Big Lots workers face rising shrink from theft, errors and violence

The National Retail Federation’s 2023 National Retail Security Survey put average shrink in fiscal 2022 at 1.6 percent of sales, equal to $112.1 billion in losses, and Big Lots workers are being pulled into the response on the sales floor. Theft, pricing mistakes and violence now land together on the sales floor, where associates are expected to keep merchandise moving while watching for losses and keeping their own shifts safe.

Shrink is no longer just a back-office number

Internal theft and external theft accounted for nearly two-thirds of that shrink, so the problem is not limited to customers walking out with unpaid goods.

In the National Retail Federation’s December 17, 2024 report on retail theft and violence, retailers in the survey said the average number of shoplifting incidents per year rose 93 percent in 2023 compared with 2019, while dollar loss from shoplifting climbed 90 percent over the same span. The survey covered 164 retail brands representing $1.52 trillion in annual sales.

NRF said more than two-thirds of respondents saw more violence and aggression from organized retail crime perpetrators than a year earlier, and retailers said crime had forced them to close a store location, reduce operating hours or change what they kept on the floor.

What that means inside a Big Lots store

Big Lots is still a national retailer with common shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange under BIG, and its 2024 SEC filing places corporate headquarters at 4900 E. Dublin-Granville Road in Columbus, Ohio 43081. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in September 2024, and nearly 500 leases across 47 states were up for sale during the restructuring.

In a chain under financial strain, shrink hits more than one line item. A miscount in receiving, a pricing mistake at markdown, a damaged item that is not documented correctly or a gap between what the system says is on hand and what is actually on the shelf can all hit the same bottom line as shoplifting. For workers, that often means more time spent counting, checking, correcting and explaining, even on days when the line at the register is already long.

The more the store loses track of inventory, the more the team has to clean up after it later. That can pull associates away from customer service and force managers into repeated resets, rechecks and last-minute fixes that could have been avoided with tighter routines.

What “everyone’s job” looks like in practice

Shrink prevention works best when it is built into ordinary shift work instead of treated as a specialist function. The habits are basic, but they have to be done consistently:

• Check counts carefully when product arrives, moves or gets adjusted.

• Keep the backroom organized so inventory is easier to verify.

• Follow pricing and markdown procedures exactly, especially on clearance and damaged goods.

• Flag problems early instead of assuming someone else will catch them later.

Those steps keep a paper count from drifting away from the reality on the shelf. They also reduce the need for repeated re-counts, which gives teams more time to help shoppers and recover the sales floor.

At Big Lots, where many stores are already working through restructuring pressure, a chaotic backroom and a badly documented inventory problem make every other task harder.

Safety has to be part of loss prevention

NRF’s safety and security resources group workplace violence prevention with disaster and emergency management and organized retail crime research. The risk on a retail floor can include tense customer interactions, aggressive behavior tied to organized retail crime and the stress that builds when employees are asked to watch more closely while still moving quickly.

That creates a hard tradeoff for managers. The store can push harder on shrink control, but if that means making workers confront customers without training, adding pressure without support or asking them to take physical risks, the cure can become its own problem. Retailers that treat violence prevention as part of asset protection, instead of a separate issue, are more likely to keep workers steady when a situation turns tense.

For Big Lots workers, the safest version of shrink control stays procedural: clear counts, organized stockrooms, accurate markdowns and early escalation of problems help lower losses without turning every shift into a confrontation.