Shoplifting has become a contentious topic in the US lately. Viral videos of audacious shoplifters, such as the “flash mob” that ransacked a Southern California Nordstrom in August, have brought claims that retail theft is out of control and even a suggestion from the likely Republican presidential nominee that police should start shooting shoplifters. Retailers have repeatedly cited shoplifting as a reason for closing stores, and the National Retail Federation threw fuel on the fire last year with the eye-catching claim — since retracted — that 50% of the inventory losses referred to as “shrink” were due to organized retail crime. (It’s probably around 5%.)

In reaction, there’s been a profusion of media explainers with headlines such as “The Murky Shoplifting Narrative,” “What America’s shoplifting panic is really about,” “Behind the Shoplifting Panic,” “The shoplifting scare might not have been real — but its effects are” and “How the retail lobby sold a $45-billion whopper about organized shoplifting,” as well as assertions by prominent left-of-center social media voices that the shoplifting scare was “all propaganda” that “they’ve now admitted was fake.”

QOSHE - Shoplifting Anxiety Is Based in Reality in Some Big Cities - Justin Fox
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Shoplifting Anxiety Is Based in Reality in Some Big Cities

6 1
26.01.2024

Shoplifting has become a contentious topic in the US lately. Viral videos of audacious shoplifters, such as the “flash mob” that ransacked a Southern California Nordstrom in August, have brought claims that retail theft is out of control and even a suggestion from the likely Republican presidential........

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