loss prevention

What can a Loss Prevention System do for you?

April 19, 2019 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Loss prevention technology along with the proper personnel training will allow a retail store to reduce loss, improve customer service and provide the data necessary to access up to minute inventory information in the store.

A loss prevention system is a preventable measure retail stores need to adopt to prevent the losses that plague the retail industry. A loss prevention system along with trained personnel can be a deterrent to shoplifting, vendor and employee theft that can save the retail store thousands of dollars a month.

A loss prevention system can protect the merchandise in the store while protecting customers and the employees as well. Incidents, where violence and sometimes deaths occur, can be avoided with the proper systems, training, and the continuous effort to ensure the safety of the employees and customers alike.

A loss prevention system can allow the employees and manager of a store to focus and ensure customers have a good experience shopping at their store. Good customer experience can translate to continuous business, and great customer satisfaction has been linked to less shoplifting in the retail industry.

If you are the owner of several retail stores, a loss prevention system can be adapted to each store’s unique layout and needs while providing the same information you need to prevent shoplifting or to take the necessary measures to prevent it.

A loss prevention system is an investment a retail store cannot do without, but along with an investment in a loss prevention system, trained personnel plays an important role in making sure the system can do what it is supposed to do. Data from the loss prevention system cannot go unchecked, and it cannot be ignored.

Employees have to be trained and knowledgeable of the stores’ policies and procedures regarding shoplifting to ensure an efficient and quick response if shoplifting occurs in the store. Violence can and must be avoided at all costs.

There’s research out there that clearly indicates the cost versus benefits of having a loss prevention system in place. Profits in a business can be slim, losing them to shoplifting, employee or vendor theft can be detrimental to any business.

Post Holiday Retail Blues

February 28, 2019 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Did your sales meet, exceed or fall short of your expectations? Regardless of how they turned out it is likely they could have been better when you factor in your inventory shrinkage. Shoplifters, employee theft and paperwork errors all create additional loss that drain away some of your profits. What strikes me is that these losses are like adding insult to injury. You ordered, received, put the merchandise out and paid your vendor for it. On top of that you have your expenses, payroll, rent, utilities and more.

After all that someone, a shoplifter, comes into YOUR store with the intent to steal from you. They do not care if it hurts you, your staff and your family. They simply do not care about that. It is ALL ABOUT THEM. And on top of that it just keeps going on year after year.

But, shoplifting is no different than any other business problem. You can fix it the same way by simply paying attention to it and attacking it head on. The problem that most retailers face with shoplifting is the feeling of despair because you are not sure what you can or cannot do. What is legal? The Police seem to have little interest in helping you. The times you have caught a shoplifter have met with mixed results. The shoplifter seemed to get nothing but a slap on the wrist, if that.

So how do you attack the scourge of shoplifting? From a business’ standpoint is actually fairly simple. Cast aside the concerns about prosecution with the criminal or civil courts. We should be concerned about what could happen to us legally but the reality is you want a program to keep shoplifting from happening at all. You must get into a prevention mindset.

A prevention mindset or loss PREVENTION is exactly that we want to prevent the losses from occurring at all. Because when a shoplifter attacks us it costs us money, even if they are not successful. Not just the loss of merchandise but our time and expenses.

The really great thing about a prevention mindset is that it costs us little in the big picture and actually is in alignment with our sales goals. Yes, you do need an anti-shoplifting system like a Sensormatic system but that is only fifty percent of the equation.

Step one is to change the way you approach customers. Customer service is king here. Shoppers love attention. They are there for a little retail therapy. They are interested in purchasing something from you and favor the attention that your staff can shower on them. Answer their questions, help them make a choice or just let the customer know that you appreciate their being there.

On the other hand shoplifters HATE everything I mentioned in the previous paragraph. Shoplifters need privacy even if just for a moment to steal from you. They do not want any attention, assistance or help. They are there to steal your goods and YOU ARE IN THEIR WAY. So what should you do? Remember this, good customers want your attention at various levels depending on the customer’s wants and needs. Any sales floor staff that have any experience at all know when to turn customer service up or down.

