Work/Life/ Retail Retail crime has been trending down for years
By Rosie Padilla
H ave the countless headlines in recent months fomenting alarm about a retail crime wave sweeping the U.S. been, er… lifted from bad data? That’s the case regarding at least one influential report from the National Retail Foundation (NRF), which claimed in its April 2023 survey that around $45 billion in merchandise had been lost to U.S. retailers the prior year due to organized retail crime
What merchandise is most-frequently targeted by retail thieves? According to data from NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, these are shoplifting’s Fab Four: Alcohol 37% Retail theft greatest hits
Clothing/footwear 22% Food and beverages 15% Perfume/cosmetics 12%
(ORC). But in November, trade publication Retail Drive called out the data as faulty—and on Dec. 1 the NRF revised its report, conceding the data was inaccurate. The problem? It’s more likely that $45 billion amount reflected the overall inventory loss, or “shrink”—not necessarily all of it from theft. Shrink is often used interchangeably with the term theft, but the NRF says shrink more directly refers to all lost inventory for retailers— including administrative errors such as inaccurate inventory costs, accounting errors, incorrect pricing, paperwork mismanagement, E-commerce fraud and inventory damage. The NRF’s mistake could be chalked up to something along the lines of the old game of Telephone—their report possibly stemmed from 2021 testimony before U.S. Congress, when retail analyst Ben Dugan mischaracterized the $45 billion as retail loss from theft; and he may have gotten his info from a 2016 retail trade group survey which reported that amount more accurately as overall shrink. The good news: While there remain pressing issues about organized retail crime—a kind of professional shoplifting run by crime rings, including smash-and-grab, truckjacking and cargo theft—overall shoplifting incidents in major cities have fallen 7% since 2019, according to the Council on Criminal Justice, with notable exceptions in New York City and Los Angeles. Closer to home, the San Francisco Police Department was recently awarded a $15.3 million grant to crack down on organized retail theft and the SF District Attorney’s Office received a $2 million grant to help prosecute ORT.
Note: While swiping any and all booze is popular among thieves, particular favorites are bourbon, whiskey and vodka, according to the NSW
February 2024
NorthBaybiz 15
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