this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2023
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National Retail Federation says 2021 data was flawed and based on congressional testimony from president of an advocacy group

The powerful National Retail Federation (NRF) lobbying group has retracted a claim that “organized retail crime” accounted for “nearly half” of the shopping industry’s $94.5bn losses due to theft or “shrink” in 2021.

The industry group had said the impact of organized retail crime, which it previously claimed had increased by 26.5%, had become increasingly violent. Retail giants like Target, Walmart and Walgreens said it was threatening their businesses.

The NRF said the figure was based on a congressional testimony from Ben Dugan, the former president of an advocacy group, the Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail, and that an analyst from K2 Integrity, a risk consultancy that co-authored the report, inferred the “nearly half” claim.

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[–] _number8_@lemmy.world 117 points 9 months ago (4 children)

why the fuck do we even allow lobbying. bullshit fake gamified system that no proper country should have

[–] pl_woah@lemmy.ml 31 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Writing to your representative is a form of lobbying

An unsolicited expert opinion is lobbying

What's messed up is the amount of money to run and that citizens united made unlimited funds possible

Congressmen always worried about the cash they'll need to get elected

If there were term limits we would have faceless corporate buyouts with little experience, vs someone running on name recognition

Heck I want a campaign finance max limit.

[–] CosmicTurtle@lemmy.world 15 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Unfortunately, term limits can't stop this.

Campaign finance reform can. Anyone running for office has a cap on how much can be spent. Political organizations also have a cap and they have to disclose who their donors are.

No more dark money.

I'd say we should go so far as to move to sortition (randomly selected people serving a term in office) but I am pragmatic.

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

I say we push all suffering and misery onto a single child and then live in the utopia that results.

[–] pl_woah@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

... That's what I just said. Are you a bot?

[–] CosmicTurtle@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I think I hit reply to the wrong parent message. But either way, I'm totally not a robot..........

[–] shunir@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

I'm totally not a robot..........

That totally sounds like something robot would say though... :p

[–] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 4 points 9 months ago

An unsolicited expert opinion is lobbying

Right. Politicians know nothing about technology half the time, right?

Who does know - it’s people in the technology field.

They have to communicate somehow. Not saying it’s not broken today, and I think you could have a clever setup of advisors, but at the end of the day there will just have to be some kind of input by experts.

[–] chitak166@lemmy.world 0 points 9 months ago

Let's just skip all the bullshit and move straight to direct voting.

It's been proven that congress doesn't follow the will of the people, anyways.

[–] RazorsLedge@lemmy.world -3 points 9 months ago

Paragraph salad, delicious

[–] Alto@kbin.social 13 points 9 months ago

Because at least in theory, lobbying is at the core of a functioning republic. If you and couple neighbors get together to try to convince your county aldermen to fix some potholes, that's lobbying. Any time a person tries to influence their representative, it's lobbying. It's incredibly difficult to have actual codified laws that allow the things you want without also opening up tons of loopholes for corruption.

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 1 points 9 months ago

It is illegal in many places, but nearly impossible to enforce.

[–] ArugulaZ@kbin.social 53 points 9 months ago

The theft was coming from retailers. Raising prices without raising the cost of living accordingly isn't inflation; it's exploitation.

[–] catch22@startrek.website 46 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Bit of creative accounting. Blame shoplifters. Boom! Tax free profits.

[–] ArbiterXero@lemmy.world 35 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Whaaaaaat, they’re lying????

[–] MonsiuerPatEBrown@reddthat.com 21 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

i wonder how many single family homes would have been necessary to store all those stolen goods.

[–] ItchySunItchyKnee@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

What is this “Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail”?

The article describes it as an advocacy group. But for what exactly? In my humble and biased opinion, these two things are very far apart (LE and Retail)

Edit: to -> two

[–] snooggums@kbin.social 12 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Advocacy for promoting lies.

[–] ArugulaZ@kbin.social 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

In other words, a lobbying group.

[–] snooggums@kbin.social 3 points 9 months ago

There are lobbying groups for equality, medical care, women's rights, chkldren's rights, and environmental protections and other topics that don't promote lies. Musicians and artists banded together as a group to lobby against censorship.

Just becsuse there are shitty lobbyists doesn't mean they all are.

[–] Empricorn@feddit.nl 2 points 9 months ago

Most retail companies' Loss Prevention department works with local law enforcement, which I actually think is a good thing. Focus on the people who rob/use violence or teams of people who run out with carts full of expensive things to resell, not the single mom pocketing food...

[–] SeaJ@lemm.ee 7 points 9 months ago

Surprise, surprise: the industry lied.