What comes to mind when you hear the word “shoplifting”? Mobs of looters? Starving migrants who clean out supermarkets? The hundreds of drug and other stores that have been forced to shut down because of theft? Certainly these are a part of the problem, but there’s another side to it that is often ignored: the numerous people who have good jobs and walk around with money in their pockets, and yet shoplift regularly. This is a very complicated issue.
And Other Reasons
There are so many reasons shoplifting has become so widespread a problem. In some cases, kids fall in with the wrong crowd, decide to shoplift on a dare or a bet, and the experience becomes habit forming. In other cases, it’s an impulse decision, done for the excitement of seeing whether they can get away with it, or to sell the stolen items to generate cash.
Whatever the reason(s), this crime has become so common that now it’s almost part of the culture. Charles, for example (name changed), knows all about this. He began his career in pilfering in his teens, along with friends, by “lifting” cans of beer. The habit escalated from there and really took off when, as he explained to Business Insider, “self checkout silliness made it easier to buy a few things, phantom swipe the rest, and walk out of Walmart with a huge amount of garbage.”
Walmart was not his only victim. When in his early twenties, he walked out of Target with a chair. He frequently snatches small items at drugstores. And one of his favorite places to steal from is Whole Foods.
Charles estimates that he “saves” around $1,000 a year by shoplifting, and adds that as a “white dude” he is often above suspicion. And he never has any regrets, especially when he shoplifts from Whole Foods and other stores like it. That’s because Amazon purchased it in 2017 and billionaire Jeff Bezos, one of the world’s wealthiest people, is Amazon’s largest shareholder. “Whole Foods is run by a guy (Bezos) who (recently) shot himself into space,” he said. “Nobody is being hurt by stealing from him.”
At one time, crimes like snatching a few items in a store may have been dismissed as the foolishness of youth or kleptomania. But that doesn’t explain why now, in his thirties and employed in a respectable position, Charles and a surprisingly large number of people like him still shoplift frequently. Nor does it explain the most recent statistics available, which reveal that in 2022, shoplifting cost retailers more than $112 billion.
According to Lending Tree, one in five Americans have shoplifted at some point. Capital One Shopping says 52% of shoplifters get away with their crime.
It’s A Steal
Retailers are quick to blame organized mobs for their theft problems, although the numerous individuals like Charles also are part of them. They steal when they feel like it, not because they need to or can’t afford the things they snatch.
The thieves are “Your normal, everyday person, doesn’t matter gender or age, who see an opportunity and think ‘I bet I could steal that and nobody would know,’” loss prevention professional Joshua Jacobson told Business Insider. “They’re like a giant-organized mob, they just don’t know each other.” Jacobson has worked for half a dozen major retailers over the past decade.
Although most people believe shoplifting is wrong for obvious financial and moral reasons, not everyone does. In fact, some people see nothing immoral at all about it. Of course, retailers (and their shareholders) hold a very different view, and in an effort to limit theft, are forced to display their more valuable and their smaller items in locked glass enclosures.
For Other Reasons
Looting and rioting sometimes break out following major sports events and other events. For example, following Hurricanes Helene and Milton, numerous stores were cleaned out. Angry mobs protesting the war in Gaza also looted stores around the country. Just a few weeks ago, many LA residents celebrating the Dodgers winning the World Series chose to riot, loot, and throw fireworks at cops.
A Nike store, anticipating the possibility of looting, decided to board up just in case. Their preparations did not help. Thugs broke in and were subsequently photographed carrying out merchandise and throwing it into cars.
On the bottom line, our understanding of shoplifting still leaves a lot to be explained, even though there are countless videos of shoppers who have succumbed to the urge. It’s also not clear what percentage of all this theft may be organized and how much is a result of drug, other addictions, or mental illness.
The problem goes beyond even this. “Shrink,” industry jargon for inventory that goes missing, is sometimes caused by employee theft. But it is also caused by mismanagement, and things that simply get lost in the hectic pace of constantly having to restock merchandise that keeps arriving throughout the day.
“Understanding just how much is stolen by ordinary people is hard to know,” reports Business Insider.
Many Motives
In an effort to learn more about why so many people get caught up in this crime, Business Insider spoke with nearly a dozen retail shoplifters, retail analysts, and loss prevention experts. Their conclusion was surprising: Lots of people shoplift at least occasionally. Motivations vary, but extreme financial pressure is rarely one of them.
Curiously, people seem to decide for themselves when pinching goods is justified. For example, some may feel it’s okay to steal if the boss is very wealthy and will hardly notice the loss, is despised and has it coming, or has been very unfair to them; in that case, the employee feels he or she is only taking what is rightfully theirs.
Pilfering has been around for ages, and directly and/or indirectly has cost untold billions in losses. In some cases, businesses that were barely holding on were forced to close, and with them family hopes and dreams. When individuals decide for themselves that certain theft is not only justified but moral, it’s a step towards mass chaos. If only there were some way to stop this madness before it spirals even further out of control,
Sources: bloomberg.com; businessinsider.com; economiccollapseblog.com; zerohedge.com
Gerald Harris is a financial and feature writer. Gerald can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
