Shoplifting goes online

Google shoplifting, then read past the first page of results.

You’ll see stories about shoplifting gangs targeting stores all over the country, and nobody is really sure why. One author says it’s a ‘howl of grief.’ A Texas lawman says it is big business. Others say it just offers a big thrill.

But when dozens of people clad in ski masks looted a Nordstrom last November, was it just for the thrill?

According to the National Retail Federation, shoplifting caused $50 billion in losses to storefront retailers in 2020.

In San Francisco, Walgreens said shoplifting was the primary reason it closed five of its 53 stores. Bloomberg reported that the actual cause may have been slower pandemic traffic (or looting) and they said the stores didn’t report such incidents to police.

San Francisco famously passed a law in 2014 that reduced shoplifting to a misdemeanor crime if the stolen items totaled $950 or less, but recently Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed a bill that allows prosecutors to press felony charges against participants in shoplifting gangs if the theft totals more than $500, according to the New York Times.

But is there something different going on today than in the past?

Organized gangs have always had to become retailers themselves. It was a lot of work, but the work is easier now.

These days, some thieves have elevated their game — literally. In Katy, Texas, police raided a home with a freight elevator that moved 55 pallets of stolen Home Depot goods worth $5 million. The goods were sold on Amazon, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In fact, online retailing, especially on Amazon, makes it a lot easier for thieves to steal and sell their goods. Police in San Francisco found a couple who actually acted as a wholesaler, moving $8 million in stolen goods to sketchy Amazon sellers. According to MarketWatch, the average shoplifting incident nets $750 at small stores and $300 at large ones. To accumulate $8 million in goods would mean thousands of hits to stores — and a lot of dedication from more than one person.