Please, Everyone, Calm Your Faces About Shoplifting

Vigilantes put retail workers in danger.

There is nothing the United States of America loves like a moral panic — except perhaps idealizing/valorizing capitalism and "job creators." For the last few years, there's been a big ol' moral panic about shoplifting, driven in no small part by stores claiming that they are jacking up prices or closing because of some kind of nationwide shoplifting craze, particularly of the organized variety.

It's hit a particular nerve with people because of inflation, which retailers and others are eager to blame on anything but corporate greed. They want to blame it on "entitled" workers demanding too much money. They want to be able to blame it on shoplifters and "crime."

This is, of course, some bullshit.

Via Los Angeles Times:  

Rachel Michelin, president of the California Retailers Assn., told the San Jose Mercury News that in San Francisco and Oakland alone, businesses lose $3.6 billion to organized retail crime each year.

That would mean retail gangs steal nearly 25% of total sales in San Francisco and Oakland combined, which amounted to around $15.5 billion in 2019, according to the state agency that tracks sales tax.
Can that be right? In a word: no.

The country’s largest retail industry group, the National Retail Federation, estimated in its latest report that losses from organized retail theft average $700,000 per $1 billion in sales — or 0.07% of total sales — an amount roughly 330 times lower than the CRA’s estimate.

Chains that have made this claim have ended up having to walk it back, as the numbers do not actually show any massive increase in shoplifting. In 2021, Walgreens claimed that it had to close stores in San Francisco because of a spike in "organized retail crime" ... but as it later turned out, the company's shrink rate actually fell from 3.5% to around 2.5%. This is higher than the industry average of about 1.4 percent, which makes sense because it's easier to shove an eyeliner up one's sleeve than a gown or a whole ham — especially when there aren't that many people working on the floor.

Confronted with these cold hard facts, Walgreens finance chief James Kehoe had to admit during an earnings call that “Maybe we cried too much last year” about shrinkage.

Unfortunately, however, people have really absorbed this message and have started doing some real stupid vigilante shit that puts workers and other customers at risk. This week, a frightening number of people swooned over a man who full-on tackled a woman he believed was shoplifting in a T.J. Maxx.

“Customer tries to take matters into his own hands, knocking alleged thief to ground at a T.J. Maxx store https: //t.co/P6MUchJz6m”

— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7 Eyewitness News) 1682964055 

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As I have mentioned 2 or 3,000 times on here, before I got actual work as a writer, I worked in retail — so I do have some experience and insight here. This has put me in the very awkward position of having to argue with people who are far too fancy to have ever worked in that industry about what is going on and what is and is not helpful for those who work in these stores.

There Are Protocols In Place For Dealing With Shoplifters, Audience Participation Is Neither Required Nor Wanted

You will not see sales associates in a well-run store confronting shoplifters in the middle of the store. Why? Because as I regularly told sales associates, there's nothing in the store more valuable than their lives and you don't know what people will do, how they will react to things, or, because this is the USA, if they have a gun on them.

 This is for everyone's safety . It is for the safety of the workers and the safety of the customers. Many stores and malls have security to handle this, ideally in an appropriate way that does not involve any body-slamming or chokeholds.

There are reasons why we don't approach people in the store. This is because, until they have left the store, they can say they were just holding the item and didn't intend to bring it out with them. Falsely accusing someone of shoplifting, especially if you detain them, can lead to a major lawsuit. A woman who was falsely arrested for shoplifting in Walmart was awarded $2.1 million in a lawsuit, so this is not a minor concern.

In my retail days, I dealt not only with shoplifters, but with people who pooped in dressing rooms, with men who jerked off behind clothing racks or earring towers, with people who physically assaulted me because they did not understand the concept of "final sale." Shoplifters, I assure you, were the least of my damn problems. 

But Aren't They My Problem, Too? Am I Not Paying More For Things Because Of All Of The Shoplifting?

No. You're not. I promise you, you are not.

First of all, stores assume a certain amount of shrinkage to begin with — from shoplifting, employee theft, and damaged items. In many cases, they even have insurance that covers a certain amount of this.

Second, they are not actually at a loss on how to prevent shoplifting! It's not a big mystery.

