Stolen Blind

Shoplifting numbers are notoriously questionable, but that hasn’t stopped politicians and talking heads from using them to prove some broader point about a region or society in general. Here are a couple things I managed to pull from the locked, glass case. One, a lot of shoplifting is done by professional criminals and the goods end up on ecommerce sites. Two, a huge percentage of individual shoplifters are stealing to feed a drug habit and, these days, that drug is opiates. Three, like most America stories, the economic divide plays a major role. James D. Walsh in Curbed: Fort Walgreens: The recent spike in shoplifting is both overblown and real. And almost everyone is profiting from it (including you).

+ Pill-fering: Last year, Walgreens cited shoplifting as a reason that it was closing several stores in San Francisco. This year, they say that threat was overstated. Even if Walgreens hadn’t overhyped crime, there’s a certain irony in their complaint, given the big reason why so many of their (formerly paying) customers are pilfering. Consider this: West Virginia announces $83 million opioid settlement with Walgreens.