Are Businesses Overreacting To Rising Shoplifting?

While retailers appeared to ring up record business this holiday season, they also had to cope with an increase in shoplifting.

The Global Retail Theft Barometer, compiled by the British Centre for Retail Research, estimates U.S. retailers lost $1.8 billion in merchandise to shoplifters in the four weeks leading up to Christmas.

Understandably, retailers are taking steps to reduce these losses, many relying in increased technology to deter theft. While these measures may prove effective – although to date there's evidence to the contrary – some of these measures serve to alienate customers and potential customers.

Stacey's adventure

Stacey, of Riverside, Calif., describes a post-Christmas visit to a Barnes and Noble as “a horrible trip.”

“Horrible, due to the treatment of myself and my son at the hands of the rude TSA agent-like staff at the Barnes and Noble on Tyler,” Stacey told ConsumerAffairs.com.

As Stacey tells it, the problem began when she and her son passed through the metal detectors at the door to the store. Suddenly, an alarm sounded.

“A young girl came running from behind me screaming " EXCUSE ME, EXCUSE ME, I NEED TO CHECK YOU TO SEE WHY THE ALARM WENT OFF," Stacey said. “Not being sure what she was going to actually check, being my hands were empty and I had a purse the size of a wallet, I said OK. She then said she needed to check my clothes it see if they had any anti-theft tags. 'What,' I said, 'my clothes are not new and there are none.'”

Stacey said she was then asked if she had any gift cards in her wallet that had not been activated.

“Both questions were an accusation that I stole my clothes and I stole gift cards from someplace and walked into Barnes and Noble with them,” she said. “I told her, 'look I don't know what to tell you as to why your sensors went off but I just walked in and don't have anything that belongs to you.'”

Here we go again

After all that, Stacey said she made a purchase and passed through the detectors on her way out of the store. Once again, the alarm sounded.

“A different girl approached me this time and attempted to say the same things to me,” Stacey said. “I cut her off and said we just went through this because they went off when I walked in. She went through the whole thing again accusing me of having stolen items on my person and wanted me to giver her my wallet so she could de-activate whatever it was in my purse that made the anti-theft detectors go off. I refused.”

Stacey said a manager intervened, but the situation, from her perspective at least, didn't improve. The manager asked for her wallet so she would swipe and deactivate it.

“I looked at her and said 'are you out of your mind, clearly you have zero training and no clue what your doing,” Stacey said. '”If you swipe my wallet you de-activate the magnetic strip on all my credit cards."'

Guilty until proven innocent?

Stacey said she handed her purse to her son and walked through the detectors again, setting off the alarm once more. The manager said there must be an anti-theft tag on her clothing somewhere and wanted a closer look. At that point, Stacey said she and her son departed the store.

“They wanted to physically search my body, remove my possessions from me, de-activate my credit cards, take my wallet, all illegal!” Stacey said.

While retail store employees, under increased pressure from the corporate office, may say they are only doing their job, it's clear some consumers are taking offense at what they perceive to be accusations of thievery. Is Stacey overreacting to the closer scrutiny? If so, she is hardly alone.

In Batavia, N.Y., a 26-old shopper was charged Monday with slugging a 70-year old Walmart greeter after the employee asked to see the shopper's receipt as she left the store.