Preventing Shoplifting and Retail Shrink

March 9, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Many small and big chain businesses across the country are fed up with the amount they lose due to shoplifting and employee theft.  The solutions are seemingly unavailable for these businesses and they are teaming up with local police departments to address this issue.

The Chico Police Department, The Chico Chamber of commerce and the Chico Business Association are teaming up in an effort to prevent shoplifting in their community.  This is not the only joint effort, many other states’ police departments and communities are getting together to form a coalition to find a solution to shoplifting. 

Shoplifting puts an additional strain on these businesses that in some cases are already having difficulty staying afloat and the losses incurred due to this crime make it an impossible business to sustain.

One the many ways they lose to shoplifting is to organized retail theft that involves many individuals and can cost a store thousands of dollars in a single day.  Home Improvements stores targeted by individuals can damage the bottom line of these stores even though they are big retail chains that can offset the cost due to shoplifting better than the small business owner.

In some states, theft legislation has put many business owners scratching their heads. The losses they incurred due to shoplifting, they see as a direct consequence to the legislation government officials passed in their states.  Preventive measures are not enough, youth programs to prevent shoplifting and violent crimes are not enough for these businesses because they do not see it happening soon enough for the well being of their stores.

What are some other alternatives to prevent shoplifting?

  1. Training – Trained personnel can make a big difference in your store. Recent reports in the UK have shown a dramatic increase in violent incidents from the previous year due to shoplifting.  The difference between a trained employee and one that is not can be the difference between life and death
  2. Shoplifting prevention systems – If you do not have one and rely solely on your employees, the losses your store is suffering may be staggering.  A shoplifting prevention system is a necessity for a retail business, and the amount invested in such system may be the best investment you can make for the success of your store.
  3. Software that works together with the loss prevention system and the trained personnel in your store are pivotal to the success of your retail business.  It is a process that needs all the parts to work together to be successful and to achieve its purpose.

Shoplifting is a crime that affects society in general, and the prevention of such crime seems to be the only alternative retail businesses have. Prevention includes training your personnel, investing in a loss prevention system and software that can help you mitigate the losses due to this crime.  Those three preventive measures cannot work if your employees are not engaged and are not willing to work with you in the prevention of this crime.  Happiness in the workplace is important but if you are dealing with disgruntled employees, preventing shoplifting may be very hard to achieve.  Talk to your employees and find out if you need to address that issue first and foremost.

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

February 27, 2018 by 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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Employee Dishonesty Is Not Always Easy To Identify

February 27, 2018 by Leave a Comment

I recently read an article entitled “How to spot a liar in your inbox” by Vanessa Van Edwards. The article discussed the nuances of how to tell if someone is lying to you in an email. The writer made some interesting observations on the lack of personal pronouns in the body of an email, inconsistency in tense usage and vague language. It dawned on me that often this is the same thing supervisors handle on a regular basis with employees. Think back to a phone call you have taken from an employee calling out of work. Often the conversation goes something like this, “I don’t feel well, I think I am going to have to call out today.” The employee is using language that does not make sense. They “think” they have to call out. Either they do or they don’t have to call out, the decision is theirs to make. Saying “I think” sounds more like asking permission to call out than making a decision of their own. Avoiding responsibility is one way an employee may try to lie without feeling guilty about it.

Another method of avoiding responsibility especially when something has gone wrong is to avoid using “I”. In these situations, a person will often use “we” or “they” to transfer blame away from themselves. I recall a department manager that worked for me and I would ask about why our team was not done with their tasks by a certain timeline. This manager never took responsibility for the pace of the team or their failure to get the job done when the timelines were not met. Rather than have an honest discussion about where his focus had been or what impacted the workflow this manager would say “they weren’t moving quickly” or “there were small boxes and it took longer than “we” thought it would. There was no “we” it was his responsibility but by not using “I” he was trying to shift the blame. My conversations with him were about “MY” expectations and prior discussions “I” had conducted with him (not to mention the discussions I had with my boss). It is not comfortable to have to confront a situation but the only way to effectively deal with a problem is to own what is yours to own and find solutions to a problem. Deflection, avoidance, and excuses never fix anything.

