How Does Shoplifting Affect The Economy?
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Who Pays the Price
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Retailers know when the economy plummets, shoplifting does the exact opposite. And when the holidays approach, they also have to brace themselves for the swell in retail theft. However, shoplifting hurts retailers and consumers as well.
Shoplifting is big business, and during a recession it can grow. There are fewer employees on a sales floor when retailers cannot afford to pay them due to slow sales. This adjustment makes a shoplifter's job that much easier.
However, shoplifters should also know that they continue to hurt the economy every time they leave a store with merchandise that does not belong to them.
Retailers are fighting back
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Higher prices hurt the economy. However, retailers are forced to raise the cost of merchandise to recover some of the profits they lose to shoplifting. When retail theft escalates, the cost of doing business will also increase, and this leaves the paying customers to pick up the multi-billion-dollar annual tab left by shoplifters.
As a deterrent, bigger retailers use surveillance cameras and security tags--but even these practices increase costs. And for the smaller shops, patrons with sticky fingers can ultimately cost them their business.
The Target chain has found a novel way to fight back. To have its stores' evidence stand up in court, its Minneapolis headquarters has created a lab that has the same standards of a forensic facility. The chain has already used its own evidence in a few shoplifting court cases. -
A Problem Within
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The problems within a retail store can also hurt profits. In 2006, Wal-Mart decided to forgo its zero-tolerance shoplifting policy and only focus on professional shoplifters and their employees who stole from them. It would only prosecute if there was at least $25 worth of merchandise taken. This pratice was well thought out, because a dishonest employee can be worse than a normal shoplifter.
On average, an employee will steal eight times more than a non-employee. A staff member can get away with stealing for a longer period of time than a shoplifter. In addition, a dishonest employee will be able to identify the shortcomings of the security. And even when caught, often the employee is fired instead of being prosecuted.
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