Back-to-School Season Is Prime Time for Theft—Here’s How to Stay Ahead of It
Back-to-school season brings a surge in traffic, stress, and shrink. While most retail teams focus on staffing and merchandising, seasoned thieves—and desperate parents—see it as an opportunity.
Full carts, long lines, overwhelmed staff, and distracted customers create the perfect storm for merchandise to walk out the door unpaid. Many retailers unintentionally lower their guard during this time of the year to keep checkout lines moving or avoid customer confrontation, which increases vulnerability.
These theft methods vary, but they follow familiar patterns. They aren’t always carried out by professional shoplifters—often, they’re opportunistic acts by otherwise average customers who realize that chaos gives them cover.
Here are the some common theft methods retailers should prepare for:
Backpacks or lunchboxes filled with merchandise and scanned as single items
Parents using strollers or diaper bags to conceal small, high-value supplies
Family teams working in pairs—one distracts while the other conceals
Receipt reuse: taking discarded receipts, refilling carts with matching items, and walking out
Bulk underscanning: grabbing 10 notebooks but only scanning a few
Preventing theft during back-to-school doesn’t require aggressive confrontation—it requires awareness, consistency, and trained staff. Employees should be taught to open and inspect all containers before scanning them. High-risk items like headphones, calculators, and electronics should be audited more frequently. Camera zones—especially around school supply aisles and self-checkout—should be actively monitored in real time, not just reviewed after the fact.
Return policies should also be examined. Requiring receipts and tracking high-return items can close off a common fraud route. Most importantly, a visible presence still makes a difference. Even intermittent walkthroughs by loss prevention personnel—uniformed or plainclothes—can discourage theft before it happens.
The bottom line: theft during the back-to-school rush isn’t random. It’s predictable and preventable. With the right controls and training in place, retailers can protect margin without compromising the customer experience.
Retailers who want to get ahead of the issue—not just respond after losses occur—should consider a focused, seasonal risk assessment. Aviana Controls provides tactical consulting, staff training, and investigative services designed for complex retail environments.