Rising crime is a difficult problem to solve, and a company believes it has a solution to at least protect its bottom line.
In recent years, violent crime has increased in many of the largest cities in the US. It was a key campaign issue during the 2022 midterm elections, with the homicide rate rising 30% between 2019 and 2020.
While various models reveal conflicting data on whether all types of violent crime are present nationally, voters have cited the issue as one of their most important issues. Six in 10 voters listed violent crime as one of their top voting issues in October 2022.
As politicians wrangle over policies to mitigate their city’s problems, some businesses have been quietly closing stores in some of America’s most dangerous areas.
both starbucks (SEX) – Get a free report and mcdonald’s (dcm) – Get a free report they have tens of thousands of locations across the US. But as social media instantly captures issues and disputes, and some cities plunge into a deeper economic crisis, corporations decided to close stores in more vulnerable areas.
In July, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said the company would close stores in unsafe areas.
“Starbucks is a window to America. We have stores in every community, and we’re dealing with things stores weren’t built for… We’re listening to our people and closing stores, and this is just the beginning. There will be many more,” he can be heard saying during an internal company meeting later posted on Twitter.
Schultz cited issues such as mental illness, drug use, crime and homelessness as a reason his company would permanently close stores in some areas. Starbucks officially called the issues “challenging incidents that make it unsafe to continue operating.”
McDonald’s management made similar comments in September, with CEO Chris Kempczinski criticizing Chicago for unsafe conditions for business. At the Economic Club of Chicago, Kempczinski called the metropolis where Hamburger House is based a “city in crisis.”
“We have violent crimes that are happening in our restaurants,” he said. “We’re seeing homelessness issues in our restaurants. We’re having drug overdoses that are happening in our restaurants. So we see in our restaurants, every day, what’s happening in society at large.”
She added that some workers call to say they feel unsafe coming to work some days.
Chase is now making similar crime mitigation moves
On Monday, JP Morgan Chase (JPM) – Get a free report It said it would take similar steps to keep its customers safe, after a disgruntled customer complained on Twitter that he couldn’t access an ATM late at night.
“Our apologies. We decided to close several ATM lobbies at 5:00 pm or 6:00 pm, aligning service hours with normal branch hours, due to increased crime and loitering occurring in these lobbies previously open 24/7. DM us if you have any other concerns or feedback,” the big bank tweeted.
As expected, many users weighed in on the change.
“I thought 10pm was inconvenient but 5pm is ridiculous. You need to reimburse your customers for the extra fees because you can’t provide security at these places,” one user tweeted.
“If ATMs aren’t available when the bank is closed, what’s the point? Given the salaries of their bigwigs, there’s clearly room for security where it’s deemed necessary,” another user chimed in.