In my role as a Loss Prevention Manager, I frequently encountered situations of people lying to me. Until the futility of their lies became obvious to them many shoplifters would try to shift blame or avoid responsibility for their actions. My friends made me do it or dared me to do it was a great example of this. Catching a dishonest employee and conducting an interview with him/her over their crime was another opportunity to catch someone lying. Rarely would someone admit to what they had done and rarer still was the person who would take outright ownership of their criminal activity. “I don’t know what you are talking about.” was an immediate response to being confronted about theft. It usually took a lot of effort to get to where someone would admit to what they had done. Sometimes the person has to have the facts placed before them to get them to acknowledge wrong-doing.

You may not be dealing with employee theft but you will certainly have to confront employees about incomplete or unsatisfactory assignments and projects. There will also be those times when you have customer service issues that you have to handle. If you do not have the confidence that your employees will be honest with you it may require you to be able to distinguish fact from fiction. Sometimes a manager owns some responsibility when an employee lies to them. The lie is not right but if the manager has made himself unapproachable or is overly critical and harsh in discussing opportunities it becomes understandable. Who wants to talk to a supervisor about a problem they are having if the impression is that they are going to get raked over the coals if they do something wrong? The environment of a workplace can make a difference in the actions of the employees.

Make sure you have an open door policy and are genuinely interested in your employees. If they are going to be deceitful with you make sure you have not contributed to the problem. Then make sure you can recognize some of the signals that someone is attempting to deceive you. The ability to identify deceitful workers can make identifying and dealing with workplace problems much easier for you in the long run.

     

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Management Communication And Cohesion Lead To Stronger Teams

February 27, 2018 by Leave a Comment

 A unified leadership team for any business can be a catalyst for driving great results. When managers are all communicating with each other, sharing information and giving honest feedback an entire team benefits. Managers in those environments tend to see the big picture and can assist a peer in another department in their absence. As the staff members see this cohesion they understand that they can’t get one over on a supervisor or pit one against another. A management team that works well together can prevent situations where an employee may lie and not get caught or manipulate managers by playing what I call the “Mom vs. Dad” card.

Working in a library, I see student workers trying to manipulate one or two “nice” staff members on a somewhat regular basis. The students may not see what they are doing as lying or being dishonest, they just know that there are certain supervisors who will probably say “Yes” to almost any request. The request may be to leave early or they want to call out of work for silly reasons. I had one employee who wanted to leave early because her pet fish was sick, even though she had spent one hour of her two-hour shift at work when she made the request. Now seriously, was she going to take this fish to a veterinarian? She chose the wrong supervisor to approach because the supervisor came to me and told me of the request and asked me for my opinion. While I gave the student the option to stay she was reminded that requests for leaving early impacted hiring decisions for the next semester. She stayed for her next hour.

In another situation, I had to have a conversation with a worker over her behavior with co-workers and supervisors. I made it clear the behavior would have to change and steps on how to improve. I did let her know I wanted her to be successful but I would not allow the behavior to continue if she was going to work for us. The employee came back later and attempted to give her resignation and turn in her equipment to one of our nicer staff members. The staff member was super sweet and was going to let it go with a, “I’m sorry to see you go.” The supervisor who was with me when I spoke with the employee walked in on the conversation and the mood changed. The employee tried to lie about the conversation and what was said to her. This supervisor cut off her excuses and reminded her what was really said during our talk. The employee left in a huff but the blame game was shut down. When the first supervisor was asked why she was just going to let the employee make her complaints and leave the supervisor said she liked to give people the benefit of the doubt. It’s no wonder why employees like to go to her to get what they want.

