Hacker News Reader

Yeah, it's at least the third time I've seen this same article on HN in the past couple of weeks. Walgreens is only walking it back because their additional anti-theft measures are costing them in expenses and lost sales, not because theft isn't actually a problem.

View on HN

Agree. The quote is a great headline, but I read it to be to say they overstated the need and effectiveness to hire security: "We’ve put in incremental security in the stores in the first quarter. Actually, probably we put in too much. We might step back a little bit from that."

It's like realizing that the current state of individual recycling may not be the most effective solution, and then twisting it into an climate change denial.

Or you can read their actual public reports and see that their shrinkage is perfectly in line with other companies.

Their overall shrinkage is in line after they closed stores and put in counter-theft measures. It doesn't say anything about whether they need to further close stores in such areas, or whether mom-and-pop stores can survive in the same areas.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com