It Goes on Everywhere

 I am at my son's house sitting by the pool smoking my Alpha pipe, as i have chosen not to smoke at our condo any longer.  No one said anything to me. But as I told my wife, I just dont want to smoke there any longer.  As most of you know, I AM NOT a fan of organized religion.  In fact, my belief about organizations is that when something gets organized it's ruined.  Now, there are exceptions to this, but the one kind of organization that is NOT beneficial is organized crime.  Shoplifting is a big deal for retailers.  There are 442,597 retailers in America.  Or somewhere thereabouts.  In 2020 there were over 800,00 instances of shoplifting with the average take per incident being about $460.  

Now, it is estimated that shoplifting costs businesses about $20 billion.  I just read an article about how Lowe's tackles the problem of shoplifting.  They have cameras all over the store with one person monitoring them in a room.  Once a shoplifter has been identified a CD is made of the incident and the profile of the shoplifter is identified.  If you wonder how people get out the store without paying for stuff, we'll, they don't.

The police come into each store once a day to pick up the CD's that are made of each incident and from there, the rest is up to them.  This is just Lowe's but I know that other retailers have methods, although it might be similar in retail across the board.  The fact is no one really gets away with shoplifting.  But of course, not all thieves are caught.  

The fact is that shoplifting has become more of a problem for retailers since the pandemic.  But a lot of shoplifting is organized crime, which mostly are drug users looking for a quick fix.  Very seldom is most shoplifting for personal items, although there are people who shoplift for the thrill of it.  I don't understand shoplifting myself.  And probably never will.  

A lot of theft from retailers involve their own employees. According to most recent estimates about 38% of all retail losses are by theft.  Then employee theft accounts for about 28% of losses, while the remainder losses are due to poor book keeping and loss by attrition.  So, not all retail losses are by theft.  Walmart probably has the fewest losses by any retailer from either employees ot attrition.  But Walmart's tactics in loss prevention are actually quite numerous.

As a side-note to all this, if you feel showing your receipt upon leaving a store is invasive, then don't shop at Walmart.  They have every tight to see a recept upon request.  I have to admit it seems invasive they do this, but as I said, if you don't like them asking don't shop there.  And they will retain you if you don't show a receipt when asked.  They have every right to do so.  So, don't fight it.  You'll lose.  Every single time.  And they have every right to ban you if you don't comply.  

Well, just a few thoughts this morning.  Thank you for your time and Peace to each one of you.

Dave