While we have a great team of supervisors, I do have problems with some who do not like to be the “bad guy”. A management team needs to share the burden of holding employees accountable for their actions. It is unfair to expect one or two supervisors to conduct discussions involving poor performance or behavior problems and/or administer corrective actions. These supervisors are the ones who appear to be the mean ones to the team members and acquire an undeserved reputation as being “unfair” or “harsh”. The best management teams are those in which everyone participates in the corrective action process. They document talks with employees and record them in some form of record keeping so when review time comes around those notes play a part in the scoring. These teams also have supervisors taking partners with each other making it harder for one person to be pitted against another.

There will always be those employees who try to get away with something whether it is not working as hard as their co-workers to outright lying to a supervisor. Those management teams that communicate amongst themselves and share the responsibility for administering correction or discipline when necessary will find it easier to identify and keep the best workers. Build a great store team by creating a cohesive management team that communicates with each other and shares the responsibilities of leadership.

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Assuming Employees Know What You Want Is A Poor Assumption

February 27, 2018 by Leave a Comment

As managers and supervisors, we are all guilty at some point of assuming our employees will know what we are wanting from them when we make a request or assign a project. It may be something as simple as asking someone to empty a trash canister or as complicated as resetting a plan-o-gram. In our minds, the requested task may only require common sense but to the employee, it may be something totally different. Take the trash can example, you may ask an employee to empty it and assumed they would empty it into a compactor and place a new trash can liner inside. The employee may only hear that you want them to take the bag out and place the trash beside the compactor. They don’t hear you tell them to put a new liner inside the canister when they are done because you never said it. It seems like it should only be common sense but it isn’t necessarily the case. The same problem exists for every aspect of a job. Sometimes those of us in management positions make unfair assumptions and then get angry when our team members don’t do what we expected them to do.

If you were to ask someone to clean a public restroom in your store you would expect specific tasks to be done, fill the paper towels, mop the floors, clean the bowls, etc. The military is one of the places we can take a lesson from. It is never assumed a person knows anything.  In military basic training, a person is treated as though they are devoid of all knowledge. A Drill Sergeant tells you exactly how that restroom will look and every detail that needs to be accomplished from mopping floors to polishing sink fixtures. Failing to meet his/her expectations results in the full fury of their wrath being heaped upon your pitiful soul (yes, the writer knows this from personal experience). As far as the Drill Instructor is concerned a recruit knows nothing and they remind you of that fact in a very loud voice. Don’t even suggest that your mother taught you how to do something because your mom apparently doesn’t know anything either. Managers should take a similar approach to training their employees. This is not a recommendation to begin treating new hires as boot camp recruits simply assume they don’t know anything and show them what you expect.

This raises the question, “Can’t I assume someone I hired with a retail background should be able to run a cash register or merchandise a clothing fixture?” The answer is no. You can’t forget that points of sale vary and procedures are also different amongst retailers. While the learning curve may be smaller the fact of the matter is every employee still needs to learn the ropes of a new job. One store may organize clothing racks by colors while another is only concerned with styles and sizing. A new hire with prior experience will pick up on the new way to do things quickly but there is an adjustment that they will have to make.

Business owners and store managers must also be sure to review all shortage and theft-related do’s and don’ts with new hires. If a store policy is that a cashier cannot ring a transaction for a relative then that needs to be explained to the employee. It is acceptable to have a list of what is not permitted and have them sign the form indicating they have read it and understand it. For example, a list may look something like this:

  • No ringing transactions for friends or relatives
  • Purses and jackets must be kept in lockers and are not permitted at a register
  • Changing a price for an item requires a manager approval
  • No drinking or eating merchandise that has not been paid for
  • No taking cash from a register
  • Do not keep or use lost gift cards, credit cards, checks, etc.
  • All employee purchases must be accompanied by a receipt

This is not an exhaustive list but it does give a good starting point. Should an employee violate a policy they have acknowledged they understand it becomes extremely difficult for them to wiggle out when caught.

We owe it to employees to teach them what we expect and the reasons why we have them do something. When team members understand why they are doing something they are more inclined to do it to the best of their ability. This translates into more productive and happier employees and a happier you as your employees understand what it is you expect from them. Ultimately this leads to a more profitable store and that should be every owner’s goal.

