A Checkpoint System Is Now More Important Than Ever

May 31, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Shoplifters seem to be getting bolder than ever. Much of this is greed. Many people simply want stuff and have no moral compass. Others are emboldened by lax law enforcement or Politicians that pass laws that do little to protect you. Whatever the case be, it has a negative impact on Retailers. We are expected to open our stores, compete, pay employees, pay expenses, taxes…. And make a profit. Shoplifting theft is yet another pressure on us.

The key to stopping shoplifting is prevention! You have to keep the losses from occurring. Once the shoplifter has stolen merchandise, even if you catch them, you lose money in labor, unsellable merchandise, sales and the like. This is where a Checkpoint System shines. This is high-quality commercial grade equipment that works 24/7. However, like anything else, you must get as much value out of any equipment you have. A piece of equipment that can pull double and triple duty for the same investment brings a better return on investment. Consider what Loss Prevention Systems offers.

First, when our customers purchase a system from us, they get FREE anti-shoplifting training for the life of the system. This is live training by a Loss Prevention professional as often as you reasonably need it. I actually spend a fraction of that time on the Checkpoint System itself. Most of the time is spent teaching you and your staff how to detect and dissuade shoplifters from even entering your store. You can actually have fun with shoplifters. Drive them crazy and they will get frustrated and simply leave you alone.

Next, there is a whole world of new innovations in the Checkpoint Systems line. People/Customer counting is one. Your system can count customer traffic. You then receive a weekly report that details your traffic by the hour of the day, day or the week. This data can be merged into your sales data to give you a more complete picture. Customers use this data to help with decisions on staffing levels, open/close times and more. The system will also report on the Checkpoint System alarms. How and when they occur. This further feeds into your decisions about staffing levels. You may say that my cash register tells me traffic. Not so, as not every customer that comes into your store makes a purchase. Why is that? Possibly because you do not have enough staff on at the times when you really need it.

How about remote control of your Checkpoint System from your mobile device while inside your store? This feature notifies you of alarms, maintenance issues, and real-time stats. You can be in your office, stock room or anywhere in your store and the system will notify you of an alarm. Immediately. This also gives you control of the system itself. Checkpoints systems are already ECO-friendly in their power consumption. But you can set up a schedule that tells your system to power down during the hours you are closed. Over a year that money adds up.

Marketing? Our systems have AD Panel capability either built-in or as an add-on. The antennas are there at the front door anyway, why not have them greet your customers with signage that you can change out as often as you wish. Promote an item, a sale, a special or simply say “welcome”. Print whatever you want and slide it into the clear acrylic frame. Now you get double duty without taking up any more floor space.

How about control of items you do not want to leave the store under any circumstances? Key rings, customer hand baskets, notebooks, documents, tools, equipment or supplies. Simply put a tag or label on them.

Contact Loss Prevention Systems today and we will help set you on the path to higher profits!

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

May 31, 2018 by 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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Inventory Over? Scrutinize The Results If They Seem Askew

May 31, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Some people in retail look forward to it and some dread it. What am I talking about? Inventory! From the planning stages and meetings with the inventory counting team to the actual inventory day it can all be a lot to accomplish even for the best of planners. But what happens when you get through the actual counting phase? What comes next? You wait for the results. You may get preliminary results immediately but for larger stores booked inventory may take several weeks and they have teams to analyze the results. As a small retailer you may have to analyze the reports yourself but do you really understand what you are looking for? Are your results accurate? Stores have to keep track of what they have on hand and owners need to know where shortage has taken place and how it has happened.

A detailed review of the inventory results is important. They can identify areas that may be indicators of poor vendor service. If your store sells groceries, snacks, soft drinks or adult beverages you are most likely served by direct store delivery vendors. If a shortage is somewhat high in these departments you might not be receiving all of the credits you are supposed to receive. This is not necessarily an indicator of theft but it could be. It may be simply poor scanning and crediting for merchandise a vendor is removing from the store. Those credits could be due to product getting ready to expire or that has expired. It may be it was a promotional product that isn’t selling in the quantities the vendor was hoping for. Whatever the reason, the representative could have miscued an entry, for example, scanning a partial pallet of sodas and keying in a quantity of 10 versus 100. If the vendor is in a hurry and no one caught the error at the time it could be costing your store a lot of money.

