Yeah this is a perfectly legitimate tactic in the no-holds-barred class war that rages on. Theft is a significant sum, so I did some quick googling.

Estimated retail industry wages annually (US): 1.3T

Estimated shoplifting loss by retailers annually (US): 46B

That’s 3.5% of wages paid. If you assume wages are about 50% of what they should be, I’d say your “drop in the bucket” characterization is pretty much correct.