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Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll

January 29, 2018 by Leave a Comment

I actually like and believe in all three of these things. When it comes to drugs they have to be the legal kind. All of us have seen the destruction that illegally used drugs cause. In a business environment, illegal drug use by an employee not only has an impact on their work performance but creates serious customer and legal issues for employers. An employee that is under the influence of any substance that influences their ability to do their job correctly or safely, will cause customers to question who they are doing business with.

If this employee drives for their employer and is involved in an accident, even if it is not their fault, then liability could come back to the company. That one is easy to understand. But what about the recent changes in the law regarding marijuana? Some States have relaxed or legalized its use. However, it is still against Federal Law… EVERYWHERE. I do not agree with these changes. Not because I am a former Law Enforcement Officer that has seen firsthand the impact on society but because it is simply wrong.

The biggest argument I hear is “well alcohol is legal. Marijuana is no different”. Sorry to say yes it is. The active ingredient in marijuana is THC. THC stays in the bloodstream for up to two weeks after it has been ingested. Alcohol leaves the bloodstream within hours of consumption. The person may not be high but the “drug” is still there.

Now that same person comes to work. They have not ingested any marijuana for let’s say a week. Now they are involved in a customer accident. This could be dropping something on a customer from a shelf, hurting a customer with the use of a forklift, pallet jack or motor vehicle, or any other poor judgment that results in injury. If it is discovered as a result of testimony, blood test…. that the employee had THC in their bloodstream….. Surprise, you as the business owner could now be liable.

As a Loss Prevention Manager, I was involved in an accidental death case in one of my stores. Picture a building materials type store. Lumber, hardware, carpet, nuts, bolts…. A forklift operator was moving two full bundles of lumber and had them up on the lift about ten feet off the ground. At that moment a man and his very young son walked underneath the load. One of the forks on the lift gave way and an entire load of lumber landed on them. It killed them both instantly. There was not a piece left of either of those human beings thicker than three inches.

When OSHA, Fire/Rescue, Law Enforcement and a whole bunch of other government folks arrived on the scene, it was quickly determined that there was a defect in the fork that broke. This defect occurred during the manufacturing process. That defect was not caught as it should have been. So liability rested squarely on the forklift manufacturer. However, as required by law, our employee was drug tested immediately. His test came back positive for THC/marijuana. This caused the liability to shift to my company. All because this employee had smoked marijuana the weekend before.

So you may be thinking this can’t happen to me. I own a small boutique, grocery store, clothing store….. Yes, it can and could happen at any time. Why risk it? The commonly accepted practice is an employment drug test. Screen out potential liability and poor performers. A drug test should be required as a part of the pre-employment process, no exceptions. It is a simple and painless process. Contact us today, we can set your drug screening program up, make it very cost effective and make it simple for you and your candidate. You can reach us toll-free at 1-770-426-0547.

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 Getting To The Heart Of The Matter, Hiring The Wrong People Can Dishearten Your Staff

January 29, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Hopefully, your store is one of those places where employees look forward to coming to work. You know what I’m talking about it’s that environment where everyone is happy to be there. Employees know they are there to get a job done and take pride in the service they offer to the customers. It’s the type of job where people may have an off day but their co-workers are supportive and help pick them up. It happens to all of us. These jobs have a manager who interacts with the employees and takes a real interest in each of them. The boss may take time to say hello and greet everyone. They know their employees by name and may even know their families. Unfortunately, not every workplace has such a camaraderie amongst the team members. There is any number of reasons this can happen but a major contributor to an unhappy workplace can be the hiring of an employee with a poor attitude.