While we are talking about administrative errors causing shortage it is important that store owners take a look at all of their billings. In a big box retail store, we had monthly P/L (profit/loss) statements that showed the dollar amounts of merchandise shipped to us for each department. One year when inventory results revealed a high shortage result in our shoe department I went back through all of the P/L statements and found an unusual billing amount. I tried to correlate it to a seasonal reset or specific event but was unable to pin it to anything in particular. I sent my concern to our inventory analysts who reviewed the information and found we had been overcharged $10,000 in the shoe department that particular month. Review P/L statements or invoices for potential errors if inventory results seem out of line.

Look at the departments that are showing the shortage. Do they look like areas that would be prone to theft or could there be other administrative issues involved? For example, if you own an office supply store and you have a high shrinkage in printer ink cartridges there is a strong probability this is a theft concern. On the other hand, shrink in foam project boards could be due to process issues. Are individual foam boards shipped in multi-pack shrink wrap? It could be the items are not being separated and a bulk set is improperly sold as a single unit at the register. Have individual units been damaged and unsellable but not properly marked out of stock before tossing them? Foam boards are probably not being stolen but improper handling is costing money to your store just the same.

Certainly, theft has to be a consideration in the review of inventory results. But one must be careful not to attribute ALL shortage to theft. Doing so may keep you from impacting up to 26.7% of your losses in the next inventory cycle. According to the 2017 National Retail Security Survey, 21.3% of a shortage is due to administrative and paperwork errors and 5.4% is the result of vendor fraud or errors. That said it is important to dig into potential theft concerns that are impacting your store. Are you the target of shoplifters? Do you have an employee theft problem you did not realize existed? Getting a handle on theft must be part of your follow-up in creating a shortage action plan to improve shrinkage. Consultation with Loss Prevention Systems Inc. is a good starting point for finding a solution to all of your shortage concerns, theft included.

 If you take inventory and find you are missing SKU’s because results are askew, take time to dig into the findings. Knowing where shortage happened this year and taking steps to correct it will give improved results next year.

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Protecting Your Profits This Summer

May 1, 2018 by Leave a Comment

In many parts of the country, school will be out soon and the plans for a summer vacation will come sooner than expected. And even though an article in Money magazine states that 56% of Americans haven’t had a vacation in 12 months, the place that most Americans visit when they Do take a vacation is Florida.

Vacationers are a good thing for local economies.  Hotels, restaurants, and other businesses that depend on vacationers see an increase in sales and profits during the summer months due to the increase in customers.  Retail stores see an increase in walk-in customers too but have to be careful to protect some items in the store if they want to preserve those profits.

What are some of the items you need to protect during the summer months?

  1. Swimwear and sportswear – Tagging your swimwear and sportswear with an Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) tag can help you prevent the shoplifting of that article.
  2. Hats, visors, and baseball caps are all items that are in demand during these months due to the weather. If you are a store frequented by tourists, displaying these items where they can be overseen by the cashiers could prevent them from being stolen.
  3. Sunglasses – There are many things that are stolen every year that make no sense, but sunglasses are small, beautiful accessories that are sought by everyone.  They can be easily stolen because of their size, and perhaps the accessibility the shoplifter has to pocket them without being caught. There are Enhanced Performance Labels that are placed directly on the UPC label for items such as sunglasses, makeup, and other small items to deter the shoplifter from taking them.
  4. Sunscreens and mosquito repellents are items that many people on vacation need.  These items are small and easily concealed in people’s purses, oversize shirts or even the pockets of their clothing.  Placing an Enhanced Performance Label on these items can greatly reduce the chance they will be stolen.
  5. Drinks and especially alcoholic drinks are easy items to steal, especially for the young people with no I.D

Many retail stores’ profit margins are slim,  and shoplifting does not only put a dent in their profits, it can also mean bankruptcy for some of them.  As you train your employees and make them aware of the issues in the store, shoplifting has to be at the top of them. If employees and the management of the store work together to keep a vigilant eye for shoplifters and keep an up to the date inventory of the store, they will prevent shoplifting and increase your profit margins.

