With inflation and cost of living on the rise, it is getting harder for people to buy basic necessities to survive and live comfortably. Because of this, people have resulted from shoplifting to meet these needs.
You may have heard the saying “if you see someone shoplifting, no, you didn’t.” That means that if you see someone stealing food, you should ignore it and pay no attention to it.
Food insecurity is a lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life as defined by the USDA. In 2020, 28.6% of low-income households experienced food insecurity and that lack of food resulted in people shoplifting according to the US Department of Health and Human Services .
Basic necessities like water, food, period products, clothes and baby formula are a human right. But for many people, this stuff is unaffordable, so people turn to shoplifting.
We’ve talked about it and we are supposed to report shoplifting to management whenever we see it. We are not supposed to confront the person or anything out of fear of retaliation,” said a Whole Foods worker, speaking with Bon Appetit. “But personally, I don’t tell anyone if I ever see it. I know that the coworkers who are closer to my age have very similar opinions on it. It’s just not something we care about all that much. Our paycheck isn’t going to change whether or not we do anything about it, and Whole Foods will not suffer from the tiny amount that someone just stole.”
No one wants to shoplift, but they do it to survive. These people are looking for food and other necessities, and when people call them out or call the police, they are only making a bad situation for these people already worse, putting them even more at risk.
