theft due to the increased opportunity available to internal staff members. "A well-informed security superintendent of a nationwide chain of retail stores has estimated that it takes between forty and fifty shoplifting incidents to equal the annual loss caused by one dishonest individual inside an organization." Internal loss Internal loss is caused by associates including internal theft. Examples of such losses include staff members stealing products, cashiers not ringing sales through the tills and keeping the payment for themselves, package pilferage, staff selling products at discounted prices as a third-party distributor, "sweethearting" by giving products for free to other parties by staff, colluding with maintenance staff or external contractors to steal products, and under-ringing merchandise on the tills for other parties so they end up paying less for the items. Internal loss, as with other forms of shrinkage, can be classified as either "malicious" or "non-malicious". The malicious internal loss is shrinkage caused by individuals from within the business such as staff members and cleaning staff and anyone else involved internally in the company. Internal shrink accounted for 35 percent of shrink to businesses in 2011. Non-malicious shrinkage can result from a number of operational failures within the business structure. The processing of returned or damaged stock, for example, can cause articles to be removed from inventory and discarded (which contributes directly to shrinkage) rather than sold at a discount, donated, returned to vendors for credit, or otherwise removed from inventory in a manner that minimizes financial loss. Loss prevention methods Apprehensions and Recoveries Most large retailers have in-store loss prevention employees who are trained to apprehend shoplifters. This can come in the form of uniformed security officers, undercover security, or both. Each state allows stores to apprehend and detain shoplifters under shopkeeper's privilege laws. Apprehensions are typically a last resort after attempts to recover merchandise fail. An attempt to recover merchandise is known as a recovery or a "burn" and is generally one of the primary job duties of loss prevention associates. Many retailers operate in-store loss prevention teams including Target, Walmart, Macy's, JCPenney, Nordstrom, and Sephora. Teams generally have anywhere from 1-15 individuals depending on location. Security Tags The development of electronic article surveillance (a magnetic device attached to the merchandise that would trigger an alarm if removed from the store, also called EAS) led to an increase in arrests; however, many cases have been dismissed due to