Shoplifting occurs when an individual takes merchandise from an open retail establishment without paying for it. Shoplifting, most of the time, involves concealing the item from the store (hiding the item in one's clothes, bags, strollers, etc.). Shoplifting is not the same as burglary or theft, each of them is different, burglary is the act of breaking into a closed store or home, and theft is the act of stealing an item with aggressive and threatening behavior. Shoplifting is classified under larceny. Shoplifting is illegal and you will be sentenced depending on the severity of the charges. In Virginia, less than $199 is a misdemeanor, but more than $200 is a felony. Shoplifting not only affects the offender, but also the stores, because it increases the store's security expenses, will cost consumers more for the goods, gives more work to the police, and affects children and families. There are 27 million shoplifters (1 in 11 people) in the United States today and approximately 10 million are arrested because of it. 75% of shoplifters are adults and 25% are children. Most adults admitted to starting shoplifting when they were teenagers. I went to three different stores and interviewed managers and key holders about how shoplifting affects their store, the employees, and themselves. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay The first person I interviewed was the Nike store manager, Dale. I asked her if anyone had tried to steal anything and she said that every day there was at least one person trying to steal it in the store. It was surprising to hear that stores like Walmart catch 2-3 shoplifters every week. After that she was asked how this would affect the employees and she responded that nothing would happen to the employees but if they were the ones arrested they would most likely be fired, this was understandable since employees cannot be blamed for what was stolen. but many stores fire some employees for shoplifting. I then asked how this affected her as a manager and she said she felt it was her fault then I asked how this affected the store and she responded by saying the store was losing a lot of money, which forced them to spend more money. on security, which adds to how stores here in America lose $25 million every day to shoplifting. I asked how they were going to prevent this from happening in the future, she responded by saying, "With top notch customer service", which I didn't really understand what that meant, but she then responded with more regular customer checks. My second interview was with the manager/keyholder of PacSun, an urban streetwear store, Eva. I asked him the same questions as the first person I interviewed. I first asked how often shoplifting occurs and she told me that every shift she would find at least 2-3 discarded alarm tags on the floor, scattered around the store, which meant that whoever took the merchandise had snatched it. I then asked how this would affect her as a manager and she said she really didn't know since it all depends on the position you have. After that, I asked how this would affect the employees of thestore and she responded that it wouldn't affect the employee unless he was the one who stole something. I asked how this would affect the store and she said the store would lose a lot of money and it would make the company look bad, which is understandable since it could affect the store's business. I finally asked how they were going to prevent this from happening and she said they would monitor customers, do bag checks after their purchase, more ink and alarm tags and more security cameras . The last people I interviewed were the manager and the head of security at Target and they didn't really answer most of my questions because it could affect Targets business and that was understandable. I asked how often shoplifting happens and they said they couldn't answer, so I asked how it would affect the employees and the manager said they would most likely be fired, which was strange since they didn't really have any. other consequences for employees. I then asked how this would affect the store and they simply chose not to answer the question. So I asked how this would affect the store manager and they said it wouldn't really affect the manager but it would affect the head of that department since Target separates everything into departments. I asked how they were going to stop this from happening and they said I would just take personal action but then I asked if they would use anything else but they just told me it was a business private and they ended the interview. It didn't go as well as I wanted, but I still got some information out of it. At the end I read all the answers and noticed that most of them had similar answers. The last question about security had the most common answer with more regular checks and more alarms, but I started researching and those two methods aren't really effective. The least effective method is to use visible cameras, followed by ink tags and alarm tags. The most effective security methods are hidden cameras and observation booths. There are other very effective devices on the market right now, including this new sensor on all Apple phones that can detect when someone is trying to steal something by using a small motion sensor in the device, which looks for certain movements and reads the person's heart rate. Another device designed was entry sensors that can see through foil bags that some people might use to hide stolen goods. Shoplifting costs stores millions of dollars every day and more than $13 billion worth of goods are stolen from retailers each year. Shoplifting not only forces the store to pay for the stolen items, but it also has to spend more money on security. It could also harm the company's business because if people found out about the problem, they would all react negatively. Shoplifting also affects consumers and the community. Due to shoplifting, consumers would have to pay higher prices, causing them to stop shopping, resulting in the community losing a store. This not only affects the community when it comes to shopping, but also when it comes to transportation, as people would have to travel long distances to buy the same products at a lower price, this.