Star Tribune
Target slows store theft but at cost to shopping experience
“It is super inconvenient, and it also kind of destroys the shopping experience,” said Kate D. Gallagher, 30, of St. Paul, adding shopping at her nearby Midway Target can be a hassle with so many items under lock and key. “It feels like Target is treating its clients like criminals, and we’re not. We’re just customers.”
According to the National Retail Federation’s 2023 retail security survey, the average shrink rate for fiscal year 2022 was 1.6%, representing $112.1 billion in losses, an increase from the year prior but in line with 2020 and 2019. Shrink is made up of three main elements, per the survey: external theft, including organized retail crime; employee theft; and process, control failures, errors and other known and unknown problems.
To cut those losses, Target recently lowered its product value threshold for shoplifting intervention from $100 to $50. Many store employees avoid confronting thieves when there could be potential safety risks or large disturbances, but asset protection workers have specific training and protocol to help them make stops.
Fiddelke said smaller shrink was “one of the tailwinds” to Target’s recent profits, which shot up more than 40% in the past few months as compared to the same time last year.
Mueller lamented in an online review of his local Target how it “converted half the store into a museum of deodorant, toothpaste, laundry detergent, shampoos and vitamins.”
He — like Gallagher, who enjoys being able to freely compare products, look at ingredients and smell or feel items — will also venture to the suburbs for necessities. But not all shoppers will go out of their way after they are inconvenienced, said Brand Elverston, a risk mitigation consultant who used to work as an asset protection director at Walmart.
A participant in an inline skating race held Saturday on Saturday died following the race, race officials announced on a Facebook page Sunday.
Mike Lufholm, 36, of Minneapolis, was remembered in Northshore Inline Marathon organizers’ Facebook post as an active member of the rollerblading community. He died following an apparent medical incident at the race course.
“Mike was a true ambassador for inline skating with a passion for the sport,” one commenter said. Another recalled seeing him in Duluth before the race with his wife and newborn daughter Friday.
Lufholm grew up in northern Minnesota and began skating in middle school, according to his team member profile on Rollerblade.com.
Race officials thanked participants who came to Lufholm’s aid, first responders and medical professionals who helped provide care.
“Our hearts go out to his wife, daughter, family, and all those who were close to him. He made such an impact on the rollerblading community,” the Facebook post said.
A 27-acre wildfire believed to be caused by human activity near Ely in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness was 25% contained Sunday morning, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
The Wood Lake fire was discovered around 10 a.m. Tuesday on an island on Wood Lake, a news release from the U.S. Forest Service-Superior National Forest said. It caused the closure of an entry point on the lake, as well as several nearby lakes and portages.
“Firefighters made good progress yesterday with higher humidity levels, continuing to reinforce the fire’s containment line,” the news release said Sunday, noting that firefighters are making contingency plans around Moose Lake.
Firefighters from Connecticut are assisting in fighting the fire.
The fire is under investigation, and Superior National Forest law enforcement are seeking any information about how the fire started.
A sheriff’s deputy wounded a man during a standoff in western Minnesota early Sunday.
The Yellow Medicine County Sheriff’s Office was called for a welfare check at a house near Clarkfield, south of Montevideo, Saturday afternoon, the agency said in a news release. When officers arrived, the man they meant to check on fled into a farm field with a rifle, the release said.
Sheriff’s deputies rushed neighbors out of the house next to the field, and said the man pointed his rifle at them before running into the just-vacated house.
Deputies surrounded the house and tried to talk to the person, but called a SWAT team when they could not persuade him to come outside. Members of the Kandiyohi-Meeker-Willmar SWAT team arrived and also tried to talk the person out of the house.
The man fired at the SWAT team, according to the sheriff’s office. A member of that SWAT team shot back, hitting the man in the leg. The standoff continued.
Two other SWAT teams relieved the Kandiyohi-Meeker-Willmar team after about eight hours, according to the sheriff’s office.
Just after 6 a.m. Sunday, the man left the house and shot a long gun at the SWAT teams. Another SWAT team member shot back and hit the man.
The man was taken to HCMC by helicopter and was in stable condition Sunday afternoon.
