Shoplifters drive up costs for law-abiding shoppers, and store policies tend to be stacked in favor of thieves, according to a UPI analysis that reports 92 percent of retailers were victimized in 2009.
Retailers discourage and often ban employees from stopping suspected shoplifters for fear of sullying the company image or putting employees in a position to be harmed and sue the company. Even when security guards catch shoplifters, companies often refuse to prosecute due to the cost.
From the story:
“Personally, I feel like the laws are made just to protect them,” said Jen [redacted], assistant manager of Arden B. in the Palm Beach Gardens Mall. “It’s not really for us.”According to the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting has become one of the most prevalent crimes in the U.S, averaging about 550,000 incidents per day, and more than $13 billion in merchandise stolen from retailers each year.
What most people don’t realize is the impact shoplifting has on honest consumers. Many retail companies do not want to pay for the cost of prosecution after an arrest. Instead, they raise their prices to compensate for losses.
If you’ve worked retail, did you ever try to stop a thief?
Retail stores’ policies benefit shoplifters [UPI]
(Thanks, Aram!)
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alot of stores do have silent prosecutions. all video is recorded, and sent to detectives.
but what proof does the thief have of any assault, maybe they “fell”, and i doubt they have any witness if they “tripped” while running out with stuffs
on the other hand, the store does have credible taped recording
which do you think would hold up in court ?
common practice to stop people from stealing.
fire half of your staff and put more of the remaining workers stacking boxes in the back or working the registers, leaving very few people to catch the man or woman in the electronics department pocketing headphones.
then to improve your stores image, put everything behind glass cases so customers cant touch them and have to call a worker to come over and open the case (keeping in mind that due to the cutbacks, you may end up waiting a very long time for a worker to come)
then because of the cutting back on staff, you have to join a really long line because out of like 10 lanes, only 4 are opened.
then when you finally pay for your item, you have to join another line because people are lined up at the door waiting for their receipts to be checked. then due to this hassle less people shop at your store and because you now have less customers, instead of removing the annoying factors, they instead increase prices to make up for lost customers which further reduces customers and the downward spiral to going out of business takes place.
No, you don’t ever try to stop a thief. The thief could have a gun or a knife or he could be high or desperate. I’m sick of this blog acting like you’re all supermen. You think your big scary manly bodies could stop a bullet to your brain? Is your life worth a $20 cd?