Spike in retail theft across the country

Arrest-Target

Important Takeaways:

  • Shoplifting surged 64% in NYC — more than any other US city in past 4 years
  • New York City has led the US with the sharpest increase in the number of reported shoplifting incidents since before the pandemic, according to a study.
  • The Big Apple saw a 64% increase in reported incidents of retail theft during the four-year period between mid-2019 and June of this year, while Los Angeles experienced a 61% surge in the same metric, according to the Council on Criminal Justice.
  • A New York Police Department spokesperson pointed to crime statistics showing that there were more than 93,000 incidents of petty larceny so far this year — which is 29% higher compared to the same period two years ago but 5% lower compared to the same period last year.
  • LA, meanwhile, saw a 109% increase in reported retail theft incidents in the first six months of this year — the highest in the country, the report found.
  • Dallas was second with a 73% bump in the number of reported shoplifting incidents in the first half of 2023.
  • Virginia Beach, Dallas, Raleigh, Boston, and Pittsburgh are the other cities that saw a spike in the number of shoplifting incidents that were reported over the course of the last four years

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Locking up merchandise: Dallas stores see 73% rise in theft

Important Takeaways:

  • Shoplifting up 73% in Dallas as retailers rush to put merchandise out of reach
  • Shopping experience in Dallas is starting to change as retail theft increased 73% through the first six months of this year, according to a report released Tuesday.
  • Dallas and Los Angeles, where shoplifting increased 109%, experienced the highest reported retail theft in the first half of this year, according to an analysis of 24 major cities by the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice
  • At a Walmart in northeast Dallas flashing lights frame a camera above an aisle of locked cases holding men’s underwear, socks and wallets. It comes with a warning: “Security camera in use.” Electric toothbrushes are also behind locked cases. The electric razors are behind lock and key at a nearby Target.
  • Kroger has added security gates to some Dallas stores to prevent quick exits of full shopping carts of consumables such as laundry detergent. Tide and Oxi are behind new locked cases at a Kroger on Mockingbird Lane. A box asks shoppers to press the button if they need help. Armed guards in uniform are more visible in Dallas stores and malls.
  • Gary Huddleston, grocery industry consultant at the Texas Retailers Association, said it’s more than shoplifting. Texas is seeing an increase in “organized retail crime,” or the coordinated theft and reselling of merchandise for profit by criminal groups.
  • Based on national estimates, the annual loss to Texas retailers has reached more than $2.5 billion, Huddleston said. The National Retail Federation estimated total shrinkage — or loss from employee theft, shoplifting, errors, vendor fraud and damage — was over $112.1 billion last year in the U.S., up from $93.9 billion in 2021.

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Retail theft making matters worse: If a company can’t increase the cost to cover theft they will be forced out of business

Target surveillance video

Revelations 18:23:’For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.’

Important Takeaways:

  • Rampant retail theft making inflation worse, threatens bleeding businesses, economists say
  • Consumers will be forced to pay a theft tax or lose access to goods: economists
  • “If companies can’t increase their costs to cover the cost of the theft, if they’re not making a profit, then they’re going to go out of business,” Andrew Puzder, the former CKE Restaurants CEO and a visiting fellow at Heritage, told Fox News.
  • In 2021, retail “shrink,” or thefts, cost the industry $94.5 billion in losses, up 4% year-over-year and nearly double the $50.6 billion in 2018

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