Be on the lookout – National Retail Security Survey out for completion

National Retail Federation & Loss Prevention Research Council

NRF’s National Retail Security Survey (NRSS) has been a critical benchmark for the retail industry for more than 30 years. Conducted in partnership with the Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC), the report plays a key role in supporting asset protection departments.

If your organization’s LP/AP pyramid head has not yet received the 2023 NRSS survey, please reach out to David Johnston at NRF or Cory Lowe at the LPRC. Thank you.
 

The day after Target & Home Depot Cite ORC as an 'Acute & Serious Problem' - CNBC Films Segment With NRF President Matt Shay to Discuss it.

Watch video below.

‘It’s not people shoplifting’: Why retail is focused on organized crime
The more recent Home Depot and Target earnings for the just-finished quarter, both big-box companies cited a rising trend of retail theft and the industry is supporting the Combatting Organized Retail Crime Act to give the Department of Homeland Security more power to help.

It’s been hard to get an exact read on the rise in retail theft. Best Buy sounded alarm bells back in November 2021 when it said thieves were traumatizing employees. Walgreens was vocal on the issue too, but then its chief financial officer James Kehohe did an about-face, telling analysts in January that the company may have overstated the issue and its impact on sales. “Maybe we cried too much last year,” he said on the January earnings calls.

But this quarter’s batch of retail earnings have brought the theft issue to the forefront again. Both Home Depot and Target cited rising retail theft.

“The country has a retail theft problem,” Home Depot CFO Richard McPhail said on a call with CNBC on Tuesday after its earnings. “We’re confident in our ability to mitigate and blunt that pressure, but that pressure certainly exists out there.”

Home Depot’s vice president of asset protection had told CNBC in March crime is increasing at double-digit rates.

Target said organized retail crime will reach $500 million more in stolen and lost merchandise this year compared with a year ago. On its earnings call, Target CEO Brian Cornell said retail theft is “a worsening trend that emerged last year.”

If the threat is moving in severity from one retailer to another, the industry remains convinced it has the numbers to say the crime trend is rising, and that this is not a shoplifting issue reflecting tougher economic times for Americans but increasingly the work of organized retail crime networks.

NRF's president Matt Shay told CNBC on Thursday that the issue isn’t going away. “Conversations we’ve had with members over the last several years indicate it is getting to be a really acute and serious problem,” and as far as the annual numbers, remains “growing.”

While theft is “manifesting itself in stores with acts of violence,” Shay stressed that in-store, individual crime is not the biggest scope of the problem. “It’s not people shoplifting an individual item for personal use,” he said.

But shoplifting is a big part of organized crime. Target chief financial officer Michael Fiddelke had said after its earnings in November 2022 that shoplifting jumped about 50% year over and year, resulting in over $400 million in losses in the fiscal year, and Walmart’s CEO Doug McMillon issued another warning about the rising threat on CNBC in December.

“This is very sophisticated local, state, national and transnational organizations, organized not just to steal at the store level, but throughout the entire supply chain ... on the docks, on trucks, off ships, through containers, on the railways. This is a really persistent problem and it’s across the supply chain,” Shay told CNBC on Thursday.  cnbc.com


ORC is Impacting "All of Retail" & "Puts Our Teams & Our Guests in Harm's Way"
Target, Walmart, TJX Companies and Home Depot Say Organized Retail Crime Is Cutting Into Profit
Retail shrink is taking a bite out of company profits this quarter.

In their most recent earnings calls, CEOs from Target, Walmart and TJX Companies discussed how retail theft has hit their businesses in the last quarter and how the industry needs to come together to combat the growing problem.

“It’s an urgent issue, not just for Target, but across the entire retail industry,” said Target CEO Brian Cornell in a call with investors on Wednesday. “It is a problem that impacts availability of product, the shopping conditions are less convenient and, unfortunately, what I’m most concerned with is it puts our team and our guests in harm’s way.”

TJX Companies, which owns T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods, also highlighted headwinds from retail shrink in its first-quarter earnings call on Wednesday and projected impacts to profit in a similar range to the prior year.

