If I see someone shoplifting necessities, no I didn't. If I see someone shoplifting stupid luxury items, maybe I did, maybe I didn't. Depends on the situation. If it's a dumbass white kid who thinks they're being funny, I sure as fuck did.
Even if it's a luxury good, it's all covered under general liability of retail insurance anyways. The store and the employees aren't losing any money, so the only ones facing damages are the insurance companies.
So what I'm kinda saying is: Why help those pieces of shit out? Farmers insurance is not your friend, nor any other insurance company. They'll all happily push children into homelessness and starvation if they think it can make a few bucks in the homeowners insurance market.
Now compare that to the dude who's randomly stealing shit he doesn't need. I've known a few petty thieves like that, and despite all their flaws I can pretty firmly say that they won't hurt or steal from children for any reason. Thieves are humans with (some) morals after all.
So If I had to pick a side, I'll stand by the thief knowing well and good it's the least amount of harm to be done.
And then low cost grocery stores close and neighbors starve. How about you help them pay for it since you are there? Is a little personal ownership over the things you see too much for you?
How about the government does better to ensure that it’s people don’t starve? Or maybe companies should pay their employees more instead of funnelling money to people who are already more than set for life?
While that might be the only direct result, you're also assuming that A) it's only taking place in major chain stores and B) that the effects won't include price hikes for everyone to compensate for that slight dip in profits.
In reality, corporations have showed us they're never going to just "take the L". If something negatively impacts their bottom line, they'll make up for it by forcing that financial burden onto their customers.
If you would take the boot out of your mouth for literally one second, you would know that shrink is decreasing in almost all available metrics in the entire retail industry.