An old industry comes back into fashion during the recession

November 13th, 2009

Job losses and no new jobs put shoplifting on the map

The global recession is now biting so deep that it’s turning more people into thieves. A survey released on Tuesday reports that incidents of shoplifting rose nearly 6% over the past year, representing nearly $115 billion in losses for businesses. One of the more surprising findings: a growing number of new shoplifters are outwardly reputable, middle-class people who are walking off with French cheeses, quality meats, cosmetics, mobile phones, clothing and other goodies that they feel they need to maintain the quality of life they once had but can no longer afford.

The negative impact of recession

It’s a sort of daisy chain. People are feeling deprived of their formers lives and are tempted to steal stuff, retailers are also feeling the pinch in their businesses and are cutting back on security staff. There are also many new players in the shoplifting game. They have not yet learned the risks, figure they won’t be caught and won’t pay much of a price if they are and mentally justify their actions on the hard times.

Shoplifting or product “shrinkage”

Shoplifting jumped almost 6 percent in the past year at the more than 1,000 retail chains surveyed. In previous years, the increase hovered at 1.5% annually. Though the problem was documented across all regions, the steepest increases occurred in North America (8.1%), the Middle East (7.5%) and Europe (4.7%). In terms of total losses, retailers in North America topped the charts at $46 billion, followed by Europe’s $44 billion and $17.9 billion in the Asia-Pacific region. In North America and Latin America, store owners and employees were the leading pilferers; in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, it was customers who were swiping the most loot.

Organized criminals

Theft by organized criminals for the purpose of resale remains the biggest segment of shoplifting, but there’s been a noticeable increase in the number of middle-class people pinching from stores, people who are not stealing for necessity. More than a few of these individuals regard this kind of stealing in the economic crisis as fully justified.

A ‘victimless’ crime

There is an idea that shoplifting is a victimless crime because the ‘victim’ is completely faceless or some international retail chain with offices thousands of miles away. In the end the customer pays because the shops factor all their shoplifting losses into the price of their goods. According to the Center for Retail Research, this ended up costing each U.S. household $436 in the past year and each European household $250. So much for ‘victimless’ crime.

When the recession ends

It is thought that after the return to economic growth and job production many people will likely continue to shoplift out of habit and because they’ve gotten away with it for so long. Retailers will have to invest in better security and authorities will have to treat shoplifting cases as part of a $115 billion annual heist.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 6:03 am and is filed under Economy, Employment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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