bighairymike: Rampant shoplifting.... You don't see any linkage?

Well, there's certainly rampant reporting of shoplifting but the data suggest "shrink" -- a nebulous term that includes inventory losses from theft, damage, or administrative errors -- hasn't changed significantly, rising slightly to 1.57% of total retail sales in 2022, up from 1.44% in 2021. And as I documented upthread, most retail shrinkage is from internal theft, process, control failures, and errors.

This thread began with a post about Target closing stores in big, bad blue cities. Reporters looked at the crime data in New York City in a shopping plaza in the East Harlem area where Target is closing its store and found that the location has had fewer incidents of shoplifting reported this year than other Target locations in Upper Manhattan. The same is true in the areas where Target stores are closing in Seattle and San Francisco.

So, no, there's no "significant" linkage between the party in power and shoplifting. There have always been shoplifters and there will always be shoplifters. Right now, retail sales have climbed after the pandemic and when sales rise, thefts rise too. And television stations and newspapers love the kind of stories that get people to cry "rampant shoplifting"!

tech.co - Shoplifting statistics small businesses

popular.info - Target says its closing stores