Walmart

With respect to Massachusetts retailers who are losing tons of money due to the rampant retail theft, some items I saw locked up in my local Walmart was eye opening.

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Loss In The Millions Range

Companies like Target, Walmart, Dollar General and Home Depot have been sounding the alarm on retail theft in recent months. Missing inventory was talked about more during this previous quarter’s earnings call than any quarter on record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. -usatoday.com

We recently had the police chief and DA for Berkshire County on our radio show and they said the dollar range in theft was in the millions for our local Walmart, Market 32, and Home Depot.

Walking Through Walmart in Western Massachusetts Today, I Saw All Of These Items Locked Up...

Collagen Peptides

Used for aging skin and osteoarthritis and more, these products were behind doors that sounded an alert to get a customer service rep's attention.

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5 Hour Energy Drinks

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Nicorette

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Razors (These Have Been in Anti-Theft Devices For Years)

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Dental White Strips

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Car Stereos, Speakers

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Baby Formula, Monitors

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Golf Balls! (People Steal These on the Regular)?

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This Was The Most Bizarre To See... Men's Socks, Underwear and a lot of it!

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Video Games

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Retail theft in the U.S. is as big of a problem as it's ever been. Be it a byproduct of the pandemic, inflation, weak district attorneys, ubiquitous social media smash and grab videos, or a combination, stores across the country lost about $86bn in retail theft in 2022. That number is projected to hit $115bn in 2023.

Organized retail crime is three or more people. One person may be driving the car, one person is distracting inside the store, and the third person is actually stealing the merchandise.

So, it's expanded from shoplifting, now it's organized retail crime. I'm not talking someone stealing diapers or baby formula, I'm talking about people stealing substantial items that they sell on the black market. -Berkshire DA Tim Shugrue

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