It starts the moment that the customer walks in the door. Every person that enters your store must be greeted. A greeting should include brief eye contact, a smile and a “welcome to (my store) how can I help you?” Very reliable studies have proven over and over again that impulse shoplifters which make up approximately fifty percent of the average retailers shoplifting losses will most likely not steal from you in that visit if they are greeted. This is a win-win situation. Good customers love the attention shoplifters hate it. However, you cannot stop there. Amateur and professional shoplifters will not be deterred by that alone. They require additional customer service. Approaching them to help, suggest additional items they may want to consider not only increases your sales to that customer but it puts the shoplifter on notice that they have been seen and are being observed. The shoplifter will try to shun that help. So what do you do in that case? Step back and still be in range to “help”. Many shoplifters will simply leave. If this is consistent then the shoplifter will go elsewhere to steal from a retailer that is not prepared.

So what is the second part? You must have a Sensormatic system. As much as we would like, we do not have unlimited payroll. We cannot be everywhere at once. Shoplifters look for or even create conditions where the customer to staff ratio is out of whack. That is where the Sensormatic system comes in. Merchandise that is higher value or frequently stolen is protected with a label or a hard tag. If the thief tries to steal it, the Sensormatic system at the customer doors alarms. Your merchandise is protected 24/7.

The combination of these two creates a pretty impenetrable wall that will reduce most of your shoplifting losses and at the same time increase your sales.

And yes, Loss Prevention Systems can help you with both. As the former Director of Loss Prevention for several major companies I have worked my way up in the trenches from personally apprehending shoplifters all the way to starting and running LP programs for those companies. When you purchase your genuine Sensormatic system from us you get the training and support to fix your shoplifting problems.

Contact us today or call 1-770-426-0547 to find out more about our Sensormatic systems and getting your staff trained up to go on the offense.

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New Year’s Resolutions That Help The Environment And Can Keep Stores Profitable

January 1, 2019 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

It’s 2019 and time to make some New Year’s resolutions! We all know how easy a resolution can be to make but they are hard to keep. We also know that it is just as easy to break a resolution but are there resolutions a store owner can make that would benefit the store AND benefit society? I think one resolution that would be mutually beneficial for both would be the implementation of environment-friendly policies and procedures. We are talking about sensible measures that would appeal to anyone on either side of the political spectrum. Right now there is a big push for the elimination of plastic shopping bags. There are also those opposed to going back to paper bags. What could the solution be? Try encouraging the use of recyclable, reusable shopping bags for your customers. You make those opposed to one-time use bags happy and you save money on the need to regularly purchase more shopping bags (which can be a rather pricey supply on your monthly expense report). To implement this type of change you would want to have reusable bags ready for your customers and you might even give them away for the first few weeks you start the program. After that, you might give customers a small discount to customers who bring their own bags, say 1% on every transaction.

Problems that may arise by allowing recycled bags into the store. The first concern is the potential for increased shoplifting. Inviting customers to bring their bags into the store to bag groceries is going to make shoplifting that much easier. Thieves already walk by unattended cash registers to pick up plastic shopping bags as they enter the store. They fill them up, look like any other customer who has made a purchase at an in-store terminal and they leave. Most customers are honest but I would remind readers that one of the necessary ingredients for shoplifting is opportunity. Without opportunity, some people who may be tempted to steal for a thrill are kept in check. You provide opportunity by permitting reusable bags and some will take advantage of it. You also have to think, are the bags only allowed at the checkout stand? How do you keep shoppers from filling them up as a convenience rather than using a shopping cart? How do you monitor the shoppers for those who may be stealing and those who are simply picking up merchandise for purchase? It can lead to problems for store owners.

