Put a Secure Lid on Pharmacy Employee Theft

When I turned on the computer at work this afternoon, I saw a familiar headline staring back at me.  Pharmacy employee admits to stealing over 2,000 prescription pain pills over a two year period.  An outsider may wonder how it took so long to discover these drugs were missing.  The sad truth is pilfering drugs out of a pharmacy is pretty easy.  I have worked for a retail pharmacy for over 14 years, and I have seen this story line play out many times, even in my own company.   It really makes me wonder why more pharmacies do not incorporate RX Caps for their inventory.
All of our pharmacy employees are required to have a background check and drug test.  They progress through their training, and then they are left to their own devices to work with an abundance of different prescription medicines.  In our lowest volume stores, there is still over a million dollars worth of assets sitting on the shelves at any time.  In the medical field, it is estimated that 16% of employees have had an issue with addiction at some time.  That means if you are a manager or owner of a pharmacy, you need to be aware of the real possibility that an internal issue can arise.  There are steps you can take to minimize that risk.  Watch for exceptions, like if a medication is getting ordered on a regular basis when there is no dispensing to validate the need for it.  You obviously do not want unproductive inventory sitting on your shelves waiting to expire.  You also do not want put your business in the position of having to report a major loss to the DEA or state board of pharmacy.  RX Caps can be the tool you need to keep your drugs safe.  They secure the lids on the bottles, and they can only be opened with the key that is provided.  If an employee attempts to remove the bottles from the pharmacy area with the RX Caps still attached, they will self alarm.  
One technician stole over 9,000 anti-anxiety pills.  He was selling those on the street for $10 each over a period of six years with the company.  Another took over 1,000 tablets that are prescribed to help patients recover from opium addiction.  She was taking those for herself, because of her past addiction issue that was reoccurring because of working in the pharmacy.  One more example was the employee that took over 6,000 pain pills.  She was stealing them for her husband.  He was using them himself for chronic pain, and selling them as well.  All of these pills are out on the shelves, not controlled drugs in the safe that only the pharmacist has access to.  Imagine how RX Caps could have prevented these cases from ever happening.  The temptation is great, and getting pills out the door is just not hard to do.  They can pocket a few at a time, or conceal whole bottles.  Either way, the business is losing money, and there can be major damage to your store’s reputation.  Don’t be the victim of this kind of loss.
For more information contact us at: Antishoplifting.net or call 1.770.426.0547

When I turned on the computer at work this afternoon, I saw a familiar headline staring back at me.  Pharmacy employee admits to stealing over 2,000 prescription pain pills over a two year period.  An outsider may wonder how it took so long to discover these drugs were missing.  The sad truth is pilfering drugs out of a pharmacy is pretty easy.  I have worked for a retail pharmacy for over 14 years, and I have seen this story line play out many times, even in my own company.   It really makes me wonder why more pharmacies do not incorporate Alpha RX Caps for their inventory.

All of our pharmacy employees are required to have a background check and drug test.  They progress through their training, and then they are left to their own devices to work with an abundance of different prescription medicines.  In our lowest volume stores, there is still over a million dollars worth of assets sitting on the shelves at any time.  In the medical field, it is estimated that 16% of employees have had an issue with addiction at some time.  That means if you are a manager or owner of a pharmacy, you need to be aware of the real possibility that an internal issue can arise.  There are steps you can take to minimize that risk.  Watch for exceptions, like if a medication is getting ordered on a regular basis when there is no dispensing to validate the need for it.  You obviously do not want unproductive inventory sitting on your shelves waiting to expire.  You also do not want put your business in the position of having to report a major loss to the DEA or state board of pharmacy. Alpha RX Caps can be the tool you need to keep your drugs safe.  They secure the lids on the bottles, and they can only be opened with the key that is provided.  If an employee attempts to remove the bottles from the pharmacy area with the RX Caps still attached, they will self alarm.  

One technician stole over 9,000 anti-anxiety pills.  He was selling those on the street for $10 each over a period of six years with the company. Another took over 1,000 tablets that are prescribed to help patients recover from opium addiction.  She was taking those for herself, because of her past addiction issue that was reoccurring because of working in the pharmacy.  One more example was the employee that took over 6,000 pain pills.  She was stealing them for her husband.  He was using them himself for chronic pain, and selling them as well.  

All of these pills are out on the shelves, not controlled drugs in the safe that only the pharmacist has access to.  Imagine how RX Caps could have prevented these cases from ever happening.  The temptation is great, and getting pills out the door is just not hard to do.  They can pocket a few at a time, or conceal whole bottles.  Either way, the business is losing money, and there can be major damage to your store’s reputation.  Don’t be the victim of this kind of loss.

For more information contact us at: Antishoplifting.net or call 1.770.426.0547