Shoplifting

A fascinating history of American retailing over the last 140 years. Following the Civil War, both the incidence of shoplifting, and the cultural awareness of it increased. Armed with a wealth of sociological data, and conclusions (in the 1880s, virtually all of those apprehended were women – largely because men didn’t venture into dept stores..), Segrave surveys who shoplifts, how that demographic has changed over the years (if at all), and the reaction from the retailers, the media, and law enforcement and the judicial system. From the retail industry’s use of surveillance technology, to the tacit admission that in the year 2000, 70% of inventory loss (‘shrinkage’) was due not to shoplifting, but employee theft and ‘paperwork errors’, this is an engrossing, informative, and enlightening read.