When your business is losing money, you need to dig deep and find out what’s happening. Are shoplifters coming in and taking your merchandise? Are vendors charging and crediting you correctly? Do you have an employee that’s stealing? That last one is typically the hardest one for business owners and managers to see. Whether they are embezzling cash or taking merchandise out the back door, it all adds up, and you take the hit for it. Identifying and stopping employee theft has to be a part of your business plan.
Every employee should know your policies and expectations. Whether it is ringing up merchandise, taking the payment, or processing a refund correctly, they should all receive consistent training, and even sign off they understand and will abide by that standard of performance that you have set. Proper training could be your number one priority to put a stop to employee theft.
I sat in on an interview of an employee caught committing refund fraud. The store manager discovered some high dollar refunds on items returned without receipts. When a customer returned an item without the proof of purchase, they were supposed to receive a store credit, but that was not happening when this employee was on duty with a particular manager. The only way to override and give cash back was by scanning a manager’s card. During the interview, he said when a certain manager on duty, they did not want to be interrupted. Rather than be called away from their assigned task, their solution was to leave their manager card at the front register with the cashier. At first he only used it for legitimate purposes, like voiding an item a customer changed their mind about or actual customer refunds. After some time went by, he found he was in need of additional money for bills, but didn’t see how he could afford to make it on his current salary. He thought about it, realized his opportunity and took advantage of it. He felt he was in a financial crisis, and figured the company could spare some cash to help him out. So, when that manager on duty, and out of sight, he picked out some items from the sales floor and refunded them at the register. Then he just pocketed the cash.
Was the manager that left the card with him also responsible for that employee theft? She claimed she wasn’t aware she wasn’t supposed to leave her card with the cashier. She said she only left it at first if she had to leave the store, like when she went to the bank, so if he had an issue, he wouldn’t have to make the customer wait for her to return. Then she started leaving it with the cashier during her shift so she could get her assigned work completed. Upon checking her employee file we discovered she had been rubber stamped through her training, and there were none of the sign-offs that would indicate otherwise. How can we leave someone in charge of our business when we are gone, if don’t give them all the tools they need to be successful? Common sense isn’t always so common, and if we don’t share our knowledge with our employees, we can’t expect them to always get it right. Stopping employee theft starts with complete training.
For more information contact us: Stopemployeetheft.net or call 1.770.426.0547
When your business is losing money, you need to dig deep and find out what’s happening. Are shoplifters coming in and taking your merchandise? Are vendors charging and crediting you correctly? Do you have an employee that’s stealing? That last one is typically the hardest one for business owners and managers to see. Whether they are embezzling cash or taking merchandise out the back door, it all adds up, and you take the hit for it. Identifying and stopping employee theft has to be a part of your business plan.
Every employee should know your policies and expectations. Whether it is ringing up merchandise, taking the payment, or processing a refund correctly, they should all receive consistent training, and even sign off they understand and will abide by that standard of performance that you have set. Proper training could be your number one priority to put a stop to employee theft.
I sat in on an interview of an employee caught committing refund fraud. The store manager discovered some high dollar refunds on items returned without receipts. When a customer returned an item without the proof of purchase, they were supposed to receive a store credit, but that was not happening when this employee was on duty with a particular manager. The only way to override and give cash back was by scanning a manager’s card. During the interview, he said when a certain manager on duty, they did not want to be interrupted. Rather than be called away from their assigned task, their solution was to leave their manager card at the front register with the cashier. At first he only used it for legitimate purposes, like voiding an item a customer changed their mind about or actual customer refunds. After some time went by, he found he was in need of additional money for bills, but didn’t see how he could afford to make it on his current salary. He thought about it, realized his opportunity and took advantage of it. He felt he was in a financial crisis, and figured the company could spare some cash to help him out. So, when that manager on duty, and out of sight, he picked out some items from the sales floor and refunded them at the register. Then he just pocketed the cash.
Was the manager that left the card with him also responsible for that employee theft? She claimed she wasn’t aware she wasn’t supposed to leave her card with the cashier. She said she only left it at first if she had to leave the store, like when she went to the bank, so if he had an issue, he wouldn’t have to make the customer wait for her to return. Then she started leaving it with the cashier during her shift so she could get her assigned work completed. Upon checking her employee file we discovered she had been rubber stamped through her training, and there were none of the sign-offs that would indicate otherwise. How can we leave someone in charge of our business when we are gone, if don’t give them all the tools they need to be successful? Common sense isn’t always so common, and if we don’t share our knowledge with our employees, we can’t expect them to always get it right. Stopping employee theft starts with complete training.
For more information contact us at Stop Employee Theft or call 1.770.426.0547
Well, we finally made it to part three of my mini-series on steps you can take to prevent shoplifting in your store. We’ve discussed using customer service and how installing cameras can help deter would-be shoplifters. An important piece a lot of retailers fail to utilize are proper physical security measures. There are tons of anti-shoplifting devices on the market. Depending on your store and budget there is so to be a cost effective solution to any problem you are having with loss.
