Many of the issues affecting/afflicting DG are issues that many companies are facing today. We own a small manufacturing business and while staffing has always been a top concern, it has become doubly or triply so in recent years.

More than one hundred years ago folks like Frederick Taylor worked to develop more efficient production plants. Forty years ago we had mass adoption of bar coding. Today we likely have countless innovators at work ranging from Amazon to surely some garage level start-ups working on ways to solve retail's stocking and shrinkage issues. While I cannot speak for DG's management, it would be reasonable to assume they have multiple efforts underway to solve their labor, store environment and related short-comings. Paying folks more money to attract and keep talent is one of the steps. Other possible steps may involve reducing SKUs, changing racking systems, having smarter rear exit doors so they do not need blocking to prevent shrinkage (maybe a sensor coupled to a camera that identifies everyone who leaves via that door or perhaps a smart locking mechanism that is tied to either a employee handprint and the store's smoke detectors or some other neat innovation that continues to meet fire codes) and who knows what else.

All these issues being raised seemingly everywhere in retail is screaming out opportunities. What we on this board need to be asking is: are there public companies poised to profit from helping retail jump over these hurdles?

I see problems of all sorts being solved at the local/site level through innovation in physical organization, new technologies, new employment arrangements, new coalition arrangements (outsourcing and other collaborations), and lots more stuff than cannot be envisioned that will be arriving out of the mists.

Uwharrie