What Can You Do About Retail Theft?
This is a transcript of a podcast posted May 7, 2006.
 Hello. This week, Nolo presents an excerpt from an audio program entitled, "The Booksellers' Little Legal Companion." Although the episode is targeted at bookstore owners, you'll see that the rules we discuss regarding employee theft, shoplifting, armed robbery, and counterfeit currency apply to the owners of any store or retail establishment.
Shoplifting
Although studies of shoplifting show that it is most often a spontaneous decision, some bookstore shoplifting is organized and premeditated. A fictional example of this occurs in The Adventures of Augie March, by Saul Bellow, in which the main character steals books to sell to students.
But organized shoplifting also happens in real life. In the late 1990s, the owner of a second-hand bookstore in Northern California ran a shoplifting ring, and gave his associates "pick-lists" -- lists of books that the ringleader could resell at high prices. According to William Patrick Shelly, owner of Book Passages in Corta Madera, California, this guy's pick-list was better than the New York Times' best-seller list. The ring unraveled after one of the members was caught, and agreed to wear a wire, resulting in the bust of the ringleader at his storage facility.
There are an estimated 23 million shoplifters, or one in 11 people in the United States. More than ten million people have been caught shoplifting in the last five years. Here are ten things to keep in mind about shoplifting:
1. Never assume that someone making a purchase isn't also stealing. Many shoplifters buy and steal in the same visit.
2. Wal-Mart discovered that having greeters, those friendly employees who meet you at the entrance, reduced shoplifting by as much as 35%. So not only is greeting and making eye contact with people who come in good business, it also deters shoplifting.
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