Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Walmart's anti-shoplifting campaign

In Walt's experience, shoppers in Chinese Walmart stores -- yes, there are many of them -- don't dress nearly as badly as those in North American outlets. Perhaps they don't want to be conspicuous, so as not to draw attention to themselves, especially if they're shoplifting.

You wouldn't want to be caught shoplifting from a Walmart (or any) store in China. Agent 78 passes on this story, reported by China Daily.

In the Chinese province of Jiangxi, a woman suspected of stealing from a Walmart store was allegedly beaten to death by five employees. Police said the five had stopped the woman in the street and demanded to see a receipt for the goods she was carrying, but she refused because she could not verify their identities. So they began beating her.

China Daily quotes the woman's husband as saying, "They started to hit her because she didn't do what they said. I got there and tried to stop them but they kept beating her."
The beating intensified as she tried to telephone for help using her mobile phone.

In a statement, Walmart said it was "fully cooperating with the relevant authorities and will release further details as it is appropriate".
"We extend our condolences to the family of the deceased," they added.
Oh...and thanks for shopping at Walmart!

Footnote: Agent 78 says she wasn't at all surprised by this story; beating thieves is normal in China.

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