Theft From Where You Least Expect It

Think about your relationship with your vendors. Vendors can be classified as the entities you buy merchandise from for resell, as well as the repair services you use. When the representatives come in your store, do you give them free reign in your building or do you monitor them? Store owners and managers certainly need to have a good working relationship with the vendors that provide goods and services, but sometimes that trust can be taken advantage of. Electronic article surveillance and invoice audits are just a couple of examples of how there have been many vendors caught red-handed stealing from retailers. If you and your staff already work hard to stop shoplifting, don’t fall victim to an inside job.

First of all, never sign an invoice or work order until you verify what you are agreeing to. We sell magazines, and the driver used to have us sign the invoice when he delivered each week. Then we started noticing the totes had shortages.  It would just be one or two titles, but when we called to report the problem, the operator would tell us there was nothing they could do to reconcile it because we had signed the invoice, which to them meant everything was accounted for.  We had no way of knowing if it was the driver ripping us off or if it was the people packing the totes. Either way, we were paying for everything listed on that invoice. Over time, even just a few magazines short every week can add up.  

As tame as that first example is, here’s one that is cringe-worthy:  I work for a small retail pharmacy, and we buy many drugs from an outside vendor. They are delivered by a carrier service five days a week. Sometimes, depending on the purchase, the Checkpoint Systems would activate when they rolled through the door. One guy would cause it to activate on his way out though, when the totes should have been empty. He would always wave at us, claiming it was his cell phone causing it. We knew better. Our Checkpoint Systems was functioning properly, so we also knew he was up to something.  We started watching his routine, and soon figured out his action plan. He would leave the pharmacy counter and then take the long way out the door, always stopping at the small electronics section. He would linger there for a moment and then leave. We performed some cycle counts in the section and sure enough, there was missing inventory. So, we went through the section and fixed his little red wagon, so to speak. We adhered Checkpoint labels to the items back there, but we concealed them on the packaging. The cool thing about our Checkpoint labels is they have our store name and number printed on them. The next time he came, we were ready. He walked his usual route through the store, and when he got to the door, thanks to the hidden Checkpoint labels, the alarm sounded just as we expected. He tried “the wave”, but I stood between him and the door, and told him to open the totes. He started stammering about being in a hurry, but I didn’t budge. Finally, he opened them and there were headphones sitting there. He couldn’t even speak, just stood there with his mouth open.  I picked them up, and told him I would be calling his supervisor. After that conversation, as I’m sure you can guess, we never saw him again. Checkpoint Systems-1, Dumb Vendor-0.

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