Samsara Study Reveals Equipment Theft and Loss Costs Mid-Size Operations an Average of $18M Annually
New research finds 72% of these costs come from missing assets under $14K rather than heavy machinery—and untracked operations are 70% more likely to face a seven-figure hit
Samsara (NYSE:IOT), the pioneer of the Connected Operations® Platform, today released its 2026 State of Connected Operations (SOCO) Asset Theft & Loss Report, Quantifying the Hidden Cost of Asset Invisibility. The report finds that equipment theft and loss is not just a replacement-cost problem—it's an CAD $18M annual operational drain for mid-size organizations (majority between CAD $340M and <$1.4B annual revenue) without asset tracking.
The bigger surprise is what types of assets are driving the losses. While heavy machinery theft makes headlines, 72% of those operational costs come from disappearing assets valued under $14K: tools, sensors, generators, and specialized parts that operations depend on daily.
The proprietary study, based on insights from 1,500 financial executives—majority mid-size operations between $340M and <$1.4B annual revenue—across construction, logistics, field services, utilities, and similar industries in Canada, the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, and Germany, puts a precise number on a problem the industry has long felt but never been able to quantify. Despite 71% of operations experiencing equipment theft every quarter, and 25% of new equipment budgets going to replace what's been stolen or lost, the hidden damage runs far deeper: project shutdowns, emergency rentals, idle labour, and contract penalties compound the direct loss into millions in operational costs.
"Before deploying Samsara, a single missing piece of equipment could delay a job, idle a crew, and force emergency procurement—all without ever knowing where the asset actually was," said John Chaccour, Director of Technology at Total Safety. "With real-time asset visibility, we expect a 100% reduction in unreturned assets, 90% reduction in days outstanding, and our teams spending time on safety and customer service instead of searching for tools. All told, this could add up to millions in recovered operational costs."
Key findings include:
Equipment theft is a quarterly reality, not a rare event
- 71% of operations without asset tracking experience equipment theft every quarter
- 25% of new equipment budgets go to replacing stolen or lost assets
Small equipment is a hidden driver of losses
- Operations without tracking lose an average of $18M annually from direct and indirect costs of missing equipment
- 72% of those operational costs come from missing assets valued under $14K, like tools, sensors, and specialized parts
- The "death by a thousand cuts" from disappearing small gear is where the real financial drain occurs
Missing assets drain productivity and halt projects
- 98% of organizations say searching for assets is a daily or weekly occurrence
- At more than a third (38%) of Canadian organizations without real-time visibility, employees spend more than 10 hours per week searching for missing equipment — equivalent to more than 520 hours per year, or one full-time employee doing nothing but searching for three months a year
- 82% of Canadian operations say a missing critical asset caused a significant shutdown or delay in the past 12 months
- 39% of Canadian organizations have been forced to pay for emergency rentals to keep operations moving
- Without tracking, the average time to locate a missing asset is 25 days, and 68% of organizations in Canada can't recover even half of their stolen high-value equipment, a failure rate significantly worse than the global average (54%)
Asset tracking reduces recurring costs and operational disruption
- 35% of Canadian organizations have successfully lowered their insurance premiums by implementing asset tracking, helping reduce recurring overhead
- 66% of Canadian organizations report a direct reduction in project shutdowns and delays after implementing asset tracking
The gap between organizations with and without asset visibility is not merely operational, it's financial. Companies investing in tracking are not only recovering assets faster, they're preventing the secondary costs that compound long after the initial loss.
Designed to give organizations real-time visibility into their assets and operations across every site, Samsara helps close this gap with the Samsara Asset Gateway, Asset Tag, and Asset Tag XS — a family of tracking devices built for tough conditions and powered by Samsara's industry-leading network of millions of connected devices.
Find the full report findings here.
About Samsara
Samsara (NYSE:IOT) is the pioneer of the Connected Operations® Platform, which is an open platform that connects the people, devices, and systems of some of the world’s most complex operations, allowing them to develop actionable insights and improve their operations. With tens of thousands of customers across North America and Europe, Samsara is a proud technology partner to the people who keep our global economy running, including the world’s leading organizations across industries in transportation, construction, wholesale and retail trade, field services, logistics, manufacturing, utilities and energy, government, healthcare and education, food and beverage, and others. The company's mission is to increase the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of the operations that power the global economy.
Methodology
This report was commissioned by Samsara and conducted by independent research firm Wakefield Research between February 5 and February 17, 2026. The survey polled 1,500 financial executives across seven countries: Canada, the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, and Germany. Respondents were not necessarily Samsara customers and were surveyed online. Global results were aggregated across all responses to provide an average. Currency values were converted using exchange rates in effect during the survey field period (February 5–17, 2026). These figures are approximate and subject to rounding.
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