The National Retail Federation’s ninth annual Organized Retail Crime (ORC) Survey found that 93.5 percent of retailers say they have been a victim of organized retail crime in the past year, down slightly from 96.0 percent in 2012.
Up to five years in prison faces anyone guilty of knowingly committing organized retail crime, such as reselling stolen items to other stores or on the Internet.
Retailers have a systemic problem. They know that a percentage of the people walking into their stores are there solely to steal. But with full knowledge, they still welcome all as if they will be paying for their purchases. They also know that unbridled access to goods leads to higher sales, but allowing that also creates a gateway for higher theft.
It’s a telling case: a few years ago, members of two criminal organizations in California were charged for their role in a large-scale fencing operation to buy and sell over-the-counter health and beauty products—as well as other items like camera film, batteries, and infant formula—that had been stolen from major retail chain stores. The merchandise was then passed off to crooked out-of-state wholesale distributors, who just sold it back to unsuspecting retailers.