I want no one beaten for stealing from my store. It is however, incredibly frustrating when two dudes in their early twenties casually grab $600 worth of fragrances and walk out at normal speed despite being asked to put it back or pay for it because they know we have a no pursuit policy. Literally my manager told them to stop and they just laughed and said no. Or the girl who ran in with a garbage bag, filled it with $800 of razor blades and ran out. There needs to be something we can do. Most of the stolen stuff is resold online, it's not that these people are just down on their luck.
It costs $50,000 to have a security guard and that isn't going to drop my theft by more than maybe $15,000.
On the flip side, one of the top 5 most shoplifted items in most retailers who carry it is baby food. The margins are usually around 5% or less, so it's not like the retailers are ripping people off but that's clearly an affordability issue. I caught a 70 year old lady who was a long time customer stealing toothpaste. That's heartbreaking, because I know it's that she couldn't afford it. We simply can't deny this is a complex issue.
Maybe treat it like drugs in that resale of stolen goods carries higher punishments?
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