Walmart To Test Out Having Employees Wear Body Cameras

Welcome to the future. There's nothing like a trip to Walmart - and I don't mean that in a good way. I do everything in my power to avoid Walmart, though on occasion, a necessity requires a trip to the store where you can buy both underwear and Dr. Pepper in bulk. That's actually not a bad thing, to be frank. Walmart, the world's largest retailer, has had a knack for moving into communities and putting "Mom and Pop" grocery stores out of business. As it turns out, putting everything you could ever think of underneath one roof creates somewhat of a monopoly. And it also creates an issue when it comes to preventing theft. Walmart is just one of the many retailers that has faced staggering losses due to shoplifting. How much does Walmart lose every year, you might be asking? Thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? Try BILLIONS. It's reported that the retail giant lost $6.5 billion to theft in 2023. Many attribute those losses (at least partially) to the shift from traditional checkout counters to self-checkout counters. All my homies hate the self checkout. So because of those issues, Walmart is apparently testing out having their employees wear body cameras... like they are police officers. Various Walmart locations in North Texas have already put these wearable recording devices into play in an effort to cut down on crime, shoplifting, and confrontations with unruly customers. At the very least, the hope is that more of those things will be caught on camera if they are to happen. A Walmart spokesperson explained that the body cameras are still just in the testing period as of right now, but there could be a more widespread launch if they determine the initiative is beneficial: "While we don’t talk about the specifics of our security measures, we are always looking at new and innovative technology used across the retail industry. This is a pilot we are testing in one market, and we will evaluate the results before making any longer-term decisions." To be honest, I'd rather walk around and see Walmart employees wearing cameras than I would see aisle after aisle of locked up shampoo and body wash. I'll throw it over to a quote from the great Charles Barkley about how frustrating that can be. During a post-election episode of The Steam Room, Chuck took some time to congratulate President Elect Donald Trump, and then closed with this quote that a lot of Americans likely agree with: You know what I really want to do? I want to walk into a pharmacy and grab some toothpaste, grab some deodorant, and be out in five to seven minutes. I don’t want all the sh*t locked up. I don’t want to have to push a button and wait 15 minutes for somebody to come. I want people to stop running in stores and stop robbing people. If you’re out here robbing stores, we need to put an end to that sh*t.” Have to agree with Charles Barkley on that one - and maybe this added measure by Walmart will help put an end to all of that. If you are interested in hearing more about the Walmart body cameras, you can check out this News Nation piece about the enhanced security efforts below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClFYnZW7vMU