Retailers are concerned about growing theft at stores, notes Grumpy Editor.
“It’s an industrywide trend,” Macy’s Chief Executive told analysts this month.
In the industry the swiping is called shrink.
“Theft is growing at a faster rate than sales,” said Dean Rosenblum, senior retail analyst at Bernstein Research. It is starting to affect margins, he added.
In efforts to combat the problem, Macy’s, for example, is using radio frequency identification tags in tracking inventory, adding more security personnel and securing high-end brands with locked cables and sensors.
IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…
HALF THE WORLD DUE TO BE OVERWEIGHT BY 2035. Half the world will be overweight by 2035, warns the World Obesity Federation. That means more than four billion people will be obese unless preventitive measures are implemented.
MEN NAILED FOR LEAVING STORE WITH MUCH BABY FORMULA. Two men nailed shoplifting at a Georgia grocery store had an estimated $26,000 worth of baby formula in their car. Seems they left a store near Atlanta with backpacks filled with cans of formula. Police found 662 more cans of formula inside the car.
NORDSTROM LEAVING CANADA. Nordstrom, the luxury department store chain, is liquidating operations in Canada — closing 13 stores and laying off about 2,500 workers.
VAST VANDERBILT ESTATE SOLD. The Vanderbilt estate --- on 40 acres of gardens on Long Island, N.Y. --- sells for $8 million. It’s about the same size as the White House with 55,000 square feet and 106 rooms, the largest shingled-style home in the United States.
NORTH KOREA COMES UP WITH UPTEEN ANNOUNCEMENT. In another periodic announcement, North Korea claims almost 800,000 people signed up to join or volunteer for the military to fight against U.S.
INDIANA SCHOOLS SHELVE HANDWRITING. Schools in Indiana are abandoning teaching children handwriting in favor of showing them how to type. Individual schools will no longer be required to instruct pupils in longhand from the age of eight. So now it’s only print.
NEW TITLE ON DAILY NEWSPAPER. Remember when newspaper editorial room staffers only had titles such as managing editor, city editor, sports editor, etc.? The Los Angeles Times just announced the newly-created editorial position of senior vice president for content business strategy.
U.S. SENDING $171 MILLION TO VENEZUELA. The U.S. on Friday pledged more than $171 million in humanitarian assistance and development funding at a donor conference to help Venezuelans impacted by the South American country's economic and political crisis. Some seven million people have fled as a result of the crisis in Venezuela in recent years.
OLDEST FEMALE HOCKEY PLAYER. Linda Sinrod, of Lorton, Va., was a figure skater before becoming enamored with hockey at age 35 after a friend asked her if she wanted to try the sport during a visit to a frozen pond. Now she’s the world's Oldest Female Hockey player, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
FRENCH BULLDOG GAINS NO. 1 SPOT IN U.S. The American Kennel Club announced that after a record 31-year reign, the Labrador Retriever has been eclipsed as the most Prevalent Purebred Dog in the U.S. by the French bulldog. The sturdy, push-faced, perky-eared, world-weary-looking and distinctively droll French bulldog became the nation’s most prevalent purebred dog last year.
