Recession Sparks Global Shoplifting Spree

[Zenos]

Shoplifting isn't just for niggers anymore.

The global recession isn't just making jobs scarce and spending money tighter - it's also turning more people into thieves. According to an annual survey released Tuesday, incidents of shoplifting rose by nearly 6% over the past year, representing nearly $115 billion in losses for businesses. And one of the more surprising findings: a growing number of new shoplifters are outwardly reputable, middle-class people who are walking off with French cheeses, quality meats, cosmetics, mobile phones, clothing and other goodies that they feel they need to maintain a quality of life they can no longer afford. (See pictures of people shopping on Black Friday.)

"People already feeling, or merely anticipating, the negative impact of recession have taken to stealing ... at the very time retailers also suffering from the downturn have had to cut back on security staff," says Joshua Bamfield, director of the Britain-based Center for Retail Research, which documented the findings in its annual Global Retail Theft Barometer. "In addition to the usual criminals, you have lots of newcomers to stealing who figure they don't run much risk at getting caught, won't pay much of a price if they are and justify their action on the hard times we're all facing."

The researchers found that shoplifting - or what's euphemistically known as product "shrinkage" - jumped by 5.9% in the past year at the more than 1,000 retail chains the group surveyed globally. In previous years, the increase only hovered around 1.5% annually. Though the problem was documented across all regions, the steepest increases occurred in North America (8.1%), the Middle East (7.5%) and Europe (4.7%). In terms of total losses, retailers in North America topped the charts at $46 billion, followed by Europe's $44 billion and $17.9 billion in the Asia-Pacific region. In North America and Latin America, store owners and employees were the leading pilferers; in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, it was customers who were swiping the most loot. (See pictures of expensive things that money can buy.)

Though Bamfield says theft by organized criminals for the purposes of resale remains the biggest segment of shoplifting, there's been a noticeable increase in the number of middle-class people stuffing their pockets - people who are not "stealing necessities to keep themselves and their families alive," he adds. Worse still, more than a few of these individuals regard this kind of stealing in the current economic crisis as fully justified, as the researchers discovered through interviews with shoplifters and police.

"Though most thieves rationalize their acts, the current situation has many people feeling the entire system is broken, that politicians are too corrupt or inept to fix it, and that there's nothing wrong with stealing from these big companies and fancy stores that - the thinking goes - are themselves making out like thieves," Bamfield explains. "There's a real perception among many new shoplifters that if you work hard, put money away and play the game, you're asking for someone to come along and rip you off." (See the top 10 financial-crisis buzzwords.)

Of course, the idea that shoplifting is a victimless crime is easier to believe when the prey involved is a faceless business - or better yet, an international retail chain. In reality, however, shoplifting comes back to bite all consumers in the billfold in the same way that higher plane tickets do when airlines face increasing gas prices. Anytime businesses have to absorb a cost, they pass it along to their clients in some form or another. Retailers make up the money lost to shoplifting by marking up the prices of their goods. According to the Center for Retail Research, this ended up costing each U.S. household $436 in the past year and each European household $250. So much for a victimless crime.

But don't expect this to deter the world's swelling ranks of shoplifters. Even if a return to economic growth and job production weakens the rationalization for stealing, Bamfield says many people will likely continue to shoplift out of habit - and because they've gotten away with it for so long. The only way to effectively combat these thieves, he notes, is for retailers to invest in better security and for authorities to treat shoplifting cases not as "individuals stealing $50, $100, $200 worth of goods," but rather as something more serious - part of a $115 billion annual heist.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/2009111...08599193794400

[Jerry Abbott]

Though Bamfield says theft by organized criminals for the purposes of resale remains the biggest segment of shoplifting, there's been a noticeable increase in the number of middle-class people stuffing their pockets - people who are not "stealing necessities to keep themselves and their families alive," he adds. Worse still, more than a few of these individuals regard this kind of stealing in the current economic crisis as fully justified, as the researchers discovered through interviews with shoplifters and police.

"Though most thieves rationalize their acts, the current situation has many people feeling the entire system is broken, that politicians are too corrupt or inept to fix it, and that there's nothing wrong with stealing from these big companies and fancy stores that - the thinking goes - are themselves making out like thieves," Bamfield explains. "There's a real perception among many new shoplifters that if you work hard, put money away and play the game, you're asking for someone to come along and rip you off." (See the top 10 financial-crisis buzzwords.)

Of course, the idea that shoplifting is a victimless crime is easier to believe when the prey involved is a faceless business - or better yet, an international retail chain. In reality, however, shoplifting comes back to bite all consumers in the billfold in the same way that higher plane tickets do when airlines face increasing gas prices. Anytime businesses have to absorb a cost, they pass it along to their clients in some form or another. Retailers make up the money lost to shoplifting by marking up the prices of their goods. According to the Center for Retail Research, this ended up costing each U.S. household $436 in the past year and each European household $250. So much for a victimless crime.

