The problem is bad management.
Posted on 10/28/2023 2:01:58 PM PDT by ransomnote
Retailers say theft is exploding, and some data from retailers along with numerous videos of violent store robberies and looting seem to support the claim.
But some retail analysts and researchers, bolstered by local crime statistics, say stores may be over-stating the extent and impact of theft. Why? It’s a useful deflection, camouflaging weak demand, mismanagement and other issues denting business right now. And it forces lawmakers to respond.
Across the country, the “actual increase in rates of theft” at stores does not “correspond to the increase in company commentary and actions” on theft, according to a new report by retail analysts at William Blair.
SNIP
But a host of other issues, from inflation to rising costs, are impacting retailers, too. Theft is just one of many structural issues chains are facing, most notably the shift to online shopping and over-expansion of brick-and-mortar retail.
“Companies are also likely using the opportunity to draw attention away” from lower profit margins due to higher promotions and poor inventory planning in recent quarters, William Blair retail analysts Dylan Carden and Phillip Blee said in a report this week. Many retailers misjudged how much merchandise they needed to carry and now have a glut.
SNIP
Alex Vitale, a professor of sociology at Brooklyn College who studies policing, said business leaders had turned retail theft into a “moral panic” to mobilize a stronger police and criminal justice response.
“It shows us the way certain crimes in certain moments get mobilized far beyond their impact to play into a set of political and social debates,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Sure. The lack of theft explains why all the big chain stores are closing their stores in high-crime areas.
The problem is bad management.
Who do you believe, CNN or your lying eyes?
Where did the explosion of brazen mass retail theft videos come from? Chinese fakery designed to divide and demoralize us, no doubt…
Ok. Two words. White privilege.
CNN: Don’t believe your lying eyes ...or cameras, or facts. Soros “crime is fine/any time/shut up and enjoy it” policies have been a huge success! Business is crime so stealing from business is good. So what if all the stores go broke and close?
Speaking of closing up shop, CNN forced to shut down its Atlanta flagship headquarters after someone stole all their viewers.
ransomnote knows, just sharing the CNN foolishness.... :)
“I see no reason why retailers would cover up any of the issues mentioned.”
I agree, in fact it’s FAR EASIER to say that the problems are otherwise (too much expansion, overfilled inventories, etc.) than to blame it on the Amish (or at least implying such), as blaming it on the Amish gets you into trouble with the ‘civil rights movement’.
Pundits like to use the euphemism ‘shrinkage’ to hide the ferals’ behavior.
You don’t even need to read it. Once I see it is from CNN I already know what follows is going to be lies and spin.
But Joe is the most popular president in history! /sarc 81 million votes! /sarc
Theft is more covert. Looting is more brazen. Chains have tolerated mass looting for too long. Taking is wrong either way but there is little to answer for. Stores don’t press charges or little punishment is ever enforced.
What’s to discourage this stuff?
Hope the CNN apologists get to know the local criminal element first hand on the way to their luxury EV cars. Up close and personal. Crime exists. Unlike the myth of journalistic honesty at CNN.
“It shows us the way certain crimes in certain moments get mobilized far beyond their impact to play into a set of political and social debates,” he said.
Is this about gun control ?
My bad. :-) LOL
Yep. And when stores put all their merchandise behind locked doors, or only show pictures of items, they are not doing that as a “ruse”. Retail profit margins are not that high. It’s highly competitive. It doesn’t take much of an increase in shrinkage to cause them to lose money.
No idea. But apparently the term "mobilized" is a new buzzword we need to decipher.
“It shows us the way certain crimes in certain moments get mobilized far beyond their impact to play into a set of political and social debates,” he said.
And it shows how certain self-appointed experts in certain fields will blather on about how very astute they are about observing and encapsulating their latest theory.
But frankly, I agree that theft, while nearing rampant proportions in retail stores is not the full explanation for how these large chains are doing. There is also an effect on employees, eg; ‘..if I’m showing up every day trying to a decent job and any old (or young) shtunk can waltz in and steal stuff and management can’t do anything about it, then why should I try so hard”. Yes, it’s societal. Let’s have a political and social debate, shall we?
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