America's biggest companies say retail crime is an epidemic, but just how big of a problem is it?

America's biggest retailers accidental organized retail crime has grown into a multibillion-dollar problem, but the effectiveness of their strategies to lick it and the validity of the data wide person travel into question. 

Over the past respective years, companies specified arsenic Home Depot, Lowe's, Walmart, Best Buy, Walgreens and CVS person been sounding the alarm astir organized bands of thieves who ransack their stores and resell the goods connected online marketplaces. 

They've poured wealth into theft prevention strategies, specified arsenic integrative cases, metallic detectors, motion-sensing monitors and AI-powered cameras, and person warned if the occupation doesn't improve, consumers could extremity up paying the price. 

"Theft is an issue. It's higher than what it's historically been," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon told CNBC successful December. "If that's not corrected implicit time, prices volition beryllium higher, and/or stores volition close."

However, the occupation isn't arsenic clear-cut arsenic retailers and commercialized groups person made it seem. 

Studies from the National Retail Federation amusement retail shrink cost retailers $94.5 billion successful 2021, up from $90.8 cardinal successful 2020, but the information is mostly qualitative and cannot beryllium fact-checked due to the fact that it's gathered from an anonymized acceptable of retailers. 

Plus, the $94.5 cardinal successful losses refers to shrink overall, meaning the quality betwixt the inventory a institution records connected its equilibrium expanse and what it tin really sell. That quality accounts for items that were shoplifted but besides includes inventory that was damaged, mislaid oregon stolen by employees.

External retail transgression accounts for lone 37% of those losses, oregon astir $35 billion, the NRF information shows. 

At slightest 1 large retailer precocious conceded that it whitethorn person overblown the problem.

"Maybe we cried excessively overmuch past year," Walgreens Chief Financial Officer James Kehoe said connected an capitalist telephone successful January erstwhile asked astir shrink. "We're stabilized," helium added, saying the institution is "quite blessed with wherever we are." 

Still, instrumentality enforcement agencies and retailers importune organized retail transgression remains an contented and said they basal down their data. 

"I tin archer you that successful our world, we cognize that transgression is increasing. We spot it each time successful our stores," Scott Glenn, Home Depot's vice president of plus protection, told CNBC. "Our interior accusation shows america that that's connected a year-over-year basis, increasing astatine double-digit rates." 

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