As trade publication Grocery Headquarters wrote, in July, “The most common practice of organized crime rings is a shelf sweep, when a large quantity of high-value items such as razors, teeth whitening strips, and baby formula are taken off the shelf in a short period of time.”
These rings use low-level thieves and turn around and sell the shoplifted razors out of the back of a van, false storefronts, flea markets, and, most notably, on the Internet. With razors, even the Russian mafia supposedly got in on the action with the Mach 3, operating so-called “razorhead” shoplifting gangs across Germany. While organized retail crime is nothing new, Asher says, the ability to move products online has made felony theft more popular.
Retail stores have responded in kind, with increasingly sophisticated electronic practices. About five years ago, stores started to move razors into locked display cases. But then an honest customer would have to search for some hidden employee and wait interminably as the person moseyed over to open the case. Some stores then streamlined the process, adding call buttons next to the case. Now, Asher says, many stores use cases which allow the customer, with a push of button, to get one pack of razors.
Above all, electronic surveillance within stores is more readily employed now. At Tesco branches in the United Kingdom, for example, the company placed RFID tags in the packaging of razor blades; anyone picking up a pack triggered CCTV surveillance of themselves wherever they went in the store.
Thanks smokingfrog. Who knew? Crime is going up, even in our little town. Just in the past two weeks, there have been several breakins and home invasions. I’ve never seen that around here. The perps are mostly from Pittsburgh, Philly, Erie and Harrisburg and other larger towns.
I wish my local Wal-Mart would install a call button at the sporting goods register. I never can find an “associate” when I want to buy ammo.