Welcome to the urban world of the 2020's, in at least some American cities. An NBC affiliate reports:
Delivery drivers in the South Bay say they're increasingly worried about becoming robbery targets.
It's happening enough that at least one company, Core Mart, is now hiring armed guards to escort its drivers.
Darrell Cortez, a retired San Jose police officer who now works in corporate and retail security, said, "Unfortunately, this is what society has become now with armed guards guarding merchandise from the retailer because there seems to be a sense of lawlessness in our society."
There's more at the link.
And we're supposed to go into those stores in those cities and spend our hard-earned money there, despite the risks posed by thieves outside and inside, aggressive panhandlers, drug addicts looking for a quick score, homeless folks with unpredictable and frequently unsafe behavior living on the streets, and who knows what else?
It makes the old Budweiser tail gunner joke sound rather more real than funny!
Sorry. Count me out. I prefer to live and shop in safer climes.
Peter
Last I heard, the only beer company who'd actually hired a tail gunner was Bud Light.
ReplyDeleteTip your waitress. Try the veal.
I'm here all week.
Happening in California also
ReplyDeleteMy brother owns a business that has delivery drivers. The drivers carried several thousand dollars in cash, located in a drop safe in their vehicles. While one of them was making a delivery, thieves cut into that safe with a plasma cutter and stole nearly $5,000, doing $20,000 in damage to the vehicle in the process. We suspect that it was an inside job planned by a current or former employee. What thieves know to carry plasma cutters to rob an unmarked delivery truck?
ReplyDeleteThen there was a second robbery, same MO a couple of weeks later.
Even the cops took the attitude of "You have insurance to pay for this kind of thing."
For the next couple of weeks, my brother and I rode shotgun in the back of random trucks wearing body armor and armed with shotguns. We didn't catch anyone, but the robberies stopped.
That suggests the thieves were tipped off you were doing that.
DeleteExile1981
Y'all need to read those Matt Bracken novels. It's going to get a lot worse out there. A LOT worse.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Mexico North, folks. You know; that place where guns are illegal but everyone owns one because the criminals aren't on your side and neither are the police or the "government."
ReplyDeleteWe happily drive an extra mile or two to shop. The local has/had armed guards but what we really can't stand is the demented maniacal drivers that can easily hit up to 5 cars while trying to back out of the parking spot in the parking lot.
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised by that in the Bay area... Yet another reason to stay away. I'm currently 7 hours away and keep hearing people rave about that area. They are incomprehensible to me.
ReplyDeleteJonathan
Pity the poor pizza delivery guys who have to deliver into "Diverse" neighborhoods! They get robbed and shot regularly, and the "news media" cover up the stories as fast as they can to protect their cuddly-wuddly "diverse" pets.
ReplyDelete