A Modest Immigration Proposal

40.5 billion dollars. According to a survey conducted in 2010, 40.5 billion dollars is the cost to businesses for shoplifting. If that cost remained with the business, I might not be concerned, but that cost is passed on to the consumer in raised prices. Something must be done. We can’t just sit by and watch that money drain out of our own pockets.

Some suggest that law enforcement is doing all they can, and I agree. When shoplifters are caught, they are prosecuted, but the problem seems to be that many pass through the doors of businesses without being caught. Once they are beyond those doors, they are very seldom caught, and that cost is passed on to you and I, the law abiding consumer.

These law breakers must be brought to justice and I have the solution.

Everyone that has ever shopped knows that once you have legally purchased an item you are given documentation proving your purchase is legal. It is called a receipt. Those that shoplift, posses no such documentation. Therefore, at any time one could demand of them to produce such documentation. The lack of such documentation would prove that they are a shoplifter and he or she could then be prosecuted.

I realize this causes some inconvenience to those of us that are lawful shoppers. We must keep our receipts about us. But that seems to be a minor concern when we are dealing with such a devastating problem. If for some reason a lawful shopper had misplaced a valid receipt, the truth would be discovered after a certain amount of investigation, without too much discomfort (one to two nights in jail away from their family). That seems like a small price to pay to bring these law breakers to justice.

The real question on my part is who should conduct these investigations asking for legal documents of all purchases? Obviously our law enforcement officers are already doing what they can to stop this problem. They need help. We could spend more tax dollars to hire more officers, but I have a better idea.

Postal workers are employed by the government. It would be a small stretch to give them additional authority to check for legal purchasing documents at the houses they visit when delivering mail. Now I know that it would take an inordinate amount of time to check every single house. I am not proposing that. The postal worker can judge which houses look like they may contain inhabitants that might shoplift. In fact they may already have certain suspicions. We all know that the wealthy have no need to shoplift. So nice looking, well kept houses, could be skipped. Postal workers only need to check those house that seem a bit run down or not taken care of. Or those homes where the postal worker may know that someone has lost a job. Or the homes with teenagers. This has other advantages; those of us that live in well kept houses, have a current job and don’t have teenagers would not need to meticulously keep receipts.

40.5 billion dollars is at stake. Yes, it requires a bit of a sacrifice, but nothing that is not worth it. After all, these people are breaking the law and all means must be used to bring them to justice.