Samsara launches disposable tracking label as cargo theft worsens

Samsara introduced a disposable tracking label on June 24 that gives shippers near-real-time visibility into individual shipments without depending on a carrier’s own tracking system. The adhesive-backed label is paper-thin, flexible, and battery-powered for 45 days after activation, and Samsara said it contains no lithium or hazardous materials, clearing it for air, ground, and rail freight.

Cargo theft keeps climbing. The National Insurance Crime Bureau said losses increased 27 percent in 2024 and are predicted to rise another 22 percent in 2025, with annual costs as high as $35 billion. The group says the damage is concentrated in California, Texas, Illinois, Florida and Washington, and that truck stops, parking lots, distribution centers, warehouses, ports, rail yards, highways and rest areas are the most common theft locations.

Verisk CargoNet’s numbers show how sharply the problem has intensified. Its January 22, 2026 tally said estimated cargo theft losses reached nearly $725 million in 2025, up 60 percent from 2024, even as total supply-chain crime events held relatively flat at 3,594 across the United States and Canada. CargoNet said confirmed cargo theft incidents rose 18 percent to 2,646, the average theft value climbed to $273,990, and California remained the hardest-hit state with 1,218 incidents.

Samsara is pitching the label as a way to close a gap that has long frustrated shippers: package-level visibility that does not stop at the dock. The company said the label works through a network of millions of connected devices that it says reaches 99 percent of major U.S. roads, allowing labels to be detected without carrier involvement and managed in its new Shipment Center and Shipment App. Samsara also said the software uses AI-powered exceptions to flag shipments needing attention before delays and weather events reach customers.

The company’s existing Asset Tag and Asset Tag XS products already target equipment theft and recovery, but those tools are aimed at reusable assets rather than disposable freight. David Gal, Samsara’s vice president of connected equipment, said customers wanted a label they could slap on a box and walk away from, and said the product was purpose-built for cargo rather than a repurposed asset tag.