PROGRESSIVE Grocers, whose 28-member consortium comprise the second largest grouping of local supermarkets, has set off a firestorm in the retail sector, with vexed opposition to their demand for merchandisers to be put in ‘short pants’ to deter stealing.

But Docky Lim, chairman of Progressive, says his group has no plan to back down from its ultimatum to distributors, saying members have been losing millions to pilfering and are determined to nip it in the bud.

“The distributors are not losing any money. We have to pay them. Yet every time we take stock there is a huge shortage,” Lym told the Sunday Observer.

Progressive, which includes Shoppers Fair, Super Value, Sovereign, John R Wong, Loshusan and Brooklyn supermarkets, have reportedly told distributors that effective Tuesday, February 7, merchandisers who pack goods on supermarket shelves must be dressed in short pants, or they will be denied entry to Progressive member stores.

The policy should have taken effect in December but was extended.

But some distributors, one of whose representatives alerted the Sunday Observer to the quarrel, consider the ultimatum to put their merchandisers in short pants insulting.

“This is so not right,” he said.

“It’s backward, distasteful, and smacks of total disregard for people’s dignity. This is 2006. The worst thing is that people are not only stigmatised, but are also being victimised, and this is something that the larger distributors have agreed to, leaving others who are opposed between a rock and hard place.”

The Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) has been pulled into the middle, as mediator, but executive director Trevor Fearon denied that there was a row, admitting only that there were “issues between some retailers and distributors”.

“I am not aware that any furor is going on. I am just aware that there are some discussions going on and will continue to take place,” he said Thursday.

“I understand that that is one of the proposals,” he said when asked about the short pants issue, “but I am not aware that anything has been finalised as yet.”

Later that same day, the JCC called an emergency meeting for Friday to hear suggestions from distributors about resolving the issue. Sources say GraceKennedy, a large food manufacturer and distributor, announced at the meeting that it would comply with the request.

But on Friday night, GraceKennedy chief executive officer Douglas Orane said he was hearing of the issue for the first time when the Sunday Observer sought his comment; while the company representative said to have attended the meeting did not return calls.

But yesterday, Michael Ranglin, GraceKennedy’s senior general manager for the conglomerate’s Jamaican operations, confirmed that the company would accede to Progressive’s request.

“Grace put the matter to its merchandisers and a majority was okay with it,” said Ranglin. “I’m not going to tell you that everybody was, but the majority was okay with it.”

Of Grace’s 200 merchandisers, said Ranglin, the short pants rule will only impact 15 who service Progressive member stores.

The Grace executive confirmed that the company was apprised of the request from December, and that it was initially to take effect January 1, but was put off to this month.

“The request was made and we did not see it as a major problem. So we will be outfitting these merchandisers, who service those stores, in that type of uniform,” said Ranglin.

Both Lym and our source say while retailers are not claiming that all thefts are by merchandisers, the heaviest stealing is from within this grouping, followed by employees, then shoplifting customers.

Lym, proprietor of Brooklyn supermarkets, says he and his associates are not looking for a fight with anyone, but are simply trying to protect their bottom line.

“They (merchandisers) come into the supermarkets wearing two and three pants. They use heavy duct tape to tape the foot of the pants, and then they steal the goods and drop them in there,” he said.

“Everything that is saleable is taken, and it includes the most expensive things.” The most popular stolen goods, he adds, are cosmetics, and deodorants, particularly the Gillette brand.

Lym says the suggestion for short pants was made out of frustration, as none of the security measures in place have curtailed theft. Less clothing, Progressive believes, would allow less space for pilferers to hide goods taken from the shelves.

“There are security cameras in nearly all the establishments. But they know that the cameras are at an angle. So they just go right under them and steal, and the cameras don’t pick them up,” said Lym.

Some of the supermarkets have also invested in plainclothes security personnel, in addition to mirrors.

But scores of merchandisers come and go weekly, Lym said, adding that retailers do not have the time to keep track of all of them.

Wayne Chen, chief executive officer of Super Plus, the largest supermarket chain, speaking through an assistant, Mercedes Blake, said his group loses two per cent of monthly sales to theft.

Sources say Super Plus last year had losses to theft, overall, of up to $200 million; other large sellers, as reported in Sunday Finance on December 18, 2005, have estimated theirs at $18 million to $20 million (Hi-Lo); $50 million (MegaMart); while Progressive member Ken Loshusan, operator of Loshusan’s and John R Wong, put his losses at 2-3 per cent to shoplifting representing “hundreds of thousands of dollars”.

Lym, while refusing to speak to his own figures, commented that Chen’s estimate was “extremely conservative”.

“By the time you catch two, do you know how many have already gone through? You don’t. So I honestly do not believe that you can count the loss,” said Lym.

If the merchandisers fail to comply with Progressive’s demand, he said, the group was prepared to find its own merchandisers.

While admitting to heavy pilferage, the Sunday Observer’s source defended merchandisers as a group, as honest and hardworking, but agreed that some were crooks.

He believes their social status, however, make them easy targets.

“I am not defending them, but they are easy targets, and I bet you they get blamed for other unaccounted for thefts,” he said.

virtuee@jamaicaobserver.com