Grocery stores and other retailers
subscribe to a
concept called "shrink," the prime enemy of the well-run
grocer. Add "service" and "sanitation" and you have the
allierative Holy Trinity of food sales.
Shrink, simply, is the loss of profit, generally through employee error. Typical cases of shrink include:
- An item is left in the bottom of the cart when checking out, and not noticed by the cashier. Not always due to criminal intent; but not always an honest mistake, either.
- An item goes bad (e.g., meat, dairy). This generally occurs because a customer decided they didn't want said item, and no employee was available to return it to the shelves quickly.
- An item is damaged (e.g., anything but meat and dairy). The store will, within reason, sell it around half price. Sometimes it's as insignificant as a pack of still-sealed juice boxes with broken plastic wrap; sometimes it's as bad as a box of Corn Flakes that some kid poured mayonnaise into.
- A customer complaint forces a product to be given out at a reduced price (or gratis). Usually this is because the item went bad.
Initiatives to
combat shrink are always in place at grocery stores;
stores I've worked at shoot for a level of 0.1% loss of profit due to shrink... typically it's more like 0.2%. The results of these programs are typically a lot of
clerks running around like maniacs to return a
bread.