“We are laser-focused on our shrink initiatives, which are the increase of tagging, tethering, the use of hard cases and increased loss prevention presence,” said TJX EVP and CFO John Klinger in a call with analysts. “We’re continuing to look for newer ways to protect our merchandise. And then, of course, we are also very focused on the employee and customer safety in our stores, along with the customer satisfaction.”

Like Target, Walmart noted that the solution to combating the issue needs to be a collaborative process across retail.

“It’s been challenging really for all of retail,” said Walmart’s U.S. CEO and president, John Furner, in a Thursday call with analysts discussing the company’s first-quarter earnings results. “We know a lot of communities have been affected by this, but it’s also important to note that retail can’t solve this issue all on its own. It will take communities stepping up and enforcing the law to be able to bring this issue back under control.” footwearnews.com

Home Depot Q1 webcast: In the first quarter, our gross margin was 33.7 percent, a decrease of 8 basis points from the first quarter last year, primarily driven by increased pressure from shrink.


Grocery Stores Becoming 'Crime & Chaos' Magnets
Grocery stores quickly becoming places of crime and chaos in Western Washington
Cellphone video given to KIRO 7 shows the moments of tension inside a Safeway in Seattle, after a group of suspects began pushing produce on the floor and spraying a fire extinguisher inside the store.

“When criminals are emboldened to steal a lot of times that elevates,” says Tammy Hetrick, the CEO of the Washington Food Industry Association, representing independent grocery and convenience stores. “It starts with a theft, but increases into other things.”

In just the last few weeks, KIRO 7 has reported incidents of violent crime outside grocery stores. In Edmonds, a man was stabbed outside a WinCo. Fred Meyers in Renton and Federal Way both saw shootings in their parking lots.

Steven is an employee at Fred Meyer’s in Federal Way. He witnessed the shooting, which happened over his lunch break, as he sat in his car.

“I heard several gunshots. Turned around. Saw someone sprinting toward the store, put two and two together in my head. Put it into gear and bolted,” says Steven.

KIRO 7 also spoke with an employee at a Seattle Safeway, who wished to exclude his name. “Every time you come to work, you’re always thinking that someone may come in or go crazy, bring a gun, or something like that,” he says.

Theft continues to be a persistent challenge.

“What we’re seeing is those same people coming back again, and again, and again, knowing that we are limited the resources and what we can do to stop them,” says Hetrick.

She says police don’t have the capacity to intervene and store employees are limited in how they can act. Hetrick explains that communities often pay the price for persistent crime, with rising food costs and the threat of food deserts.

“A lot of store owners are really weighing whether it makes sense to stay in business or not,” says Hetrick.

She says already some stores are diverting resources toward security and away from things like food bank donations. kiro7.com


'Tough-On-Crime' Moderate Democrat Wins Philly's Mayor's Primary Race
‘Crime was the most important issue’

Progressive mayors have won elections in Boston, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Here’s why Philadelphia’s race was different.
National progressives were looking for another big win in Philadelphia this week, but Cherelle Parker, a moderate Democrat born and raised in the city’s Northwest section, won the historic nomination.

“We’re taking this movement from the West Coast to the East Coast!” U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told an amped-up Gym crowd at a rally on Sunday. Ultimately, with 94% of votes counted, Gym came in third place in the Democratic mayoral primary trailing Parker and frustrating progressives who hoped to propel gains in recent years into the city’s biggest office.

Philadelphia’s race was more complicated than Chicago’s, with several candidates here factoring into the outcome, and Rhynhart and Gym splitting votes. Of the five contenders, Parker was also the only Black candidate in a city which has historically voted along racial lines. And while the race was light on specific policy proposals, Parker ran with a tough-on-crime stance that supporters seemed to latch onto.

In the mayor’s race, none of the candidates downplayed the severity of crime, a key issue for voters. Parker projected a particularly tough stance that hinged on hiring more police officers and supporting the controversial tactic known as stop-and-frisk. But she combined that posture with a promise to have “no tolerance for misuse or abuse by police” and her personal story of being a mother to a 10-year-old Black boy, which struck a balance for some voters.

