hclasvegas: Who can't imagine what retail is dealing with in our once great country. https://www.zerohedge...

The numbers say otherwise:

But, in fact, the average shrink rate as a percentage of sales dropped to 1.4% in 2021 from 1.6% in 2020, according to the latest NRF survey. That number has hovered around 1.4% for more than a decade.

And this:

In a major shift, Walgreens, which said it saw a spike in shrink during the pandemic and cited organized retail crime in its decision to close five San Francisco stores in 2021, is backtracking.

'Maybe we cried too much last year' about shrink numbers, Walgreens finance chief James Kehoe said on an earnings call earlier this month.

When I looked at the first chart at your link, I thought, wow, look at that bump in retail theft! Silly me. When I actually read the details of the chart it had noting to do with actual retail theft but rather the numbers of mentions of retail shrink on earnings calls and the headline, "CEO Talk Of "Shrink" Hits Record On Earnings Calls Amid Nationwide Shoplifting Crisis," equates talk of retail theft with actual theft.

Which led me to two questions: why is the article writer's byline "Tyler Durden," the Brad Pitt character from fight club, and what does Media Bias Fact Check think of ZeroHedge?

Media Bias Fact Check rating of ZeroHedge: "Overall, we rate ZeroHedge an extreme right-biased conspiracy website based on the promotion of false/misleading/debunked information that routinely denigrates the left."

mediabiasfactcheck.com - Zero hedge

Quoted material: cnn.com - Retail shoplifting shrink walgreens