There is a way to allow the use of shopping bags and minimize the risk of increased shoplifting and that is the installation of an electronic article surveillance system (EAS). If you are going to resolve to help the environment you can still do it just by adding an EAS System in your store if you don’t already have one. You tag all of your merchandise with EAS tags or labels depending on what the merchandise is or how you strategize your theft prevention procedures. If a shopper has concealed merchandise in a bag they brought in and did not pay for it the alarm is going to be activated and your employees will respond to it.

Since we are on the topic of being environmentally responsible it is important that retailers know that many EAS tags are built out of recyclable materials. Hard tags can be used multiple times to tag and re-tag merchandise thereby saving on the need for constantly purchasing new tags and since they are recyclable they help the environment. It should also be noted a lot of Sensormatic systems help to reduce power consumption. When the systems are not in use (during non-working store hours) they go into a power saver mode. Stores save money and wasted energy. The use of EAS loss prevention equipment saves stores money by preventing theft and it allows stores the ability to appeal to their environmentally focused customers thus driving sales.

Another environment-friendly step you can make as a retailer is to look at recycling those cardboard boxes your merchandise is shipped in. A cardboard bale can bring in anywhere from $10 to $20 a ton. If this does not seem like a cost-effective move for your store you could try partnering with a neighboring store and combine efforts. It isn’t a lot of money but it does keep cardboard out of landfills and you can advertise that to your customers.

Resolutions may not be easy to keep but once you start down the road of using merchandise protection and you see the money you save in shortage and how easy it is to implement you won’t find it difficult to stay on track. In 2019, resolve to make some changes that will help the environment and make your store more profitable at the same time.

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Combating Shoplifting In Your Business

October 18, 2018 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

One of the most prevalent crimes in the United States is shoplifting. While many state governments and lawmakers have taken a strong approach to combat shoplifting, it is a battle that keeps the retail industry checking their loss prevention measures, and their ability to combat this crime.

According to the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention, (NASP) the retail industry loses approximately $35 million per day. Even when advances in technology have aided the loss prevention team in combating this crime, figures about shoplifting has shown an increase in the average inventory shrink rate to 1.44 percent.

The average shrink rates take into consideration shoplifting, internal theft, vendor or merchant errors and administrative errors. And although shoplifting accounts for more than a third of the losses, internal or employee theft is pretty close behind. An employee that is using the cash register as their personal piggy bank, or an employee that steals merchandise worth hundreds of dollars in one incident can be as detrimental as the shoplifter entering the store and stealing merchandise from the shelves.

How can you prevent or combat shoplifting in your store?

Training – One of the best measures for the prevention of shoplifting is training the loss prevention team and management of the store to spot and react accordingly when witnessing a theft. If a theft is happening and a trained employee is a witness to the incident, merchandise can be salvaged and the shoplifter can be apprehended without having the incident escalate to violence.

Hiring – Background checks before hiring an employee can save you time and money. An employee with a clean employment record can be hired and trained and become an asset to the business right away. According to the 2014 Industry Training Report, small companies with less than 1,000 employees spent an average of $1,238 per training per employee that year. If the new employee is not properly checked or interviewed, the company might lose money and labor that eventually translates into loses for the business and their ability to grow.

Customer Service – The research regarding this important area in the retail industry is unanimous in their findings. Better customer service means less theft. Not only that, but better customer service translates into more profits. Happy customers can be an asset to any business. Good PR can mean more sales, more customers and more profits.

Shoplifting System – Installing a shoplifting system in your store is part of a solution to the problem, not a whole solution by itself. The system will discourage thieves and employees from taking merchandise out of the store without paying, and that is an advantage you cannot do without.

If you are interested in installing a shoplifting system, training your personnel, or using background checks to perfect hiring, call us. We are a company dedicated to providing stores and other businesses the tools necessary to succeed.

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We Installed A Sensormatic System. Our Shoplifting Problems Are Over, Right?

