[Leica] Home depot and the rest

["Andy Sparaco" <asparaco@metafour.net>]

>If I am taking pictures in Home Depot, and they tell
me to stop and I don't, I'm certain they can evict me,
probably even bar me from return - but I have broken
no law<


There is a component to this thread that is being overlooked. All Mass
Merchandisers spend a lot of time and money on Store design and
merchandising plans. They prohibit photos to protect the investment they
have made in displays, color schemes and floorplan layouts. There was/is a
company in Columbus that specializes in developing interior store design and
one of there first course of actions for a new client is to survey what
there new clients competition is doing. This mean sending people into store
and taking pictures.

A store mangager for a Home Depot, Safeway or Walgreens is held reponsible
for any activity that takes place in their store. Barring photos is just one
way to close a possible source of problems. After all they do not who you
are or why you are taking pictures.  A little imagination is all that is
required to think of possible problems from pictures shot in a store.

I have done lot's of work for a major national retailer who employes the
services of a "Mystery Shopper" company which sends men and women into a
retail operation wearing lapel and button video cameras which transmit a
video and audio signal to a video recorder in the trunk of a car outside the
store. Interesting point is they can do this legally only states which
permit recording of employees and customers without consent. They use a
variety of scenarios or "gags" to test a store staffs response to specific
situations- "the Photographer" is one of these "gags" There is nothing more
damaging to a store managers career path with a company then to be subjected
to viewing  a video tape of a guy walking around a store for thirty minutes
with a Leica (OT) taking pictures of everything -that is considered to be
"failure to protect a companies intelectual property". Most of the gags are
of a more serious nature -racial and sexual harrasment among others-in any
case you might have a little empathy for the people who work at these
companies and are under pressure to perform at a high level.



asparaco@metafour.net
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