Shoplifting is a social problem whose effects are felt by each and every one of us. We feel it on an economic, personal and professional level. All of us know someone who shoplifts, whether we are aware of it or not. Men and women shoplift equally. Shoplifters come from every income bracket and social class.
About 1 in 11 persons shoplifts resulting in a loss to retailers of $35 million every day. These shoplifters steal between $2 to $200 per incident. The cost of that loss is passed on the customer resulting in higher prices and a more difficult shopping experience.
Only about 3 percent of shoplifters are professionals. The vast majority are nonprofessional shoplifters who steal as a response to experiencing stress in their personal life. According to the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention, "Shoplifting is clearly a psychological issue for many people. Shoplifting for most individuals is rarely about greed or poverty. It's about people struggling with their own personal conflicts and needs." These people are most likely to steal during the holidays, around their birthday and when they are having problems at work or at home.
What effect does this have on the rest of us?
Our police and court systems are overburdened with the sheer number of cases piling up daily.
Our community loses the benefit of sales tax from stolen goods. The store loses the income they would have earned from the stolen item. Each one of us pays higher prices to offset the loss of profits and to pay for additional security personnel, monitoring equipment and anti-theft devices.
The entire shopping experience becomes more frustrating and stressful. Clothing is tied up with plastic cables and alarms. We are limited to how many items we can take into the fitting room. The fitting room doors are locked. We must try on clothes while strangers watch us on hidden video cameras. We must find an employee to open up high-theft items that are locked inside a glass cabinet.
We suffer on a personal level when we lose trust in each other. An employee who discovers that an item has been stolen from her store often feels violated. Being violated causes to one to lose trust. Store employees follow us closely and watch our every move, making us feel guilty even when we are innocent. As there is no 'look' of a shoplifter there is no way to easily identify who will steal and who will not. Shoplifters often pay for one items at the time they are stealing another, so a trip to the cash register isn't enough to mark one as 'not a shoplifter.' As a result, a store clerk must view her customers as "Guilty until proven innocent."
Shoplifting, like binge drinking, doing drugs and over-eating, is a symptom of a person's inability to handle stress in their lives. We all recognize the importance of dealing with the latter three. It's time we tackle this social issue as well. Just as the problem impacts us all, so will the solution.
Information and statistics provided by the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (NASP), a non-profit organization; www.shopliftingprevention.org