What is the cost to merchants and the community from shoplifting?

Question

Also, what can merchants and the community do to prevent shoplifting?

Answer 1

no one knows. most shoplifting statistics are made up. for accounting reasons every thing stolen is counted as full retail price. even though it didn't cost the store that much at all. it could have even been sitting on the shelf for 8 months not going to be sold anyway. in situations like that it's better that it got shoplifted. the best way to curb shoplifting is to not treat your employees like crap and places do stuff on the cheap and treat their employees the worst tend to get shoplifted the most... the retail industry is the worst except for maybe UPS. even if shoplifting were completely eliminated the retail industry will still say that they are losing 'billions' every year so it wouldn't even matter. if shoplifting were really costing that much money you'd see every store with the same security as say a high end stereo electronics place.

i've worked at places that threw away stuff that wasn't selling anyway and claimed it as stolen. i've worked at places that would put things on people credit cards without their consent as a store policy. why isn't that a problem? that kind of stuff cost more to consumers than shoplifting.

Answer 2

Shoplifting does cost merchants money, but they'll still get there money. From who? The community. Because of shoplifting, stores have to hire loss prevention detectives, install security cameras, all sorts of electronics to detect someone stealing, put expensive stuff behind counters or cages which is an inconvinience to yhe consumer since you need to call someone to come help you. All of this costs the store money. And who pay's for that? The community. Everything in the store gets a little more expensive to offset the cost of preventing shoplifters. How much does it cost? there are petty thieves, which steal less then $50 worth. Theres kids who steal a pack of gum, candy, cool mechanical pencils. But there are many teens or young adults that steal anywhere from 50-200 bucks worth. If they get away, the store looses 200 bucks, and still has to pay their store detective anywhere from 60 to 70 a day. The cost of products increase, and the same thing happens the next day.

Answer 3

Shoplifting and shortages often run in the neighborhood
of 2-3 % of a store's total volumn. It can be more.

The goal is to keep it around 1%.

Store security and secret shoppers are used to control theft, not only by shoppers but by employees.
Consideration is given to the level at which security may cost more than the losses, so that a break even point is tolerated.

Bear in mind that all shortages and theft is estimated from past history and is built in to the store's mark up, just as any expense is done. If the shortage exceeds the estimate, the loss is increased and still deducted from profits.

The worst case scenario is when a member of management commits theft. With the trust given to them, they often get by with large amounts of theft before discovery.

I knew a fur buyer in a department store who abscounded with many thousands of dollars before it was discovered.
I've seen theft in shipping departments by trusted employees.
Many cases come to mind.

It takes many cross checks in business to control theft. It can only be minimized at best. Thieves are very resourceful in finding weaknesses and loop holes in security.

Too many businesses refrain from prosecuting shop lifting unless it is an organized ring. Many individuals are merely prohibited from the premises. Prosecution can be devastating to the casual shop lifter.

Answer 4

Billions......We all pay for shoplifters and their bad habit...The merchants add to the cost of each and every item in their stores because some people feel they need to have an item without paying for it.

We can stop it by reporting shoplifters to the store security.