Since most robberies take only one or two minutes to complete, it is quite important that you take the time to learn what you and your employees should do in the case of being robbed. The priority is always the safety of the employees and customers. You should cooperate completely and observe every detail of the situation.
If your store is robbed, remember:
·Do not resist, this is not the time for heroics.
·Keep it short; the sooner it is over, the better.
·Do give up the money demanded.
·Do not argue.
·Don’t overreact; don’t attempt to grab a weapon or call for help.
·Make every effort to remain calm. Set the example for the other employees.
·Do not make any sudden movements. Warn the robber of any noises that may surprise him (ex: the alarm on the stock room door or safe).
·Expect strong or foul language. Expect to be told to lie on the floor.
·Be alert. Try to remember details of the robber’s appearance, clothing, speech, etc.
·Keep any holdup note, but don’t allow people to handle it.
·If possible, watch the robber’s method and direction of escape.
After a robbery:
·Call the Police and Security (if available).
·Close off the area where the robbery took place.
·Write down everything you can recall and provide the Police with this information.
·Give the Police any hold-up note received.
·Cooperate fully with the Police.
Whatever you do, remember that lives are much more important than any amount of money.
Many times Loss Prevention Professionals find that a Shoplifter is not just working alone. They have developed relationships with employees that are actively or passively helping them. In some cases for profit or a “cut”. In other cases they are allowing friends to steal. For instance, a Cashier allows a friend to bring high value merchandise through their POS, pretends to ring up the high value merchandise but uses a low value SKU such as a pack of gum.
Many times we in Management think that this type of employee theft or shoplifting is only committed by “younger” people. This is not the case at all. Do not be mislead by a preconceived notion.
Below are situations that you must be on alert for at all times:
- Unusually large or frequent refunds to a particular customer for returned merchandise.
- Anonymous phone calls or letters concerning theft.
- Unusually friendly relationships among employees and outsiders such as truck drivers, repairmen and trash collectors.
- Frequent contact among employees and visitors, especially those visitors who carry shopping bags or other containers.
- Contact by employees with gamblers, drug dealers, gang members, loan sharks, etc.
- Many customers always deal with one employee and refuse to buy from anyone else.
- Stock being sold in outlets that never buy from the company.
- Gifts or favors to accounts payable employees from suppliers or to accounts receivable employees from customers.
- Reduced purchases by customers who deal closely with warehouse or shipping personnel.
- Presence of outside personnel (telephone repair, building service, salesmen, etc.) in areas where they have no legitimate business, or in un-businesslike communication with employees.
- Newly received items being sold in flea markets.
- Complaints received from other business or retailers.
- Shoplifters are always blamed for the theft.
- Gifts or favors from other mall retailers accepted by your employees.
These “signals” do not necessarily prove the existence of theft; they only point to the possibility of such theft.
The 2008 University of Florida study shows that inventory shrinkage or “shrink” is significantly higher at 1.51% from the all time low of 1.44% in 2007. Keep in mind this is 2008. So it is reasonable to assunme that 2009 will be worse because of the economy. Sources of inventory shrink nationally are as follows: 42.7% Employee Theft, 35.6% Shoplifting, 15.4% Administrative, 3.7%Vendor Fraud and 3.9% unknown.
Employee theft is still at the top of the list. We have found in our work that this holds true for non-retailers also.
On the shoplifting front projections are that there will be an increase in loss due to the ecomomy and Organized Retail Theft (ORT). By the way, 71% of all shoplifting is attributed to Amateurs.
What does this mean to you? Retailers and business of all types are subject to employee theft. Do not wait to get your policy and procedures in line and enforced. Chances are you are losing money somehow right now. Get it fixed!
Some areas that you should look carefully at include:
Accounting and Bookkeeping-Are there enough 2 party controls in place? Is an audit or review of critical functions such as AP and AR being conducted? We have found employees stealing money from these areas by processsing charge card credits to their personal accounts, creating phony invoices and then voiding them upon receipt of payment.
Refund and Void Controls-Are two employees required as the return is being processed while the customer is still there? Do you have key or password control on the refund and void function?
Receiving Controls-Who is doing this? Is there some check and balance? A manager should “audit” every shipment by spot checking a few items. Let’s keep the employee and vendor honest.
So you have a store that is too profitable, and you want to increase your losses, what do you do?
One of the easiest ways to lose merchandise and profits is to invite shoplifters into your store.
Shoplifters come into stores where it is easy to steal. You can get a reputation as a store that is easy to steal from by totally disregarding every customer who enters! When he or she walks in, don’t even look up from what you are doing to acknowledge or greet the customer in any way. That way, the potential shoplifter will feel more at ease.
Next, as the shoplifter appears to be browsing, continue to ignore him or her and keep doing your stock work or paperwork, or even go back in the stockroom out of sight. This will give the shoplifter ample time to select and conceal merchandise without fear of being detected.
Arrange your displays so that there are lots of areas to hide behind and are out of the line of sight of the sales counter.And finally, place all your small and most expensive merchandise far away from the counter. Near the exit door is best.
By following these simple guidelines, you can help increase your store’s losses and reduce profit.
And by ignoring all customers, even the legitimate ones will want to stay away and shop somewhere else.
But if you’d rather avoid shoplifters, please and satisfy your customers, simply pay attention to each customer that enters your store, make everyone feel welcome, and provide genuinely great customer service to everyone.
Since shoplifters come in all shapes, sizes, colors and ages, how can we prevent them from taking advantage of us?
We don’t know who is a potential shoplifter and who isn’t. First of all, most people are not shoplifters, so they shouldn’t be made to feel like one, so we’ll look at the more subtle ways to prevent this crime from happening in the first place.
Look at the arrangement of your store. Are there out of the way areas or blind spots where even the most casual shoplifter might be tempted to conceal some goods? Arrange fixtures to maximize the view from the register area or other areas where staff are present.
Know your merchandise so that someone intent on changing price tickets or barcodes will have another obstacle to overcome – a knowledgeable associate. Be sure all merchandise is correctly marked and priced.
Keep shelves, bins, and racks full. Arrange merchandise so that you will know when any is missing. Keep expensive, small, desirable items like designer sunglasses under lock and key. When demonstrating them to a customer, limit the number that are out of the case so that you can keep up with them. This will deter the casual thief, and your customers will understand.
If you use fitting rooms for customers to try on clothing, be sure to keep them clear of merchandise, hangers, and tags. This lets the shoplifter know that the associates are on top of their inventory, knowing what goes in and what comes out.
The most important deterrent to a shoplifter is exceptional customer service. Acknowledge each and every customer as they enter you area and anticipate their every need. A conscientious and alert employee is the single most effective deterrent to prevent shoplifting.
