Yep, I also worked in an Ornamental Iron factory with hundreds of employees
in Toronto.  Only the Foremen and Managers could get into Central Tool
Supply, probably because everyone would probably just help themselves to
anything that wasn't welded down.  I was just a teenager who didn't know
shit, but sometimes even stuff that was welded down would disappear!
(Including some of the welding machines!)
 This was way before Craig's List and the like, and there were always guys
selling stuff cheap from their cars.  Nobody ever asked 'where did this
come from' when buying a quality tool or cutter for pennies on the dollar
though, eh?

   I've even had issues as the boss of my own place, having to institute
rules like double locks  for the narcotics safe (as in two nurses have to
sign for each drug removal from the safe), and I can't tell you how many
hundred dollar pairs of scissors and needle holders have been "lost in the
laundry".   I guess people don't think of it as stealing if the person who
is robbed has a nicer car or a nicer house?
  One good story:  The guys who broke into my clinic and cracked open the
safe got caught about two or three years later- the cops took fingerprints
at the scene and one of the guys got arrested years later for something
unrelated, and his fingerprint check turned on some kind of alarm.  This
guy had left his finger prints all over some backup CD's in my safe
(remember those?) while he was looking for cash.  He gave up the other guy
in exchange for something as I recall (the cop called me- I was
impressed!).  Sometimes cops come through- Hey- if there are any cops on
this list- thanks! This was maybe 20 years ago, but that feeling of
violation never really goes away until the persons responsible are caught.

Cheers
Claudio