Grocery shoplifting mounting across Canada amid inflation, labour shortages: experts – National | 24CA News
Shoplifting has surged to an alarming degree throughout Canada, trade insiders say, with inflation and labour shortages cited as main elements behind the rise.
The uptick has triggered concern amongst Canadian grocers even because the rise in meals costs helps pad their backside strains. Grocery costs had been up 11 per cent year-over-year in October and so they’re not anticipated to ease any time quickly. The complete price of groceries for a household of 4 is predicted to be $1,065 greater than it was this 12 months, in keeping with the latest version of Canada’s Food Price Report.
Inflation in meals costs is likely one of the foremost drivers pushing extra folks to steal, says Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
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“There is a correlation between the two, absolutely. Theft is an ongoing issue. But the intensity actually does increase when food prices go up,” he stated, noting that meat and dairy merchandise are the highest two stolen objects.
He warned the issue could develop if the financial system slows down subsequent 12 months as some economists counsel.
“If you see both food prices go up and … the economy slows down, jointly that is when you basically see even more stuff.”
Charlebois stated inflation and grocery theft are affecting each other, that means when costs go up, shoplifting surges, and to offset the loss, companies don’t have any different possibility however to additional enhance the costs.
“Theft will cost everyone more because someone has to pay for that (stolen) food,” he stated. “You and I pay for theft.”
Felicia Fefer, company affairs supervisor at Walmart Canada, stated the retail big has seen a historic uptick in theft.
“Retail crime, including theft and arson, is sadly higher than it historically has been at Walmart Canada and across the entire retail industry,” she stated.
“This is very concerning for our business, our associates, our customers and the industry.”
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Fefer stated the corporate is implementing measures to stop and cut back theft with a purpose to maintain costs low and maintain its staff and clients secure.
Metro and Loblaw each declined to touch upon the matter, referring The Canadian Press to the Retail Council of Canada. Sobeys didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Labour shortages are additionally contributing to the surge in shoplifting, stated Dan Kelly, the president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
“There is great concern among Canadian businesses right now about crime, and crime in Canadian workplaces,” he stated. “Shoplifting is definitely being felt more, especially as we’ve come out of lockdown and restrictions.”
Kelly stated some grocers are struggling to recruit new employees, and when companies don’t have sufficient staff to carry out bodily monitoring, they might be in a susceptible place.
“If you have fewer people on the storefront, if you know if you have one person deep in the business at the back cash desk,” he stated, “it does lead to the business being a bit of a robbery target.
“Fewer people on the floor … makes shoplifters feel a little less intimidated to go in and take something,” he stated, including that staff and clients alike really feel extra “intimidated and nervous” strolling into the shops.
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As a end result, extra retail shops, even smaller ones, are hiring safety guards together with off-duty law enforcement officials. They are additionally taking different steps akin to retrofitting to verify they’ve clearer sightlines inside the business, utilizing extra digital monitoring know-how, and limiting the variety of folks within the retailer to allow them to present one-to-one service.
As clients who shopped extra on-line through the pandemic return to shops, an uptick in retail crime has been seen throughout Canada, says Michelle Wasylyshen, a spokesperson for Retail Council of Canada.
She pointed to the financial downturn, a rising resale marketplace for stolen items and a rise in organized crime as different elements behind the surge.
While it’s troublesome to know the precise affect of theft on native companies as a result of a lot of crime goes unreported, the council’s estimates counsel retail crime price $5 billion in losses in 2019 in Canada.
Wasylyshen stated the council isn’t accumulating knowledge on whether or not there’s any connection between inflation and shoplifting, however “theft tends to spike during economic downturns.”
“We also know that break-ins, armed robberies, and physical and especially violent incidents are higher than they have been in previous years,” she stated.
Greeting clients as they enter to acknowledge their presence and preserving surplus stock off the shop ground might be efficient loss prevention methods for shops, Wasylyshen stated.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Dec. 17, 2022.
© 2022 The Canadian Press
