"Yeah, we were hit Wednesday. Two guys jumped over the counter, I hit one with the clipboard. They grabbed cigarettes and some other stuff and ran out. I had to chase them three blocks," explained a late night Wagreen's clerk.
It actually popped up in DC. Ava, C.I., Wally and Kat were running into a Walgreens there three weeks ago when they tried to grab a cart only to find all the wheels were locked and asked if they didn't see a cart outside? Why would they round up a cart in the parking lot?
The clerk explained about the robberies and how the carts were used to block front aisles (make up being apparently especially popular to steal) and, therefore, the cart wheels were locked. Making conversations, they asked if there were many robberies and that's when they were told about the store policy. Follow ups in San Francisco, Boston, Hartford, Detroit and Dallas found that running after thieves was not an isolated store issue but, in fact, policy.
Walgreens is the biggest chain of drug stores in the United States. Last week, it announced, "Net earnings for the first nine months of fiscal 2010 were $1.6 billion or $1.64 per diluted share, including impacts of 6 cents in costs associated with Rewiring for Growth, 4 cents for the Medicare Part D tax subsidy repeal, and 2 cents in Duane Reade acquisition costs. Net earnings per diluted share for the year to date reflect a 3.8 percent increase from last year's $1.58 per diluted share (which included 13 cents per diluted share in restructuring costs)." It also boasted that it was infiltrating the NYC area via it's Duane Reade absorption/takeover and currently had 8,019 stores -- Walgreens in all fifty states, in Puerto Rico, in Guam, and they're in DC! Yeah!!
It fancies itself, at least for public consumption, as a chain that cares, boasting: "Social Responsibility It's part of how we've done business at Walgreens from the very beginning. Our company's earliest leaders left us powerful legacies. Today, we live those values as we try to do what is fair and beneficial to others." In addition, they see themselves as "the pharmacy all others are measured by" -- and a curious measurement it is.
Your name is Susie. You work the third shift at Walgreens. Also present for your shift is a night manager and a pharmacist. And at two-thirty, a man goes running out of the store with various items under his coat. You chase him through the parking lot, into a dark alley where he drops a variety of curling irons. He gets away and you take the merchandise back to the store. You're told that's $70 worth of merchandise and are then faulted for losing him and for not knowing what else he may have stolen.
That actually is a true story with only the name changed to "Susie."
Having your employees chase down robbers isn't safe and it opens you up to lawsuits. But you're not too worried because there's corporate policy and there's store policy.
What do we mean?
As we spoke with various Walgreens employees, we asked if anyone ever told them not to chase after robbers? Repeatedly, we'd be told there was a training film they watched right after they were hired and, in that film, they are told not to chase after any robber, not to leave the store.
So that's policy?
No, that's how the corporation intends to cover its ass should they ever get sued because an employee is wounded or killed.
At the store, you're told by your night manager that someone has to chase after the robber. You're told that it can't be the night manager (this is confirmed by three night managers who were willing to speak as long as they weren't named or their locations given) because the store must have a manager inside at all times. So that leaves you, the clerk.
And it is your job, you're told, despite what the training film said, to chase after the robber.
The managers are carrying out the store manager's orders. Neither the shift managers nor the store manager puts anything into writing. That's so the training film stands as official policy should there be a lawsuit.
The number of robberies and the amount of stolen merchandise effects the shift manager's pay. He or she will be denied a raise in their performance review over the statistics of both. That puts pressure on them to ensure that merchandise is recovered and that robbers are chased.
A robbery last week required a chase. The police were able to catch one of the three robbers. That might have been seen as a success. But he had no merchandise on him. The shift manager stated he was "yelled at for 30 minutes" by the store manager and the clerk and the shift manager both complained about how, after they finished their overnight shift, they then had to go to the police station and identify the man, give statements and more. They were at the police station until two in the afternoon. Not only were they on their own time with no compensation from Walgreens -- although this should certainly qualify as "store business" -- they were still expected to report for the night shift at the usual time -- after having spent seven hours of their own time at a police station doing Walgreens business.
The real corporate policy at Walgreens is that you have to chase down the robber. The training video is just a smoke screen and those appalled by Wal-Marts incredibly poor business practices should be even more offended that the poorly paid workers of Walgreens are also expected to risk their lives for the nickles and dimes the company shells out.