Shrink

Just a short post today I'm afraid. I have many things to do and one of those things is that I have to go shoplifting... Wait, I mean I have to go shopping!

When my Wife and I go shopping, something we typically do once a week, we often have an argument when we get home. Not that we disagree about the groceries we've purchased, or that I don't like the color of my new socks. Noting like that. What often happens is this: when we get home, my wife displays a satisfied smile and winks at me; and then I know exactly what has happened. She always does this when the cashier forgot to bill us for one or more products, saving us a little bit of much needed money. She'll pull out the receipt and say something like "Look honey! They forgot to bill us for the cheese!" or "Would you look at that; your new socks aren't on this receipt!" Conversely, when something's billed double, which also happens sometimes, she'll sigh and say "Let's go back honey, we have to get that money back."

When I go to the store by myself and I see that the cashier forgot something, I always say so; "Excuse me, but I think you forgot to add this bar of chocolate." That's because I know that the cashier will have to explain the difference between the stock and the amount of money in the cash register. And he or she could get in trouble, maybe lose their job over it. And that's why I don't like it when my wife knows this has happened, but waits until we're home to tell me the "good" news of having saved a couple of bucks. Sure, we're not rich and could use every dollar saved, but we're not starving, we have a house and a car, but never go on vacation; we're the same as 90 percent of the population. And our regular grocery store often has new cashiers... I wonder how many personnel changes are because of my wife and people like her...

Oh, our relation's just fine; she has too many wonderful character traits for me to ever really get angry over this :-) This little intro was to show how "shrink" can happen. Shrink is the difference between a store's stock in the physical inventory and the stock in the books, and described above is but one way how shrink's caused. Other ways are simple misplacement, mislabeling or miscounting of products, and shoplifting. Only estimates are possible for the total shrink, but retailers have an incentive to, and often will, inflate the total cost of this shrink, and especially of shoplifting. And not all of the shoplifting's done by customers; Estimates are that one third of shrink is caused through shoplifting by customers, one third through shoplifting by employees, and one third through internal errors.

Insurance companies are aware of these estimates, which is why shoplifting isn't covered by the insurance, only significant theft after hours is covered. The insurance companies know that if they did cover shoplifting, retailers would inflate their shoplifting losses by showing them the shrink calculations. This doesn't stop large retail franchises from playing the victim in the public's eye though. They do this by using the terms "shrink" and "shoplifting" interchangeably. They do it to make excuses for layoffs, when shrink or shoplifting never are the real reasons to reduce the workforce. "It's not our fault that we have to fire employees, look at these shrink calculations!"

There's a lot more to say about this and the shady role retailers as well as sensanionalized media play with regards to shoplifting and layoffs; please watch the below linked video for more and more detailed information about the subject. I have to go now; my wife's waiting for me to drive to the convenience store...

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