I had to think about this one for sometime as to what my opinion is.
Having worked for WalMart at two different stores, I have first hand knowledge of the types of theft that goes on. In one store, there are two areas where the thieves use to dump the packaging for the items they steal. One is aisle 13 where there is a dead zone for the cameras. Every thief knows of this blind spot. The other are the rest rooms. Packaging and 'spiders' are found in the trash all the time. Another contributing factor is the close location to a Game Stop store where items can be dropped off for 'credits'. It is a commonly known fact that Game Stop or others stores of this type are the recipients of stolen merchandise, however there is no way to 'prove' that games, dvd's and cd's are actually stolen. A recent case at one local store, $7,000.00 worth of iPod Touches were stolen. Obviously the thief was not aware that iPods such as these have electronic serial numbers making them useless.
Back to the subject of video cameras in rest rooms. I am not so certain that any customer has an inherent right to privacy when you consider rest rooms are public and people come and go while you are doing your business as it is. As a man, there are other 'men' use the urinal next to me and I do not find that as a lack of privacy. My guess is that the camera in question was pointed at the wash area and showing the trash bin and door. Any other location would not make any sense. Now, if the camera was located in such a place, such as a stall AND the video was viewed in such a way to suggest a nefarious scheme, then yes it would be wrong. The issue is intent.
Given all of the cameras in each store, it is impossible for any one Loss Prevention specialist to monitor each one 24/7. These cameras are monitored when there is probably cause to do so. An example would be, a known shoplifter or a large group of students in the electronics area might be monitored in real time. Another example would be after the fact. Let us say that a spider is found in a bathroom trash bin. The video would then be viewed to show who in fact cut it off the item and threw it away.
Now there are those who would say, WalMart is the biggest retailer in the world and they can afford to loss millions on dollars every year through theft. Well, those losses have to be offset by higher prices for all. Those iPods stolen here comes off that store's bottom line and does not reflect corporate wide thefts. Each store is responsible for it's own profitability. Now since prices are fixed by corporate, how does a store offset the loss? The only way they can, by cutting overhead and that usually means cutting hours. So you see, thefts in stores if over a certain threshold means less hours and very unhappy employees. A $7000.00 loss would equate to the loss of 4 hourly employees for that month. That is 4 employees who have lost their income because some idiot stole items that cannot be resold.
If a camera in a rest room will help stem the tide of theft, I am all for it. I am sure those 4 people who would lose their jobs to make up for it would also agree.
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