Term Papers on Are The Methods That Major Companies Use To Prevent Shoplifting Effective?

Term Paper Title	Are The Methods That Major Companies Use To Prevent Shoplifting Effective?
# of Words	4636
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	18.54

Are the methods that major companies use to prevent shoplifting effective?

     Shoplifting is a disease plaguing the American consumer and retail stores.  Almost all companies are feeling the effect of shoplifting in one way or another.  The major companies have to deal with it in two ways; 1.  Consumer shoplifting 2.  Dishonest employees.  The shrinkage due to these two factors causes the companies to take it out on the honest consumer.  They(the retail companies) are forced to raise the price of their products to make up for the loss of revenue due to shoplifting dishonest employees and the methods they use to prevent these crimes from occurring.  The minority shoplifters are affecting the entire retail industry in a way that there are no winners.  The retailers themselves have to raise the prices due to the loss and the consumers are the ones paying the bill.  The only winner is the shoplifter.
     According to New Jersey Title 2C shoplifting is, in a nutshell, selecting and concealing merchandise as to prevent the merchant its use, or the ability to sell the merchandise.  It is also considered that once you conceal the merchandise you are committing the crime of shoplifting.  Also stated in Title 2C under ringing is also a form of shoplifting.  Switching tags as to not pay the full price for the merchandise or causing any damage to it is another form of shoplifting.
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Now even though Title 2C says that shoplifting has occurred when the
subject conceals the merchandise, most companies take it a step farther.  Boscov's and Macy's adds a third element into the definition of shoplifting.  It is leaving the store.  Their security must wait to see the subject leave the store with the merchandise and without paying for it.  That third element is introduced for several reasons.  The first and most important is liability.  There are an outrageous number of lawsuits going on in the United States, and companies just don't want to deal with it.  An Eddie Bauer store had to pay one million dollars in punitive damages o three young men because they young men were falsely accused of shoplifting.  The guards in store made one of the boys take off a shirt that they believed he shoplifted.  Even after one of the cashiers vouched for him saying that he bought it the previous day, they still kept the shirt .  When he returned later that day with the receipt they still would not give him the shirt.  The young men sued Eddie Bauer for False Imprisonment and Defamation of Character.  They cashed in on the law suit getting a million dollars.  That is just one case in hundreds that proves that there is a lot of liability in detaining people for shoplifting.  If some one physically walks out of the store with an item and they have not paid for it, and you can prove it, then you have their intentions right there.  They were going to
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shoplift.  The walking out part ensures that the charge will stick.  A person cannot honestly say that they decided to put three shirts on under the one they were already wearing and walk out of the store and say that they just forgot to take them
off, or that they were going to pay for them later.  That is the main reason why
some stores add the third element to shoplifting.
     Shoplifting is so rampant that most major corporations have their own security that is considered a separate entity from the rest of the employees.  The are almost like an internal affair department.  They do not report to the store manager in most cases, and are not bound by the same rules that the rest of the employees have to follow.  They report directly to their manager who directly reports to the corporate manager.  The store manager has no say in the day to day operations of the security department.
     Who are the people doing the shoplifting and why do they do it?  Anyone can be considered a potential shoplifter.  Shoplifting is not determined by race or by economic status.  Anyone is a shoplifter, therefor there is no profiling in preventing shoplifting.  Shoplifters strike for one reason they want something.  Now there ...

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