Shop Talk
Retailers, consumers and prices
The legal way to buy stolen goods
Don’t let the headline fool you. It is still illegal to buy stolen goods … unless you’re buying them from the police.
In the same way that eBay is the world’s virtual garage sale, a website called Property Room is trying to become the world’s virtual police auction.
Founded in 1999, the website has partnered with 1,600 law enforcement agencies around the country to sell unwanted or unclaimed recovered property.
Although the latest statistics from the U. S. Federal Bureau of Investigation show crime decreasing across the country, property crimes here, in Chicago, apparently rose 4 percent between 2007 and 2008–the latest numbers available. From a wider view, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics found that property crimes account for about 75 percent of all personal and property crimes committed in 2006.
While much of that merchandise finds its way back to the owner, a lot of it never does.
On Property Room, users can bid on items ranging from electronics and power tools to jewelry and designer clothes. There are even cars up for bid, although don’t hold out hope to get a shot at the Big Bopper’s car.
Bids can start as low as $1, and proceeds are said to be split between the website and participating police department.
The recession strikes again
The recession hammered U.S. holiday sales last year and new research suggests that it also drove up ”shrink” — a retail industry term for shoplifting, employee theft, and administrative errors.
An estimated $36.5 billion was lost to “shrink” in 2008, according to preliminary findings from the latest National Retail Security Survey released today.
That figure is up from $34.8 billion in 2007, an increase of nearly 5 percent.
The survey, conducted by the National Retail Federation and the University of Florida, also showed that retail shrink averaged 1.52 percent of retail sales in 2008, up from 1.44 percent in 2007.
“Criminals have found a way to manipulate and corrupt the retail industry,” said Richard Hollinger, lead author of the report and professor of criminology at the University of Florida.
Retailers grappling with the worst recession in decades have been forced to cut spending on everything from security to labor in a bid to protect profits. That scenario ”leaves new opportunities for thieves to take advantage of companies,” Hollinger said.
According to the survey, 44 percent ($15.9 billion) of the 2008 retail losses were due to employee theft. 14 percent of those cases involved collusion with outsiders.
Security cameras can “see” a lot more these days…
Sweethearting (v.) the act of a store employee giving a friend or family member free merchandise by pretending to scan items at the register or by ignoring items in shopping carts.
It is one of the oldest tricks in the book and a big problem for retailers. So big, in fact, that some estimates suggest that “sweethearting” and other types of employee theft account for almost half of all annual retail theft, or $19.5 billion out of $41.6 billion overall.
Massachusetts-based StopLift Inc. says the answer is just waiting to be liberated from all of the security camera tape that retailers typically don’t monitor until something goes really, really wrong.
We’ve all seen the video of outrageous things that can happen in grocery stores, convenience shops, and retail outlets, but the reality is that watching the security feeds from cameras mounted above every register is time-consuming — so most of that video information goes unused.
StopLift’s computer software analyzes camera feeds by reading certain body motions and other signs that tip off sweethearting. From there, it’s up to managers to decide whether training or termination is the right response.
You can see actual “sweethearting” caught by the software on StopLift’s homepage, here.
StopLift said its clients include Big Y and Safeway grocery stores.
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