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A nationwide shoplifting epidemic is crippling the finances of brick-and-mortar retailers, which warn that they may be forced to raise prices or even shutter stores in order to offset tens of billions of dollars in lost inventory.
The National Retail Foundation is estimating that it lost $94.5 billion last year due to “shrink” — an industry term that means lost inventory — which is being blamed primarily on shoplifting, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Shrink measures losses including theft by employees and product damage, but the greatest portion of shrink — 37% — came from external theft, including products taken during organized shoplifting heists, the trade group said.
It also noted retailers, on average, saw a 26.5% surge in organized theft incidents last year.
The $94.5 billion sum represents around 1.4% of retail revenue in 2021, according to the NRF, whose data shows significant year-over-year increases in “shrink” that accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic.
Between 2014 and 2019, shrink rose at a compound annual rate of around 7% year-over-year, according to the NRF. In 2020, shrink surged by 47%. The next year, it increased by another 4%.
Retailers told the NRF in surveys that staffing shortages exacerbated by the COVID pandemic have made it difficult to maintain enough personnel in stores to thwart potential shoplifters.
Supply chain shortages have also enabled shoplifters to sell stolen goods at a premium on eBay, Amazon and other secondary market facilitators, the NRF said. --->READ MORE HERE
Three years ago, I bet that 99 percent of my readers had never heard of ORC. Of course by now almost everyone knows that ORC stands for “organized retail crime”, and it is prompting retailers to permanently shut down stores all over the nation. Right now, retail theft is happening from coast to coast on a scale that we have never seen in our entire history. Marauding bands of looters are barging into stores, grabbing as much merchandise as they can possibly carry, and then loading it into their vehicles. Online marketplaces make it easier than ever to turn stolen goods into cash, and at this point organized retail crime has become a multi-billion dollar business. As I have repeatedly warned my readers, America is descending into lawlessness. The thin veneer of civilization that we all depend upon on a daily basis is rapidly disappearing, and if we stay on this path our society will soon be completely unrecognizable.
Every year, organized retail crime gets even worse. According to Fox Business, the number of ORC incidents in 2021 was 26.5 percent higher than in 2020…
ORC incidents soared 26.5% on average in 2021, with 81.2% of retailers surveyed reporting “somewhat more” or “much more” ORC-associated aggression and violence year-over-year, according to the survey.
Of course things are even worse here in 2022, and this is particularly true in states where shoplifting laws are very soft.
For example, in Portland some stores are often victimized “more than once a day”…
Some of the hot items are perfumes and expensive handbags. Often, stores are victimized daily and sometimes more than once a day. A local pastor whose window looks out on the local Nike store says he sees thieves running out of the store with their arms full of stolen stuff all the time. And the excellent KGW-TV story makes the point that this stolen stuff is not to feed hungry children. It is organized theft. The stuff gets sold online and in flea markets.
Needless to say, it is almost impossible to run a profitable business in such an environment, and many store owners are throwing in the towel.
In recent days, one store owner in Portland made headline news all over the nation by posting a note that explained exactly why the store is being closed… --->READ MORE HERE
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