Access Control
& Security Systems

Retailers everywhere are on the lookout for shoplifters this month.

Two recent studies commissioned by Checkpoint Systems Inc., Thorofare, N.J., predict a sharp rise in shoplifting activity coinciding with the holiday season and reaching into 2002.

Dr. Will Cupchik, a clinical psychologist and author, cites trauma related to the Sept. 11 attacks, stress and financial pressure due to the slumping economy and rising unemployment as factors driving the increase.

"...The loss of a fundamental sense of security and safety will most likely result in a major increase in shoplifting, perhaps as much as [triple] the usual incidence," Cupchik says.

Retail Forward Inc., Columbus, Ohio, forecasts a $1 billion increase in inventory shrinkage as a result of shoplifting in 2002. The report points out that the economic boom of the 1990s coincided with a slow growth in shoplifting offenses. Thus, the current depressed economy should spur a pronounced increase in shoplifting offenses.

This month in Access Control

• Targeting The Customer
• Electronic Pedigrees
• One Hero Among Many
• Who? What? When? Where? Why?
• More from September's issue