Recently, the company I work for saw a steady increase in losses associated with shoplifting in our pocket knife line. It’s a large store, so we have an entire aisle dedicated to every type of pocket knife you could possibly want. The losses caught the attention of the buying team when they realized that the category was no longer making a profit. Yep… we were losing more knives than we were selling. That’s a lot of knives. On any given day, stores would find anywhere between 10-30 empty packages. Did anyone buy pocket knives? It was obvious we had to do something. We were clearly bleeding and had to find a cost effective way to help prevent shoplifting in this category.
After trying and testing a few items, we settled on a simple peg lock. They are designed to keep the merchandise on the peg and can be released by an employee with a key. Very simple, very cheap and they worked. We installed them on the higher priced knives and within a week, we saw a noticeable decrease in losses. Now, I’d be lying to you if I told you this was the cure to completely shoplifting, I’d be lying. This move did shift our losses to the less expensive knives, but it did help protect the more expensive product. We reduced the loss to an acceptable level by using a very simple physical security measure. It didn’t negatively impact our sales and our customers seemed to understand, or not really care that we had to take additional steps to make sure the merchandise was available for them to purchase.
Now, there are tons of tools you can use to increase the effectiveness of physical security measures in your stores and a peg lock is just an example. Every store is different and a good merchant will know what is best suited for their own stores. When you’re walking your store, walk with the eye of a shoplifter. Look at what you could easily steal and ask yourself if it’s worth protecting. While you can’t very well go and lock up every single item in your store, you can aim to reduce your high dollar losses.
While there is no single method you can employ that will completely prevent shoplifting, taking several small steps over time can help your business reduce unnecessary losses. Whether you engage your teams to promote some of the best customer service possible, install a new camera system, or use some simple physical security measures, you will definitely see a reduction in shoplifting. As retailers, we will also be fighting the battle between profit and loss, make sure you are doing your part to minimize your stores exposure to loss.
For more information, contact us: Prevent Shoplifting, or call 1.770.426.0547
Well, we finally made it to part three of my mini-series on steps you can take to prevent shoplifting in your store. We’ve discussed using customer service and how installing cameras can help deter would-be shoplifters. An important piece a lot of retailers fail to utilize are proper physical security measures. There are tons of anti-shoplifting devices on the market. Depending on your store and budget there is has to be a cost effective solution to any problem you are having with loss.
Recently, the company I work for saw a steady increase in losses associated with shoplifting in our pocket knife line. It’s a large store, so we have an entire aisle dedicated to every type of pocket knife you could possibly want. The losses caught the attention of the buying team when they realized that the category was no longer making a profit. Yep… we were losing more knives than we were selling. That’s a lot of knives. On any given day, stores would find anywhere between 10-30 empty packages. Did anyone buy pocket knives? It was obvious we had to do something. We were clearly bleeding and had to find a cost effective way to help prevent shoplifting in this category.
After trying and testing a few items, we settled on a simple peg lock. They are designed to keep the merchandise on the peg and can be released by an employee with a key. Very simple, very cheap and they worked. We installed them on the higher priced knives and within a week, we saw a noticeable decrease in losses. Now, I’d be lying to you if I told you this was the complete cure to shoplifting, I’d be lying. This move did shift our losses to the less expensive knives, but it did help protect the more expensive product. We reduced the loss to an acceptable level by using a very simple physical security measure. It didn’t negatively impact our sales and our customers seemed to understand, or not really care that we had to take additional steps to make sure the merchandise was available for them to purchase.
Now, there are tons of tools you can use to increase the effectiveness of physical security measures in your stores and a peg lock is just an example. Every store is different and a good merchant will know what is best suited for their own stores. When you’re walking your store, walk with the eye of a shoplifter. Look at what you could easily steal and ask yourself if it’s worth protecting. While you can’t very well go and lock up every single item in your store, you can aim to reduce your high dollar losses.
While there is no single method you can employ that will completely prevent shoplifting, taking several small steps over time can help your business reduce unnecessary losses. Whether you engage your teams to promote some of the best customer service possible, install a new camera system, or use some simple physical security measures, you will definitely see a reduction in shoplifting. As retailers, we will also be fighting the battle between profit and loss, make sure you are doing your part to minimize your stores exposure to loss.
For more information, contact us at Prevent Shoplifting, or call 1.770.426.0547
I think we can all agree that retail is a tough climate. We have to constantly battle every aspect of the business to simply stay afloat. On any given day, you are worrying about shipments coming in on time, being in stock, managing your payroll budget, correcting employee issues, maybe even dealing with shoplifters and hundreds of other little things. If you’re a manager and you have free time, chance are, you’re probably doing something wrong. One thing I see pretty often is smaller businesses not using a background check company to screen new hires.