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Stop The Flow Of Bad Employees!

April 30, 2018 by Leave a Comment

The IT world has a phrase “garbage in, garbage out”. The same concept applies to hiring new employees. If you do not put effort into selecting a new employee, then chances are you will be disappointed down the road.

In my 40+ years of loss prevention experience, I have investigated and interrogated a little over 2300 employees for theft. When you have seen that much theft, you begin to look at the source. Loss Prevention folks tend to be the ones catching the sludge coming out of the end of the pipe. We are dealing with employees that no one else can deal with. Normal management techniques do not work. So I began looking back up the pipeline, to the source. Loss Prevention starts at the time an applicant even thinks about putting in an application for work with your company.

Look at it as filtering out as many bad people as we possibly can in this process. When a person visits your business, in person or the employment page on your website to put in an application what do they see? It should be a clean image. Do you drug test? That wording or sign makes many folks that know they will not pass a drug screen turn around right there. So the filtering process has started.

Next, do they see that you will do a thorough background check? Criminal records check, credit check, education verification, sex offender register, driver’s license check (if applicable), previous employment verification and so on. A person with a clean “record” or with minor issues only, will not be concerned. However, the folks with poor records may simply move on. So we just filtered out more. These are people we are not interested in talking to and would be a waste of our time.

If you have our Applicant Management Center (AMC) solution, then the next step is that the candidate will fill out your custom application online. So instead of getting paper documents with handwriting that may be poor and full of inaccuracies, you are getting a file with data that you can read and respond to. One of the documents that can be included in this process is the release of background checks. Folks that have a bad record that thought you really might not check are now faced with signing a legal document. They know that if they lied on your AMC application, that you will find out. We just filtered out some more people we do not want to hire. The good folks can then attach their resume or any other documents you require.

With the Applicant Management Center, you get an organized, readable packet that you can review online and print out if necessary. I should mention at this point that the Applicant Management Center archives all of your applicant’s information. So you can go back even years later to retrieve the information.

Upon your review, you can email the applicant to set up a phone or in-person interview, ask questions or send a “no thank you, not interested note”. If you decide to go forward with an interview, then you should have already taken our personal, FREE, LIVE two-hour seminar:

Armed with the techniques we teach, you are better suited to get more truthful answers to your questions. For established Loss Prevention Systems customers, we conduct this training as reasonably often as you need it – free of charge. We train you how to set up the interview and how to ask questions. For example, an applicant most likely will tell you if they have stolen from previous employers. You just need to know how to ask.

Next in the filtering process is to actually run a background investigation. If you have our AMC, then all you do is click a box and the background checks begin. For example, if the checks you want include a drug screen then your applicant is contacted through email with a link to set up an appointment at a lab near them (we are Nationwide). Once that process is completed, then you receive the results automatically in AMC.

Criminal records checks would also start. We like to run a Social Security Number (SSN) Trace before we run criminal records. An SSN Trace is basically the “header” off of the applicant’s credit history. It does not provide any financial information. It does, however, give us the addresses where the person has lived. We can then check those jurisdictions for criminal records. That way, if the applicant omits a place they have lived where they have a criminal record, we should find it anyway. SSN Traces are VERY inexpensive to run. We do an actual “Court House” search, not some off-beat “database” masquerading as a records check.  Many States allow for Statewide records checks (all counties & cities). But there are some that do not. At that point, we search County records.

So all of the checks have been run and as the results available in your Applicant Management Center are updated, you are notified. You can continue with the process, if necessary another interview, additional questions, job offer or letting the candidate know they have not been selected.

