How does shoplifting affect the economy?
Who Pays the Price Retailers know when the economy plummets, shoplifting does the exact opposite. And when the holidays approach, they also have to brace themselves for the swell in retail theft. However, shoplifting hurts retailers and consumers as well. Shoplifting is big business, and during a recession it can grow. There are fewer employees on a sales floor when retailers cannot afford to pay them due to slow sales. This adjustment makes a shoplifter’s job that much easier. However, shoplifters should also know that they continue to hurt the economy every time they leave a store with merchandise that does not belong to them. Retailers are fighting back Higher prices hurt the economy. However, retailers are forced to raise the cost of merchandise to recover some of the profits they lose to shoplifting. When retail theft escalates, the cost of doing business will also increase, and this leaves the paying customers to pick up the multi-billion-dollar annual tab left by shoplifters. As
