I've read where the biggest losses are from the employees themselves.
I've not witnessed it, but my wife has, where a cashier's friend/family will come through the line, and a very expensive item gets bagged, but not scanned. My wife reported it to management.
I worked about 12 years in Retail Management. A lot comes from employees but shoplifters are a class apart.
“I’ve read where the biggest losses are from employees themselves.”
I once cashiered at a store where the friends/families were so used to getting freebies, they assumed that all the cashiers were complicit. They’d say, “I’m so-and-so’s aunt, this 10 lb ham is complementary” and when I’d grin and reply, “I’ll need to ring it up and you can get your reimbursement at the service desk,” they’d curse at me.
A few of them even complained to management with fabricated BS stories that I’d been rude to them, to try to get me fired.
Of course, when I told management that so-and-so was the problem, not me, I was quickly persona non grata, since so-and-so was the manager’s best friend’s daughter. I found myself being “written up” for other imaginary infractions.
Didn’t work there long.
Not true of most stores. A brother-in-law has worked at Walgreens in SF for decades. They have many customers walking out with goods every day. Management forbids them from doing anything about it. Brother-in-law got sucker-punched by an Obama son when he challenged him about merchandise, so now he goes along with store policy and lets shoplifters walk out with the goods. I don't understand why they allow this, but it's store policy. Most of the shoplifters are blacks.