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NEWS > BUSINESS > AMERICAN RETAILERS SET SHOPLIFTING RECORD OVER CHRISTMAS SEASON
AMERICAN RETAILERS SET SHOPLIFTING RECORD OVER CHRISTMAS SEASON
December 28 2011
Washington, D.C. – People steal, it’s the way people are. Some people just like to steal, they get a rush, but others, particularly in a rough economy, feel a greater need to steal, and this season they did it in record numbers.
Up six percent from last year, American retailers have reported $1.8 billion in merchandise lifted from stores during the four weeks leading up to Christmas. That number is a record high for the retail industry, just nudging past the 2009 numbers. The numbers included primarily shoplifting by customers, but employee theft and other crimes are expected the overall losses even higher.
Many retailers had expected lower numbers this season, but a last minute rush helped the sticky fingers push the numbers to the new record.
“It’s been a hectic season. We’ve had a much stronger season in terms of sales than the last few years and that has meant an increase in theft as well. While theft is not exactly what we want, obviously, it does show that people are out there in the stores looking for things, which is something that was 
really a problem the last few years,” said a spokesperson for the National Retail Federation. “While we would prefer people to pay for the items they take out of the store, we are still pleased that more goods exited our stores nationwide than in the last few years, whether by hook or by crook. That speaks well to the health of the retail industry as a whole and once we can get more people paying, we will be in great shape.”
Overall losses for retailers, which also include things like vendor theft and mistakes by cashiers, are expected to top $5 billion this year, again a record.
About 36 percent of losses are expected to be external, which is in line with the average.
“This is really great news for retail. Well, not great news but news nonetheless. It’s hard to think of people taking things without paying for them as great news, but it does mean that people are out in the stores. That the appetite for stuff is still there. That means that once 
the jobs start coming back people will start to buy again. That was a real concern, that at the end of this people would just not care as much about buying stuff they don’t need, but that doesn’t appear to be the case,” said Scrape TV Business analyst Ken Green. “It has to be encouraging for both retailers and manufacturers. They will lose some people who just get used to stealing, but it shows that not everything is a write-off which was a real concern.”
Unemployment numbers dipped across the country earlier in the month.
“It shows that people still like stuff they don’t need. Now they are willing to steal it, but once they have jobs again they will start buying it and that is good for the long term health of the industry. Some will continue to steal, but mostly kids who don’t have all that much cash anyways,” continued Green. “It’s a bad thing in the short term, but in the long run it’s going to be great that people are continuing to steal like crazy. Hopefully next year will be even better.”
Most of the stuff stolen was junk that would have been on sale in the New Year anyways.
William Ashford, Business Correspondent
NEWS > BUSINESS > AMERICAN RETAILERS SET SHOPLIFTING RECORD OVER CHRISTMAS SEASON
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