A missing generator, tool, or machine part can create costs beyond the price of replacement. Across asset-heavy sectors, missing equipment can delay jobs and trigger emergency rentals, making asset tracking a growing part of equipment management.
Samsara has released its 2026 State of Connected Operations Asset Theft & Loss Report, which examines the cost of equipment theft and loss across large physical operations.
The report, titled Quantifying the Hidden Cost of Asset Invisibility, is based on a survey of more than 1,500 financial executives in construction, logistics, field services, utilities, and similar industries. Respondents were from the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, and Canada.
According to Samsara, large organisations without asset tracking lose an average of US$13.2 million each year from missing equipment. The figure includes direct and indirect costs, including project delays, penalties, emergency rentals, and wasted labour.
The report found that equipment theft is a recurring issue for large operations without tracking systems. Samsara said 71% of these organisations experience equipment theft every quarter, while 25% of new equipment budgets are spent replacing stolen or lost assets.
Smaller equipment accounts for most losses
Samsara’s report groups affected assets into three categories: small equipment, towable equipment, and heavy equipment. Small equipment includes generators, power tools, utility locators, and pumps. Towable and heavy equipment include air compressors, light towers, excavators, track loaders, tractors, and cranes.
Smaller equipment accounts for most of the financial impact. While heavy machinery theft often receives more attention, Samsara said 72% of operational costs linked to missing assets come from smaller items. These include tools, sensors, generators, and specialised parts.
These assets move across sites, vehicles, storage areas, and crews. When they go missing, the cost can extend beyond replacement spending to rental equipment, idle personnel, reactive purchasing, and missed project timelines.
Missing equipment disrupts work
The report also found that 98% of organisations search for assets daily or weekly. At more than a quarter of organisations without real-time visibility, employees spend more than 10 hours a week searching for equipment.
Samsara equated this to 520 hours a year, or one employee spending about three months a year only searching for lost equipment.
Samsara said large organisations without asset tracking are 70% more likely to report a seven-figure impact from operational inefficiencies linked to missing equipment than those with an asset tracking solution.
Locating missing equipment can also take weeks. According to the report, organisations without tracking technology take an average of 25 days to locate a missing asset, if it is found.
Samsara also said 54% of organisations without tracking technology are unable to recover even half of their stolen high-value equipment. The report said the absence of tracking can leave operators without a digital trail. That can make it harder to prove ownership to police when an asset is later found.
Missing critical assets have also affected project continuity. Globally, 77% of executives said a missing critical asset caused a major shutdown or delay in the past 12 months.
The report showed regional variation in reported shutdowns and delays, ranging from 63% in France to 100% in Ireland.
John Chaccour, Director of Technology at Total Safety, said in the report that the impact of a missing asset is not limited to replacement cost. He said delayed jobs, idle personnel, and reactive purchasing decisions can compound over time and add up to millions in hidden costs.
Tracking linked to cost recovery
The report said organisations using asset tracking reported lower costs linked to missing equipment. Those with tracking systems saw a 76% reduction in average annual operational costs caused by missing assets.
Samsara said all organisations surveyed that use an asset tracking solution reported recovering the cost of the system, with 95% doing so within 18 months. Organisations with asset trackers were twice as likely to recover stolen assets within the first five days after a loss.
The report’s cost-recovery chart showed that 79% of organisations with asset tracking had recouped the cost of the solution by month 12. That rose to 95% by month 16 and 100% by month 24.
Insurance was another cost area cited in the report. Samsara said 31% of organisations with asset tracking had lowered their insurance premiums after implementing the technology.
The report was commissioned by Samsara and conducted by Wakefield Research between February 5 and February 17, 2026. Samsara said respondents were not necessarily its customers, and that global results were aggregated across all responses.
(Photo by Craig Vander Galien)
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