Posted on 09/26/2023 1:15:52 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Retailers reported losing a record $112.1 billion to inventory shrink in 2022, according to the National Retail Federation's annual Retail Security Survey, published Tuesday.
External theft was the largest contributing factor to shrink, followed by theft by employees. Combined, the two categories of theft account for roughly two-thirds of total shrink.
While the total losses are roughly $18 billion higher than the prior record of $94 billion in 2021, shrink as a percentage of sales ticked back up to 1.6% after it dipped to 1.4% in 2021.
In other words, the problem is still in line with historical norms relative to revenues, at least in financial terms.
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Recent analysis has suggested that theft has played a smaller role in squeezing retailers' profit margins than some have blamed it for.
But in a significant shift, more than two-thirds of respondents said they were seeing higher levels of violence and aggression from retail criminals than in prior years.
For example, Target CEO Brian Cornell noted in August that shoplifting incidents with violence or threats of violence had more than doubled since January.
"Retailers are seeing unprecedented levels of theft coupled with rampant crime in their stores, and the situation is only becoming more dire," NRF's head of asset protection and retail operations, David Johnston, said in the report.
"Far beyond the financial impact of these crimes, the violence and concerns over safety continue to be the priority for all retailers, regardless of size or category," he added.
Nearly half of survey respondents said they reduced specific stores' operating hours in response to retail crime, while 28% reported closing specific stores altogether.
Some of the products most commonly stolen by organized retail crime groups include alcohol, branded athletic shoes, infant formula, and shaving products, the report found.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
It’s mostly reparations.
And it’s endless.
Sharing the wealth. The rest of us pay for it.
Like Ukraine and climate change costs, put it on the bill for the people. Higher prices coming.
Increased costs are easier to fold in during inflationary periods. That happened before some years ago, to save some bosses who mismanaged. Mid to late 1970s for example.
“In other words, the problem is still in line with historical norms relative to revenues.”
besides being on par w spitting in an ocean-
In other words, Bidenomics and mass exodus fr these cities is to blame.
The dems sent a clear message in 2020: looting stores will not be punished. Then they allowed theft up to $950 in their cities.
The street thugs understood the message: it’s OK for them to steal. They’d be helping the dems eliminate private property and turn this country into a communist “paradise.”
It doesn’t cost retailers - it costs CONSUMERS.
The cost is simply passed on
That happened in 2014.
Small businesses may not survive.
This is part of the reason for rising prices. That's why it isn't affecting their profit margins, they just pass cost along to the consumer.
‘The cost is simply passed on”
112 billion divided by 112 million households is 1,000 dollars per household . Even in Washington that’s real money
“Inventory Shrink?”
Orwellian “IngSoc” is alive and well!
Which is Marxism.
It’s all part of the plan to turn America into a Marxist banana republic.
The company management also passes the cost of theft onto employees. Management doesn't want to raise prices and chase customers away, nor does management want to decrease the return to investors, so employees are compensated less to make up for the losses.
As employees leave, management is forced to raise prices to offset theft. As customers go elsewhere, the store goes into decline, closing if necessary.
https://www.deadmalls.com/
Meanwhile, Amazon and stores with membership requirements retain a significant advantage against stores in high-theft areas.
Because the retailers allow it to happen.
Or just be like Home Depot and do a $15 billion stock buyback to artificially inflated your stock price.
They should all be proud to support minority owned small businesses with this merchandise...
Yes, I think retailers call it shrinkage. The combination of shoplifting and employees throwing stuff off the truck or slipping it out the backdoor to their accomplices waiting there.
For that amount of shrinkage the US has spent A HELLOVA lot of time in the pool!
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