Coalition Urges Support for the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA)

December 16, 2025

Re: Support for the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA)

Dear Chairmen and Ranking Members,

We, the undersigned organizations representing the interests of consumers and taxpayers nationwide, write to express our support for the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA). This comes at a critical time when cargo theft is on the rise and costing American businesses and consumers millions. The National Insurance Crime Bureau finds that organized retail theft was responsible for more than $1 billion in stolen merchandise in 2023 alone. The estimated average value of an individual theft is more than $202,000.

The past several years have seen a marked increase in highly organized criminal groups targeting our nation’s vast shipping networks to steal cargo being shipped all over the world. Analysis shows that nearly 60 percent of organized retail crime is committed through cargo theft. Only happens in brick and mortar stores, 38 percent actually nearly one-third of which is committed by employees. This theft comes at significant cost. According to the American Transportation Research Institute, “The annualized cargo theft cost to the industry is as high as $6.6 billion, or more than $18 million per day.”

Hit particularly hard is rail freight. According to the Association for American Railroads (AAR), the nation’s largest railroads were hit with more than 65,000 thefts in 2024. A 40 percent increase from the previous year and an all-time high, costs exceeded $100 million. AAR states that beyond the insurance claims for stolen goods, railroads need to repair or replace damaged infrastructure, manage operational delays that disrupt the network, invest in new anti-theft technologies, and make investments to combat these crimes.

The railroads aren’t the only ones affected. The negative impact these criminal operations have on America’s supply chains, consumers, and taxpayers cannot be overstated. Not only do companies need to cover the substantial loss from stolen merchandise and higher insurance premiums, but they must invest in expensive security measures. Some of these extra costs are also factored into shipping rates and, subsequently, consumer prices. Theft can even halt manufacturing lines or cause product shortages, further leading to price hikes.

In addition, these cargo theft operations are a threat to public safety, especially for the American workforce that moves freight efficiently across our supply chains day in and day out. Employees who work in the railroads and trucking industry deserve better protection.

Until this problem is addressed, consumers will continue to absorb the consequences of rising costs, increased delays, and decreased access to important products they rely on. There is an urgent need to address these issues with a coordinated and comprehensive federal response. Improved collaboration among federal, state, and local law enforcement is crucial to combating the interstate and transnational organized crime wave threatening our industries.

Fortunately, CORCA offers a straightforward remedy to better allow existing authorities and infrastructure to better tackle this type of theft. Among other changes, the measure would set up an Organized Retail and Supply Chain Crime Coordination Center within the Department of Homeland Security to integrate the expertise of state and local law enforcement and representatives from the retail sector itself.

We believe advancing CORCA is an important step in obstructing the activities of these criminal networks, and we hope your committees will continue to advance this critical piece of legislation by moving forward with a markup.

We thank the committees for their focus and attention to this important matter.

For a full list of signatories, see the original letter below: