Retail theft has got me hopping mad. While I don’t know how much more each thing I buy at the store costs because of it, I do know that it inconveniences me. Most would say it’s a big city problem, but that’s not true. I live in rural America and drive to La Grange, Texas, a town of 4,452 residents, to shop.  

Lately, I’ve run into an issue with the products I want to purchase being locked up. Our local Walmart has a horrible theft problem. Areas of the cosmetic department are under lock and key. The first time I encountered the issue, I spoke with the clerk and learned they had lost more than $11,000 in merchandise from that area! Now the flashlights are under lock and key as well. And, of course, anything related to computers.

 The same thing has happened at our regional hardware store. Plumbing valves are locked tight. Why? Same answer. Theft.

It’s a pain in the a**. You can’t examine the packaging to determine whether it’s what you want, must hunt down a clerk to unlock the cabinet, and, at the hardware store, they walk what you want to the front desk to be held until you complete your shopping.

In fact, our Walmart has removed quite a few self-serve kiosks and replaced them with cashier-run checkout stations due to increased losses from customer errors and theft.

RETAIL THEFT IN AMERICA

A 2025 study “found that retailers reported an 18% increase in the average number of shoplifting incidents per year in 2024 versus 2023 and threats or acts of violence during shoplifting or theft events increased 17% during that same time period, indicating that criminal enterprises are becoming more brazen and dangerous.”

And thefts are becoming more sophisticated. “More than half of retailers surveyed reported increases in phone scams (70%), digital and ecommerce frauds (55%), shoplifting and merchandise theft (52%), and cargo or supply chain thefts (50%) being conducted by ORC (Organized Retail Crime) groups over the past 12 months.”

WHO PAYS FOR RETAIL THEFT?

According to Dr. Richard Gearhart, an economics professor at California State University, retail theft costs businesses in the U.S. between $70 billion and $ 100 billion a year. To cover this loss, businesses can raise their prices by about 20%. These thefts can also lead to lost local tax revenue and store closures.

COMBATING RETAIL THEFT

Besides locking up merchandise, thefts can be slowed down by making it hard to get the merchandise off the shelves, installing surveillance, putting an electronic tag on merchandise, having store employees wear body cameras, training employees, using AI to analyze theft patterns, and teaming up with police and competitors to track and anticipate theft.

WHAT IS BEHIND RETAIL THEFT?

According to Rocateq, the problem is complex. 1) States have raised the dollar amount so high to make shoplifting a felony that it’s worth the risk to the thief. Police don’t want to investigate misdemeanors and prosecutors don’t want to handle them. In Texas, it’s $2,500 or more. Every time a shoplifting offender enters the criminal justice system, it costs taxpayers more than $2,000. 2) Confronting thieves can cause injury or death. And 3) Shoplifters justify theft by saying things are too expensive, I deserve a reward, and it’s a big company, they won’t miss it.

Enforcement is so lax that one in eleven Americans steal, and shoplifters get caught only once out of forty-nine times (for chronic offenders, it’s one out of a hundred).

LAST THOUGHTS ON RETAIL THEFT

As a society, we need to think long and hard about the causes of retail theft. How much of our cultural beliefs regarding the importance of winning over losing,  the “me first” mentality, and the rationalization of ethics (I can steal because corporations are greedy) is fanning the flames?

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