A nationwide retail theft epidemic cost the United States close to $100 billion in 2021. Stores are being forced to raise prices or shut up shop, insurers are refusing to help, and smaller mom and pop stores are being left behind. In this series, Mayhem on Main Street, the Washington Examiner will investigate the causes behind the scourge of shoplifting, the role of the cartels, the cost to stores big and small, and the complicity of lax prosecutors. Part three will focus on the economic impact. To read parts one and two, click here and here.
Retail theft has been plaguing businesses across the country, and the compounded effects of the crimes have big economic implications for the retailers and communities involved.
The growing instances of theft cost retailers nearly $100 billion in 2021, a number that illustrates the brutal economic reality of such crimes. Videos have proliferated on social media of individual thieves and hordes of criminals brazenly entering stores and stealing merchandise before fleeing, often with little resistance. The phenomenon has grown in recent years following the onset of the pandemic, hurting retailers and prompting calls for action from lawmakers and law enforcement.
The crime wave has hit both run-of-the-mill retailers and luxury stores alike, and while some might claim that the individual thefts have a minimal economic footprint, taken together, the numbers involved are eye-popping.
Breakdown of society is happening right before our eyes and liberals are fueling it
Every day I come up with a new reason not to buy things.