Unhappy employees don’t always start out that way. They can get through an interview without any problem and they may begin working and get along fine. It is after they are hired that their true colors begin to show. These people are the type who start to complain to their co-workers when they are unhappy about something. It could be a work schedule they don’t care for that triggers the griping. The complaints tend to be general and not geared toward any particular person at first. When no one addresses the complaining the employee gets more vocal over time and begins to find other issues they don’t like. They are never limited to one gripe and constantly find perceived problems and share those perceptions with others. The complaining spreads as this person talk to others and suddenly people who were perfectly happy with their jobs and managers are taking exception to things. Where someone was fine with working at night or on weekends in the past they now feel they should not be expected to work when other jobs don’t require these types of hours. Never mind that they chose to work in retail which does require night and weekend workers. People begin to show up to work in bad moods anticipating that a non-existent problem is going to impact them again.

Now that the workplace has been infected with the virus of negativity and people are coming to the job with poor attitudes the problem manifests itself in other forms. Those who used to smile and engage customers with pleasantries are now frowning and giving curt, “Hello’s” to patrons. Customers get annoyed and share their experiences with friends and family. The atmosphere of the store is poisoned and like any poison, people avoid it lest they become ill or worse.

Guess what, this is not where the problem for your business ends. When workers become dissatisfied their performance wanes as well. The person who used to take care to stock the shelves properly and put merchandise where it belongs now puts merchandise in the general area. Clothing on racks that were once sized and straightened are now fortunate to make it onto a hanger let alone the arm of a fixture. The appearance of the store declines and employees don’t care. There is a malaise that sets in and an employee thinks to himself, “Why should I bother to fix it if no one else cares why should I?” If customers refuse to come in due to poor service they certainly won’t come in to shop in a store that is trashed.

To get to the heart of the matter you have to look at the culture of your store and what it is that is causing your store to decline. If everything was going well until you brought in that new hire then you have to get rid of that infection quickly. Afterwards be careful in your hiring process. Take a careful look at the applications, resumes and employment stability. Coupled with background checks and pre-employment screening your workplace can get back to the place it was but it is never easy. Bad habits are easier to create than break and your team may now have a bunch to break. Have a heart and be thoughtful in your hiring practices, your employees will love you for it.

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Intoxicated By Love Or Simply Intoxicated, Recognize The Difference And The Risks Posed By Employees Using Drugs Or Alcohol On The Job

January 29, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Pat Benatar once described love as a battlefield. Others have described love as intoxicating. For many romantics, February and Valentine’s Day is the month of love as people express their love for one another with flowers, chocolates, gifts, and dining. Being “drunk with love” describes that adrenaline flowing through us when we are around the one who makes our heart beat faster. We may get nervous and feel sick when we think about that special someone. We certainly don’t act like ourselves. Employers need to know that being intoxicated on love is the ONLY intoxicating influence your workers should ever be under while at work.

Intoxicated employees bring many problems with them to the workplace. They bring the chance of injury to themselves or others because they are not in full control of their faculties or bodies. The worker who is under the influence of drugs (legal or not) or alcohol could easily fall from ladders, improperly lift heavy items or use poor judgment when operating equipment. Impaired judgment creates hazards that can impact that employee and the people they are working around. A compactor, cardboard baler, powered forklift and a powered shopping cart mover are all pieces of equipment that require a user to be 18 years of age or older to use them. Is a worker under the influence going to avoid using equipment they are not certified to use? On top of that if the equipment is used and proper training has not been documented or the operator is underage and an injury happens OSHA may levy huge fines on the store. If you have a member of your team operating equipment while intoxicated you could be setting your business up for failure.

Employees who come to work under the influence of drugs or alcohol or who use them during a break can also be making poor mental decisions. Would you trust a cashier who is buzzed to accurately count back change to a customer? Would you be comfortable with a closing manager who has been drinking properly closing your store? Are you confident all of the registers have been closed out and money secured? Can you be sure the doors have been locked and the alarms set? With impaired workers, there is the possibility that merchandise is stocked in the wrong locations which can lead to selling merchandise below their marked prices due to store error. Do you have a person in charge of vendor credits and chargeback processing? If they are popping pills are they properly processing paperwork? Don’t count on it and don’t count on getting full credit dollars either.

