The Argus Team
Field notes and research from the team building the operating system for retail.
- News & TrendsARGUSNews & Trends·August 31, 2026·8 min read
Shoplifting fell 12 percent in 2025. The loss moved into the transaction.
NRF says shoplifting dropped 12.4 percent last year while phone scams, loyalty fraud and gift card fraud rose. The loss did not go away. It changed shape.
Read - ArchitectureARGUSArchitecture·August 24, 2026·7 min read
A third of shrink is not theft: it hides between systems that do not talk
Inventory errors and operational inefficiencies are 34 percent of US shrink. Nobody stole anything. The loss happens in the space between two systems.
Read - Loss PreventionARGUSLoss Prevention·August 21, 2026·7 min read
Cash shrink at the drawer and the safe: why a balanced till proves nothing
Reconciliation compares the cash you counted against the sales you recorded. When a sale is never recorded, both sides move together and the drawer still balances.
Read - News & TrendsARGUSNews & Trends·August 19, 2026·7 min read
Organized retail crime: your camera has the incident, not the pattern
The national ORC number was retracted, then the shrink survey was retired. Meanwhile the law is moving toward aggregation, which is a records problem.
Read - OperationsARGUSOperations·August 10, 2026·7 min read
Ghost shifts and time theft: the labor hours payroll cannot see
A clean timesheet is not proof the shift happened. Ghost shifts hide in the gap between the punch, the register, and the camera. Here is what joining them shows.
Read - News & TrendsARGUSNews & Trends·August 6, 2026·7 min read
Thin convenience store margins make every dollar of shrink cost more
NACS 2026 data shows transactions down and basket profit down while expenses climb. Here is what that does to the real cost of shrink, and how to measure it daily.
Read - OperationsARGUSOperations·August 3, 2026·7 min read
How multi store operators watch loss with one number per store
Two hundred stores, two hundred dashboards, and ninety minutes. What has to be true before a single score per location is worth acting on.
Read - OperationsARGUSOperations·August 1, 2026·7 min read
Why underage sales still happen when the register asks for age
An age prompt at the register is a button, not proof. Indiana's data shows the whole risk sits in one thing: whether the clerk actually asked for the ID.
Read - OperationsARGUSOperations·July 27, 2026·7 min read
The daily loss prevention review that takes minutes, not hours
Exception reports flag more than any manager can chase. What a useful daily loss review looks like when every flag arrives ranked, attributed, and with the clip attached.
Read - ArchitectureARGUSArchitecture·July 23, 2026·8 min read
Why the annual stocktake finds shrink too late
Most stores learn what they lost months after it left. The case for measuring revenue integrity every day instead of once a year at count time.
Read - OperationsARGUSOperations·July 20, 2026·7 min read
Vendor and receiving shrink: the shortage that arrives at the back door
Short deliveries, direct store delivery discrepancies, and receiving fraud: what the invoice claims arrived is not always what came off the truck.
Read - Loss PreventionARGUSLoss Prevention·July 16, 2026·6 min read
Gas station drive offs and pump skimmers: the loss outside your doors
The theft that happens outside the doors: gas drive offs and pump skimmers, and what a store catches when the loop watches the forecourt, not just the register.
Read - Loss PreventionARGUSLoss Prevention·July 13, 2026·8 min read
Refund fraud: the refund with no customer and no merchandise coming back
A refund moves cash out of the drawer. A refund report cannot tell a real return from a fake one. Here is what crossing the camera with the register catches.
Read - Loss PreventionARGUSLoss Prevention·July 12, 2026·8 min read
High theft categories: why the beer cave and tobacco wall drive most of your shrink
The beer cave, the tobacco wall, and the energy drink cooler drive most of a store's shrink. Here is what crossing the camera with the register catches.
Read - Loss PreventionARGUSLoss Prevention·July 6, 2026·8 min read
Self checkout shrink: what the kiosk cannot see and the camera can
Retailers are scaling back self checkout as theft climbs. A kiosk records the scan, not the basket. Here is what crossing the camera with the register catches.
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