Shoplifting by customers and employees continues to grow as a crime and as a retail overhead cost that penalizes the buying public. In a yearly study for the National Mass Retailing Institute for l982, the Arthur Young accounting and consulting firm found that pilferage had risen 10 percent from the previous year. The study, covering 180 large retail organizations with total sales of $97 billion, concluded that nearly three cents on every dollar shoppers spend this Christmas season will go to offset the cost of merchandise theft and efforts to prevent it. “On the average, shrinkage represented 2.2 percent of retailers’ sales in 1982 and the cost of security represented 0.5 percent,” an Arthur Young official said. Actually, retailers are spending about 8 percent more for security this year with more emphasis on prevention, the survey found. A startling conclusion of the Young study is that retailers think only about 30 percent of their shrinkage actually can be assessed to customer shoplifting, with 50 percent attributed to employed theft and possibly 20 percent to poor paperwork control. Employee pilferage was spotlighted earlier in another survey – a three-year study funded by the Justice Department’s National Institute of Justice. This survey estimated employee thefts are costing American business from $5 billion to $10 billion a year. “The loss is hurting us all because it is passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices,” said James K. Stewart, institute director. The survey covered 9,175 randomly selected employees of 47 corporations who anonymously filled out questionnaires. One-third of the employees admitted stealing company property and two-thirds reported taking long lunch breaks, misusing sick leave or using alcohol or drugs while at work. Results of the two surveys are not pleasant to contemplate. They present a challenge of prevention, apprehension and enforcement to retailers and law officers, plus economic liabilty to the consumers who eventually pay the bill. Q The increased outlays; for security could pay’ off for the retailer and accelerate arrests and convictions. Traditional devices such as mirrors, employee lie detector tests and television monitors all help. Newer approaches with promise are being devised. But the No. I deterrent should be the good old principles of honesty, and respect for others’ rights. When shoppers and employees honor these values, the pilferage problem automatically will be resolved.