The Issue of Shoplifting in America, and How Retailers Just Complain About It

Shoplifting is bad, and that's just for business, we're not even going into the ethical aspects of it. And in America, it's apparently a very huge issue, with estimates saying it happens as much as multiple times in an hour, and only those that are blatantly done. So, what have retailers done to mitigate and stop it from happening? Not enough, according to several retail employees interviewed by Emily Stewart from Vox, who also talked to a couple people who themselves admitted to committing retail theft.

It might seem like a simple solution for us, so much as to simply suggest that security be increased, more cameras be installed in the stores, or just locking up certain products to dissuade people from stealing them in the first place. These measures cost money however, and the return on investment on them just aren't enough to justify them, at least that's how retailers' lack of action on the shoplifting problem is being rationalized. And it's actually more complex than it seems, as Stewart finds out. Read the entire article at Vox to see the explanation as to the difficulties with trying to crack down on shoplifting and maintaining retail sales at the same time.

(Image credit: Nathalia Rosa/Unsplash)


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As a person whos been in retail for 13 years, my guess would be that its almost always more costly to deal with shoplifting than let it happen. Especially if you work somewhere like Dollar Tree or Walmart or Big Lots. Places like these pay very little per product on the shelf, depending what it is. And theft can be written off at the end of the year, if I'm not mistaken. So the choice is, let them steal, write it off, and hope no one gets hurt. Or pay security to be there everyday and buy special security equipment to sound off alarms. Not to mention remodeling your store to accomodate security measures.
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