There’s a black market for Tide laundry detergent. Who knew?
Giant Food, a Washington, D.C., area grocer, can’t seem to keep national brands such as Tide or Colgate or Advil on store shelves. Not because customers are buying these products, but because they’re stealing them.
Last week, we discussed the revelation by Dick’s Sporting Goods that thievery was a key cause of falling profits. The National Retail Federation believes that $95 billion is lost each year to public pilfering — something other retailers, including Target, Dollar Tree, and Ulta, are acknowledging is a very serious problem.
“Growing losses have spurred giants such as Walmart to shutter locations,” The Washington Post informs.
If we cannot police our own neighborhoods, and police can’t seem to do it, then we rely on . . . big corporations. With 165 supermarkets, Giant has yet to close any stores. Instead, the chain is “hiring more security guards, closing down secondary entrances, limiting the number of items permitted through self-checkout areas, removing high-theft items from shelves and locking up more products.”
Most vulnerable is “the unprofitable store on Alabama Avenue SE — the only major grocer east of the Anacostia River in Ward 8,” a poor, largely black area of the city.
“We want to continue to be able to serve the community,” explains Giant’s president, “but we can’t do so at the level of significant loss or risk to
“During the first five months of this year,” Target’s chief executive recently leveled with investors, “our stores saw a 120 percent increase in theft incidents involving violence or threats of violence.”
Apparently, folks who pocket other people’s stuff are more likely to also be violent.
Who saw that coming?
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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5 replies on “The Tide of Theft”
“limiting the number of items permitted through self-checkout areas”
One thing I haven’t noticed is any significant mention of the role of “self-checkout” in making shoplifting easier.
MY problem with “self-checkout” is that if the grocery store wants me to work for them as a cashier, I think they should cut me a discount.
But I suspect the problem the STORES are starting to finally understand is that one guy at the exit “randomly”* — and not very thoroughly checking receipts against cart content — means that if someone “accidentally” “forgets” to scan that 12-pack of soda or package of ribeye steak, they’re about 99% likely to get out of the store with it, and if they happen not to, it’s “oh, I THOUGHT I scanned that, maybe it just didn’t beep.”
The shoplifting we HEAR about is the flash mob stuff or the rare incident where an employee tries to stop it and either succeeds or gets strong-armed. But I suspect successful, unnoticed self-checkout shoplifting is the big factor.
* I say “randomly” because at my local Walmart, we almost never get checked. But if it’s a black guy or gal or couple ahead of us, they get checked nearly every time. The only place we get checked EVERY time is Sam’s Club — a place we’ve PAID to shop at, and yet they’ll stretch the line of people waiting to get out all the way around the store to get out while they scan items in every cart. I hardly ever go there anymore (I do use them on InstaCart, though).
Couple of generations of no father at home to emulate.
Kids “raise themselves” is a euphemism for cleaving to a local gang that provides the missing structure and a moral code. Just not society’s moral code. With few available job opportunities, a criminal lifestyle is tried by most and usually successfully by the smarter ones, since they quickly learn to avoid the stupid mistakes that get folks caught.
Once preying on others is the customary lifestyle there is scant odds for most of them of ever being a functional community member. Damaged goods.
Just another form of reparations for the lawless. They feel they are entitled to other people’s “things”.
Local governments have all but legalized theft and district attorneys will prosecute those who try to protect their property from thieves. Self-defense and defense of property are being criminalized. People must vacate cities that have these policies in place.
The political left tends to model social processes as if no consideration need be given to incentives.
Reducing penalties as if theft would not increase is part-and-parcel with state insurance of homes in areas prone to geophysical disaster, with increasing costs to employers, with rent control.