Loss Prevention Research Council Weekly Series Episode 136 - Amazon halts Fresh Stores and US Secret Service Mass Attacks Research

With Dr. Read Hayes, Tony D'Onofrio, and Tom Meehan

February 10, 2023

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LPRC IGNITE/Integrate agenda, BOA committees and process, upcoming Organized and Violent Crime Summit by ICSC, supply chain, violent crime summits.

Chinese surveillance balloon, chat GPT, bard googles answer to chat gpt, and earthquake in Turkey.

Amazon halts Fresh rollout, shutters stores

https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail-financial/amazon-halts-fresh-rollout-shutters-stores

Let me start this week with some interesting news from Amazon as published in Supermarket News.

Amazon just announced that it is pausing the rollout of its Amazon Fresh retail stores while it re-evaluates the concept’s economics. The company has assessed its portfolio of Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores and decided to “exit certain stores with low growth potential.

Amazon currently has 44 Amazon Fresh locations and 28 Amazon Go stores in the U.S., according to its website. Both the Fresh stores, which are similar to traditional supermarkets, and the Go stores, which are cashier-less convenience stores, had been widely considered a potential opportunity for the ecommerce giant to disrupt the traditional retail grocery space.

The company also took a $720 million impairment charge in the fourth quarter related to property, equipment, and operating leases at its physical stores.

While rethinking the Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go concept, Amazon’s Whole Foods Market banner continues to grow he said and made progress on its profitability in the past year. For the fiscal year that ended Dec. 31, Amazon reported that sales in its physical stores increased about 11.1% over year-ago level, to about $19 billion. That figure does not include orders placed online for pickup or delivery.

Grocery is a low margin business and it’s great to through a lot of technologies at it, like Amazon Go. But in the end, the economics need to work. 

Nearly all Mass Attackers were male and faced major life stressor, report finds

https://www.npr.org/2023/01/26/1151374507/a-look-at-key-takeaways-in-a-secret-service-report-on-mass-attacks-from-2016-202

Let conclude this week with a very new report published by the United States Secret Service analyzing mass attacks in the United States.

This first of its kind research looked at trends from 173 mass attacks that took places in the years between 2016 and 2020.

Among the finding as summarized by National Public Radio:

• Location: Most of the attacks took place in a variety of public and semi-public spaces across 37 states, and Washington, D.C. The most common locations for an attack were businesses, including restaurants and retail.
• Type of weapon used: 126 of the attacks, or 73%, involved the use of one or more firearms. In nearly 1/4 of the attacks involving firearms, at least one of the firearms was acquired illegally by the attacker.
• Demographics of attackers:96% of the attackers in the study were male. The USSS says that this finding is consistent with previous analyses of mass attacks. 57% were white and 34% were Black.
• Criminal history:64% had a prior criminal history, not including minor traffic violations. 41% of the attackers were found to have a history of domestic violence, but only 16% if those individuals faced domestic violence charges.
• Online presence:A majority of the attackers had a identified presence online, and nearly one-quarter were found to have conveyed "concerning communications" such as threats, and posts about suicidal ideations, previous mass shootings, violent content and hatred toward a specific ethnic group.
• Stressors: Nearly all the attackers experienced "at least one significant stressor" within five years of the attack, most of which were issues with family and romantic relationships. 20% of the attackers experienced some kind of childhood trauma, including physical or sexual abuse, entering foster care, living in a refugee camp, or the death of a parent, the report says.
• Financial and housing instability: 72% of the attackers experienced a financial stressor some time before the attack, and over half experienced it within five years. The report describes some financial stressors as bankruptcy, eviction, foreclosure and loss of income. 39% of the attackers also experienced unstable housing within 20 years of their attack, including homelessness and impending evictions.

The report offers the following operational implications that should be considered when developing community violence prevention programs.

• Communities must encourage and facilitate bystander reporting and be prepared to respond when reports of concern are received.
• Communities should not wait for a direct and specific threat before taking action.
• Individuals displaying an unusual interest in violent topics, especially past attackers, should elicit concern.
• Businesses should consider establishing workplace violence prevention plans to identify, assess, and intervene with current employees, former employees, and customers who may pose a risk of violence.
• Public safety, school, workplace, and community service professionals should consider strategies for resolving interpersonal grievances.
• Individuals tasked with community violence prevention must understand the impact of violent and hateful rhetoric while protecting the constitutional right to free speech.
• Misogyny and domestic violence deserve increased attention from those tasked with mass violence prevention.
• Online platforms may be utilized by individuals to make violent communications and to share violent rhetoric and ideas.
• Individuals sharing final communications or engaging in other final acts may warrant immediate intervention.
• Community violence prevention efforts require identifying and promoting appropriate resources for individuals who are managing stressful life circumstances, experiencing mental health issues, or facing a personal crisis.
• Mass shootings have been perpetrated by those who were legally prohibited from possessing firearms

The report concludes that the background and behaviors of the attackers demonstrate a continued need for public safety resources to be directed toward addressing threatening behavior, stalking, harassment, domestic violence, violent extremism, and violence in general. The findings further emphasize the increased need for community resources to address mental health needs, social isolation, substance abuse, and individuals in crisis.

This is an important topic here at the Loss Prevention council and there is working group dedicated to it. We all need to keep working together to help address these challenges in our society.