In Business to Sell Shoplifted Items
Overview:
Shoplifting along with employee theft has become big business. In a number of cases, storefronts have been set up for the sole purpose of reselling shoplifted items for huge profits. In other cases shoplifters as well as grocery store employees have made arrangements with unscrupulous restaurants to supply them with stolen merchandise, primarily meat products for a cut rate price. Meanwhile other shoplifters have gone into business for themselves selling a variety of shoplifted items on one of the many online auction sites
Complete Text:
Recently I ran across a story whereby a business located in southern California was busted for selling stolen goods. This is not something really new as there are countless unscrupulous businesses that purchase goods for resale. What is unique about this case is that this business which specialized in women’s apparel is believed to have been set up for the sole purpose of selling shoplifted items. This highly organized family business would have members go from shop to shop; from city to city lifting items from various clothing stores all for the purpose of stocking up there own business. This operation ran successfully, with relatively few incidences for more than four years and was estimated in making more than two millions of dollars in profits. When local authorities finally discovered the illegal business it wasn’t because one of the members got caught shoplifting and confessed, but rather it came from an anonyms tip. For several months authorities staked out the business before they were able to close in and make several arrests.
With the widespread use of various crime organization in shoplifting this certainly is by no means and isolated case. It can be difficult to track and to prosecute especially if items do not have a serial number.
This certainly got me thinking of how many other businesses purchase stolen goods for the purpose of resale. Although it is very difficult to get an accurate statistic, some of the shoplifters that I had interviewed were involved in selling stolen goods to other businesses. During the research stage of the Shoplift Prevention Training Program I had interviewed almost 300 anonym’s shoplifters in order to get a thief’s perspective and learn more about their trade. This proved valuable in learning how to better prevent shoplifting as well as internal theft. What I learned in my interviews is that although some businesses were willing to buy virtually any merchandise, as long as it did not have a serial number stamped on it, a few of the shoplifters focused on stealing items, which they supplied to restaurants. In most cases, meat appeared to be the highest item in demand.
One of the shoplifters I spoke with made a very comfortable living by supplying a local restaurant with an assortment of meat products, including crab, beef, lobster, and fish. Over a period of time the thief was able to recognise the easy grocery store targets and perfected his shoplifting methods. Although at times the owner of the restaurant would make special requests, generally he would base his daily menu on the stolen items available. The restaurant was able to maximize its profits because in most cases it paid less than half the store price for the illegal food stuff. In more than 2 ½ years the shoplifter I interviewed had only gotten caught once but was able to talk the manager out of calling the police. He claims that the grocery stores are one of the easiest and low risk businesses to steal from because the level of security is relatively low. He also pointed out that some grocery stores are much easier to lift items then others.
In another case an employee of a grocery store, was closely working with another restaurant by supplying them with cases of stolen meat. Every day or two the employee worked out a system whereby he would sneak out a case of frozen meat and then would supply a small restaurant with the goods. For more than a year the employee thief has been successful without raising too much suspicion and it turns out that he makes more money from reselling the stolen meat than what his regular job pays.
Of course not all thieves steal to supply other businesses, some steal and run their own business. This is often accomplished by selling stolen goods on one of the many online auction sites. In the past shoplifted items would be sold from the back of ones car, or at flee markets, but now the growing number of online auction houses it has proven to be an easy, hard to track method of making money. Too often law enforcement simply does not have the resources to follow the trail of stolen goods on auction sites and in most cases buyers are not too concerned about where the items came from as long as they get a good deal.
With tougher economic times and an increase in unemployment, it is predicted that shoplifting as well as employee theft for the purpose of resale is expected to drastically increase. For the first time you may be see individuals who in the past never would have considered theft now crossing the line and shoplifting for the purpose of making money in an attempt to maintain their lifestyle.
theft of a $2.00 item from a store operating on a 10% profit margin requires the sale of $20.00 in merchandise to make up for the loss. Supermarkets and other retailers operating on low margins of 1% must sell $500.00 in merchandise, just to cover the Cost of a $5.00 stolen item. It's easy to see how out-of-control Shoplifting can quickly threaten the viability of a business.
the Cost of Shoplifting is high and is expected to skyrocket due to the global economic crisis. Retailers need to re-examine their level of security and should begin to take a more proactive role in the battle against retail theft. Most retail loss experts agree that in order to be successful there needs to be a combination of anti-theft devices combined with good staff training in the prevention of retail shrinkage.
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