The Secret World of Shoplifting

Big thanks goes out to J$ of Budgets are Sexy for posting: True Life — I live in a hotel, my guest post on his blog today.

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I was watching a CBC documentary last night called The Secret World of Shoplifting, one of the financial shows and documentaries recommended by Financial Uproar.

There were a few good points I’d like to bring up.

Employees account for the majority of shoplifting

Which makes total sense to me, seeing as they’re already in the store early or late, and they have all the tools at their disposal to remove security tags and so on.

There are organized shoplifting rings all over North America

They only focused on North America, but I’m sure it exists worldwide as well.

These people hire pro shoplifters who will bring in thousands of dollars of stolen goods a day, which are then resold at a lower price, but at near 100% profit, seeing as the cost was close to $0.

(Still have to pay the shop lifter).

If something is too cheap, and too good to be true, be suspicious

It might be stolen. This part of the documentary shocked me.

For instance, if you normally buy over the counter allergy pills for $15.99, that’s the retail price, but these items still cost something to the retailer to purchase. Let’s say the base manufacturing cost is $8.

So when you see a pack of the exact same pills for a super deep, almost too-good-to-be-true discount for $8 or $7.50 in a “store”, they are most likely stolen, because no one in their right business mind would ever sell items below their cost.

I am not saying everything cheap you see is stolen, or is part of some big conspiracy (except fake brand name bags, that is :P), but it doesn’t hurt to be suspicious of too good of a deal.

I like to save a buck just like anyone else, but I’d feel a lot better paying the full retail price.

About the Author

Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver. I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year. Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about my story here, or visit my other blog: The Everyday Minimalist.