FROM THE PASTOR’S HEART
OP-ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
Call it what you will. Maybe my imagination led me to think negatively when a woman approached me with the question, “May I help you?” But it felt like an attack, and I was taken aback, for I had just picked up the large jar of cashew nuts and, while looking for my wife, passed by the entrance before reaching the cashier.
I felt that woman assumed I was about to go through the door without paying, so she rushed toward me to ask if she could help. No, it did not feel like one of the courtesies that one receives when one enters a store to be offered help for selecting some goods. This was different, and I could feel it, for, as I said, it was more like an attack. She was steering me down as if I had done something wrong or was about to do something wrong. Forgive my suspicion, for it was not the first store that I have been thus approached.
What I am suggesting, and hoping that it was not, is that she thought me a thief. We live in a cultural context where some of us receive undue attention as we enter a store because of our skin color, language, or ethnicity. And because of this attitude, it is difficult to know when a person is asking genuinely if you need their assistance or that you are being presumed a thief.
If the reports are correct, many of those who are not being judged for stealing according to the color of their skin “get away with murder” and theft. Without being identified, they can carry off millions of dollars per year from stores. Store owners know that they are losing millions because of theft which knows no cultural boundaries. They know thefts are carried out by individuals of every color, class or creed. There are antitheft devices on garments and other goods, and there are cameras and security guards in many stores.
After researching some facts on shoplifting, I am very amazed at the findings. Here are some facts from one article I read in my internet research. (https://bluewatercredit.com/five-finger-discount-35-facts-shoplifting-america/)
- It’s estimated that there are currently 27 million shoplifters in the U.S. today, which means 1 in 11 of us steal from stores and retailers.
- Those 27 million criminals must be busy because there are an estimated 330-440 million individual shoplifting cases every year, which comes to 1 – 1.2 million shoplifting incidents daily, or 50,000 every hour.
- Approximately 10 million people have been caught shoplifting over the last 5 years, with an average of 2 million nabbed ‘lifters every year!
- By the time you have finished reading this blog, about 1,500 items with a total price tag of about $200,000 will be shoplifted from U.S. stores!
- The damage done by shoplifting is not only to the retailer or store but impacts all of us. The extra burden on security, police, courts, and store losses is passed down to taxpaying consumers.
- The National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (NASP) found that shoplifting costs retailers about $13 billion every year and the American taxpaying public a total of about $33.21 billion yearly, or about $75,000 every minute!
- For the average retailer, losses from shoplifting average 1.7% of all gross sales. Shoplifting accounts for about 33% of all total inventory shrinkage (damage, loss, employee theft, expiration, etc., are all other reasons for inventory shrinkage.) Interestingly, 33.1% of total inventory shrinkage is employee theft, not classified as shoplifting.
- The average store theft is between $2 and $200.
- Can you picture the typical shoplifter? If you can’t, it’s for a good reason because experts cite that there is no average shoplifter profile. Consider that:
- Men and women shoplift about equally.
- You might think that shoplifting is an indiscretion of youth, but only 25% of shoplifters are kids. That means that 75% are fully grown adults!
- A 2004 study by the University of Florida concluded that middle-aged adults, 35-54, shoplift more than children!
- Shoplifters are usually poor and/or uneducated? Not so fast. A 2008 study by Columbia University concluded that shoplifting was more prevalent among people with higher education and income, which made them conclude that there were more psychological factors and less financial motivation that made people steal.
- One crazy fact is that many consumers buy something at a store AND steal merchandise during the same visit!
- Interestingly enough, sneaking shoplifting is usually a crime the perpetrator plans in advance. In fact, only 73% of adults and 72% of juvenile shoplifters don’t plan to steal anything in advance; it just happens once they get in the store.
- According to the National Retail Federation, the items that are most targeted by shoplifters include (in no particular order):
- Chewing gum
- Advil
- Weight-loss drug Alli
- Cellphones
- Claritin
- Rogaine
- Red Bull energy drinks
- Dyson vacuums
- Bumble and Bumble hair products
- Cover Girl cosmetics
- Crest Whitestrips
- Deodorant.
Are you shocked as I am? You need not be because it seems that stealing is chronic within our culture as it has been in the historical cultures of the world.
I need not tell any more stories of theft, but I note what Jesus says about stealing: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” (John 10:10 NKJV). The background reference is that Jesus was contrasting himself with the motivations of sheep stealers. This is why the full text reads, “The thief does not come except to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
You may not be a shoplifter, and I do not want to bring guilt upon you, but think of how the theft in the culture impacts you. See how easily suspicions can be put on you that you might be a thief. And think of how much extra you are paying for goods and services because the distributors have to recoup their losses because of theft. Or think of how much taxes you are paying because of theft. Wow! Stealing is a curse. No wonder the eighth commandment lays it down in the broadest terms, “You shall not steal.” (Exodus 20:15)
Are you a shoplifter? Are you thinking about taking what is not yours? Remember, someone is watching. You might not be caught now, but you will have to give an account later to that someone – The All-Seeing Eyes, the Unseen One.
