Yep. Shoplifting is one of those things the automated process cannot take account of without a manual/exception update. And nobody knows it needs doing until the system says “in stock” and the customer says “where is it”.
Good/clever retailers train for this and have a process for updating systems when a customer draws attention to it. But too many don’t/can’t train the minimum pay workforce to give a shit or to do it.
Capturing these incidents, though, is a far better way of measuring ‘shrinkage’ (the heading it is euphemistically lumped under, along with ‘broke or spoiled while on the shelves’, etc.) at the item level (some things are way more shopliftable/attractive than others) than just comparing inputs and outputs in an annual stocktake. And when was the last time you saw a real bricks and mortar and flesh and blood store closed for annual stocktaking?
