556
submitted 10 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

It turns out shoplifting isn’t spiraling out of control, but lawmakers are pushing for tougher penalties for low-level and nonviolent crimes anyway.

Over the last couple of years, it seemed that America was experiencing a shoplifting epidemic. Videos of people brazenly stealing merchandise from retailers often went viral; chains closed some of their stores and cited a rise in theft as the primary reason; and drugstores such as CVS and Walgreens started locking up more of their inventory, including everyday items like toothpaste, soaps, and snacks. Lawmakers from both major parties called for, and in some cases even implemented, more punitive law enforcement policies aimed at bucking the apparent trend.

But evidence of a spike in shoplifting, it turns out, was mostly anecdotal. In fact, there’s little data to suggest that there’s a nationwide problem in need of an immediate response from city councils or state legislatures. Instead, what America seems to be experiencing is less of a shoplifting wave and more of a moral panic.

Now, those more forgiving criminal justice policies are at risk, in part because of a perceived trend that appears to have been overblown.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] numberfour002@lemmy.world 43 points 10 months ago

Eons ago when I was working in retail, pretty much all the training on "shrink" (aka losses, including theft) emphasized that the overwhelming majority of it comes from employees (and not necessarily from employee theft). Things have certainly changed in the post-covid era, but the fundamentals haven't changed all that much. So, I have been skeptical about some of the retailers' shoplifting claims.

[-] TheColonel@reddthat.com 6 points 10 months ago

I was IN loss prevention. Literal store detective.

Did we catch the occasional shoplifter? Yes.

Were they as common or as high dollar value as employees skimming or scamming? Abso-fucking-lutely not.

If you’re in retail, rest assured, those folks are there to catch you more than they’re there to catch shoplifters.

[-] Canadian_anarchist@lemmy.ca 5 points 10 months ago

When I worked in retail, anecdotally, it was my understanding that most theft was internal. At Real Canadian Superstore (think Walmart Supercenter, but not Walmart) I saw lots of my coworkers steal all kinds of things. We went through one loss prevention after another, fired for, you guessed it, stealing (ironic, I know). Most of my co workers stole their food for their meal breaks. I very rarely saw or heard of a customer being caught stealing. And no, no one reported others to management.

[-] michaelmrose@lemmy.world -3 points 10 months ago

If you didn't notice the customers stealing you were probably too busy actually working and not attending to all the fuckin thieves

[-] orrk@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

or, just maybe, there aren't as many thieves as the coalition of tough on crime lawmakers and corporate interest want you to think there is

[-] michaelmrose@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

There are plenty of thieves because the mechanics of monetizing stolen goods totally changed with online markets and life is tough at the low end of the financial spectrum. It would be shocking if they're weren't. I'm a Democrat who recognizes the worthiness of helping people and hates Republican scumbags. I'm not buying into any narrative I'm just recognizing reality.

this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2024
556 points (97.3% liked)

News

23305 readers
3693 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS