![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Back from our road trip around the state of Washington.
Reading a good issue of The New Yorker, I came across the claim from John Colapinto that US retail business lost about $40 billion in 2006 from theft. Which sounds impressive, until one learns from the US Census Bureau that retail sales, total (excl. motor vehicle and parts dealers) for 2006 (NB: Adobe .PDF file) was very close to $3 trillion. So theft accounts for an amount only 1.34% of US retail sales, which is probably within the margin of error of their accounting practices.
Bottom line: They have no idea how much theft is actually taking place. It's not enough to measure accurately.
Reading a good issue of The New Yorker, I came across the claim from John Colapinto that US retail business lost about $40 billion in 2006 from theft. Which sounds impressive, until one learns from the US Census Bureau that retail sales, total (excl. motor vehicle and parts dealers) for 2006 (NB: Adobe .PDF file) was very close to $3 trillion. So theft accounts for an amount only 1.34% of US retail sales, which is probably within the margin of error of their accounting practices.
Bottom line: They have no idea how much theft is actually taking place. It's not enough to measure accurately.
