Running a supermarket in San Francisco isn’t easy. The brand new Whole Foods store made it just over a year before the company shut it down. In the 13 months that store was open employees made 568 emergency calls. Thieves stole from the store on a daily basis. More than 250 hand baskets were stolen (presumably full of stolen merchandise). There were also multiple incidents of violence and one person died and one person died of a fentanyl overdose in the store’s bathroom.

Another major chain in the area, Safeway, has been struggling with the same problems. In April, Safeway announced their store near the famous Fisherman’s Wharf would be closing for good. That left 16 other Safeway stores in San Francisco. Last month, one of those 16 made news for blaring loud classical music in the parking lot all night. The music was supposed to deter loitering but apparently the only way it worked was to make it loud enough to annoy the whole neighborhood.

Two weeks ago, a couple of Safeway stores installed security gates designed to deter shoplifting. As you’ll see at the end of this story, this isn’t the first new approach the company has taken to deter shoplifters.

Today the SF Standard published a story saying that, so far, the gates don’t seem to be working.

A San Francisco Safeway with new receipt-scanning security gates continues to see high rates of daily theft despite the increased shoplifting measures, staff say.

“I’d say 60 to 100 [thefts] on my shift alone,” said a security guard at the 3350 Mission St. Safeway, who spoke anonymously because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

Needless to say, this store is not going to survive if it’s being robbed 100 times a day. While the SF Standard reporter was there getting the story, he witnessed a theft.

“These two I’ve seen [before],” the security guard added, pointing to a man and a woman wearing backpacks. “I didn’t see what they grabbed, but those bags are definitely heavier than when they walked in.”

Sure enough, they entered the self-checkout but didn’t stop. There was a loud beep as they walked briskly through the exit. The security guard watched them leave without approaching the alleged shoplifters.

One staffer noted that the items being stolen tended to be things other than food. People are mostly stealing items that won’t expire and can be resold, like detergent, and alcohol. In other words, these thieves aren’t starving people trying to stay alive, these are professional thieves doing a job. This is how they make a living/feed their habit and those little gates aren’t going to deter them.

Often, the thieves take their stolen items and hop on the nearest bus to get away from the scene. No one stops them. It’s not clear if the thefts are even being reported to SFPD. Safeway must know by now that nothing will happen to the thieves. The chances they’ll be arrested is low and even if that happens the chances they’ll be prosecuted is also low. DA Brooke Jenkins has upped prosecutions compared to her predecessor Chesa Boudin but that was a very low bar to clear.

You know thing are bad when Ana Kasparian from the Young Turks is doing a segment on San Francisco shoplifting. “I don’t’ find it politically advantageous to deny what everyone can witness for themselves,” she said. She added, “The left loses credibility when its prominent voices claim they want to build a better society for ordinary people while actively making unmerited justifications for crap that actually makes life worse.” Maybe there’s some hope for us after all.

Stick around to the end of this when she talks about people on the left telling her not to talk about this issue because it hurts the left. Telling those folks to stuff it is increasingly Kasparian’s brand.