Depend on it. When corporations talk, you only hear half the story.

I'm thinking of the way a can of coffee is only 2/3 full.

I'm thinking of how often I've counted only 32 round crackers inside a cellophane package designed to hold 40, and of how the crackers themselves are made of inferior ingredients (i.e., no more butter, but rather a volatile chemical that smells somewhat similar).

I'm thinking about how, after I drain a can of tuna fish so that what's left is a food product that is only reasonably moist, I discover that more than half of the can's contents had been packing water.

I'm thinking about how loaves of bread are not as long as they once were, nor is a slice of bread as heavy as it used to be (more air holes = less bread, and I've seen slices of bread with air holes so big that half the slice was missing). And while the weight of a bread purchase just keeps going down, the price of some kinds of bread has just gone over $3 per loaf.

I'm thinking of how hot dogs were once made of real beef, but are now made of leftover butcher shop scrap, plus chemicals.

I buy soft drinks regularly, and I've noticed an increase in the frequency of "closed but empty" soda pop cans. They came out of the factory empty, tied with plastic packing ribbon to five other cans in a six-pack, or packaged with 11 other cans in a box of twelve. If you aren't very careful, you'll be cheated by getting one or more of these empty cans.

Last year I had to get my pickup truck tuned up because watered gasoline had caused carbon deposits in my engine.

When you misrepresent to a buyer what you are selling him, you commit fraud. And despite tiny, tiny little lines on the products that say "some settling may occur during shipping" and despite net weight indications (that seem to lessen each year), what many corporate sellers are doing is fraud. Bunko. With every buyer in the population being their captive victims.

Why are corporate directors and stockholders immune from criminal charges? The laws ARE corrupt. The corporations paid to have them corrupted, so that when a buyer steals, essentially cheating a corporate seller, it's a Big Crime, but when the seller cheats the buyer through deception it's not a crime at all.

[Rab4]

Yet another cost of global trade. Looks like the populace is getting a good grip on the thieves in Congress and corps. that get bailout money after costing us jobs. They're wising up.

[N.B. Forrest]

Originally Posted by Jerry Abbott

Depend on it. When corporations talk, you only hear half the story.

I'm thinking of the way a can of coffee is only 2/3 full.

I'm thinking of how often I've counted only 32 round crackers inside a cellophane package designed to hold 40, and of how the crackers themselves are made of inferior ingredients (i.e., no more butter, but rather a volatile chemical that smells somewhat similar).

I'm thinking about how, after I drain a can of tuna fish so that what's left is a food product that is only reasonably moist, I discover that more than half of the can's contents had been packing water.

I'm thinking about how loaves of bread are not as long as they once were, nor is a slice of bread as heavy as it used to be (more air holes = less bread, and I've seen slices of bread with air holes so big that half the slice was missing). And while the weight of a bread purchase just keeps going down, the price of some kinds of bread has just gone over $3 per loaf.

I'm thinking of how hot dogs were once made of real beef, but are now made of leftover butcher shop scrap, plus chemicals.

I buy soft drinks regularly, and I've noticed an increase in the frequency of "closed but empty" soda pop cans. They came out of the factory empty, tied with plastic packing ribbon to five other cans in a six-pack, or packaged with 11 other cans in a box of twelve. If you aren't very careful, you'll be cheated by getting one or more of these empty cans.

Last year I had to get my pickup truck tuned up because watered gasoline had caused carbon deposits in my engine.

When you misrepresent to a buyer what you are selling him, you commit fraud. And despite tiny, tiny little lines on the products that say "some settling may occur during shipping" and despite net weight indications (that seem to lessen each year), what many corporate sellers are doing is fraud. Bunko. With every buyer in the population being their captive victims.

Why are corporate directors and stockholders immune from criminal charges? The laws ARE corrupt. The corporations paid to have them corrupted, so that when a buyer steals, essentially cheating a corporate seller, it's a Big Crime, but when the seller cheats the buyer through deception it's not a crime at all.

A prime example of this "downsizing" is the no-cal sugar substitute Splenda: I buy it regularly, and they've reduced the size of the box of the loose form by at least a third - while of course keeping the price the same.....

[Rick Ronsavelle]

The downsizing is a way to hide inflation. The same price could be charged for a smaller amount. The reduction became part of the butter in the "guns and butter" equation of the Great Society.

The missing stuff is now eaten by International Gookery.
Also a symptom of eating the seed corn (consuming capital).

[8Man]

I think one of the best examples of being 'jewed' when making a purchase is the recent discovery that a LOT of 400oz 'gold' bars are actually just tungsten bars with gold plating.

see: 640,000 GOLD-PLATED TUNGSTEN BARS WENT TO FORT KNOX

[Rick Ronsavelle]

Another example of fractional reserve.