New survey reveals that young workers (age 18 to 24 years old) in the United States are twice as likely as older colleagues to steal office supplies for home use without thinking it is wrong according to a April 2006 Spherion Workplace Snapshot survey. And all those missing paper clips and pens add up to more than $50 billion a year.
"A lot of people that steal don’t consider it stealing. They just consider it taking things or that it’s a fringe benefit," said John Case, head of Employeetheft.com, a security consulting firm based in Del Mar, California.
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Yes, you are correct. Wal-Mart just announced that they will not even prosecute shoplifters if the value is less than $25. It is cheaper to write it off than hold people accountable.
I have, in fact, read that some retail establishments now factor this kind of theft into their operating budgets. They rely on the young to staff their stores, and they realize that a certain amount of theft is thus to be expected. Scary, isn’t it?