Topic > The Effects of Shoplifting on the Community and Retailers

Shoplifting occurs when an individual takes goods from an open business without paying for them. Shoplifting, in most cases, involves hiding the item in the store (hiding it in clothing, bags, strollers, etc.). Shoplifting is not the same as burglary or robbery, each of these is different, burglary is the act of breaking into a locked shop or house and robbery is the act of stealing an item with aggressive and threatening behavior. Shoplifting falls into the category of theft. Shoplifting is illegal and your sentence depends on the severity of the charges. In Virginia, less than $199 is a misdemeanor, but more than $200 is a felony. Shoplifting not only affects the offender, but also stores because it increases store security expenses, costs consumers more for merchandise, gives police more work to do, and affects children and families. Today in the United States there are 27 million shoplifters (1 in 11 people) and about 10 million are arrested because of it. 75% of shoplifters are adults and 25% are children. Most adults admitted that they began shoplifting when they were teenagers. I went to three different stores and interviewed managers and keyholders about how shoplifting affects their store, their employees, and themselves. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The first person I interviewed was the Nike store manager, Dale. I asked her if anyone has tried to steal anything and she said that every day there is at least one person trying to steal from her in the store, this was surprising to hear considering stores like Walmart catch 2-3 shoplifters every week. She was later asked what consequences it would have on the employees and she said that nothing would happen to the employees, but if they were caught they would most likely be fired, this was understandable as the employees cannot be blamed for what was stolen , but many stores fire some employees due to shoplifting. Then I asked her how this affects her as a manager and she said she feels it's her fault and then I asked her how this affects the store and she responded by saying the store loses a lot of money forcing them to spend more on security , which adds to how stores here in America lose $25 million every day to shoplifting. I asked how they could prevent this from happening in the future, she responded by saying, "With premium customer service", which I didn't really understand what that meant, but then she said with more regular checks on customers. My second interview was with Eva, the manager/key holder of PacSun, an urban streetwear store. I asked her the same questions I asked the first person I interviewed. First I asked how often shoplifting happens and she said that every shift she found at least 2-3 warning tags thrown on the floor scattered around the store, which meant that whoever had taken the goods had stolen them. Then I asked her how this would affect her as a director and she said she really didn't know since it all depends on what position you are in. After that, I asked how this would affect the store employees and she said this wouldn't affect the employee unless he was the one who stole something. I asked how this would affect the store and she said the store would lose a lot of money and it would make the company look bad, which is understandable as this could affecton the shop's activity. I finally asked how they could stop this from happening and she said they would screen customers, check bags after purchase, more ink and warning labels, and more security cameras. The last people I interviewed were Target's manager and head of security and they didn't answer most of my questions because that could affect Target's business and things like that, it was understandable. I asked how often shoplifting happens and they said they couldn't answer, so I asked what effect it would have on the employees and the manager said they would most likely be fired, which was strange since they didn't really have any other consequences for employees. I then asked how this would affect the store and they just chose not to answer the question, so I asked how this would affect the store manager and they said it wouldn't really affect the manager, but it would affect the boss of that department since Target separates everything into departments. I asked how they could prevent this from happening and they told me I would just get some staff, but then I asked if there was anything else they would use, but they just told me it was private business and ended the interview. It didn't go as smoothly as I wanted, but I still got some information out of it. Finally, I read all the answers and noticed how most of them have similar answers. The last security question had the most common answer with more regular checks and more alarms, but I started doing some research and these two methods aren't all that effective. The least effective method is to use visible cameras followed by ink labels and alarm labels. The most effective security methods are hidden cameras and observation booths. There are other very good devices on the market right now, including this new sensor on all Apple phones that can detect when someone is trying to steal something by using a small motion detector in the device, which looks for certain movements and reads your heart rate of the person. Another device made was entry sensors that can see through aluminum bags that some people might use to hide stolen goods. Shoplifting costs stores millions of dollars every day, and more than $13 billion in goods are stolen from retailers every year. Shoplifting not only causes the store to pay for stolen items, but also has to spend more money on security. This could also harm the company's business because if people found out about the problem they would all react negatively. Shoplifting also affects consumers and the community. Because of shoplifting, consumers are expected to pay higher prices, prompting them to stop shopping there, causing the community to lose a store. This not only affects the community when it comes to shopping, but also transportation because people would have to travel long distances to buy the same products at a cheaper price, wasting gas and also the car would be used more making it cheaper. weaker over time. If a community has a high rate of shoplifting, this could cause some retailers to move out of the area, affecting people in the community because they just lost a store in their area forcing them to look for another store that has what they need. they need. Furthermore, shoplifting costs the community time to find a solution to the problem, and parents should enforce stricter rules for their children. The.