AMC is very inexpensive to onboard, our background checks very competitively priced with some of the fastest turnarounds in the industry. If you would like to try AMC, we will set you up for a FREE SIX MONTH TRIAL, no obligation. You would simply pay for any background checks you request along the way. However, you do not need to request any background checks to have our Applicant Management Center.

Contact us today for more information and to get started.

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May is the month to prepare for your summer sales season

April 30, 2018 by Leave a Comment

March is known for coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb. April showers bring May flowers but what in the world does May bring? May ushers in the summer sales season! Spring is wrapping up and now is the time to be getting your store ready for all of the shoppers looking for the items that will make the long, warm days of June, July and August a memorable time. The big stores are rolling out grills, picnic wares and yard games.  They are loading up with tons of bathing suits, beach towels, sunscreens and sunglasses. The big boys appeal to all of the summer trends in almost every department. They are also preparing for criminal activity and preparing to prevent it.

     With the end of May families start to travel and take vacations, children and teens are out of school and so there is just more free time on people’s hands. No, I’m not advocating doing away with summer vacations from school (I remember my school days and my break times could never get here fast enough). The simple fact is that with more people coming and going into stores theft will increase as will sales. Big box retailers prepare for this influx of traffic. Store Managers are setting planograms and endcaps to encourage the sale of those items that are relevant to the tourist, vacationer and outdoor-minded families. Loss Prevention Managers are evaluating product placement and the appropriate retail anti-theft devices for the particular merchandise in question. They may also be reviewing camera coverage to ensure thieves will be discouraged from trying to steal. Electronic Article Surveillance Systems will be tested for functionality and that tagging standards are met. The small business retail owner could have to do such things on his/her own. If you are that owner you may not even think you have a store that lends itself to seasonal merchandise sales. Take a look again, you may have more items that can be season specific than you think. You may also be able to take advantage of Loss prevention measures you have not implemented yet.

     If a store specializes in jewelry sales it may not occur to an owner that there is a seasonal element to it. Jewelry would seem to be a year-round item to sell but think about your merchandise in terms of accessorizing summer dresses or casual watches for a man preparing to go on a trip. Someone on a cruise may need jewelry that will accentuate an evening dress for formal dinners. How about the small corner grocer? What kind of impact can summer have in that store? Think about the traditional things we do during the summer days. We load up coolers with soft drinks and beer. We have cookouts with hot dogs, burgers, marshmallows, buns, condiments etcetera. Put the dry goods at the front of the store in high traffic areas to impact customer interest. Running a hardware store means putting lawn and garden care tools and supplies in front of the customers. Maybe you carry drink coolers or gas containers for boaters. Product placement is key to reminding customers what they need for the season.

     As you begin strategizing about how the merchandise you carry can have a seasonal component you also want to think about whether those goods will be stolen. Retail merchandise anti-theft devices are available for nearly every single item that is sold. It is simply a matter of finding the correct tag or label for the item. If you are going to promote meat for summer cookouts you have to know that there are going to be shoplifters who will try to steal some of it. Using food-safe Checkpoint EAS labels will prevent pilferage while allowing you the freedom to fill your meat freezers with the items that will increase sales. Having a grill display may be an opportunity to use an Alpha Security cable lock to keep it from being rolled out the door. Condiments on that display can be protected with EAS soft tags.  An end cap with bathing suits near the front of the store will drive sales and theft but clothing security tags will deter shoplifters. Jewelry store owners, you will be happy to know there are jewelry locks available to permit open-air display which can increase sales.

     Be ready for summer. Sales will sizzle as the days heat up if you use May to get your merchandise in front of the shoppers. Prepare displays that will mesmerize your customers and entice them to make purchases. In the process, don’t forget to use merchandise protection strategies. Increased foot traffic does not have to mean increased theft if you protect your products with the appropriate devices.

