By this point, everyone has been able to see the results of the epidemic of looting and wholesale retail theft that’s been taking place across the United States. Stores have been emptied out faster than retailers can refill the shelves. Some have been looted so often that they are simply shutting down for good. But exactly how much has been successfully stolen? The National Retail Federation has just completed its annual Retail Security Survey for 2022 and the results are every bit as bad as you probably suspected, if not worse. They tally up what they politely refer to as “inventory shrink” across the country. And the total “shrinkage” added up to a whopping $112.1 billion. But not all of that amount was chalked up to random robbers, which they categorize as “external theft” Some merchandise was stolen by employees while other goods were simply damaged or lost. But that’s still a massive amount of theft taking place. (Business Insider)

Retailers reported losing a record $112.1 billion to inventory shrink in 2022, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual Retail Security Survey, published Tuesday.

External theft was the largest contributing factor to shrink, followed by theft by employees. Combined, the two categories of theft account for roughly two-thirds of total shrink.

In addition, more than two-thirds of respondents said they were seeing higher levels of violence and aggression from retail criminals than in prior years.

Those total losses easily set a new record. The previous record, set in 2021, was $94 billion, $18 billion less than last year. And looking at the daily news cycle this year, we’re probably on track to break that record yet again.

The thieves obviously aren’t slowing down, particularly in the states and cities with lax “justice reform” laws. Just this week looters tore up Philadelphia and hauled off everything that wasn’t nailed down. Los Angeles has begun an attempt to slow down the looting trend using a new retail theft task force, but they’re really only scratching the surface so far. Target is shutting down nine stores on the West Coast citing retail theft as the driving factor.

Target is one of many canaries in the coal mine that we should be paying attention to, along with Walgreens, CVS, and others. This situation is simply unsustainable. None of these businesses have any sort of legal obligation to remain in operation if they can’t produce a profit. If they are robbed too often and for too much, their profits evaporate. Insurance companies then either refuse to offer them coverage or raise their premiums to unaffordable levels. In the end, they have no choice but to close down.

And what happens then? People will have to travel further and further just to find groceries and other products they require. And they’ll be doing it at a time when gas prices are starting to spike again. Trying to have all of your needs met using delivery services is perhaps an option, but those costs will rise further as delivery people need to travel further. And even then you have to hope you’re able to beat the porch pirates.

None of this is happening by accident and the situation could be turned around if the will exists to do so. Ever since the Summer of Love in 2020, municipal governments sent out a message that potential rioters heard loud and clear. You can do whatever you want if you can identify as a “victim” of some sort and there will be no consequences for your actions. But if these permissive laws are all repealed and the police are restored to the point where they can start locking up looters for years on end, people will understand that the free lunch is over. If the impacted cities and states can’t muster the courage to do that, then let them close down and turn into ghost towns. That’s the alternate solution to the looting problem because at that point there won’t be anything left to loot.