PebHmong Discussion Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: theking on April 24, 2023, 10:50:31 PM
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The plague of shoplifting
Retailers say they’re under an assault by robbery rings of unprecedented aggression and scale
How bad is the problem?
"It is just out of control," said Lisa LaBruno, an official at the Retail Industry Leaders Association. In a Business.org survey of 700 small businesses last year, 54 percent reported a rise in shoplifting and 23 percent said they were robbed daily. Both small and large retailers are sounding the alarm: Last year a CVS official told Congress shoplifting was up 300 percent over pre-pandemic figures; in December, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon warned that spiking theft could lead to higher prices and/or store closures. Retail theft reports were up 52 percent over 2021 in Philadelphia last year; in New York City, they rose 45 percent. Nearly a third of all shoplifting arrests in New York City in 2022 involved just 327 people who were arrested and re-arrested more than 6,000 times, police say. Big retailers and small stores in many cities say their employees live in fear, amid daily threats of violence or actual violence.