Stores in crime-riddled San Francisco abandoning self-checkout lanes to combat thefts: report

Published

1 year ago

December 15, 2023

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Retailers in crime-riddled San Francisco are abandoning their self-checkout lanes in a defensive retailing move to counter surging thefts in the city.

A Safeway supermarket in San Francisco’s Fillmore District and a Target on Mission Street closed their self-checkout kiosks to customers a change that other stores across the troubled city may follow, SFGate reported.

While I cant speak for any one company, you see the trajectory of commerce over the last 10, 20, 5,000 years, its all about reducing friction for customers, Daniel Conway, vice president of government relations for the California Grocers Association, told the outlet.

But now youre seeing a countervailing trend: armed guards and Tide Pods locked up, he added.

Retail thefts and organized smash-and-grab robberies in the Golden Gate City and major cities across the country have skyrocketed in recent years, forcing many major stores to shut down certain locations.

Target blamed crime for shutting down three stores in San Francisco in September, according to SFGate. In 2021, Safeway said rampant thefts forced a city location to cut employees hours.

The Post has reached out to Target and Safeway for comment about the removal of the self-checkout machines as many retailers have linked the do-it-yourself kiosks to rising thefts.

There have been 29,739 cases of larceny and theft in 2023 significantly down from 2022 when 61,715 were reported, according to the latest data from the San Francisco Police Department,

California announced in September it plans to spend $267 million to help dozens of local law enforcement agencies crack down on smash-and-grab robberies. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said at the time that since 2019, law enforcement in California has arrested more than 1,250 people and recovered $30.7 million in stolen merchandise.

In New York, store owners said they lost $4.4 billion last year as a result of retail theft, according to the The Retail Council of New York State, a lobbying group.

Retailers in other cities such as Chicago and Minneapolis, have also been targeted by large-scale thefts when groups of people show up in groups for mass shoplifting events or to enter stores and smash and grab from display cases.

In response, retailers have had to adapt, which may wind up making shopping ultimately more difficult, Conway told SFGate.

All the things put in place to reduce friction are now being put back, Conway said. I can buy whatever I want on my phone, but now when I want to go to a store to buy it, its harder.

Its difficult to make a direct correlation, but I think in San Francisco its getting to the point that you are seeing stores closing, which is the ultimate form of defensive retailing, she said.

Politics

New Hampshire governor signs crypto reserve bill into law

Published

1 hour ago

May 6, 2025

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New Hampshire governor signs crypto reserve bill into law

New Hampshire became the first US state to allow its government to invest in crypto currencies including Bitcoin (BTC), after Governor Kelly Ayotte signed a bill passed by the legislature into law.

In a May 6 notice, Ayotte announced on social media that New Hampshire would be permitted to “invest in cryptocurrency and precious metals” through a bill passed in the state Senate and House of Representatives. House Bill 302, introduced in New Hampshire in January, will allow the state’s treasury to use funds to invest in cryptocurrencies with a market capitalization of more than $500 billion, eliminating many tokens and memecoins.

“The Live Free or Die state is leading the way in forging the future of commerce and digital assets,” said New Hampshire Republicans in a May 6 X post.

Law, New Hampshire, United States, Bitcoin Reserve — *Signing New Hampshire’s crypto reserve bill into law on May 6. Source:* *Governor Kelly Ayotte*

With the signing of the bill into law, New Hampshire becomes the first of several US states considering passing legislation to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve, including an initiative with the federal government. A similar bill in Arizona passed the state’s House in April but was vetoed by Governor Katie Hobbs on May 2, and Florida’s government withdrew two crypto reserve bills from consideration on May 3.

New Hampshire’s crypto plans to precede the US government’s?

The efforts to create crypto reserves in different US states come as US President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers propose similar policies at the federal level. Trump signed an executive order in March to establish a “Digital Asset Stockpile” and a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.”

Senator Cynthia Lummis, who sponsored the Boosting Innovation, Technology, and Competitiveness through Optimized Investment Nationwide (BITCOIN) Act, proposed that the US government could hold more than 1 million BTC through civil and criminal forfeiture seizures. The bill is currently being considered by members of the US Senate Banking Committee.

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

World

Pakistan ‘attacked with missiles’ – as India says it targeted terrorist camps

Published

1 hour ago

May 6, 2025

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Pakistan 'attacked with missiles' - as India says it targeted terrorist camps

Pakistan says it has been targeted in a missile attack by India.

Three missiles were fired by India across the border into Pakistani-controlled territory, said Pakistani security officials.

They hit locations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in the country’s eastern Punjab province, according to officials.

The Indian defence ministry said it had launched Operation Sindoor as it struck “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir “from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed”.

It said a total of nine sites were targeted.

A Pakistan military spokesman said the country will respond to the attacks.

Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours have been escalating following a militant gun attack in the disputed area of Kashmir last month.

At least 26 people, most of whom were Indian tourists, were shot dead by gunmen at a beauty spot near the resort town of Pahalgam in the Indian-controlled part of the region on 22 April.

India described the massacre as a “terror attack” and said it had “cross border” links, blaming Pakistan for backing it.

Pakistan denied any connection to the atrocity, which was claimed by a previously unknown militant group called the Kashmir Resistance.

Since the attack, Pakistan’s military has been on high alert after a cabinet minister said Islamabad had credible intelligence indicating that India could attack.

And Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif told Sky News’ The World With Yalda Hakim that the world should be “worried” about the prospect of a full-scale conflict involving the two nations.

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World

Friedrich Merz becomes Germany’s new chancellor after surviving historic vote failure

Published

1 hour ago

May 6, 2025

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Friedrich Merz becomes Germany's new chancellor after surviving historic vote failure

Friedrich Merz has become Germany’s new chancellor after winning a second vote in the country’s parliament.

He unexpectedly failed in the first parliamentary ballot on Tuesday morning – the first time a chancellor has failed to be elected at the first attempt since the Second World War.

Initially, needing a majority of 316 out of 630 votes in a secret ballot, he received 310 – falling short by just six votes. On the second ballot he managed 325.

It means Mr Merz, the leader of the country’s CDU/CSU conservatives, has become the 10th chancellor since the end of the Second World War.

He had been expected to win comfortably after securing a coalition deal with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).

It meant at least 18 coalition MPs failed to back him in the first round of voting.

Announcing the second vote, Jens Spahn, the head of the Union bloc in parliament, said: “The whole of Europe, perhaps even the whole world, is watching this second round of elections.”

Earlier, the leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Alice Weidel, said on X that Mr Merz’s failure to secure a majority in the first round showed the “weak foundation” on which his coalition was built, adding that it had been “voted out by the voters”.

Mr Merz, 69, succeeds Olaf Scholz and has vowed to prioritise European unity and the continent’s security.

His in-tray includes the Ukraine war and global tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent congratulations to Mr Merz and wished him “every success”.

The Ukrainian president added that the future of Europe was “at stake” and security will “depend on our unity”.

Mr Merz will also have to decide what to do about the AfD, which mainstream parties have refused to work with.

A “firewall” against collaborating with strongly right-wing parties has been in place since the end of the war.

During federal elections in late February, the AfD scored its best-ever result while Olaf Scholz’s SPD dropped to about 16%.

The AfD is the second largest party in the lower house of the Bundestag and was officially designated as extremist last week by Germany’s domestic spy agency.