From dye-tags to undercovers to greeters, stores will try anything to stem the flow of stolen goods out their doors by PHILIP PREVILLE In the eyes of an unseasoned thief, the barriers seem insurmountable. There are electronic detectors at the exits and miniature explosives filled with yellow dye, mines that go off at the slightest attempt to tamper with them. There are sales staff swirling around you, watching your every move. And there are other shoppers, upstanding taxpayers and lawful consumers all, ready to tip off a store manager or make a citizens' arrest. Some of them might even be undercover store detectives. But a veteran shoplifter sees things differently. There are electronic detectors that only reach five feet off the ground, and ways around the dye tags. There are store staff everywhere, each and every one slacking off while on the job. And there are other shoppers, unwitting decoys all. Some of them might even be kindred criminal spirits, getting their hands on even better stuff than you.
The remaining 50 per cent, about $1.75 million per day, is due to customer theft. And according to RCC spokesperson Randy Scotland, people will steal anything and everything. In most instances, the stolen items fit easily into a pocket or purse--like the pair of leather gloves stolen by Lorraine Pagé, the head of the Quebec teachers' union, who was convicted early last week. But from the store's perspective, everything on the shelves is up for grabs, from CDs to CD players to television sets. Yes, television sets. "People just walk right out the door with the box in their arms," says Scotland. "If someone's a good actor and store security is lax, they just act as though they've just bought it and walk right out. Who's going to think to ask them to show their receipt?" And as retailers have beefed up their security systems in recent years, thieves have only become more brazen. "I've seen videotapes of people who walk in to a store, grab an entire rack of leather jackets and make a run for it," says Scotland. "In those kinds of cases, they've probably found a buyer before they make the hit."
Just like shopping, only better Even so, explains Scotland, most shoplifters are petty thieves. And he insists that there is no standard shoplifter profile: the pilferers are equally men and women, young and old, of all racial backgrounds, both rich and poor, a little bit country and a little bit rock 'n' roll. "One of the biggest misconceptions is the idea of theft due to neediness. The vast majority of shoplifters aren't faced with the ethical dilemma of stealing a loaf of bread because they're starving. Most people who are caught in the act have cash in their wallets." But if they aren't stealing out of need, they're not stealing out of greed either. According to Peter Berlin of U.S.-based Shoplifters Anonymous, the psychology of shoplifting is very similar to the psychology of shopping. "To most shoplifters, getting something for nothing is like giving themselves a 'gift,' which in turn gives them a 'lift,'" says Berlin. "Many people feel they need a 'lift' just to get through the week... or even the day. A recent study by MasterCard International found that shopping was second only to dining out as the primary way people reward themselves. Take it one step further and you can see how shoplifting the merchandise could increase the reward." Faye Kwok, a forensic accountant with Ernst & Young in Toronto, says most shoplifters don't think they've done anything wrong. "The people who steal think shoplifting is a victimless crime," says Kwok, who specializes in catching employee thieves. "And they've rationalized what they're doing. They believe they deserve whatever it is they've stolen for themselves." Despite the widespread nature of shoplifting, some stores do make bigger targets than others. Liquor stores have almost no theft, while CD stores frequently suffer from inventory "shrinkage"--music store employees can spin many a shoplifting yarn, about things like entire Pink Floyd sections disappearing into thin air. And while liquor stores have little in terms of electronic security, CD stores are as high-tech as they come. "The lesson is that it doesn't matter how many security gizmos you have," says Scotland. "The best deterrent against theft is people, and there is no substitute for an effective, trained sales staff on the floor."
Greeters: the happy scourge Which brings us to the latest trend in theft prevention: greeters, those unbearingly pleasant employees who stand inside store entrances and welcome shoppers. An innovation first introduced by Wal-Mart, greeters are sprouting like weeds in stores across Canada. Go for a stroll along St-Denis and be accosted by them in almost every store, from The Gap to BCBG and beyond. According to the RCC's Scotland, greeters are a growing retail trend for two reasons: "One, they are a helpful resource for customers; and two, they help reduce losses because they are a deterrent to shoplifters." The first reason, however, sounds dubious at best. Just how helpful can a greeter be at a store like The Gap? Even a six-year-old could find their way around The Gap: the women's clothing is on the left, the men's on the right, and so forth. The store is easily sized up just from looking in the window; the greeter only gets in your way. Scotland is insistent: "The primary motivation for having greeters is not preventing theft, it's customer service. The only people who get nervous around greeters are the crooks." But Scotland has no studies showing just how much honest shoppers love their greeters. To judge by the word on the street, however, most people--not just shoplifters--are annoyed by greeters and their in-your-face howdies. And now you know why: the greeter's job is not to treat you like a valued customer, but like a potential thief. At least the Jacob lingerie store on St-Denis is honest about it: they hire uniformed female security guards to do their greeting. |
Is the glass half-empty or half-full, you ask? It's way more than half-full: the shoplifter's cup overfloweth with hot merchandise. According to the Retail Council of Canada (RCC), every day $3.5 million worth of goods finds its way through store exits, unpaid for and undetected--an amount which has remained steady for the last five years. About 25 per cent of that $3.5 million is due to employee theft, and another 25 per cent is perpetrated by wholesale vendors and distributors--what's known as the fall-off-the-back-of-the-truck phenomenon.