It’s sourced from an industry survey, which you can read here:
https://cdn.nrf.com/sites/default/files/2023-09/NRF_National_Retail_Security_Survey_2023.pdf
If you have specific issues with their methodology or findings, i would be interesting to hear them.
From the article:
Total retail shrink grew to more than $112 billion in 2022, up from $93.9 billion the year before, according to the newest National Retail Security Survey. The metric, which accounts for various types of inventory loss including theft, damage and vendor error, generally rises as retail sales climb.
While retailers and the NRF are increasingly saying crime is cutting into profits, losses from internal and external theft last year were largely on par with historical trends. They made up 65% of total shrink, the survey found.
External theft, which includes organized retail crime, was again reported as the largest source of shrink last year at 36.15%, but that was slightly below 37% in 2021. Internal theft, or goods stolen by employees, rose slightly to 28.85% from 28.5% in 2021. Process and control failures and errors made up 27.29% of shrink in 2022, up from 25.7% the year prior.
So, the article itself points out that between 2021 and 2022, 18.1 BILLLION more $ were lost to shrink. That alone indicates a massive amount of more theft. But they try to create doubt by saying shrink goes up when sales go up, although they did not mention the total Sales increase, so we could see if the shrink ratio increased.
Regardless, their own math says external the external theft (which they also try to shift the blame from looters a bit to "organized crime") went down from 2022 on a % of total shrink basis, but that still totals an increase of ~6 Billion total dollars - that is a massive amount of theft.
So basically, they are full of shit in their presentation because they try to create the illusion that nothing's changed because of ratios and averages, but anyone who looks at the data can tell otherwise.
But then they add this:
Sixty-seven percent of respondents reported more violence associated with organized retail crime than a year ago. In the last survey, 81% reported an increase in violence.
Meanwhile, 45% of retailers in the survey said they have reduced specific store hours to deal with crime and violence, nearly 30% said they somehow changed store product selection, and 28% reported closing a specific location because of crime.
Companies identified Los Angeles, San Francisco/Oakland, Houston, New York and Seattle as the five cities and metropolitan areas most affected by retail crime.
So, the article itself states a massive increase in total theft $, as well as the stuff stolen by looters. And the violence is up.
But according to the OP, he's using this to say nothing's really changed, because of a few ratios.
Oh, and if you read where these numbers came from in other non libturd sources, you'll see cnbc left this out:
In 2022, inventory “shrink” as a percentage of total retail sales accounted for $112.1 billion in losses, up from $93.9 billion in 2021, according to the NRF report on Tuesday.
“Retailers are seeing unprecedented levels of theft coupled with rampant crime in their stores, and the situation is only becoming more dire,” said NRF Vice President for Asset Protection and Retail Operations David Johnston.
Dumbass
