Shoplifting has been on the rise in the US for the past five years, with organized criminal rings targeting stores everywhere from Woonsocket (Rhode Island) to Greensboro (North Carolina) to Grafton (Wisconsin). The National Retail Federation reported that store losses mounted from $453,940 per $1 billion in sales in 2015 to $719,458 in 2020. The biggest increase over that period happened not during the pandemic but in 2019, when total losses from shoplifting surged to $61 billion, up from $50 billion the previous year . Nearly two-thirds of the retailers surveyed by the National Retail Federation said that violence associated with store thefts has risen, led by organized gangs that resell the goods they steal.
The unintended consequences of government policies have also contributed to the problem. For instance, California’s Proposition 47 boosted the felony threshold for shoplifting from $450 of merchandise to $950. Soon after it passed, retailers in California began reporting a sharp uptick in retail theft, often in plain view of helpless store personnel and distressed customers. What has received far less attention, however, is the fact that California’s Prop. 47 was not an outlier among states. In the past 10 years, nearly half of all states have boosted their thresholds for retail felony theft. Thirty-eight states now don’t consider shoplifting a felony unless $1,000 or more of merchandise gets stolen.
To address this issue, retailers and law-enforcement officials have called for deterrents and accountability. Some measures that can be taken include:
Increasing police presence and patrols around stores.
Installing security cameras and alarms.
Training employees to identify and report suspicious behavior.
Implementing stricter penalties for shoplifters.
Encouraging community involvement through neighborhood watch programs.
It’s important to note that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this problem. However, by working together and implementing a combination of these measures, we can help reduce shoplifting incidents and make our communities safer.
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