Being a professional means that they steal merchandise for a living and like other trades, practice makes perfect. Thoughtful professionals are very difficult to stop in a society where retail stores openly display their merchandise. Shoplifters come in all shapes and sizes, ages and sexes, and vary in ethnic background, education, and economic status. Some shoplifters steal for the excitement, some steal out of desire, some steal for need, some steal out of peer pressure, and some steal because it is simply a business transaction to them. Some shoplifters are compulsive , some opportunistic, and some are mentally ill and don't know any better.
Some shoplifters are desperate from drug addiction, alcoholism or from living on the street.
Children and elderly persons sometime steal without realizing they are committing a crime. Some fences have been known to bail their workers out of jail when caught or provide for their legal defense. This creates a kind of strange street loyalty much like the tale of Oliver Twist . Theft from stores, including employee and vendor theft, cost retailers many billions of dollars per year. Whole retail store chains have gone out of business due to their inability to control retail theft losses.