‘Tis the season for making chocolate-dipped biscotti and White Trash Christmas Nuggets, listening to “Christmas Portrait” by The Carpenters…and shoplifting? According to a report in Ad Week, more and more people are letting their (sticky) fingers do the shopping this year – an unbelievable 1 in 11 people walks out of a store with at least one item they haven’t paid for. The report claims 75 percent of shoplifters are adults, and that using that five-finger discount has been on the rise for the past five years due to the rocky economy.
I was also surprised to learn that the #1 most shoplifted item is …drum roll, please… filet mignon! Now I love me a good steak, but I can’t imagine sticking a couple of filets under my arm and not having my guilty-looking face or full body sweat give me away to the cashier.
Other things on the list of most purloined items?
- Jameson whiskey (delicious with filet mignon)
- iPhones (you think those geniuses at the Apple store would figure out how to fix that problem)
- Gillette Mach 4 razors (these thieves must be engineering majors. I recently spent five minutes trying to wrest a pack of razor blades from a security system at my local Rite-Aid that would put Fort Knox to shame. Yes, a little swearing ensued.)
- Axe body spray (does any guy over 12 really wear this stuff?)
I must say this list surprised me and made me a little sad. Seventy percent of shoplifters say they didn't plan to shoplift, says Barbara Staib from the National Association of Shoplifting Prevention, “but add a sense of desperation because of the economy and holiday pressures, and you have the recipe for theft soup."
So if you saw someone at your local supermarket stick a package of filet mignon under their jacket, would you report it to the store manager? Would it make a difference if the thief were a hungry-looking old lady? A nicely-dressed businessman? A kid?
Nice to see your blog again! Now put those filets back in the cooler.
ReplyDeletei did this once; I was young and saw a woman leaving the store with a steak - she was fleeing and I think looking ashamed. I was outraged, thinking she was stealing from me personally. I don't think I would have the same vitriol if I saw this now, but I am not so sure I would let her go.
ReplyDeletetwo posts in a month? STOP THE MADNESS!!!!
ReplyDeleteSeventy percent of shoplifters say they didn't plan to shoplift Really? What did you expect them to say?
And you swear? tsk tsk tsk.
This reminds me of when we used to live in the Philippines. Stores would take a photo of the person with whatever they had stolen and post the pics (and there were many!) at the front entrance of the store. Talk about public humiliation. So, not only would you be sweating and nervous at the cashier, but you would have your mugshot taken with a big steak right next to your face!
ReplyDeleteThe most frequently stolen item according to my research - Nescafe.