[Jaepa]

Its worth mentioning that this is somewhat a manufactured moral panic.

The Rite-aid referenced in the article cited shoplifting as the reason for closing but provided no numbers & the numbers of reported shoplifting incidents have been pretty much steady. Its worth mentioning that about a year after this happened the company filed Chapter 11.

There is no good data on this, and the data that does exist shows that shoplifting is down from 2019. Its only up it you compare to during the pandemic.

[sct202]

All the crime numbers are trash. In my city the police literally won't enter a case in to the system to even record that something has happened unless you go in person to the precinct or call them repeatedly until you get an officer willing to submit the report, and there's an online system that just auto-rejects anything submitted. And this is for theft like storage unit break-ins, bikes, mail, pick pockets.

[Jaepa]

Yeah the PD numbers seem pretty crap universally¹.

But I was referring to the the self reported shrinkage numbers produced by National Retail Federation shows that shrinkage caused by external theft. Numbers are only slightly up year but are also way way under the 2019 numbers.

1: My wife works in the DV grants field for a while. PD numbers have always been pretty abysmal.

[bonton89]

And that's if you try. Eventually it becomes common knowledge reporting the crime is just a waste of time and most people don't even bother when it happens. This isn't something that will really show in statistics though so it is hard to track.

[Jun8]

AFAIK, this is simply not true. If you talk to any retailer, shrink is the number one problem they mention by far, I was at NRF this January and saw this personally in my interviews with several grocery, pharmacy, and apparel retailers.

Also, when you say "manufactured moral panic", who do you think is manufacturing this? Perhaps the retailers, in order to justify the closing of their lagging stores in bad neighborhoods? If you follow the store closings you see this is not always the case, e.g. the Cotopaxi example I sited in my comment above (https://sgbonline.com/cotopaxi-closes-store-in-san-fransisco...). I can provide many other examples.

[Jaepa]

Shrink is a significant problem. I'm not saying that its not. Its especially an issue when you're already being squeezed by inflation while trying to keep prices low. And year on year numbers are up. But most individuals take on this is vibe based.

According to NRF's numbers both shrinkage & external theft are at not historically high, and are still down from pre-pandemic numbers.

There will be cases like Cotopaxi where a store goes under, but

1. The plural of anecdote is not data. 2. These types violent smash and grabs & resulting closures are not new, they are however going viral.

[gustavus]

I mean cities in California have legalized all shoplifting under $900, which is more than most people's grocery bill. But you're right it's just a moral panic by those darned conservatives trying to push their racism and bigotry by demanding that their society have "laws" and rely on outdated ideas like "criminals" instead of realizing the truth that crime is not a societal problem but rather a daring statement by marginalized groups striking back against their vaguely defined "oppressors".

[Jaepa]

No-one legalized it. Prop 47 was meant to reduce shoplifting under 900(950 actually) from a felony to a misdemeanor. This bring is it rough inline with other states such as Texas (at a cap of $2,500) and North Carolina ($1,000).

Also please don't put words in my mouth, its distasteful.

[TMWNN]

>No-one legalized it. Prop 47 was meant to reduce shoplifting under 900(950 actually) from a felony to a misdemeanor. This bring is it rough inline with other states such as Texas (at a cap of $2,500) and North Carolina ($1,000).

TX and NC don't have DAs that refuse to prosecute misdemeanor shoplifting charges. CA does. That's the important difference, not so much the dollar amount.

[throwaway626]

Michael Hobbes has spent some time debunking the panic articles coming out of mainstream media on this topic.

https://x.com/rottenindenmark/status/1596614556448882688

He also covered an article a while back about a Target in (I believe) Brooklyn allegedly closing because of OCR only to reopen three blocks away. Yep, that’s gonna stop the alleged hordes of roving gangs of shoplifters.

It’s hard to make any conclusive claims without more evidence, but both retailers and police seem reticent to give any hard numbers.