GROCERY theft has always been a major problem, but with food inflation as it is, shopkeepers now fear the wrongdoers more than before.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: My mother has always been a pack rat, and it’s getting much worse! I’ve seen TV shows on hoarding, and I know her habit has gotten way out of control. Our great big old house is cluttered with piles of old newspapers, broken appliances, books, and old “antique” furniture, crowded into every room. Plus. she has piles of other junk she’s collected that’s “too valuable to throw out.”