London (dpo) - Who says crime doesn’t pay? Experts at the international market research company Nielsen Holdings PLC recently discovered that the old adage does not hold true – shoplifting results in considerably less strain on your bank account than the traditional method of paying at the checkout. This ‘five-finger discount’, as it is known, compares particularly favourably against the purchase of more expensive items.
“It is unbelievable how much money you can save by simply stealing the item in question”, explains head of the study Prof. Matt Lambert when questioned by the Postillon. “Let us take a bottle of Jack Daniel’s Whiskey, for example. If you pay the regular price at the check-out, that costs £19.50 here in the UK, that’s around US $26.50; however, if you just put it into your coat pocket and take it home, the same bottle costs an incredible £0, or around US $0.” The study also showed that the higher the customary purchase price is, the more rewarding theft becomes (see table below).
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| Table: Not even price comparison sites or online shopping can compete with this |
However, Lambert warns against excessive euphoria. As is so often the case, only the middle classes are able to benefit from the aforementioned advantages of shoplifting. Unfortunately, the study also showed that poor people are under too much surveillance from security guards and are searched far too often, thus making it impossible for them to steal efficiently. Respectable and well heeled-looking market researchers, on the other hand, normally do not fall under suspicion. In a follow-up study, Lambert and his colleagues are now setting out to prove that blackmail is far more lucrative than research.
ssi; picture above: © Steve Lovegrove - Fotolia.com; first published 2017-09-25
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