Why does every 10th person in the US steal things from a store?

Shoplifting, or shoplifting, is one of the most common crimes in the United States, according to various crime-fighting organizations. More than 10 million American citizens regularly, and essentially with impunity, “rob” huge supermarkets and small shops. And they cause damage to these retail outlets in the amount of about 35 billion dollars annually. Why do citizens of a rich and civilized state behave like starving and ragged residents of one of the “third world” countries?

Why every 10th American steals things and food

It is curious that today's shoplifting is no longer an extreme entertainment for bored teenagers and is not the lot of untreated kleptomaniacs. Representatives of all social strata steal - and they do it so thoughtfully and successfully that very few people get caught. They are punished - occasionally they are sent to rest behind bars for 60 days and fined. Or they simply offer to pay for the unstolen goods and let you go in peace. In some places they approach the question in an original way: “Should we call the police or take a photo on the door?”That is, the store arranges a kind of “board of shame”, decorated with photographs of shoplifters. In 2007, a court in Alabama ordered two thieves caught at a WalMart supermarket to walk near the affected store for two Saturdays in a row with signs on their chests: “I am a thief. I stole from Wal-Mart."

But these measures do not stop thieves. They dragged, dragged and are going to drag. The supposed reason is a peculiar combination of “life on credit” and a thriving cult of consumption. It’s not difficult to get a loan in the USA, and everyone takes them - literally for any need: study, housing, purchasing a car and necessary household and electronic equipment. From his youth, a person has a credit history, which for Americans is equal to a reputation. It is completely normal for a US citizen to have one large and several small loans.

At the same time, the cult of shopping is thriving in the country. According to the famous comedian George Carlin, Americans simply “live in a huge shopping center” with “miles of stores.” And what if most of your earnings go to paying off loans (and paying them means being a worthy citizen!), but you want to live like your wealthier friends and have the same cool things? Of course, you have to become a shoplifter!

How shoplifters themselves explain their actions

The most “advanced” and, let’s be honest, impudent shoplifters provide a philosophical basis for banal shoplifting - they “fight the System” and “against capitalism.” The idea is that stores make a large markup on goods, several times higher than the purchase price. Also, the price of the goods includes certain percentages in case of theft, damage, and so on. These mark-ups are a real theft from the consumer’s pocket.According to shoplifters, every person has the moral right to regain part of what was “stolen” from him by store owners. And on his part this is not theft at all, but “freeing of goods.”

It’s interesting that all these liberators of other people’s things and products have been sharing their experiences with each other on the Internet for a long time. True, they still do this with caution - openly and in detail describing your real “exploits” in the USA risks having law enforcement officers come to your home. However, if you are a famous person and catch the hype, you are not afraid of this either. Stand-up comedian David Longley (although he is not American, but British) quite openly posts fabrications about shoplifting on his blog: “They (shop owners) making hundreds of millions of pounds in profit - and for what? And you have to pay £4 for a bloody cheesecake? I don't think so. I think this freak is getting into my pocket!”

IMPORTANT. If the idea of ​​freeing things and food is not close to you, your company does not force you to demonstrate your cool in this way, you do not live in need, but you still have an unbearable desire to steal - consult your doctor. Perhaps you are a kleptomaniac. This deviation is corrected with the help of psychotherapy.

Guides for shoplifters on the Internet

However, for those wishing to master the risky craft of shoplifting, it is quite easy to find a detailed guide to shoplifting on the World Wide Web. Just type the phrase shoplifting guide into Google and you're good to go.On the first page of search results we will see links to well-known American social sites for sharing news and knowledge - Reddit and Quora, where shoplifting guides are published! On Reddit there is a heated discussion of the topic with questions from newbies and advice from experienced thieves, from Quora there is a real joke: a certain Gregory Irish, loss prevention coordinator at Hannaford supermarkets, warns those who want to take a dangerous path: you will ruin your reputation, no one will take a thief on a good one work, and in general this is not good. And then... gives advice on how to steal correctly, with the least risk of getting caught!