" True Costs of Theft"

The North American statistics for loss of shrinkage is staggering. Every year over $2.3 Billion are lost to shrink that amount is growing in both amount and percent of retail sales. Latest Consumer Electronics Association numbers on theft point to about 1.7% of all CE sales being lost. But as Dr. Richard Hollinger of the University of Florida points out “that is only the tip of the iceberg”! Dr. Hollinger has studied supply chain theft and has concluded that for every one dollar lost on shrink and additional three dollars are spent on:

    -  Claims
    -  Fees
    -  Lost sales
    -  Loss of reputation
    -  Re-order costs
    -  Investigation costs
    -  Increased shipping fees
    -  Increase in insurance premiums

The added costs are generally passed along to the consumer, in terms of higher prices to cover these fees. It is estimated that the average consumer pays an additional 4.1% extra in product costs to cover retail shrink. According to NPD data the average home is spending approx.$ 2,000.00 per year on CE products – at 4.1% cost that is an added tax to the average US home of $72.80 per year.

Nearly 50% of all theft is organized supply chain theft (internal), that are used for resale in channels such as ebay and other on-line sites to move goods quickly. This hurts the reputation of the brand name and the store as resulting are not only shrink but loss in sales and inventory turns.

All of us share the “TRUE COST of TAX” and now is the time to stop this shared costs and stop crime at the source.


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