Excuse Me, Sir, Is That a Steak in Your Pants?

Categories: Talking Points
Been_Caught_Stealing.jpg
Been caught stealing?
​Steak, premium booze, and electric tools rank 1, 2, and 3 in SFoodie's favorite end-of-year listicle so far: Adweek's list of the top 10 things most likely to be shoplifted this year. Steak? It has apparently been the theft of choice for most of the past decade. In 2007, Slate not only coined the term "meatlifting," but blamed its rise on both self-service butcher counters stocked with plastic-wrapped cuts of meat and shoppers who meatlift pricier cuts of beef out of a sense of entitlement, not desperation.

CNN recently argued that the rise of shoplifting -- up to $37 billion in 2010 from $33.5 billion in 2009 -- as a sign of the economic recovery. Since that most of the merchandise stolen from stores is taken by employees, the article asserts, workers who are worried about their jobs are less likely to steal. 

If you were wondering about logistics, apparently, the most ineffective steak shoplifters try to hide packaged meat in their pants, or even a sling for a broken arm. A Florida man just got caught trying to sneak out of a store with four steaks and two candles in his pants, apparently for a romantic date. The numbers cause SFoodie to wonder: a) big eaters? or b) foursome?

Follow us on Twitter: @sfoodieand like us on Facebook.
Follow me at @JonKauffman.

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