US retailers lock products to curb shoplifting, organised crime

New York: The US retailers are storing everyday products under lock and key to stop increasing shop lifting.

Toothpaste, chocolate, washing powder and deodorant are among those closely guarded to avoid ‘petty theft and organized shoplifting’, news agency AFP reported.

Retailers take precautions as consumers find it hard to get along with costs of living.

Retailers that raised concerns against the theft and violent incidents include Walmart and Target, drugstore chains CVS and Walgreens, Home Depot, footwear retailer Foot Locker among others.

Lauren Hobart, chief executive at Dick's Sporting Goods reportedly said that increasing theft impacts many retailers.

According to her stealing has a ‘meaningful’ impact on the company’s second quarter results and balance of later this year.

Brian Cornell, the chief executive of Target, said the stores had seen 120 percent increase in theft and violence during the first five months of this year.

‘Our team continues to face an unacceptable amount of retail theft and organized retail crime,’ he was quoted as saying.

Increasing theft has to do with surging interest rate that has been introduced to curb inflation.

Interest according to the report went up from near zero to about 5.5 per cent in over 18 months, which is highest in 22 years.

The National Retail Federation's 2022 retail security survey found retailers reporting a 26.5 percent rise in organised crime in 2021.

The incidents as per survey suggest that pandemic has caused the rise in shoplifting involving violence.

In order to fight shop lifting, stores are installing ‘transparent walls with locks on shelves’ and introduced padlocked chains on refrigerators among other measures.