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> where someone loads up a cart with merchandise and rolls it out the door There's 2 different things here, though. There's casual shoplifting, and there are
by mcphage 1y ago
> where someone loads up a cart with merchandise and rolls it out the door
There's 2 different things here, though. There's casual shoplifting, and there are organized gangs of shoplifters. What you're describing is organized gangs of shoplifting, and that's not cause by a corrosion in the fabric of society, that's caused because these gangs know that retailers aren't interested in stopping them.
A random person might steal an item or two, but a random person isn't going to load up a cart with merchandise and walk out the door. But organized crime will happily take advantage of retailers who won't do anything about them.
- bittercynic 1y agoI meant to suggest the other direction - brazen theft of a cart full by organized gangs is corrosive to the fabric. A person sneaking an item or two into their pocket is pretty much only affecting the store and that individual. I guess it has a broader effect if it happens so much that the store locks up the merchandise so customers have to ask for assistance.
- mcphage 1y agoInteresting—my reaction is the opposite. Organized crime sucks, but it doesn't strike me as a social problem, but rather an enforcement problem. Organized crime finds a technique that works because they're constantly looking for new ways to steal, and if the retailers don't find a way to close that loophole (like, for instance, security guards), then they'll just keep exploiting it. On the other hand, when shoplifting is normalized to the point where everyday shoppers don't feel any shame about shoplifting, then that shows there's significant damage to our social fabric. But this isn't what's happening.