noun
General Slang
shrink
· noun · retail
Retail's catch-all word for inventory that vanished — theft, error, damage, fraud.
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Definitions
1
Shrink (short for 'shrinkage') is the gap between what the books say you should have on the shelf and what's actually there. Shoplifting is the famous cause, but it also covers employee theft, miscounts at receiving, damaged stock, spoilage, and vendor fraud. Measured as a percentage of sales, and every store manager lives and dies by the number.
“Our shrink was 2.1% last quarter — half of it was self-checkout, the rest was the deli throwing out too much rotisserie.”
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2
Verb form: to literally shrink something — fabric in a hot wash, a head in a horror film. The retail noun above is the dominant sense in trade contexts; this is the everyday one.
“Don't tumble-dry that jumper, it'll shrink a full size.”
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shrink In A Sentence
Our shrink was 2.1% last quarter — half of it was self-checkout, the rest was the deli throwing out too much rotisserie.
Don't tumble-dry that jumper, it'll shrink a full size.
Origin & Usage
Variants
shrinkage
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