October 1, 2018 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

NO! not yet. Before we begin patting ourselves on the back you must remember that your Sensormatic System is only part of your shoplifting solution. Your Sensormatic System will protect your merchandise however, many shoplifters are determined and will try to steal anyway. The Sensormatic System itself is a deterrent. Its mere presence will dissuade many shoplifters.

There are TWO PARTS to the shoplifting solution. Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. (LPSI) did not invent them, we simply perfected them both. So in your case:

✓ Sensormatic System installed by Loss Prevention Systems.

√ Staff training by Loss Prevention Systems. LPSI includes FREE anti-shoplifting training with every Sensormatic system you purchase from us, as often as you reasonably need it.

Let’s discuss the training to teach your staff how to deter shoplifters. First, we have to get our heads straight about your Sensormatic System. The system is there protecting your tagged merchandise 24/7. It is critical to have but you must realize that to fully stop shoplifters, the first line of defense must be customer service. Shoplifters hate customer service. They do not want you near them and need privacy to conceal your merchandise even if only for a moment.

We want to teach your staff to approach every customer and at a minimum greet them. Did you know that over half of all shoplifters are classified as “impulse” shoplifters? An impulse shoplifter is someone who has entered your store and will only shoplift if you give them the opportunity. Many studies over the years have shown that most impulse shoplifters will not shoplift in your store, during that visit if they are properly greeted! Wow, that means that if you or your staff greet them when they walk in the door with a verbal greeting such as “welcome to xxxx” and as important use good eye contact that it is likely that the impulse shoplifter will not steal from you during that visit! So you have put a serious dent in your shoplifting losses by just greeting customers.

Of course, greeting customers also helps us to achieve higher sales. It gives the legitimate customer a chance to ask a question and makes them feel more at home. Think about it, good customers love customer service, shoplifters hate it. Customer service everyone to death and increase your sales and reduce your shoplifting losses all with one technique.

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Children shoplifting: how parents are using kids to steal for them and/or kids shoplifting on their own

October 1, 2018 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

I was once asked why I kept toys on my desk in my Loss Prevention office. I had two reasons, the first was they were collectible superhero figurines (The Tick to be precise) and the other was to keep children entertained. It is a sad fact in Retail Loss Prevention but there are children who shoplift, there are parents who shoplift and there are parents who use their children to help shoplift. As a Loss Prevention professional, it is not hard to handle an adult who steals. There may be anger, tears, and pleading but these are adults and they made a choice to steal so there should be consequences. What is not so easy to cope with is the child who has to sit in the office while the parent is being processed and does not understand what is taking place. There were many instances when I had to try to keep these young ones entertained as mom or dad were answering questions about the crime, providing personal information or trying to contact a family member or friend who would be willing to pick up the child. Add to the mix a parent who is throwing a conniption fit or making the scenario worse by bawling and wailing in front of the child begging you to let them go “Just this one time and it won’t ever happen again, I promise.” It becomes quite annoying. It also upsets the child who becomes a prop for the parent. The toys were my prop to entertain the children in a pinch.

Not everyone can be a model parent, after all.

It may be hard to comprehend but aside from just shoplifting with their kids in tow, there are parents who use their children as tools or props to commit their crimes. What is worse than a parent who removes a price tag from a purse, straps it over their daughter’s shoulder and walks out with her and the purse? Well, it could be worse when the parent scolds the child and tells her she shouldn’t have done that when the parent is caught by Loss Prevention. Then there are the parents who walk through the store pushing a baby in an infant stroller with the little baby covered by a blanket. What can these doting mothers and fathers do with a cute little baby you may ask? It turns out baby strollers with blankets make great hiding places for designer blue jeans…MANY pairs of designer jeans. Aw gee, let’s not forget one of my all-time favorites, the pregnant mommy who gets more pregnant simply by walking through the store gathering clothing.