Let’s not overlook the role that drug abuse and alcoholism can and do play in employee theft. This is not a blanket indictment accusing all users of being thieves but in many internal theft cases, drug and alcohol problems are a factor. Both of these habits are expensive and in order to feed the habit some people resort to theft and fraud. They may steal cash from a register or take merchandise to sell for their next fix or bottle. The theft can be in the form of passing merchandise or under-ringing merchandise for friends. It can include manipulating receipts to create fake refunds for themselves. An employee may even steal from your customers by failing to give them the proper change back from a transaction and pocketing it. Some cashiers will steal credit cards or gift cards.

Finally, there is the chance that if you hire a drug user or someone who drinks at work or reports to work under the influence they could cause customer service issues. Is your employee short tempered because they need/want a drink or hit they can’t get and they take it out on a customer? If the employee is under the influence of drugs or alcohol is their behavior irritating a patron? Your worker may not be comprehending what a customer is saying to them and forcing the customers to repeat themselves. The myriad of potential problems can raise concerns that customers may not want to return to a store in the future.

February may be a month of love and some of your employees may be caught up in the intoxication of it. Just remember to allow it to be the only thing they are under the influence of.     It only makes sound business sense not to hire people who use illegal drugs. Take steps to avoid needless problems and keep your business prosperous by not hiring people who cannot pass a drug test and/or show up to work under the influence of alcoholic beverages. 

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Sweethearts In February Are wonderful, Sweethearting Deals Between Employees And Their Friends Are Not

January 29, 2018 by Leave a Comment

It is the time of year again when Cupid starts shooting his arrows and couples fall in love. What is more romantic than the marriage proposal in a restaurant and a ring presented in a glass of champagne? How about sweethearts strolling along the beach under a moonlit night? Is there anything more touching than the couple that has been married for a very long time and they still walk hand in hand wherever they go? Sometimes love makes us do something dumb to try to impress the apple of our eye. In one instance, a prisoner escaped from jail because he was worried how his wife might react to all the time he had been spending in jail. In another instance, a man robbed three waffle house restaurants and a 4th business in order to pay off his girlfriend’s probation fees (both from mentalfloss.com, “11 Strange Things Done in the Name of Love,” by Jennifer M. Wood, Feb 14, 2014). Perhaps it is the purchase of a ring we can’t afford but we are determined to show our love and commitment to the person we are enamored with. Love is fine and we may even excuse behaviors we might normally consider silly when two people are in love. What is not acceptable is when love and friendship turn into “Sweethearting” deals in a retail business.

 Sweethearting is a theft or fraud activity that transpires between two or more people who know each other. At least one is an employee who provides special deals to his or her friend(s) and sometimes co-workers. The transgressions often start out small. They may involve giving a small discount on a drink or snack. Maybe it is “accidentally on purpose” overlooking an item while scanning merchandise through a register. More often than not what starts off as a little gift or friendly gesture evolves into a big problem. That boyfriend or girlfriend starts coming to the store more frequently and checking out in their friend’s line. What may have started out as the occasional extra candy bar in the bag or a large drink at the snack bar for the price of a small drink quickly turns into outright passing and theft.

If the activity is going to take place at the register, the cashier may send a text message to the friend alerting them that they are on a register and will look for them to come in. There are a variety of ways the two can rip-off the store. The cashier can ring merchandise up and discount it so it appears the transaction is legitimate. The employee can fail to ring up merchandise and bag it which becomes a passing situation. There is also the tendering of money that can result in cash shortage. The friend hands over a cash payment and the cashier gives too much change to the patron. This is a difficult type of theft to see transpire because money does change hands.

Sweethearting also takes place when an employee intentionally looks the other way when her friend is in the store shoplifting.  This does not require the employee to take an active role in the crime. All that is required is for the employee to make a point of turning a blind eye to the theft as it is being perpetrated. There are times when the two parties plan out when the friend will come to the store and steal. This also means the employee is now an active participant and aiding in the commission of the crime which is much more serious on the part of the staff member.

