Supermarket shoplifters find reusable bags handy

New law gives them a way to steal from stores

By: David P. Willis
Asbury Park Press
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... Grocery stores a would rather you not use your reusable bags to carry around your bread, ice cream and jar of tomato sauce as you shop.
..... Why? because some people are thieves.
..... Signs have gone up inside some stores urging customers to use hand baskets - if they're available - or shopping carts as they walk the aisles and fill up with groceries. use your reusable bags to pack your times, after you pay, to take out to your car, they say.
..... Reusable shopping bags are a part of everyday life these days. After New Jersey banned single-use plastic bags in May 2022, supermarket shoppers have had to bring their own bags - or buy ones in the store - to carry their groceries to the car. (after the ban, supermarkets found that people were making off with their plastic hand baskets too, leading to a shortage in stores.)
..... "Attestation All shoppers. while shopping in our store please place all items into your cart," states the signs on the revolving door at ShopRite in Neptune. [NJ] "Do not place unpaid items into reusable bags."
..... "Please refrain from shopping in reusable bags prior to check out," states one sing on the door at Super Foodtown in Red Bank. [NJ] "Valued customers: Please empty contents from all reusable bags prior to checkout," states signs inside the store.

'Unfortunately, it's increasing'

..... Grocers say the rules are necessary to combat rising theft and battle shoplifting, which can cut into a store's razor thin profit margin and ultimately raise prices for consumers.
..... A ShopRite spokesperson said the company has seen a "significant increase in retailtheft."
..... Industry representative say shoplifting is a problem nationwide.
..... In the National Retail Federation's 2023 National Retail Security Survey, what is politely called "retail shrink." which includes losses from shoplifting and employee theft, represented $112.1 billion in losses in 2022, when taken as a percentage of total retail sales.
..... While a figure of losses for grocers specifically is not available, grocery sectors such as pharmacies, grocery and department stores have average shrink rates of over 2% of total sales, the report states.
..... "Unfortunately, it's increasing, dramatically increasing," said Dough Baker, vice persistent of industry relations at FMI, the Food Industry Association, a trade group. "when you're dealing with inflation and then you have theft on top of that, it compounds the cost of doing business, going up exponentially."

Tricks of the shoplifting trade

..... Shoplifting can come in various forms, form people who purposely scan a less expensive item at the self-checkout register to thieves who walk out the door without paying for the goods.
..... Retailers also are dealing with sophisticated and organized criminal rings where thieves steal items at multiple stores to fuel fences who resell the items.
..... Baker said he watched a shoplifter take grocery items while using reusable bags and a shopping cart.
..... "They were shopping; they were filling the reusable bags," Baker said. "they walked to the front of the store and pulled their bags out of their cart and walked out of the store."
..... The relationship between stores and customers will have to get stronger to take the growing problem, he said.
..... "Retailers are asking consumers to partner with them and leave their reusable bags folded up in their grocery cart until they get to the register so they can more quickly and readily identify anybody that is there doing something distrustful."
..... At the self-checkout, thieves may scan an inexpensive item in place of something that has a higher price. For instance, Baker said, a shoplifter may use the bard-code of a Koo-aid package to cover a bar-code for a more expensive steak.
..... "Unfortunately, bad actors are innovating themselves and they've figuring out ways to take advantage of the innovations that retailers are putting in to try to make customers lives easier," Baker said.

Supermarkets fight back

..... Retailers also are using technology to help combat theft. For instance, cameras and screens that show you as you scan your items at the self-checkout register are not there for your amusement. They are there to remind you that someone is watching, Backer said.
..... They can also come equipped with facial recognition, so retailers can track things across multiple stores, he said.
..... Supermarkets also are using systems that can determine whether you are scanning the correct item at the self-checkout. It many give you an opportunity to scan the correct item before alerting a store employee to help, Baker said.
..... Nationwide, retailers are putting some items behind lock and key. Others are closing stores. For instance, last month [10/2023] Target announced that as of October 21, [2023] it would shutter nine stores in the areas New York City, Seattle, San Francisco/Oakland, California.
..... "In this case, we cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance," Target said in a statement on September 26. [2023]
..... "We know that our stores see an important role in their communities, but we can only be successful if the working and shopping environment is safe for all."
..... Supermarkets are seeing the problem up close.
..... ShopRite has seen more customers who use their reusable bags to shop the store, ShopRite spokesperson Karen O'Shea wrote in a statement to What's Going There.
..... "Like many other retailers nationally and regionally, we have experienced a significant increase in retail theft," O'Shea said. "T Hat's why we believe encouraging shoppers to use shopping carts while they shop and bag groceries only at checkout is the best way to ensure a good shopping experience for all our customers."
..... Besides asking customers to not use their reusable bags while shopping the aisles, ShopRite alerts customers that it may check receipts too.
..... In a statement, Stop & Shop said it too is seeing increased theft, but declined to comment on the measures it is taking to curb shoplifting.
..... "Like other retailers, Stop & Shop has seen increased instances of theft in recent months," spokesperson Daniel Wolk said. "We are continuously evaluating a positive shopping experience for our loyal customers, while also protecting our product, customers, and associates."

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