Walmart, Home Depot Sound the Alarm: State-Tolerated Mass-Looting Is Getting Worse and Worse

Via John Sexton.

I'm surprised Woke Target would admit that people who take their goods through diverse ways of acquisition such as theft are a problem at all.

But the problem is so big now that even the wokest of the woke corporations has to begin objecting to blue jurisdictions legalizing crime.

Inventory shrinkage -- the loss of items to retail theft, organized crime, damage, vendor fraud, and other factors -- is still a major headache for US retailers. At least, that was a common thread heard on recent earnings calls from Home Depot (HD), Target (TGT), Walmart (WMT), and other large retailers last week.

On Wednesday, Target CEO Brian Cornell said the retailer is up against "an unacceptable amount of retail theft and organized retail crime." Last November, Target CFO Michael Fiddelke said the disappearance of merchandise caused a $400 million hit to the retailer's gross profit margin for the year.

"Shrink in the second quarter remained consistent with our expectations but well above the sustainable level where we expect to operate over time," Cornell said in the company's Q2 earnings call.

Walmart US CEO John Furner echoed that sentiment, saying: "Shrink has increased a bit this year. It increased last year. It's uneven across the country."

Retail theft weighed profit margins too. Just ask Home Depot.

"In the second quarter, our gross margin was 33%, a decrease of 8 basis points from the second quarter last year, primarily driven by pressure from shrink," Home Depot CFO Richard McPhail said on the earnings call. "Shrink has been a consistent pressure over the last several quarters and even the last few years. It's something we're tackling every day."

According to the National Retail Federation's (NRF) National Retail Security Survey, retail shrink was a nearly $100 billion problem for the industry as of 2021, the last year data was collected. That cost more than doubled from $45.2 billion in 2015.

"I can tell you that never before have I seen what I'm seeing today," David Johnston, NRF vice president of asset protection and retail operations, told Yahoo Finance. "The retailers are not crying wolf. They are highlighting a major issue out there."

It's not just shoplifting -- organized retail crime and employee theft have become growing concerns, according to the NRF.

Violence is a bigger issue too: According to Cornell, Target stores saw a 120% increase in theft incidents involving violence or threats of violence in the first five months of 2023.

It's true that these woke corporations have other reasons for their woes. Target is facing a boycott, for example.

Dick's Sporting Goods alienated half the country with its gun-grabber-friendly policies. But it too is whining that their beloved Democrats are feeding them to the criminal wolves.

The New York Post:

Dick's Sporting Goods on Tuesday blamed "organized retail crime" for sinking its quarterly profits by nearly 25% as the company slashed its full-year earnings outlook.

The popular retail chain reported a 23% drop in profits in the second quarter across its more than 700 stores nationwide -- despite sales rising 3.6%.

Dick's attributed the losses to "organized retail crime and our ability to effectively manage inventory shrink," an industry term used to describe stolen or lost merchandise.

...

Dick's share price plunged more than 20% after Tuesday’s opening bell.

Here's some of Dick's post-George-Floyd Summer-of-Love BLM-Batsignalling in February 2021:

I guess the wolves don't really care if you support their agenda or not.

posted by Ace at 06:04 PM

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