Saturday, December 24, 2022

Smash and Grab

It is not pervasive, thankfully, but organized retail theft, a rash of smash and grab robberies has broken out at larger numbers of local retail establishments. If you live in midtown Manhattan or San Francisco or Los Angeles, you see it when you go to the drug store and discover that most of the products are under lock and key.

At the least,, it feels like something of an armed insurrection against big business. Or else, it might feel like reparations. Those who engage in it have found an Achilles heel to retailing and are happily exploiting it.


Obviously, no one wants to say so, but the fact that the crimes are not being committed by white supremacists leads community leaders to a frightening degree of nonchalance. If it merely corrects an injustice, then, perhaps it is not even worth the trouble.


And  yet, things are getting out of hand and this is going to start costing everyone. Like a tax, a value added tax. Or else, the wages of guilt, over slavery and segregation. It is not yet a national crisis, but it is fast becoming one.


The Epoch Times reports:


Organized looting and retail theft gangs have caused shortfalls for the retail industry amid supply chain problems and years of COVID-19-related disturbances, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.


“Retail theft is becoming a national crisis, hurting businesses in every state and the communities they serve. We call on policymakers to tackle this problem head-on before it gets further out of control. No store should have to close because of theft,” the organization stated. “These crimes are not victimless.


“In addition to the growing number of thefts that turn violent, innocent consumers, employees, local communities, and business owners and shareholders bear the costs of rising retail theft. 


Twenty-five percent of small businesses report raising prices as a result of shoplifting. Some retailers have been forced to shutter locations in response to rampant theft.”


Notably, drugstore Walgreens has closed several locations in San Francisco amid a rise of thefts and shoplifting that had been blamed on policies implemented under District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who was recalled earlier this year.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just imagine if these were white gangs. Or worse if they were Oath Keepers. The FBI would be arresting them, the DOJ would be throwing them in jail without bail and the MSM would be posting their pictures and addresses and knocking on their doors to dox and embarrass the family. But they are just "teens" or "young people" or economically disadvantaged people, so it's OK!

In a year or two the MSM will be publishing stories about how racist the stores are for leaving black areas and they will complain about a "food desert". Congress will pass laws punishing large brick and mortar businesses unless they open up stores in these "blighted" areas.

Mind your own business said...

It's time to build walls. Not just at our Mexico and Canadian borders, but around major US cities. Escape form New York was a premonition. Time to isolate the cancers.