If you aren’t shocked by now it could shake you up to know that some parents not only use their children as props or to disguise their own theft, some will steal while the children steal too. I caught two mothers and their combined five children ALL stealing in my store. The children wandered around areas of the store that interested them and the mothers did likewise. Everyone took their turn cleaning house. I once caught a father and his teenage son stealing jeans in a department store I worked in. It really gave perspective to the term, “Like father like son”… although I think the saying, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” also came to mind. The unfortunate reality is, those cute, cherubic faces and tiny tots may not be just little cutie pies accompanying their mom or dad in your store. It is not uncommon for these youngsters to be covers for theft or potentially cranky crooks themselves.

So how should retailers handle situations like these to prevent shoplifting family frolics? The number one deterrent to all shoplifters is customer service for everyone. Adults, as well as children, should be acknowledged and assistance offered. Electronic Article Surveillance systems will discourage adults from stealing. And while the systems may help prevent teenaged terrors from 5-finger discounts they will probably not have the same effect on young kids. It is probably not a good idea to try to stop a shoplifter if you do not have trained Loss Prevention Personnel working for you. Bad stops and aggressive shoplifters can lead to costly and/or dangerous situations. Aggressive, non-stop customer service is in order if you have a strong suspicion someone is stealing. Most importantly don’t let yourself be duped by those cute-chubby cheeked darlings. Those families might not be as charming as they look.

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RFID Technology

September 17, 2018 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

For a small business owner, bringing sales to their business is not an easy feat. It requires lots of hard work and diligence. For an owner or manager of a retail store, it requires a lot of hard work to be profitable and to prevent shrink and losses in their stores.

For them, the acquisition of affordable technology and software to help them prevent losses due to shoplifting, shrinkage, clerical or merchant errors is instrumental in having a successful and profitable business.

For many years now, the increased use of technology and the benefits associated with it has been self-evident in many industries, and the retail industry is no exception.

The value and transformation technology has brought to retailers, merchants and customers have been invaluable to them and to their bottom line. Technology usage has allowed them to decreased costs while maintaining better data and solutions that allow them to target specific areas within their business.

RFID systems and software have been around for many years now, but the adoption rates have increased considerably over the last few years due the lower cost and ease of use. Still, small retailers that are struggling financially will be less inclined to invest in an RFID system or any other type of loss prevention system despite needing it most.

The cost associated with acquiring a system that will help prevent losses, and help you target issues in your retail store can help you recover the cost associated with the system within a year in many cases.

Loss prevention systems and the costs associated with them can vary considerably, but businesses have many options depending on what they want the system to accomplish. Here is a technology linked with the retail industry that may be gaining ground with many benefits associated with its adoption.

RFID technology

RFIDs systems usage has provided many merchants great ROI and revenue increase within the first year of usage. The capabilities of this system to provide accurate inventory to the store owner or manager of the stores has seen an increase in their revenues while providing customers the merchandise they need and want.

RFID technology will allow businesses across industries up to the minute data and reliable inventory data.

RFID technology will save expenses where inventory related labor is concerned while achieving better and more accurate inventory data.

Acquiring a loss prevention system can be daunting in the beginning due to the financial expense the business has to go through, but it is necessary if the business wants to stay competitive and profitable.

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Keeping Track of Sales And Customers This Year For Next Year’s Summer Planning

May 31, 2018 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

It is hard to believe but summer is almost here! What are you doing about it? As crazy as the question may sound there is a reason I ask. What are you doing that will be different than what you did last summer? Do you know what it was you did to inspire additional sales last year? Maybe you didn’t do anything at all differently. Maybe you added a new piece of summer merchandise to your merchandising strategy. How did that item do in sales? Was it a blockbuster for you? On a similar note, how was the customer foot traffic in your store? Did you see an increase in the number of patrons last summer over the rest of the year? If you aren’t asking the questions then you are probably flying by the seat of your pants and that is not going to be beneficial to you at all. Sales tracking and Customer Counting can assist you in exponentially growing your sales.

