It has been reported by CBS that retail theft has risen 10% in 2024 compared to 2019 (COVID). This is a huge deal as it is not just your poor and homeless stealing from stores. Even the Winona’s of the world are stealing from stores. Retail theft is a huge problem not just for stores who lose billions yearly to this but also to honest paying consumers who end up paying the price. Of course stores have attempted to implement measures to counter this issue such as placing anti theft tags, security cameras and even locking up high value items but these only serve as an inconvenience and don’t actually make any impact of retail theft. There are various reasons why this happens and I do think the pandemic and inflation have helped increase this activity, but I have thought about some ideas I have to stop it.

1.) Deposit or “Costco” Method: If you’re lucky enough to experience the joys of a Costco membership you know that it comes with a cost 65-130 dollars a year depending on your membership tier. But what you may not now is that Costco has a much lower rate of theft “shrink” then any other of the large retailers. And the reason why has to do with the membership. You have to pay to even get in the store, they also have people checking receipts on exit. But the big one here is the membership cost, if you steal you will certainly lose your membership and you paid for it so you don’t want to do that since it will not be worth it in the end. Now not every store can have a membership program as successful as Costco and I truly think what they do in the retail space is something special and worth the cost. But for other store they can maybe consider having customers pay a deposit fee to enter the store, and you will only receive your deposit back on exit and a brief receipt check like in Costco.

2.) The drive up and go only: This is the one I feel most stores will end up adopting but basically the store will mainly exist as a warehouse fulfillment center that is capable of pick up and shipping orders. I feel like stores are slowly reaching this and it makes sense, the only people allowed in the store will be employees and if they steal it will be a lot easier to catch and enforce versus customer theft. Employees in the store will do nothing but recieveing, shipping and order fufillment. This will not be a perfect solution as they are many who enjoy the act of going to a store however I feel like this maybe the way of the future.

I had to post this because as I have begun managing accounts for retail stores I see this almost daily and it has become a crime I never thought about to one that I think of and see happen often and it honestly infuriates me. I don’t think that well see retail stores make any huge changes anytime soon but can definitely see a world where either of the above listed ideas becomes the norm.