the.com/shoplifting
the five-finger discount that costs everyone else full price at checkout.
means The act of stealing goods from a store by concealing them and leaving without paying.
from A compound of "shop" plus "lift" — and that "lift" is the key. Long before it meant raising something up, "lift" carried a thieving sense, as in to "lift" a wallet (a usage with old roots, possibly related to a Gothic word for stealing). "Shoplift" and "shoplifter" surface in English around the late 17th century, when growing retail shops gave petty thieves a fresh hunting ground; the act "shoplifting" naturally followed.
- global cost
- Retailers lose over 100 billion dollars yearly worldwide
- top target
- Cheese is the most stolen food globally
- the term
- Word dates to 1600s London thieves
- shrinkage
- Industry calls all stolen stock by that euphemism
- psychology
- Most shoplifters can easily afford the goods
target security case 2013 — organized retail crime ring that stole $1m+ from target stores across us
walgreens san francisco 2021 — drugstore closed 17 locations due to organized shoplifting losses exceeding $1m annually
self-checkout theft surge 2023 — uk supermarkets reported 70% increase in scan-and-go evasion, costing retailers £8.3b yearly