By Tony
Shrink, comprised of shoplifting, employee or supplier fraud, and administrative errors, continues to plague many retailers in the U.S.
According to the most recent Global Retail Theft Barometer, the annual cost of shrink to U.S. shoppers, as absorbed or passed on from retailers, averaged $615 per household.
And while shoplifting is the biggest cause of retail shrink in 18 of the 24 countries surveyed, in the U.S., employee theft ranked first at 45 percent, with shoplifting next at 36 percent. The primary reasons for employee theft were weak pre-employment screening procedures, reduced associate supervision, an increasing part-time workforce and the easy sale of stolen merchandise.
Shopl...