      

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Memorial Day Sales With A Different Twist 

April 30, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Holiday sales events and promotions are intended to boost retail sales. The obvious big event is the Christmas holiday season which seems to begin in October for many retailers. The event carries into January when merchandise goes clearance as retailers prepare for the next holiday event and the beginning of the Spring sales lines.  During the remainder of the year, retailers also take advantage of other holidays by appealing to customers. These events just are not as extravagant in terms of time or advertising.  Clothing stores conduct promotions at Easter to sell dresses, suits and related accessories. Grocery stores and discount retailers run special deals on candy, eggs, toys, and baskets. The 4th of July sales may be geared towards parties, cookouts, and summer themed goods like bathing suits. The sales don’t necessarily have anything to do with the holiday being celebrated they simply entice customers to come in for the low prices. Below are a few ads I found online for previous Memorial Day sales to illustrate my point:

  • A furniture store: $1 Down and 60 months no interest
  • A Home Improvement store: 10% – 30% Off Major Appliances $396 or more
  • A Car Dealership: Memorial Day 100 Sale – Payments as low as $100/month
  • A Grocery Store: Big Three Day Sale

Many of the ads feature red, white and blueprint as well as stars and stripes in attempts to appeal to the patriotism of potential shoppers. I understand the need for merchants to do everything they can to increase sales. Retail is competitive and in order to stay in business owners must take advantage of opportunities as they arise.

     What I would like to suggest is that retailers look more closely at the holiday they are running promotional campaigns for. Try to see if there is some way to honor the holiday, specifically Memorial Day. I am suggesting that if a retailer is holding a Memorial Day sale they take the opportunity to honor the fallen soldiers for whom the day is remembering. This is no easy undertaking. I have seen restaurants that have attempted to recognize the sacrifices of the fallen with discounts and free meals for military veterans. Despite the good intentions, they get grief from some people (I assume they are veterans) who chastise them for not recognizing the difference between Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day. As a veteran, I appreciate the effort shown and think that the griping is misplaced. There are few ways they can recognize fallen heroes but a meal or discount is the form of appreciation they can offer.

     What can a retailer do then to promote sales and keep to the spirit of the Memorial Day holiday? I would like to offer the following ideas:

  • Offer a portion of each transaction to a non-profit agency that provides assistance to the widows and children of veterans who have fallen in combat. Just a few of the groups that help such families include:

Fallen Patriot Fund
www.fallenpatriotfund.org

Faces of Valor USA

http://www.facesofvalorusa.org/

Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund

http://www.cfsrf.org/

These are just three organizations that provide such assistance and there are many more out there.

  • While it has been the source of some contention you could consider offering a discount of 10% or greater to service members or veterans who can show a military ID or a copy of a DD 214 form (a document that shows a veteran has served).
  • Consider setting up a display for Memorial Day, often called a Fallen Soldier Table, a White Table or a Missing Man Table. The effort will not go unnoticed by those who have served or the family members of fallen soldiers. The displays are not difficult to prepare https://www.veteranscaucus.org/index.php/events/memorial-day/america-s-white-table
  • If taking a portion of a day’s sales is not in your budget, a donation can or collection jar with a designated charitable organization listed is an appropriate alternative.
  • Finally, invite a veteran’s group such as the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) to hand out poppies for a donation at your store. https://www.vfw.org/community/community-initiatives/buddy-poppy 

The VFW uses the money collected to provide financial assistance in maintaining state and national veteran’s rehabilitation and service programs and partially supports the VFW National Home for Children.

The ideas are certainly not all-inclusive and you may find some other source of recognition of the sacrifices made by our fallen heroes. The point is that you honor the day and what it represents as you still run your sales and specials.  Remember those who have made it possible for you to operate your business in a free country.

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Employee Training

April 17, 2018 by Leave a Comment

The scary shoplifting cases we hear and see on TV, or on newspapers in the United States, are becoming too commonplace to rendered us shocked. 

Shoplifting has always been a problem for stores across the globe, but now, people are losing their lives because we put more value on a bag of cookies than a human’s life. The incidents that are happening now concerning shoplifting should make us ponder whether the reactions, lives lost and the way our employees conduct themselves during a shoplifting incident merits those responses.

