Dominick Reuter/Insider
- Home Depot said retail theft continues to be a challenge.
- CFO Richard McPhail said the operating environment is "getting harder and harder."
- However, the executive said investments to combat shoplifting and organized theft "are paying off."
Shoplifting and organized retail crime was a dominant story in retail last year.
While the issue hasn't made as many headlines this year, Home Depot said the issue hasn't gone away.
"This is a problem for all of retail," CFO Richard McPhail said Tuesday during the company's third-quarter earnings call. "It's hard to quantify."
"Our investments are paying off," he added. "That does not mean that the operating environment is getting any easier. In fact, it's getting harder and harder."
In other words, casual shoplifters and organized criminals continue to be a thorn in Home Depot's side — they're just better handled now, according to the CFO.
The company said its anti-shrink efforts improved profit margin for the quarter by nearly half a percentage point. Home Depot did over $40 billion in sales last quarter.
"It's an everyday initiative that our teams are fighting every single day," McPhail said.
Home Depot has been both a prominent target and opponent of organized retail theft in recent years.
The company's VP of asset protection, Scott Glenn, previously told BI that the company wanted to strike a balance between securing merchandise and allowing customers to get what they need.
"We certainly don't want to affect the 99.5% of our customers who are just there to pick up their hammers and nails," Glenn said. "We don't want to look like an armed encampment."
One solution to the puzzle: power tools that don't work unless activated at the point of sale.
Glenn also highlighted at the time the difference between solo thieves and "professional shoplifters," which he said are often connected to a larger network.
Last year, a Florida pastor was charged with running a retail crime ring responsible for stealing $3 million worth of goods from the chain.
Earlier this year, Court Watch obtained the latest in a string of indictments against defendants accused of renting heavy machinery from Home Depot and selling it instead of returning it.
Prosecutors in those cases and others cited contributions from Home Depot's in-house investigators as helping to identify suspects.
In September, the company highlighted some of its ongoing efforts to address retail crime in its stores, including its support for federal legislation that would help centralize and coordinate an interstate response.
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