Encourage your team to be friendly and courteous. Go above and beyond in the service you offer to customers. Love your shoppers, just make sure your employees aren’t being sweethearts in the process.

 

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Don’t Let The Dark Days Of Winter Catch You Unsecure

January 2, 2018 by Leave a Comment

With darker daylight hours comes the need for more coffee, the use of lights earlier and a plan to keep crime away from your store or business. Have you considered that one of the following types of crime could affect you?

Burglary – This is where a bad guy, low life scum type, breaks into your property when you and your staff are gone for the day. First and foremost you must have an alarm system. Not just the $99 special either. Invest enough that you have ALL exterior doors contacted. Yes, this also should apply to doors that are not used frequently or at all. Add glass break detectors on all exterior glass that can be easily reached. Enough motion detectors to create a trap effect. In other words so that no one can move around very far without a motion detector seeing them. Bad guys do not like light and sound, so add several sirens and strobe lights with at least one strobe on the front exterior and the back exterior. This will help to draw attention to your property by other citizens and the Police. You should always have an alarm control that uses cellular to communicate instead of phone or internet lines which can be cut or compromised.

Leave select lights on in the store to make it easy for the Police to see movement. The bad guys would prefer it to be dark. Are your doors and windows secure, I mean REALLY secure? Check the locks and make sure they operate correctly and are not simply cheap hardware that will give with a push or kick.

Robbery – This is the nightmare situation where someone presents you with a gun. Not as a present either. I have been involved in many shooting situations and have looked down the barrel of a few from the wrong side. It’s kind of funny how a barrel of a 9mm pistol looks like the opening of a 55 gallon barrel.

The key here is being prepared. Deterrents include well-lit stores and alert employees. Keep the cash drawers drained. Only keep the minimum amount of money in the till, the rest needs to go into a drop safe below the register or to the safe in the office. The lower form of life that commits robberies in many cases will make small purchases even a day or two ahead to see how much money is in the drawer. And yes, they know all about larger, excess bills being kept under the till tray in the drawer.

This is where a CCTV system that is adequately covering your point of sale comes in. The DVR should never be in plain sight at the point of sale; preferably in the office. Cameras should look at the point of sale from several different angles. Invest a couple of hundred dollars in a camera that mounts on the door frame at eye level. This will get a great face shot of anyone leaving.

All cameras should record 24/7 since hard drive space is cheap. You should easily get 30 to 60 days of recording. Another awesome deterrent is a Public View Monitor (PVM). A PVM is a monitor that is placed so that everyone entering the store sees themselves as they come in. It lets everyone know the system is active. A larger monitor in the 27+” range is preferred.

Employee Theft – I do not think employee theft picks up any more than other times of the year but it should get an honorable mention. Make sure you have adequate key and door control. Trash should be inspected by a manager before it goes out. Employees that steal will use the trash to get merchandise out picking it up later or have a friend get it. Employee bags should be inspected when they leave. I can send you a policy draft if needed.

Shoplifting – Shoplifters thrive and seek out concealment. Darkness adds to their psychological comfort. This is another reason for a well-lit store. Replace any burned out bulbs. Walk your store when it is dark outside to help discover any areas such as back corners that will provide aid and comfort to the shoplifting enemy. Make sure your Checkpoint system is operating correctly. If not call us for a service call. Ensure that your staff knows how to approach potential shoplifters with customer service techniques. I teach a live seminar on this for our customers, free of charge, whenever they need it.

Existing customers can call us at 770-426-7593 x103 to schedule a seminar. I also suggest that you pick up a copy of my new book: “Protect Your Store! The shoplifting prevention guide for small to medium retailers”. It is available online at Amazon and Kindle. The book has tools to shut off shoplifters right away.

Of course, these tips are good practice year round. However, take a hard, objective look at your store as it is better to prevent than recover from an incident. If we can help you, please reach out to us since we are only a call or email away.

 

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