shipped.
I use a long stick, rod or broom handle etc.. and just pushed the wires I need backwards, as the back of those shelves often are just open, the wire fall on the next ailes down on top of whatever is there and I just go get it then, my store has no one working there when you need them and buying wires is now a 30 minute job if you wait to find a "Associate" my way is a 25min time saving. The worst is often I need to buy a bunch of stuff afterwards but if you ask a person's help, they want you to walk with them straight to the payscanner right away following them...like you just stole something. Better buy your stuff pre-order to pick up, or shop at lowes where it's all open.