I worked for a large, established corporation. I however, get to interact with retailers of all sizes through a partnership I’ve assisted building with local law enforcement. Basically, the retailers in my community partner with the police in order to combat shoplifting on a much larger scale than just stopping one shoplifter at one store. With this level of interaction of all the different companies, I can see a lot of different challenges faced with smaller stores. One negative factor that seems to affect every business, no matter the size, is turnover. Turnover costs you money. If you have an employee that only makes it through a few weeks, you’ve already lost an investment worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Once you decide to hire a new candidate, you’ll start that monetary investment. You pay their salary, you train them, provide them with a uniform in some instances. None of this is free to your store and in two weeks when they stop showing up for work, there is no way for you to get that money back. It’s lost. Gone forever. A simple pre-employment screening could save you untold amounts of money.
About a year ago I went to a gun range down the road from my house. I just purchased my first handgun and was eager to start training with it. The range also had a retail store attached to it. When I walked through the front door, I was immediately greeted by the sales clerk. I had terminated this same person not 4 months ago for embezzling close to $10,000 in cash from fraudulent refunds. It was clear that this gun range and store did not utilize a criminal background check. I went on about my business and was eventually greeted by the store owner. He was so incredibly helpful and knowledgeable and made sure I got all the help that I needed. He asked how long I had owned my gun, and after learning I was a newbie, offered to personally give me some tips. I felt like this man could’ve been my grandpa.
At the end of my two hours on the range, I was walking out when I had to tell the owner of his employees past. Not that I wanted this guy to loose his job. Everyone deserves a second chance. I told the owner what I did for a living and told him of his clerks past. I didn’t want this small business owner to be taken advantage of. My large corporation could easily absorb a $10k loss. I wasn’t so sure that he could. I told him all of this, and he was very appreciative. He told me that he agreed that everyone deserved a second chance and wouldn’t take any action, but appreciated that I told him what I did.
A few weeks later, I went back and noticed the clerk wasn’t working. I set up on my lane and started slinging some lead down range when the owner approached me and began speaking about the clerk. He told me that he had caught the clerk stealing money from the register and was forced to fire him. He told me he was looking to fill the position again, but wanted to know how he could avoid the same mistake. I told him he should treat his employees like he does his gun buyers. Everyone gets a background check.
For more information, contact us: Background Checks, or call 1.770.426.0547
I think we can all agree that retail is a tough climate. We have to constantly battle every aspect of the business to simply stay afloat. On any given day, you are worrying about shipments coming in on time, being in stock, managing your payroll budget, correcting employee issues, maybe even dealing with shoplifters and hundreds of other little things. If you’re a manager and you have free time, chances are, you’re probably doing something wrong. One thing I see pretty often is smaller businesses not using a background check company to screen new hires.
I worked for a large, established corporation. I however, get to interact with retailers of all sizes through a partnership I’ve assisted building with local law enforcement. Basically, the retailers in my community partner with the police in order to combat shoplifting on a much larger scale than just stopping one shoplifter at one store. With this level of interaction of all the different companies, I can see a lot of different challenges faced with smaller stores. One negative factor that seems to affect every business, no matter the size, is turnover. Turnover costs you money. If you have an employee that only makes it through a few weeks, you’ve already lost an investment worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Once you decide to hire a new candidate, you’ll start that monetary investment. You pay their salary, you train them, provide them with a uniform in some instances. None of this is free to your store and in two weeks when they stop showing up for work, there is no way for you to get that money back. It’s lost. Gone forever. A simple pre-employment screening could save you untold amounts of money.
About a year ago I went to a gun range down the road from my house. I just purchased my first handgun and was eager to start training with it. The range also had a retail store attached to it. When I walked through the front door, I was immediately greeted by the sales clerk. I had terminated this same person not 4 months ago for embezzling close to $10,000 in cash from fraudulent refunds. It was clear that this gun range and store did not utilize a criminal background checks. I went on about my business and was eventually greeted by the store owner. He was so incredibly helpful and knowledgeable and made sure I got all the help that I needed. He asked how long I had owned my gun, and after learning I was a newbie, offered to personally give me some tips. I felt like this man could’ve been my grandpa.
At the end of my two hours on the range, I was walking out when I had to tell the owner of his employees past. Not that I wanted this guy to loose his job. Everyone deserves a second chance. I told the owner what I did for a living and told him of his clerks past. I didn’t want this small business owner to be taken advantage of. My large corporation could easily absorb a $10k loss. I wasn’t so sure that he could. I told him all of this, and he was very appreciative. He told me that he agreed that everyone deserved a second chance and wouldn’t take any action, but appreciated that I told him what I did.
A few weeks later, I went back and noticed the clerk wasn’t working. I set up on my lane and started slinging some lead down range when the owner approached me and began speaking about the clerk. He told me that he had caught the clerk stealing money from the register and was forced to fire him. He told me he was looking to fill the position again, but wanted to know how he could avoid the same mistake. I told him he should treat his employees like he does his gun buyers. Everyone gets a background check.
For more information, contact us: Background Checks, or call 1.770.426.0547
