ICYMI – Accountants working for retail giant Target just announced that store security watched $400 million walk right out the door in 2022 alone. Liberal Democrat prosecution policies, which decriminalized shoplifting in major cities, had a lot to do with that. They’ll pass that loss on to the honest customers who bother to bring their items through the checkout stands.
A big Target for shoplifting
Target has a hard time justifying their “discount” retailer reputation when they keep raising prices. It’s getting to the point where they may have to close a whole bunch of urban inner-city stores. Especially in places like Los Angeles, New York and Portland.
Crime in those cities is running rampant, thanks to defunded police and Antifa® inspired anarchy. “Organized gangs of shoplifters” have been “systematically stealing merchandise.”
According to CFO Michael Fiddelke, “at Target, year-to-date, incremental shortage has already reduced our gross margin by more than $400 million versus last year.”
#Merchants #SanFrancisco #crime https://t.co/CBbbYKgzFz
— Kilgore Trout (@Kilgore73862013) November 12, 2022
Their accountants “expect it will reduce our gross margin by more than $600 million for the full year.” They will continue to pass those losses along to the consumer for as long as they remain in business.
While shoplifting is nothing new, mass looting is. One Target spokesperson noted that the “shrinkage” which Fiddelke mentioned had a narrowly specific cause. “Organized retail crime.”
Theft has always been a key driver of what merchants call inventory shrinkage. “We know we’re not alone across retail in seeing a trend that I think has gotten increasingly worse over the last 12 to 18 months.”
Taking the right actions
Target swears to investors that they’re “taking the right actions in our stores to help curb that trend where we can.” It isn’t easy and not guaranteed to work. “But that becomes an increasing headwind on our business and we know the business of others.”
Rite Aid was another retailer hit hard by shoplifting. They plan for a $5 million increase in losses in 2022 over the past one.
Shrinkage has a number of causes including “theft, fraud, or administrative errors.” Those have been traditionally managed through store security and accounting controls. The big difference now, for Target and everyone else, is that thieves can’t be prosecuted for stealing less than a certain amount.
#Killer #Tide #Shoplifting #RetailTheft #Californiahttps://t.co/aYO2cJ9fok
— Kilgore Trout (@Kilgore73862013) November 13, 2022
In California, the limit is $950. They can be caught and even arrested but they won’t have to post bail and won’t be prosecuted. After getting caught by one store, they’ll turn around and rob another of the same chain for what they wanted in the first place. Security will often hold the door for them to wheel their cart full of Tide through.
Just like Target, Rite Aid is seeing a spike in organized theft. One of their stores in Hell’s Kitchen, New York, “lost more than $200,000 in stolen merchandise over just a two-month span.”
It closed for good in February. The chain has been bombarded with shoplifters who calmly take “items from shelves in plain view of cameras” and stuff them in their pockets.
