In today’s convenience retail landscape, crime isn’t just a nuisance, it’s a threat to the bottom line.
Organized retail crime (ORC) is a “multibillion-dollar crisis impacting retailers, their associates and the customers they serve,” National Retail Federation (NRF) Executive Vice President of Government Relations David French said in an April 10 statement.
About three-quarters (73%) of retailers surveyed by NRF say shoplifters are exhibiting more violence and aggression than they were a year ago and nearly all (94%) retailers view federal legislation as a necessity to effectively address this issue, according to NRF’s The Impact of Retail Theft & Violence 2024 report.
- Read more about organized retail crime in convenience-retail here.
Shoplifting, employee theft, fraudulent use of the loyalty program, cash theft, lottery abuse, scams and gas pump skimming are some of the most heavily dealt-with crimes in the c-store industry, according to retailers.
C-store operators must shape employee training, technology and store layout to prevent crime.
Types of Crime
While shoplifting gets more attention, retailers should focus on employee theft, which can account for 55% of losses on average, said Sharon Cruz, security manager with Chicago-based McDonald’s Restaurant Corp., who spoke with CSP in her role as an independent loss-prevention consultant.
Her firm, Los Angeles-based BSP Workplace Consulting, specializes in safety, security and workplace risk mitigation.
Employee theft “can involve everything from refund fraud and cash skimming to ‘sweethearting’—employees not ringing up purchases for friends,” Cruz said.
To track theft, Rmarts conducts inventory audits with store and district managers every three months with the goal of less than 1% shrink, said Dan Razowsky, marketing operations manager at the Northbrook, Illinois-based convenience-store chain that has 12 locations in the Chicago area. District managers working with store managers in loss prevention has helped drive success by creating strong partnerships, he said.
- Atlantis Management Group is No. 69 on CSP’s 2025 Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by store count.
As motivation for the store manager, there’s a bonus structure tied in if the store shrinkage comes in under 1%, Razowsky said. However, when shrinkage tops 1%, Rmarts might set up extra video cameras. The chain uses Nest cameras strategically set up in key spots, like by the register and beer cave.
“It puts everyone on notice, and then usually we see a pretty big improvement,” Razowsky said, adding that if shrink exceeds 1.5% in consecutive audits, employees must sign contracts acknowledging the rising losses and agreeing to work toward better results.
If certain items, like tobacco and beverage products, have a high theft rate, Razowsky said the store manager will conduct daily audits to ensure all products are being accounted for.
If the employee knows there’s a daily audit at the end of his or her shift, “They will pay closer attention to transactions and customers in the store throughout the day,” especially on items more likely to be stolen, he said.
As far as time of day, EG America has tracked security trends during overnight shifts when staffing levels are lower, said Liz McMillen, senior manager of retail asset protection at EG America, Westborough, Massachusetts. Regions with higher rates of homelessness, drug activity or proximity to transit hubs tend to see more frequent incidents, she said.
- EG America is No. 6 on CSP’s 2025 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count.
At Atlantis Management, with 95 c-stores in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, crime is also common late at night. That’s according to Rick Rigby, chief technology officer at Vernon, New York-based Atlantis Management Group.
“In the New York sites, people love to steal Red Bull, and then they'll try to go sell it to a bodega,” Rigby said. “Or you might get people that are just looking to take whatever they can. They might grab a whole display full of candy bars.”
Caught in the Act
If an Rmart employee sees a customer stealing, they are instructed to inform the manager and let him or her handle it, Razowsky said. The manager might say something to the offender, “but we’re not going to be chasing them out into the lot,” he said.
Instead, Razowsky said, it’s more effective to threaten calling the police.
He adds that if a customer is causing a disturbance, the employee just pretending to call police can help diffuse the situation.
EG America also prioritizes the safety of its employees.
“If theft is suspected, team members are instructed not to confront or physically engage with the individual,” said McMillen.
