At target, walmart, and K-mart. I read somewhere that they wont be there at 8 am. If so I got all those places nearby to me.

Target's LP is there before it opends and is there until after it closes. Theres also always people inside the building (target), dont know about any other places

wrong. Targets loss prevention officers often cover multiple stores, and aren't normally full time anyway.

and target is empty at night, unless staff are refilling stock, in which case they are gone at 10 or 12

there's LP at K-Mart?! That place looks understaffed and cheap/messy!

Note this is from my experience and what I have seen where I work ( wal-mart)

Theres only 2 people hired for lp and they set there own hours . one is a guy that does it as his parttime job and will come in some closing shifts and rarely a shit that would end midday. The second is a fat bitch that wears way to much make up and thinks shes pretty that just wanders around ( it is her job I know but I have seen her maybe catch 2 shoplifters ) and she normally will start early in the morning so she can leave work around 4-6pm.

They are almost always in on weekends . But there are many weekdays were they are not in at all.

on a side note: I have seen into there cramped office .they have two monitors and one always seems to be on the main entrance ( we only have one main one and the automotive one ) and the isle outside electronics. I am going to find out if all the cameras are in fact real.

In two of the large retail companies that SWIM worked at the LP would show up about an hour after opening (I believe to help cut corners on cost) and would be there until closing (but not while the employees were cleaning up.)

Wrong again, unless it varies wildly by store. My nephew works night shift at a fairly unremarkable Target store. LP there works in shifts, and is almost always present during opening hours. There are people in the store 24/7 barring holidays, he goes in at 9:00p (normal closing time) and normally leaves at about 6:00a, just when the managers and bookkeeping drones are starting to come in.

Not to mention the fact that in a lot of stores private construction crews come in at night for renovations, and they often have hired labor under them. Someone shouts thief, they'd gladly clothesline you or slam a dolly into you. You can't pretend to be a worker either, because they check all the material that goes out the door and into the dumpsters or where ever.
Then again, I remember doing some work at a Safeway once, and I could have carted off several palattes of soda, whatever the point of that would have been.

It would be tricky to actually pose as an employee anyway, because you have to punch in at the time clock with a card, go about your business in a non-suspicious manner, generally know what the fuck is going on, and have your supervisor recognize you.

The night crew's usually a tighter run ship than the day crew, and without customers to tend to and the night shifts traditionally being the most risky in terms of employee theft, things are watched with a more careful eye to detail.

I worked as Mervyn's LP when it was part of Target Corporation. Sometimes there are no people in the store and sometimes only one or two people. Like someone above me said, they cover multiple locations so it's hard to be there each and every day. Early mornings are the time when most LP aren't around.

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