The food trade “is good people,” as we’d say in Baltimore. The checkout attendant who smiles at you and engages you with 20 seconds of kind conversation; the worker in the aisle who walks four aisles over with you to make sure you find the hummus your kid likes; the manager who actually remembered that special request you made once and came through; the deli counter-man who knows how you like your London broil sliced; the part-time guy who walks over to you in the lot and takes your cart back to the stand.
I’m not just spinning a yarn – I’ve personally experienced all of those exemplary behaviors from folks in the grocery store this summer. Like I said: good people.
Unfortunately in this world, good people get confronted with the worst behavior. No one deserves to be mistreated, but a VoCoVo report I just read suggests food retail employees in general and grocery workers in particular get the worst of it – regularly.
Often enough, abuse happens when good workers act to protect the store’s interest, whether that’s calling out a shoplifter, acting in accordance with the store’s return or exchange policy, or even checking ID on age-restricted items.
Even as the industry makes progress against problems like theft, worker safety isn’t following nearly as quickly.
But a recent survey of grocery and food retail leaders reveals they’re looking to AI as part of the solution to a wicked problem.
Research Shows a Different Kind of Loss
Nearly one-third – 32.4% – of grocery decision-makers surveyed by retail communications technology company VoCoVo said employees had resigned during the past 12 months as a direct consequence of customer abuse; close to 80% expressed concern about verbal and physical abuse directed at employees.
Those concerns are not at all unfounded. Grocery workers experienced an average of 58.7 hostile incidents per year, more than double the 28.9 reported in food retail. If you figure your average full-time employee in the grocery store works roughly 240 days in a year, you come to the sobering conclusion that these hostile incidents happen about once every four working days.
All this in an industry grappling with retention and shrink. And the problem isn’t necessarily more merchandise sneaking out the door.
The National Retail Federation’s Impact of Retail Theft & Violence 2026 report found retailers experienced an average 12.4% decrease in shoplifting incidents and an 8.1% decline in merchandise theft incidents between 2024 and 2025. NRF said retailer efforts to protect merchandise, employees, and customers appear to be having an effect.
Yet the NRF also found violence remains a concern, including an increasing frequency of guest-related violence.
VoCoVo’s findings are part of a 2026 survey of 250 U.S. retail decision-makers and 500 consumers, including respondents in food and grocery retail. While its grocery sample represents only part of that larger survey, the findings resonate with a broader body of research showing that theft, aggression, and workplace safety are becoming more intertwined with retailers’ ability to find and keep real talent.
Safety Becomes a Retention Issue
Surveys conducted by the Loss Prevention Research Council and security technology company Verkada make the connection to retention crystal clear. Again, it’s important to bear in mind that this research covers retail in general.
Their 2025 survey found 35% of retail workers felt unsafe at work, up from 27% a year earlier. Reports of physical assault increased 22% year over year, while nearly 40% of workers said they worried about theft and verbal harassment most or every time they went to work.
More than half — 52% — said they were likely to leave their current job within the next 12 months because of personal-safety concerns. Among employees who had experienced violent incidents, 53% said they had considered looking for another job.
Store managers are seeing the consequences, too. Nearly half — 49% — said safety concerns had become a barrier to hiring, up from 37% in 2024.
Those findings reinforce the significance of VoCoVo’s grocery-specific data. A hostile customer encounter can begin as a security incident but ultimately become a staffing problem when an employee decides the job is no longer worth the risk.
Shoppers See a Different Store
FMI’s 2026 Asset Protection in Food Retail research adds another, almost paradoxical dimension to the problem: Grocery shoppers themselves generally feel safe.
FMI found 94% of shoppers said their primary grocery store provides a safe place to shop, while 93% said they appreciate measures stores take to maintain safety. Only 18% to 21% expressed high levels of concern about issues including violent activity, drug use, lack of civility, and neighborhood crime, down from 28% to 37% a year earlier.
Interestingly, there’s some evidence that some of the measures designed to make stores safer can create friction of their own.
Nearly half of grocery shoppers surveyed by FMI said locked display cases or shelves negatively affected their in-store experience. Another 67% said self-checkout allows some customers to avoid paying for merchandise.
The LPRC-Verkada findings reveal a similar tension from the employee side. Around 46% percent of retail workers said physical theft-prevention measures like locking cabinets and checkout gates were more disruptive than effective; 59% said those measures reduced their efficiency. Workers said 54% of verbal threats originated with angry customers.
And so, in 2026, asset protection is a balancing act. Stores need to protect merchandise and employees without introducing so much friction that the security measures themselves contribute to confrontations.
It’s here that VoCoVo sees an opportunity for artificial intelligence.
Can AI Help? Retailers Are Inclined to Bet on It
Its research found 88.2% of grocery retailers believe AI will play an important role in reducing workplace abuse over the next year. Grocery retailers are also prioritizing smart shelves and inventory sensors, cited by 46.7%, alongside automated incident alerts, cited by 30%.
This is more than simply packing the store with cameras. AI-powered monitoring could potentially identify suspicious behavior or a developing incident earlier, while automated alerts and connected communication systems could get actionable information to employees and security personnel more quickly. VoCoVo’s research reveals that grocery movers and shakers see such connected technologies as a foundation for future AI-powered alerts and real-time decision-making.
I admit, thinking about violence against employees, shrinking margins, and lost product is a downer. These are not puzzles; they aren’t enjoyable, stimulating questions to contemplate.
But shrink, security, staffing, and retention can no longer be treated as completely separate store-level problems. One aggressive customer may begin as an asset-protection incident, become an employee-safety issue, and end up as a vacancy a store manager needs to fill.
AI, automated alerts, and better store intelligence may help break that chain.
But looking at them together does reveal their interconnected nature, just as it shows, and they’re not insurmountable challenges. That’s certainly cause for optimism.