Instead, they are expected to document what they observe and report it to store leadership, who will then involve the appropriate internal teams or law enforcement if needed. EG makes its security measures clear to customers, McMillen said, with the idea of “perception of control.”
“By being transparent about what we’re using and why—whether it be physical merchandise protection, digital technology or more streamlined reporting—you create a culture where engaged employees feel part of the solution and bad actors (internal or external) are deterred or forced to commit more overt and easier to catch theft and fraud in the short term—which we’ve seen,” she said.
Hiring and Training
To address the growing complexity of in-store challenges, EG America, a 1,578-store chain, launched a customized Workplace Violence Awareness Program in 2024 to further train employees, developed in partnership with a consultant, said McMillen.
The program features short, scenario-based videos starring real EG America team members and covers topics such as shoplifting de-escalation, suspected drug use and respectful engagement with unhoused individuals, she said. These modules are embedded into new hire onboarding, assigned annually and reinforced through ongoing store-level discussions.
“Our goal is to equip team members with practical, easy-to-remember tools to respond confidently in high-risk situations,” McMillen said.
Before candidates are hired, she adds, EG uses a third-party employment screening agency to conduct background checks.
It’s also important to train employees on theft scenarios.
Greeting every customer entering the store reduces the chance of one walking off with something, Razowsky said.
“They know we’re watching them. That eye contact of every person who comes in, letting them know you’re seeing them, is important,” he said.
Cruz agrees that customer service is helpful to deter a potential crime. If an employee sees someone grabbing a bunch of items, she said, the employee should say, “Can I help you with that? Can I take some of that over to the register for you?”
The employee is being nice, but they’re also letting the customer know they’re being watched, she adds.
Cruz adds that when training employees on dealing with potential crime in stores, including spotting and handling suspicious behavior and preventing theft and fraud, it comes down to awareness.
Part of the operational controls include “a travel path,” Cruz said, “where every 30 minutes, if you’re not busy at your register, you’re walking around checking for things. You’re going outside and inspecting. Is there trash? A spill? Anything I can see? Look for countersurveillance. Are there any weird cars parked in your parking lot, and they’re looking at you?”
Better Design, Less Loss
Strategies to decrease crime include improving visibility outside, updating lighting, having visible security cameras, appropriate signage, a nicely landscaped exterior and good parking lot visibility, said Harjot Sahota, who for more than five years was director of safety and asset protection at Aldergrove, British Columbia-based Otter Co-Op, which operates 25 convenience stores.
Going inside a clean, organized store with adequate lighting, proper product placement and engaged staff are some of the strategies to help lessen crime, he said.
If a retailer makes their store look great from the outside, people will want to come “to feel safe in that area,” he said.
Conversely, a c-store with litter out front and damage to the building might invite the wrong element, he said.
“A customer thinking of filling up might not pull up there because they have a child in the back, or maybe it’s a single mother driving,” Sahota said. “Is she going to pick that place or the place across the street, which is nicely bright and looking neat, clean, organized—and she can see inside the store and the staff member.”
Good visibility in a store includes having no hidden pockets that might encourage shoplifting and strategic product placement to maximize sales, Sahota said, recommending having certain products like tobacco behind the counter to minimize theft.
Rmarts does just that, Razowsky said. To reduce vape pens from being stolen at some locations, Rmarts displays the empty packages on the checkout counter so customers can see their options—but the pens are behind the counter.
“It’s such an important piece of our marketing plan to have it right next to the register—and then it’s an impulse buy,” Razowsky said. “They like to see the flavors, and it’s harder to see the flavors in the back bar behind the register.”
Another strategic merchandising example includes moving single-serve cans to the regular cold vault instead of the beer cave, where customers were placing single cans in their coat pockets and walking out. When the door on one particular beverage prone to theft opens, it triggers a sound to alert the manager to keep an eye out.
Rmarts also moved some candies and salty snacks that were experiencing increased shrinkage closer to the register where the cashier can keep an eye on them, Razowsky said.