“Crime is clearly the No. 1 issue on the minds of voters,” said political strategist J.J. Balaban. inquirer.com


The Ripple Effect of California's ORC Surge
California theft rings impacting businesses in Northern Nevada
Criminal theft rings are hurting local and corporate businesses, and the Reno Police Department (RPD) fears it will push retail stores out. A video of an attempted retail theft at a Reno Walmart when viral on TikTok and Twitter with nearly three million views.

The video prompted many questions on social media, and after speaking with RPD, there is an even bigger problem: "We have seen an uptick in retail theft. We are seeing California theft rings coming to Nevada and stealing merchandise."

However, prosecutions rarely take place as most franchise policies prevent employees from pursuing thieves due to liability issues. In the rare case that a case is pursued, one can face a few charges.

If the items stolen are less than $1,200, it is a petit larceny misdemeanor, but if you go above that it is a felony. However, using force to get away with merchandise is labeled as robbery.

Five dollars here and there doesn't seem like much, but after a while, it adds up. It is also hurting the community because pushes these stores out, which why this issue needs to be taken seriously.

Local law enforcement agencies are cracking down on theft rings who often use Facebook Marketplace to sell the stolen items. mynews4.com


UK Stores Battling Same Theft Surge as U.S.
New Aldi checkout rules implemented in some stores in response to shoplifting

One customer warned others on social media about the change after she saw the new sign at their local supermarket

Customers have noticed a new policy being implemented across in some supermarkets across the UK. The new rule is being put in place at some Aldi stores and requires trolleys to be clear and for carrier bags to be empty when customers are going through the checkout.

It is thought that this new rule is a temporary measure being rolled out in some stores to tackle problems with shoplifting. One person commented: "We've had this for a while in Milton Keynes due to people stealing." A second person wrote: "They have so many thefts now it's a disgrace.

"If they don’t trust me, will be time to shop elsewhere." Someone else wrote: "I always leave my bulky duplicates in my trolley, and I'll continue to do so." nottinghampost.com


Texas Mall Shooting - Conflicting Eyewitness Accounts
Police and witness give contradictory accounts of response to Texas mall shooting
Authorities have publicly denied the eyewitness account of a man who earlier had said he recalled the Allen, Texas, mall shooting scene immediately following the massacre in great detail, claiming he administered aid to victims before police officers arrived.

A gunman opened fire at the outlet mall outside Dallas, killing eight people and wounding seven others on May 6.

Steven Spainhouer, a former U.S. Army officer, said he drove to Allen Premium Outlets after his son, sheltering in place inside the H&M store where he worked, called to tell him that he had heard gunfire on the property.

Spainhouer spoke to a number of media outlets, including CBS News Texas, about the aftermath of the shooting. He claimed in those interviews that he arrived in the parking lot of the outlet mall before first responders, and said he administered aid and performed CPR on people who had been shot. Spainhouer recounted the "carnage" he said that he saw, including a young girl who "had no face" and a young boy covered "head to toe" in blood, who, according to Spainhouer, was hiding beneath the body of his deceased mother.

The Allen Police Department on Friday issued a statement contradicting Spainhouer's account, saying detectives had "determined that Mr. Spainhouer is not a credible incident witness." cbsnews.com


Drugs & Crime Continue to Plague NYC
Flesh-rotting ‘zombie drug’ on the rise in NYC, local officials warn
New York City officials have issued a dire warning about the rise of a “zombie drug” that can have appalling effects on users — including eating away at their flesh — as cities across the nation grapple with the horrifying narcotic’s spread.

The animal tranquilizer xylazine — also known as “tranq” — can create a catastrophic reaction when mixed with other drugs like heroin, cocaine or and most commonly in the Big Apple, fentanyl.

Law enforcement in New York, as well as other major cities like Los Angeles, have reported an increase in the presence of the xylazine, which is often used to cut other drugs and increase the supply because it is incredibly cheap. The often-deadly combination can sometimes cause users’ skin and muscle to begin rotting away, according to authorities. nypost.com


Ellison: Effort to curb crime at troubled Minneapolis intersection has paid off

After mass shooting, Maine lawmakers find little agreement on gun measures