This is a new thought in a territory I don’t know much about, so I’m going to try to piece it together.

Bear with me.

Shoplifting has increased.

We know this.

It’s driven by accidental negligence. A mom may be distracted by a child, and something doesn’t scan.

Inflation and the job market mean tight budgets. A father may intentionally skip scanning a $30 Barbie doll, so his child would have a birthday present.

Some may feel that’s a way of control. Walking off with an unpaid pound of beef could be an act of rebellion and a silent dig at the overarching corporation.

Of course, there are others who just want to test the system. If they can get away with it, they will, or at least try.

Self-scan, popularized by COVID and enacted by major retailers, was just a little ahead of its time. If biometrics were more prominent, just our face and maybe a fingerprint would make shoplifting virtually impossible.

But, like most things, the cart was put before the horse.
– Fortunately, in this case.

Biometrics is too dystopian for me.

Rounding to my main point – shoplifting has gotten BIG.

BIG like 413,793 bars of Kit-Kats.

BIG like $70,000 of Blue Ribbon beer.

BIG like $2.8 million of tungsten power.

BIG like $1.2 million of Apple devices.

This is a short list.

Bourbon, New Balance shoes, eggs, server switches, car parts, computer components, Steak Shack ribs, nearly half a million dollars of lobsters, and Little Debbie snack cakes —

Everything is game – but it’s not taken seriously. It isn’t like when the crown jewels were stolen from the Louver.

I don’t think anyone is going to make a movie about how Nutty Butters disappeared.

Nutty Butters aren’t flashy. They’re not ‘important’ as they don’t bring prestige or social status – unless you’re in elementary school and on a playground.

But the stolen items are common and easily laundered. They tend not to have anti-theft devices or tracking numbers.

The truck drivers have long shifts and may not be averse to earning a little extra from cash literally falling off the truck.

These thefts may cross state lines, and police organizations may not communicate effectively with one another.

Unrelated thefts could absolutely be connected. Lobster and ribs need refrigeration. The same criminal network could have a cold warehouse that just funnels and stores items until they can be resold after interest dies down. Despite all the Flock cameras and facial recognition, few seem to have the cognitive ability to stitch together the tapestry of cargo theft.

Companies, battered by inflation and by American sensitivity to ultra-processed food, don’t let a good crisis go to waste.

After the Kit-Kat theft, Nestle congratulated the thieves on their good taste, but wanted the product back. Domino’s pushed a Kit-Kat pizza from an ‘unexpected’ shipment. IKEA Canada announced that it has empty warehouses to hide the candy.

Memes abound.
Easily shareable. Creating a personified corporation to help promote their brand while trying to distract from their shrinkflation, reduction of staff, and falling stock prices.

Roughly, $304 million has been lost via cargo theft in the second quarter of this year.

Cargo Theft Losses More Than Double to $304 Million in Q2 Despite a Drop in Thefts, Driven by High-Value Metals and Technology Heists | CargoNet

The public tends to dismiss the incidents. As long as the beer is on the shelf and the child gets the fattening candy, what does it matter?

But, to be fair, shrinkflation, supply chains, gas prices, and inflation eat up a lot of brain bandwidth.

Cargo thefts—which mean replacement items, more diesel used for transport, and higher insurance costs—yes. Just like gas tankers, – truck shipping companies have insurance against theft and loss. All of those add unseen costs.

The supply chain doesn’t stop once the Temu slop hits our shores. The truckers are the fingers that DoorDash child labored shirt to the door.

The trucking companies are tacos.
Yes – they want legislation, and the U.S. government’s interns are on it. Bills are being introduced, written by lobbyists, and proofed by Grok, for voting.

The American Trucking Association (ATA) would like to keep the non-domicile drivers. Illegal immigrants and visa holders are cheap labor, and apparently it’s easy to qualify for a CDL. There’s a push that English should actually be understood – read and written – for the drivers.

But what would that look like when college students struggle to read a paragraph?

The trucking lobbyists assure that there isn’t a lack of CDL drivers – just — safe — CDL drivers.

These are the very people who hired them, compromised quality in favor of profit.

Could there be a correlation between increased cargo theft and non-domestic drivers? Has there been a study? Or is this topic too sensitive and, still, politically incorrect?

Of course, the answer would be self-driving trucks, right?

But, again, that’s the cart before the horse.

We’ll get there.

First, take a little.
A single Kit Kat at Walmart.

Then, take a lot.
400,000 plus bars from U.S. 65.



I don’t know why this topic caught my attention.

I’ve never seen Mad Max, but something like this is part of it – isn’t it?

It’s just one more twist to tighten the screw – like the food processing plants mysteriously catching on fire.

The focus is on the outward ills – the wars – political upheaval – the stock market. Things that can’t possibly be understood, always changing, and diverse.

Internal infections – cargo theft, food processing destruction, which we can understand – we ignore. It’s someone else’s problem.

It’s demoralizing, isn’t it?
The emotional and conflicting issues are more important than the self-harm that happens in our borders.

Or, at least it feels that way sometimes.

A little theft grows – festers – into an epidemic that’s too established, supported, and increasingly painful to correct.

Okay.
I’m out. Not too sure where else to go with this topic right now.