With stores in the New York boroughs, square footage is tight, Rigby of Atlantis Management said. Avoid blind spots, he said, and have cameras in spots where deliveries are received.
Sahota recommends using Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), a multi-disciplinary approach to crime prevention using urban and architectural design and the management of built and natural environments, according to its website.
EG America leverages CPTED to reconfigure store layouts to enhance line of sight for both team members and surveillance systems. CPTED offers classes, and communities and police organizations use CPTED Sahota said.
Protecting Digital Assets
C-stores not only have to protect their physical assets, but their digital ones as well. EG America has seen an uptick in PIN pad skimming devices being placed inside stores, which prompted the chain to launch an internal skimmer tracking database in 2024, said McMillen. It documents incidents for investigation.
“We also increased the frequency of skimmer check walks, added tamper-evident stickers to PIN pads and implemented prompt reporting protocols to support investigation and law enforcement collaboration,” McMillen said. “Team member and technician training on identifying tampering has also been key to reducing in-store skimming activity.”
The chain is also transitioning locations to network video recorders (NVRs) from 3xLogic, a security system company based in Fishers, Indiana. The system can compare video and transaction data to clear POS exceptions, or transactions that deviate from the expected or standard process. The chain uses an analytics platform for exception-based reporting.
EG also leverages LiveView Technologies (LVT), American Fork, Utah, at high-risk locations to provide real-time surveillance, motion-triggered alerts and remote monitoring, McMillen said. LVT-equipped stores have experienced a 42% reduction in reported criminal or suspicious activity. Additionally, the chain uses Protos Remote Guarding for live video monitoring and voice-down capabilities at select sites; Checkpoint Systems to monitor product; and an audible alert system to notify employees when something is out of the norm.
Data privacy issues are a significant concern, Sahota said, whether it’s phishing, hacking, malware or identity theft.
“These all pose a serious threat to individuals and organizations, and it’s really important for loss prevention and IT to work closely to ensure there’s security measures in place,” he said. “When we look at LP [loss prevention], we’re the experts in physical security, and IT are the experts in that cybersecurity, so it’s important for them to work together in a unified ecosystem to protect the organizations from potential threats.”
Point-of-sales system breaches are a common tech problem, said Cruz. Companies should be sure they're updating software, regularly securing any kind of access points, she said.
“They know we’re watching them. That eye contact of every person who comes in, letting them know you’re seeing them, is important.” —Dan Razowsky, Rmarts
Atlantis Management partnered with instore.ai, a software development company based in Los Gatos, California, to record store audio, generally at checkout. The technology uses large language models (LLMs) to categorize conversations into different buckets like police calls or store accidents. TheinStore.ai tool will give a synopsis of what was spoken about during the snippet that was captured. Then, management will send alerts to the respective teams so they can respond.
“It allows us to be more proactive and to research scenarios more than just reviewing the tape on a video recording,” Rigby said. “It gives more depth into the scenario, so it helps us protect our employees and protect our customers.”
Atlantis Management is starting to see patterns, such as pairing point of sale data with security footage to tell if an employee is a repeat offender, Rigby said, which is a great way to be proactive about theft and crime prevention.
AI helps Rigby find conversations from months ago that would have been a needle in the haystack before. Atlantis Management is working on keeping audio over time instead of letting the tech override itself, so it can be used for a lawsuit that, for example, isn’t reached for a year.
Another issue is skimming for fuel, Cruz said.
“Technology and advancements of the devices that a lot of these criminals now use are so much more sophisticated, especially with AI, so it’s always a constant battle to try to get in front of the criminals because their methods become more and more sophisticated,” she said.
Operational controls can help combat skimming, Cruz said. “Are we inspecting the pumps daily? Is there remote monitoring tech, especially for older pumps or unmonitored pumps using EMV-compliant terminals and tamper seals?” she said.
This constant awareness can lessen trouble, she said.
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