Shoplifting is a crime and occurs when someone steals merchandise offered for sale in a retail store. To commit shoplifting one must "intend" to permanently deprive the merchant of the value of the merchandise. Shoplifting most often occurs by concealing merchandise in a purse, pocket, or bag, but can occur by a variety of methods.
Most shoplifters are amateurs. However, there are growing numbers of people who make their living by stealing from retail stores. Amateur shoplifters can be highly skilled, and some steal almost every day, but don't do it to make a living. Most amateurs are opportunistic, crude in their methods, and are detected more often than others. Professional shoplifters run the gamut from being highly skilled to thug-like. Some professionals work in teams or use elaborate distraction scenarios. The crude professionals sometimes use force and fear much like gang intimidation and often commit grab-and-run thefts. Being a professional means that they steal merchandise for a living, and like other trades, practice makes perfect. Thoughtful professionals are very difficult to stop in a society where retail stores openly display their merchandise.
Shoplifters come in all shapes and sizes, ages and sexes, and vary in ethnic background, education, and economic status. Some shoplifters steal for the excitement, some steal out of desire, some steal for need, some steal out of peer pressure, and some steal because it is simply a business transaction to them. Some shoplifters are compulsive, some opportunistic, and some are mentally ill and don't know any better. Some shoplifters are desperate from drug addiction, alcoholism, or from living on the street. Children and elderly persons sometime steal without realizing they are committing a crime. Most shoplifters try to rationalize their crime by thinking the large retailer can afford the loss.
In urban cities, it is not unusual to find a network of fences that send out teams of shoplifters into specific retail stores to shoplift specific items, much like filling an order for a customer. These fences only pay 10-20p on the pound to the thieves, but sometimes pay their room, board, and provide training on how to steal and defeat the anti-theft technology. Some fences have been known to bail their workers out of jail when caught or provide for their legal defense. This creates a kind of strange street loyalty much like the tale of Oliver Twist.
Shoplifting Prevention
To combat these losses, retailers have had to take sometimes extreme measures to control shoplifting. Most large retailers employ plain-clothes floor detectives to observe customers as they shop. Many shoplifters are detained and arrested for their indiscretions.Plain-clothes floor detectives alone are not enough of a deterrent because they are seemingly invisible. Many stores use video surveillance cameras and electronic article surveillance (EAS) devices attached to their products that cause alarms to go off if not deactivated by the cashier. Others secure expensive and high theft items like small leather items, perfume, cosmetics, tools, liquor, or cigarettes in locked enclosures. Other retailers use cables or hanger locks that require the assistance of a sales associate to unlock the expensive item of clothing before you can inspect it.
It is important for us to know these facts and be patient with stores that try to control their losses due to theft. It can be annoying when a store sales associate has to first count your items before you enter and after you exit the fitting room. It can be annoying when the item you wish to try on has an electronic security device attached to it and sometimes spoils the look of the item. It can be annoying when a sales associate appears to be "dogging" you within the department, seeming to watch your every move. If any or all of these tactics make you feel uncomfortable, imagine how the shoplifter feels. Shoplifters want product accessibility, privacy, and prefer stores with few anti-theft methods in place. It is unfortunate, but anti-theft procedures sometimes affect the shopping experience for all of us, especially if applied thoughtlessly.
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