Please don't be rude in comments here, and please don't pile on.

digitaltrees' reply gives vmception a nice invitation to expand, which would benefit all of us. Swipes like the one in your comment unfortunately have the opposite effect on conversation.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Hard to know exactly what you mean, but you might be misreading our intent here. The intention is to optimize the site for curiosity: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor.... We've learned a lot about how to do that over the years. Swipes lead to flames, flames tend to spread, and that whole approach to internet discussion is definitely not good for curiosity.

If you don’t like hanging out in a cordial place, head to 4chan.

@dang Transfer me your super powers.

The empty Walgreen's shelves can be seen at the Walgreen's on the corner of Eddy and Van Ness Streets.

People come in & take whatever they want because they know Walgreen's has a "no contact" policy (they won't stop you). They shoplift everything. And Walgreen's doesn't rush to re-stock.

There are a lot of homeless and drug addicts in that area, but I don't know firsthand if they're the shoplifters.

I spoke to a police sergeant at the Walgreen's at Broadway and Polk, and he said it's pretty bad, and that even he has a hard time getting the shoplifters to stop.

> The empty Walgreen's shelves can be seen at the Walgreen's on the corner of Eddy and Van Ness Streets.

It won't be a problem much longer – that location is going to be shut down permanently.

Shoplifting has been a problem here even before Covid. Shoplifters know the law (<$950 is a misdemeanor), they know the police likely won't make an arrest, and even if they did, they know our DA likely won't prosecute.

Seems like a really simple solution, revert drug stores and retail to the old behind the counter model that dominated in the 1800-1900s. You walk in, go to the counter and ask for for specific products rather than being self serve. As a few kiosks to order and a few pick up windows; that would be significantly cheaper than losing this much product from shop lifting or closing stores.