It’s disappointing, but not too surprising, that one of the country’s large retailers said recently that it has been having some of its employees wear a body camera in an effort to deter shoplifting. They also want to protect workers from being attacked when an employee tries to stop somebody from ripping off merchandise.
The chief financial officer of TJX Corp., which owns TJ Maxx and Marshalls, among other companies, said in May that the company started using body cameras last year. TJX believes the presence of a body camera on an employee may make shoplifters less likely to steal or retaliate for fear that a recording would be easy evidence in court.
A story on The Washington Post website about TJX’s action cited a report from the National Retail Federation, which said “organized retail crime rings” are plaguing businesses by stealing goods and reselling them through online marketplaces.
In the organization’s 2023 security survey, more than two-thirds of the 177 retail brands that participated said organized shoplifters have become more violent. TJX is not alone in seeking drastic countermeasures: About 35 percent of the retailers surveyed said they were researching the use of body cameras as well.
Shoplifting may be one of the biggest problems facing retailers today. The inflation of the past two years can only increase the incentive to steal, and companies that have reduced the number of employees on the job at any one time may be losing the payroll savings to theft.
A story on the ModernRetail.co website quoted Target and Foot Locker officials discussing a noticeable pickup in theft. And Wal-Mart, in deciding to reopen one of the stores it had closed in Atlanta, renovated the building to include a municipal police station inside to increase security and make customers feel safer.
Other deterrence efforts: CVS is putting more items behind locked cases. Walgreens has closed stores, specifically citing organized shoplifters. Home Depot has hired more security guards and improve lighting in its parking lots.
The immediate questions are whether TJX’s body cams will prevent some shoplifting, and whether any other retailers will equip some of their employees with the recorders.
The Post story said the TJX official believes the company’s “shrink,” which is an industry term for inventory losses from something other than sales, will be flat in 2024 compared to last year. That’s a good sign, especially given that the company’s revenue in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia will total about $54 billion this year, an increase of 9%.
However, ModernRetail said the effect of shoplifting on companies’ financials has not changed much for nearly a decade. The level of shrink has held fairly steady since 2015, although that means that if sales are increasing, the dollar value of the theft is going up as well.