Adding products to your merchandise lines may be a good idea. Perhaps last summer you purchased 100 units of a new brand of suntan lotion to supplement your summer lineup. Did you keep track of how many of those units you sold at full price? Did you wind up taking markdowns on them in order to get them to move? You may have eventually been out of the merchandise but if you were not tracking how many you sold by the week you may have lost money if they all went at the end of the season at or below cost. By failing to follow sales of seasonal items you could develop a false picture of how a product moved and make the costly mistake of carrying it again the following year. One aside to this; be sure that seasonal merchandise is in a prominent location. Sticking this merchandise on a back endcap or in the main run is not going to produce the results you are seeking. This can also give you a poor picture of how the item could really have driven sales had it been in a more visible location.

Customer foot traffic is also an important tool for summer planning for the next year. If one of your intended purposes in adding a summer product line in your store is to drive up sales you need to know whether it has the intended effect. If you are keeping track of customer counts you can determine if a new product is drawing in more shoppers. A spike in customer counts can be compared to sales tracking of a new product(s). If there appears to be a correlation in the data you can make preparations for the next summer and plan for additional sales by bringing back those summer items. If a group of summer products proved profitable and drew in more customers then add to it with new summer goods. It would also be a good idea to review those sales figures and add more people on shifts. You may find that customer counts proved to be much higher than sales transactions were. If this is the case it is possible that your store could have lost sales by having insufficient cashiers or sales floor staff to provide assistance. Customer counting can also benefit your store with a breakdown of the time of day patrons were shopping. This provides flexibility in adding staff at peak times rather than adding people for an entire day if it isn’t necessary. Though it may take time to plan it out using the information you have collected from sales tracking and customer counting the payoff will be seen in sales increases.

A website, workzone.com, had an article, “45 Planning Quotes To Help You Reach Your Goals” by Steve Pogue. One of the quotes was from Warren Buffet, “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree long ago.” Another quote attributed to Robert H. Schuller, “Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.” So friends, spectacular sales next summer will be dependent on how much preparation you are willing to put into planning today. Dedicate time now in reviewing your seasonal specialty item sales and how many customers entered your business and create a plan that will dazzle you with results next summer.

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Employee Theft Cases: Should You Prosecute Or Not?”

March 30, 2018 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

You may be fortunate and have never had to address a problem of an employee stealing from your store. Be in business long enough and chances are you will have to confront the issue one day. As a small or medium-sized retail owner or manager you probably won’t have the benefit of a Loss Prevention Department to investigate suspected dishonest employees. That means it will be up to you or a company such as Loss prevention Systems Inc. which specializes in theft and shortage reduction to identify and catch the thief or thieves. Once you catch the employee who has chosen to steal from your business, be it cash or merchandise, what will you do with him or her?

It seems like it should be an easy question to answer for someone like myself who has spent many years in the Loss Prevention field catching criminals like this. The reality is it is not such a cut and dry question for many people. There are pros and cons as to whether a dishonest employee should be prosecuted when caught. This article is meant to give you the perspective from both sides so that you will be prepared to make an informed decision should the situation ever arise for you.

The pro’s for prosecuting a dishonest employee who has been caught stealing:

A clear message is sent to the employee and anyone working in your store that dishonest activity will not be tolerated.
It can serve as a deterrent to other employees who may otherwise consider stealing from your store.
An employee who is prosecuted and found to be guilty will have a criminal record. If this person attempts to work for any company that conducts pre-employment background checks it is likely their record will be found. It prevents the person from perpetrating crimes against other retailers.
A court can order restitution to be paid back to the store. This is not just the amount that was stolen but often includes additional money for the time and effort required of the victim to resolve the issue.

As you can see the list is not extremely long but it does serve practical purposes. But what about the other side of this dilemma?

