Yes this is by design. The company is being reimbursed through insurance or given a tax write-off[1] for documented stolen items. As long as they are showing that they put reasonable efforts in to deter theft. This could be a loss prevention department, the electronic sensors, locked cabinets, storing items at the very top of shelving units. The risk of law suits, employee injury or death, bad PR, etc is much more costly than documenting some stolen items.

The big push of retailers closing stores due to theft is an exaggeration when in mosts cases its just reduced in-store traffic and online ordering which doesn't require the stores to be as big for holding as much inventory.[2][3]

Most of the major retailers stats are old and if the numbers were really of concern I'm sure they would release the data but my assumption is their complaint doesn't seem as reactionary when you compare it to their profits. I cite this generic article as an example[4]. It appears to want you to think that theft is such a major part of the retailers problem but no specifics provided with phrasing like "has historically been" or $400 million in theft when the company has made $109 billion with 3% growth[5].

[1] https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p584b.pdf

[2] https://www.cleveland.com/news/2023/04/target-to-close-store...

[3] https://blog.gitnux.com/walmart-theft-statistics/

[4] https://www.wsaz.com/2022/12/09/walmart-may-close-stores-inc...

[5] https://corporate.target.com/annual-reports/2022/financials/...