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Loss from stealing was called 'shrinkage' by retail industry people, in Sam Walton's autobiography 'Made in America'. As you say, they expected to have some. I
by vram11 7y ago
Loss from stealing was called 'shrinkage' by retail industry people, in Sam Walton's autobiography 'Made in America'. As you say, they expected to have some. I wonder why it can't be prevented 100%.
- rootusrootus 7y agoBecause stopping retail theft 100% requires an inconvenience to normal customers that is off-putting and will cause them to go somewhere else.
- canofbars 7y agoI certainly wouldn't shop somewhere that required my bags and pockets to be searched every time I left the store.
- froindt 7y agoPrevention to 100% would be costly. They have diminishing marginal returns. Why would someone pay $50,000/year for a hypothetical system which would theoretically catch everyone and fill out the police report automatically when the store experiences a tiny $300 annual shrinkage loss?
- unmole 7y agoLying for Money makes the case that the optimal amount of fraud in any real world system is non-zero. Fraud prevention has direct and indirect costs. At some point the costs of fraud prevention will exceed the cost of fraud itself.