More than spirits were lifted this holiday season.
During the four weeks leading up to Christmas, an estimated $1.8 billion in merchandise was expected to be shoplifted this year, according to The Global Retail Theft Barometer, a survey of retailers worldwide. That’s up about 6 percent from $1.7 billion during the same period last year.
“They shoplift for Christmas gifts, they steal for themselves, for their family,” said Joshua Bamfield, executive director of the Centre for Retail Research and author of the survey.
Sticky fingers are common during the holidays. Crowded stores and harried clerks make it easier to slip a tablet computer into a purse or stuff a sweater under a coat undetected. But higher joblessness and falling wages have contributed to an even bigger rise this year. People steal everything from necessities (think food) to luxuries they can no longer afford (think electronics or a Gucci purse).
“It’s really a question of need versus greed,” said Joseph LaRocca, senior adviser of asset protection for the National Retail Federation trade group. “People will rationalize what they are stealing: ‘Oh, I’m feeling the economy. I lost my job.’ But it’s hard to make the argument you need a $900 handbag.”
Some experts say the economy’s influence is largely a cop-out. They say shoplifters are stealing for myriad reasons this holiday season that have nothing to do with economic turmoil. Among them, some do it for a rush or thrill. For others, it’s about filling a void. Still others are trying to relieve anxiety, boredom or depression — all emotions that are particularly common during the holidays.
“Shoplifting is generally a crime of opportunity — and opportunities abound at the holiday,” said Barbara Staib, a spokeswoman for the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention, a nonprofit group that provides shoplifting-prevention education programs. “The stressors that come with the holiday will certainly help them rationalize their need for bad behavior.”
Shoplifting is surprisingly common. An estimated one in 11 Americans shoplift, according to the National Association of Shoplifting Prevention.
It bases its information on academic research and information from those who are ordered or choose to enter its counseling programs for shoplifters.
About 75 percent of shoplifters are adults — equally men and women — while kids make up about 25 percent of them. More than 70 percent of shoplifters say they did not plan ahead to steal and that they acted spontaneously.
