Effects of Shoplifting on a Business

What is Shoplifting?

What is shoplifting? Shoplifting is common crime that occurs when someone steals merchandise offered for sale from a retail store. In order to be charged with shoplifting, the person must intend to permanently take an item for sale.

Retail stores lose about 13 billion dollars per year due to shoplifting. The growth of shoplifting is on the rise. When the economy drops, shoplifting rises. Most shoplifters are amateurs, but more and more people are making a living being a professional shoplifter. Some shoplifters work in teams to distract the workers, and other just perform a “grab and run”. A “grab and run” is when a person takes merchandise and attempts to run away with it. There are so many techniques to shoplifting that many people use to make a living. Unfortunately it affects many businesses around the world because they are losing money and value.

Shoplifter’s Perspective

Many people say that shoplifting is wrong, and that it needs to stop. I do agree with that, but let’s face it; people aren’t going to stop shoplifting just because it is wrong. I am sure the shoplifters can distinguish right from wrong, but when they need to make a living, shoplifting is a necessity. Sometimes, people can’t get a job in this economy, so therefore they resort to stealing. In addition, the problem with preventing shoplifting is that it can be very easy. Therefore, the responsibility to prevent shoplifting needs to be placed in the hands of the business.

Business Owner’s Perspective

Shoplifting can be easy because businesses can’t afford to hire employees if their business is doing poorly, therefore there are fewer employees to monitor and keep track of customers coming in and out of stores. Another problem with shoplifting

Businesses need to find ways to make sure shoplifters can’t walk out of the store without paying. They could possibly add more cameras, or maybe push their budget for more employees. I know most businesses can’t afford to hire more employees, but in the long run, each business will be in good shape because they haven’t lost a lot of money to shoplifters.

One problem that may occur with hiring more employees could include the employees. One scary thought that hurts businesses is that employees steal eight times as much as a regular shoplifter would. Now this introduces another problem, do you hire more employees to protect your store? Doesn’t hiring more employees increase the risk of shoplifting? In a way hiring more employees could hurt your business even more since employees steal eight times as much as a shoplifter. But not all employees steal, therefore you have to be very careful when hiring and monitoring your employees.

My Perspective

There will never be a perfect solution to shoplifting prevention, but trying to keep your store from losing as much items as possible is the key. Here are some key points to prevent shoplifting from being a major problem in your business.

First you need to make sure that no outsiders can steal from your business. Therefore, you need to hire more employees and add more technology (i.e. cameras) to monitor customers. By doing this, a owner is eliminating the high risk of a professional shoplifting from stealing from their store. Now that no outsider can take from your business, it is time to monitor the other risk, the employees. A business owner needs to learn how to monitor the employees. Since employees are more likely to steal from a store, monitoring the employees is extremely vital to a business. I believe the owner should choose their employees wisely and then keep track of what employees do during a certain time. When interviewing an employee, it is important to make sure you are hiring a top quality worker. Now some employees may be misleading, so sometimes an employee a business hires might steal. In this case, here comes the importance of monitoring the employees. A business needs to have a system where the owner can know where and what every employee is doing at any given time while working. As long as the cameras are never off, an employee can be spotted at anytime throughout the store. This can prevent an employee from walking out of the store after work with items. Although money may be a issue, it is important to prevent customers from stealing from your business. In conclusion, a business is responsibility for preventing shoplifting, rather than hoping that shoplifters stop themselves.