There is a case that can be made for not terminating an employee who has stolen from their employer. These cons may be something you have not previously considered:

The most compelling reason not to prosecute a worker who has been caught stealing is that it does mean they will have a criminal record and this has a direct impact on their ability to gain employment. If you send someone to jail and they struggle to find a new job afterward you may not receive restitution even if the court ordered.
The expense associated with prosecuting a case. Having an employee charged with theft means the store owner or manager will have to appear in court to testify against the former worker. There is also the chance that a lawyer for the defendant could request a continuance and then you have to return to court at a later date. Some employers would prefer not having to go through all of the steps required by the judicial system.
You may be able to get a promissory note from the person more easily if they know they will not be prosecuted (remember though if a promissory note or restitution is not ordered through a court you may still not see any money).
Extenuating circumstances. You may know of recent hardships this employee started going through or have compassion for them because they are a single parent trying to raise their child. In certain instances, the employee has also been a long-time friend or family member.

The decision of whether or not to prosecute an employee you have caught stealing is entirely up to you. There is no right or wrong choice since there are legitimate points of view on both sides of the argument.

A final thought on the subject. If you find you are wavering on the issue of prosecution talk to the prosecutor’s office for your area. You may find that there is a way to prosecute a case and the person can be offered a way to clear their record so they can still seek employment. In some instances, there is something called pre-trial intervention (or an equivalent). In these cases, a first-time offender pleads guilty and is offered classes and community service. Once complete their record is expunged so that a background check will not find a record. Failure to complete the requirements and the record stays. It is a good alternative to address both sides of the issue.

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Why Should I Care If An Employee Uses Illegal Drugs On Their Own Time?

February 27, 2018 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Because like alcohol abuse, both legal and illegal drug use, affects your bottom line. This issue never has a happy ending and it will never go away unless you meet it head-on.

Drug abuse affects your bottom line through poor performance, high numbers of no call/no shows, risk to customer and employee safety, high workers comp claims, bad elements frequenting your business, customers shying away from your business and much, much more.

If you operate in a State that has essentially de-criminalized marijuana use, you have an even bigger exposure. Employees that feel empowered to get high on a frequent basis and come to work in that condition, are a threat to your livelihood. State law does not relieve you of liability. Marijuana use and possession are still illegal under Federal law. Even if the Federal law was to change, you would still be liable for your employee’s actions while they are at work. It is just the same as an employee that is under the influence of alcohol while at work.

But you probably suspected or knew this already. What you cannot do is look the other way. Your plan should start with hiring, as competently as you can. I teach pre-employment interviewing live, via webinar to LPSI customers free of charge. A candidate will likely tell you if they abuse drugs, you simply need to know how to ask the question. These techniques also apply to employee theft from their previous employers. You just need to know how to ask.

A solid Applicant Management Center (AMC) will allow you to keep track of the application and their information. We have an excellent AMC that is also so inexpensive that it is a no-brainer. No more paper applications to keep up with.

Next, you must conduct a background investigation (okay, we do that too). A search of the candidate’s criminal record, credit (if necessary), education and a drug screen will give you a much better idea of who you are hiring.

Drug testing is simple and inexpensive. Our customers approve the candidate for the drug test and our online system allows the candidate to locate and schedule the test at a lab near them. Our nationwide system then tracks the progress. Results are given to you automatically. We can advise you on what substances you should include in your testing. Tests that come back positive are automatically reviewed by an M.D.

So now that this is out of the way, we need to return to the reason why you should require drug testing. Imagine this: one of your employees in the process of doing their job, is under the influence of a substance, and they injure one of your customers, accidentally. In today’s climate that incident will be known far and wide. None of us want to be on the five o’clock news with the headline “Customer injured at insert your company’s name here by an employee that was high”.

Need more? People who use illegal drugs attract other people who use illegal drugs. The whole birds of a feather, flock together scenario. And in my 40+ years of Loss Prevention and Law Enforcement experience, I can tell you that the financial pressure that illegal drugs puts on a person will make them likely to steal to support their needs. Illegal drugs WILL lead to employee theft regardless of how well you think your employees like you and company.

Fix the issue before it becomes a financial drain and a liability to YOUR business and livelihood. Contact us today for more information.

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