Whenever you interview for a retail management position, one of the questions you will almost always be asked is what you think is the best way to prevent shoplifting. The correct answer to this, as dorky as it sounds, is "great customer service." This is because simply being around and available and friendly (in a normal, non-racist way) decreases theft, because people assume that you will see them and that they will get caught. As with literally every other form of crime, the most effective deterrent is not an overly harsh punishment but people thinking they will be caught.

Stores, especially convenience stores, grocery stores, and big box stores, have made a calculated decision in recent years to cut back on the number of employees they have, frequently replacing them with self-checkouts — which makes shoplifting a whole lot easier to get away with. Many retail chains these days, you will notice, also do not have anyone working the dressing room and counting items before and after people leave.

These companies have actively decided that any increase in shoplifting that comes from these measures is less expensive to them than it is to hire the amount of workers they would need to have on the floor to prevent it. This is why stores that sell cheap things have self-checkouts and Gucci does not.

You Are Also Simultaneously Paying Too Much And Not Enough For Things

This is a tough thing to say to people in this time, I realize ... but we do pay a lot less for most things than we would be paying if everyone all up and down the supply chain were being paid fairly for their labor.

The United States of America is the biggest goods importer in the world, so the way we do things and our wealth inequality situation here has worldwide consequences. We have a small number of very large corporations with some very rich people at the top, and with a whole lot of people getting paid very little towards the bottom. This has become increasingly the case since the Reagan era, for a variety of reasons. In order for things to be that way here, while still allowing those corporations to turn a profit by selling things to people, the people at the bottom of the supply chain have to be paid next-to-nothing. How else are you going to make any money off of a $5 T-shirt?

That being said, we're often paying a lot compared to what these companies are paying for supplies, manufacturing, and the goods themselves. It's not like they pay Bangladeshi workers $73 a month and then pass the savings onto you, the consumer. Prices are determined by how much people are willing to pay for things. This is why Nike shoes and diamonds harvested by slaves are still so expensive. It's also why, when I worked retail, we were able to sell $10 wholesale PVC bags for over $100. (Hot tip: Supporting small businesses is great, but don't spend a lot on unbranded non-leather handbags or costume jewelry in independent boutiques, because it's probably from a very cheap wholesale store and no better quality than Forever 21).

Part of the reason stores and brands have been able to jack up prices in the last few years is because Americans are more than willing to blame this on "entitled" workers refusing to work for pennies and evil shoplifters rather than on corporate greed. They're willing to believe this despite the many, many recorded earning calls in which corporate leaders are entirely open about how much they are profiting from this "inflation."

Via Accountable.US:  

As grocery prices increased 6.5%, the country's largest grocery chains — Walmart, Kroger, and Costco — benefited from price increases while seeing their fiscal year net incomes increase by a total of $238 million while increasing stock buybacks and dividends by over $12 billion. [...]

As prices increased 6%, two of the biggest U.S. food chains — McDonald's and YUM! Brands — saw profits increase by over $3.4 billion in FY 2021 while boosting shareholder handouts by over $1.48 billion. Meanwhile, Starbucks, the second-biggest restaurant chain, saw its FY 2021 profits increase by nearly $3.2 billion.

This is because Americans, by and large, like the story about "entitled" low-wage workers and evil shoplifters more than they like a story about corporate greed — probably because the former feels more like something they have more control over. It's easier to shame low-wage workers and easier to go vigilante on shoplifters or cheer for those who do than it is to feel like the helpless pawns of the mega-rich. Also, it makes it a lot easier to live with the injustices and inequalities in our society if we all agree to be super happy for the mega-rich, if we all agree to believe that they are behaving fairly and earnestly and charging us only the fair price for merchandise, if we are willing to believe it's the people at the bottom who are our real problem.

But I Want To Be A Good Citizen! When Can I Help?

Quite frankly, the most helpful thing would just be to not be shitty to retail workers or allow the phrase "the customer is always right" to drive you mad with power. This would be lovely and we would all be very grateful. You can also help someone who gets hurt or someone who asks for help. You can help if someone is being violent and there is no one else there working who can help. You can help in an emergency. Someone walking out of the store with stolen merchandise is not an emergency that anyone needs to be assaulted over, there are other ways of handling that — so leave it to the professionals.

 Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons .

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