• dumpsterlid@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    It literally doesn’t, that is the whole point of this discussion? I am telling you, there is zero mathematical/economic evidence that shoplifting even registers as a problem worth investing time and energy into for massive corporations. They do invest time and energy, but it is because the narrative is useful to them. That is what this is about, it is about a story. Not economics, not math, not hard cold reality, it is about a narrative that emotionally engages you and gets you upset. It is about a story that rationalizes the world for you in a way that directs your anxiety and fear. There is zero scientific grounding in your beliefs about shoplifting, it might as well be a spiritual or religious belief you hold and just the way people will try to take advantage of you by preying upon your spiritual beliefs, so will corporations and politicians try to take advantage of you by preying upon your belief that shoplifting actually matters to economic behemoths that shape and undermine our entire economy.

    Literally THE ENTIRE point of being a massive chain is that random noise like shoplifting disappears into the overwhelming roar of economies of scale.

    Well, ease of regulatory capture is another bonus but that just strengthens my argument…

    • SCB@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I am telling you, there is zero mathematical/economic evidence that shoplifting even registers as a problem

      Stores invest millions in anti-theft security, in technical, logistical, and physical ways. All of those things cost money.

      Stores make money by selling things.

      Literally THE ENTIRE point of being a massive chain is that random noise like shoplifting disappears into the overwhelming roar of economies of scale

      That’s not the entire point of it at all. Efficiency is.

      Also: https://blog.gitnux.com/walmart-shrinkage-statistics/

      • dumpsterlid@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Stores invest millions in anti-theft security, in technical, logistical, and physical ways. All of those things cost money.

        You are making a clear logical fallacy by acting like this proves shoplifting must actually significantly impact their bottom line. Further there is abundant evidence that corporations invest massive amounts of money into things that don’t actually help them economically. Don’t tell me you also believe the narrative that markets are magically always rational??

        You don’t seem to be able to understand this isn’t about numbers, it is about narratives.

        • SCB@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          You are making a clear logical fallacy by acting like this proves shoplifting m

          If they invest the money, the money is spent, thus affecting the bottom line

          Not sure why you’re trying to argue this so hard, but there is no percent chance you will be correct here. Costs are indeed passed forward onto customers.

          Further there is abundant evidence that corporations invest massive amounts of money into things that don’t actually help them economically.

          The efficacy is completely irrelevant. What’s relevant is the costs induced. You are correct that people are irrational. That doesn’t change the fact that the irrationality costs them money, which they make back via pricing.

          Also I assure you that Wal-Mart has a very large team whose only goal is to measure the cost/benefit analysis of decisions like these - and those teams also cost money. Even the concept existing at all raises prices.

          • dumpsterlid@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            If they invest the money, the money is spent, thus affecting the bottom line

            Not sure why you’re trying to argue this so hard, but there is no percent chance you will be correct here. Costs are indeed passed forward onto customers.

            ahahahaha so now you are blaming me for the irrational economic behavior of corporations? I feel so powerful now, thank you.

            • SCB@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              Yes I am blaming the cause for the effect. You are correct.

              Bro just say you’re a thief and you don’t give a shit. You don’t need to do all the gymnastics. You can just be a thief.

              • dumpsterlid@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                Just admit you are an idiot conservative who doesn’t actually care about facts, numbers or reality, all you care about is a good morality story.

                  • dumpsterlid@lemmy.world
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                    11 months ago

                    “Companies say these incidents have led to a spike in merchandise losses, known as shrink. The metric incorporates inventory losses caused by external theft, including organized retail crime, employee theft, human errors, vendor fraud, damaged or mismarked items and other losses.

                    But the retail industry’s own figures on shrink cast doubt on their claim that the problem is ballooning. Researchers say retailers may be blaming theft for losses when they don’t actually know the cause.

                    Shrink is an “issue where you’ve got a problem, but there’s no way to know exactly where the losses are coming from,” said Richard Hollinger, a retired professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Florida, who studies retail losses and launched the retail industry’s first annual security survey in the early 1990s.

                    According to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) annual survey of around 60 retail member companies, shrink is a “rapidly ballooning issue.” In 2021, retail shrink hit $94.5 billion, up only 4% from 2020 but a 53% jump from 2019.

                    But, in fact, the average shrink rate as a percentage of sales dropped to 1.4% in 2021 from 1.6% in 2020, according to the latest NRF survey. That number has hovered around 1.4% for more than a decade.“

                    Ok ok so the concern for shoplifting from Random’s doesn’t even warrant tracking as a separate stat (it is no more important than workers occasionally misplacing boxes in the supply chain??), we are talking about <1% of sales. Sorry not going to lose sleep over that?

                    How about those organized shoplifting sprees that we keep hearing about? What does the national Retail Foundation, the group that is going to be the most concerned about this out of any?

                    “The NRF estimates that organized retail crime costs companies an average of just 7 cents for every $100 in sales.”

                    sigh y’all are full of shit and I am tired of it

                    https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/01/18/business/retail-shoplifting-shrink-walgreens/index.html