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Morning meeting with Al Tompkins A daily pointer briefing of thought-worthy article ideas and other timely context for journalists, written by senior faculty Al Tompkins. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.
In the retail industry, shoplifting is called “shrinkage.”.
Slate report The store locks in all sorts of things that used to sit openly on the shelves. A few months ago Maybe stores should be like big vending machines and put everything behind plexiglass to slow down theft.
Many big-city pharmacy chains are swarming with plexiglass cases for even low-cost household items like shampoo and deodorant, not to mention laundry detergent, razor blades, and baby formula. It’s like shopping, where clerks in white aprons used to push ladders to get tinctures and tonics, but now they’re minimum-wage cashiers with key rings. These days, when you press the red button, a loudspeaker tells the store you have foot fungus. In July, his Duane Reade in Manhattan made international news. I put a can of Spam in a theft-proof plastic case — Spam!.
Slate lists shopping carts full of factors that contribute to increased shoplifting. The economy and inflation may be one of the reasons, but with “closed court systems releasing sticky fingers, lenient district attorneys, new felony standards, police shutdowns in big cities, shoppers Expectations to cover your nose and mouth like a bank robbery.” And it all comes at a financial cost.
Plastic product cases have become a symbol of social decline, although the exact form of the problem is unclear. Shoplifting is definitely lowering a store’s profit margins. Rite Aid says the issue cost him $5 million in the last quarter in New York City. As a result, Walgreens claimed to have closed its San Francisco store. While companies may be skeptical about shifting the blame, retail experts are convinced. If shoplifting hadn’t impacted profits, we wouldn’t see plastic cases at all. “This is a last resort,” says Joe Budano, who sells the cases to retailers. “As soon as he locks something up, he sees sales drop by 5 to 25 percent.” Large pharmacies are data-driven businesses, and when enough products run out of stores, they Can be put in a case.
Shoplifting is a very big problem, and last week, When a Target executive explained why the company’s profits were falling A 50% increase in Q3 was attributed to shoplifting. Target’s chief her growth officer, Christina Hennington, said shoplifting at Target has increased about 50% year-over-year. Target estimates that shoplifting cost the retailer $400 million in losses, most of which came from organized retail theft, Hennington said.
Kyle Iboshi investigative reporter KGW-TV in Portland, Oregon, which investigated the city’s rising rate of shoplifting, said it was more than just shoplifting: “It’s organized retail theft”. We showed a ridiculous video of him walking boldly out of the hardware store with the stolen power tools in his hand. A thief rode his bicycle down the aisle of a drug store and passed right by a security guard. Many thefts go unreported.
what is the use? Some stores lose more than $1 million in merchandise annually. Hot items include perfumes and expensive handbags. In many cases, the store is hit daily, and he may be hit more than once a day. A local pastor looking out the window at his store says he sees thieves constantly fleeing the store with arms full of stolen goods. And a good KGW-TV story They claim that the stolen goods are not meant to feed hungry children.It is organized theft. Goods are sold online and at flea markets. This is a really compelling story that looks to the rampant thieves all around us, and in the end you and I will pay.
Americans consistently believe that crime is on the rise, even when it isn’t. Look at Gallup’s data Planned for each presidential term. marshall project Make your data easy to read in graphs.

(Marshall Project)
Politicians running for midterm elections often played out the narrative of “increase in crime.” exit poll show 1 in 10 midterm voters said ‘crime’ was their top concern. About the same number said immigration policy and gun control were their top concerns.
However The Marshall Project Attempted Confirm that crime is on the rise. Three questions make it very difficult to draw a clear conclusion Criminologist Justin Nicks Says you have to consider:
- What does crime mean?
- What period are you comparing it to?
- what place are we talking about?
Looking at homicide rates alone might lead to one conclusion, looking only at violent crime might lead to a different conclusion, and looking at all crimes would give a different picture of the data. increase. The Marshall Project says:

(Marshall Project)
For example, Atlanta saw a 3% increase in homicides from 2020 to 2021. atlanta police departmentBut if we extend the comparison to 2019, before the pandemic Homicides are up 65%. However, compared to 1990, Atlanta homicides are down 32% despite a steady population increase. The number of city homicides in 2021 is also about the same as the annual tally in the early 2000s.
Nationwide, FBI data reported by police and annual federal survey Both violent and property crimes have declined steadily since the early 1990s, according to a survey that asked about 240,000 people if they were personally victims of crime. Homicide rose at a troubling and dramatic rate nationally in 2020 and continues to rise, but homicide is the least common of violent crimes. , has remained almost flat since 2010.
Up until that point, theft was the most common non-violent crime in the United States, and assault the most common violent crime.

(Pew)
FiveThirtyEight.com says Americans are really bad at estimating the risk of becoming victims of crime.
Over the decade from 1994 to 2004, the National Economic Expectations Survey asked respondents to do just that. People estimated the risk to many bad news life events across life events, including robbery, robbery, loss of job, and loss of health insurance. But the survey didn’t just ask respondents to rate that potential. I also asked if those things really happened last year.
and the combination of questions Revealed important things about America’s terror: We are bad at estimating the risk of crime, much worse than estimating the danger of other bad things. thinking about. In retrospect, the actual robbery rate he had was 1.2%. By contrast, when asked to rate the risk of future unemployment, people guessed it to be around 14.5%. This is much closer to the actual unemployment rate of 12.9%.
That is, we feel the danger of crime more acutely. If not, crime is certainly on the rise. I’m sure the risk of being victimized is higher than it actually is.
Gallup data It shows that Americans have overestimated crime rates for decades.
In 20 of the 24 Gallup surveys conducted since 1993, at least 60% of U.S. adults say the rate of violent and property crimes has increased nationwide compared to the previous year .
Gallup also reminds us that so many crimes go unreported that even the data we get is not very accurate.
Nearly eight-tenths (79.5%) of auto thefts reported to police in 2019 were the most commonly reported property crimes tracked by BJS. About half (48.5%) of home burglary and burglary crimes are reported, 30% of personal theft/theft and 26.8% of home theft.
Among violent crimes, aggravated assault was most likely to be reported to law enforcement (52.1%). This was followed by robbery (46.6%), simple assault (37.9%), and rape/sexual assault (33.9%).
I hope this serves as a reminder to be thoughtful when talking to people who express fears of crime.
In recent years, awkward Thanksgiving conversations have likely centered around politics. Maybe this year has calmed down a bit? I know people who avoid family gatherings these days just to avoid the discomfort that comes with them.
KSAT offers several topics It doesn’t go well at Thanksgiving gatherings.
1. Avoid talking about elections or politics. Politics is a sensitive topic and can be offensive, even if it wasn’t meant to be.
2. Don’t talk about the money your family still owes you. Money is a sensitive topic, and holiday meals are not the place for such conversations.
3. Try not to talk about your relatives’ family plans. Whether you’re guessing when they’ll start having a family or asking when they’re going to have another baby, you’re putting them in an uncomfortable situation. They said they would take it themselves if they wanted it.
Four. Don’t ask your family why you are single.
girlboss dot com I also posted a “redirect” that might come in handy if you’re cornered by a pushy relative about your personal life.
Those who have lost a loved one may feel it more strongly during the holiday season. Holiday gatherings remind us of family traditions. Canned cranberry sauce and stuffed stovetops remind me of my mother, who was more practical than gourmet. Here’s a website that might help people navigate emotional rough spots.
Realsimple.com Here’s a list of conversation starters that might be a nice distraction if things go wrong.
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