Home Depot Hit With Backlash After Claiming Opioid Crisis Is The Reason For Theft

Home Depot’s (HD) rise in theft is being contributed to the opioid crisis in the U.S., according to executives for the company. The revelation was made by the home improvement retailer on Wednesday during a call with investors.

Craig Menear, CEO for Home Depot, said during the call, “This is happening everywhere in retail. We think this ties to the opioid crisis, but we’re not positive about that.”

To back up Menear’s claims, he cited a loss of $1.4 million as a result of $16.5 million in goods stolen from a warehouse shared by Home Depot and a number of retailers, USA Today reported. Home Depot also said it expects that theft at its stores will reportedly result in operating profit margin that is reduced by 0.5% next year compared to Q3 2019.

The claim from Home Depot didn’t come without backlash as social media erupted with criticism towards the retailer.

One Twitter user said, “Perhaps it’s just me, but @HomeDepot blaming the opioid crisis for increase in store theft and not blaming poor internal control of management is just irresponsible – especially to shareholders.”

Another Twitter user contributed the company’s losses to its checkout process saying, “Or maybe it’s because you no longer have cashiers by the exits and have 1 employee watching 5 self checkout stands, forcing people like me to go to Lowe’s, Dixieline, or Ace instead.”

Yet another Twitter user said, “Sure. So every opioid user rushes to home depot to steal hammers and toilet seats. Unbelievable! Or maybe their security just sucks.”

In 2018, retailers claimed to have lost $50.6 million in theft and fraud, according to the National Retail Federation. According to the Society of Actuaries, the opioid crisis has cost the U.S. economy an estimated $631 billion from 2015 to 2018.

Shares of Home Depot stock were down 0.06% as of 2:16 p.m. EST on Thursday.