America's biggest companies say retail crime is an epidemic, but just how big of a problem is it?

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Retailers and trade groups say organized retail crime has been on the rise, but the problem is far murkier than they've made it seem.

, but the data is largely qualitative and cannot be fact-checked because it's gathered from an anonymized set of retailers.

Plus, the $94.5 billion in losses refers to shrink overall, meaning the difference between the inventory a company records on its balance sheet and what it can actually sell. That difference accounts for items that were shoplifted but also includes inventory that was damaged, lost or stolen by employees.

External retail crime accounts for only 37% of those losses, or about $35 billion, the NRF data shows."Maybe we cried too much last year," Walgreens Chief Financial Officer James Kehoe said on an investor call in January when asked about shrink. "We're stabilized," he added, saying the company is "quite happy with where we are."

Still, law enforcement agencies and retailers insist organized retail crime remains an issue and said they stand behind their data. "I can tell you that in our world, we know that crime is increasing. We see it every day in our stores," Scott Glenn, Home Depot's vice president of asset protection, told CNBC. "Our internal information shows us that that's on a year-over-year basis, growing at double-digit rates."

 

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Well...I guess that happens when there are no consequences to stealing.

How nice!

I recall a lot of democratic politicians saying it was ok to steal from stores. The same politicians said the riots/burning down of cities in 2020, was mostly peaceful. The leadership and messaging from this party couldn’t be any further from the way I was raised/raised my kids.

This will happen in every city if you vote TheDemocrats 😂

Walgreens is 'happy where they are' yet they and CVS are closing stores in SF and locking nearly everything including toothpaste behind glass. Can't imagine what it will look like when they get upset.

Only under Biden is it a problem.

It's about equity

“but just how big of a problem is it?” Just ask Walmart about Portland, Oregon.

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