We should not forget that Shoplifting is a crime and that as an owner of a retail store your livelihood depends on the profits that you can gain by being a responsible owner. But, we cannot forget that we are dealing with human lives as well. 

If the price of a bag of cookies has the same value to you as a shop owner than a human life, then deterrents to prevent shoplifting are probably of no interest to you. But, if you believe that prevention to these crimes is the beginning of solving a major social issue in this country, then maybe prevention methods and other solutions are likely to be of interest to you as an owner.

  1. Training  — We have read more than once about the death of an accused shoplifter in a store.  Authorities are called to the business when the shoplifting incident has gone out of hands and the resulting confrontation has led to the death of the accused shoplifter. Now, what?  Lawyers, police departments and customers are involved, and the incident has become a national news piece.  Providing training to your employees to respond appropriately to a shoplifting incident has proven to be an investment that you will not regret and lives that will not be lost.
  2. CCTV cameras, prevention systems, and facial recognition software are some of the preventable shoplifting measures you can use to prevent, deter and fight shoplifting in your stores.  These are some of the investments that apart from your employees will become invaluable to you and pay for themselves in the short run.
  3. Inventory — If you know what you are selling, what is being stolen, and what are some of the items that are more enticing for shoplifters-because of the resale value or ease of trading — you may be able to use more of your resources to protect those aisles or move them to a safer place.  Being aware of what is happening in your store is instrumental in the prevention of shoplifting.
  4. Employees that care what is happening in your store is an issue that is too important to ignore.  Studies have shown that happy employees make great employees and can boost the morale of the people that work with them.  Your responsibility as an owner begins by rewarding your employees – By increasing their salary, offering incentives, and/or offering praise-your business can gain the caring you need to protect your store.
  5. Hiring the right people for your store begins by using the tools at your disposal that can make a difference in your hiring.  Background checks are the first step in ensuring you have the right people in place.

The rewards of paying for your employees’ training can be seen almost immediately.  There is no reason why the investment should be put elsewhere when employee ’s training has been shown to be a great and continues asset for the business owner.

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Cashiers Stealing?!?!? Yes They Do! From You Also!

March 30, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Recently, I conducted an employee theft investigation for a client. I want to share some of the findings from that investigation in the hopes that you can use it to review your own potential for losses.

A Cashier had befriended a frequent customer. This Retailer sells merchandise to Contractors. The customer in question had an outstanding credit on their account of a few hundred dollars. As they went through the Point Of Sale (POS/cash register) the Cashier looked up and then applied the credit to the current sale. This is normal practice for this particular Retailer. The customer then said to the Cashier “if you have more of those, I will take them”. So the Cashier looked up some other credits, from other customers that were quite aged and never used. She found that she was able to reassign the credit to this customer and applied another credit to their current purchase.

As you can imagine this became a regular occurrence. However, no one caught on. This went on for some time. It was not discovered until a recent credit was used and raised a red flag. The CFO began an investigation and revealed that there had been thousands of dollars stolen this way. The POS activity is recorded with video cameras but the full extent could not be confirmed because the video recorder hard drive did not have the capacity for more than about three days of video.

I was asked to investigate. After review of the evidence and information, I interviewed the Cashier. She is a 21-year-old single mother of 3. She has no property, car or house. Her Mother brings her back and forth to work. An Aunt watches the children.

The first thing I do when I talk to an employee under investigation is what is called a Behavioral Analysis Interview (BAI). A BAI tells me two things: first, if the person is involved in the loss (not if they did it or not) and second what they do when they lie. Some refer to this as body language. It is a comparison of verbal and non-verbal responses to a structured set of questions. Once I have both of these pieces in place, I am in control of the conversation. If they lie to me I know it. I should add that I have conducted over 2300 of these interviews/interrogations.

I then switched to interrogation mode. An interrogation is a structured conversation. My voice stays level and calm. There are no threats, promises, abuse, bright lights, rubber hoses….. (no, you can’t use your antique thumb screw collection). After a while, she “broke” and confessed to what she did. She told me that she had been doing this for 10 months totaling over $11,000. The customer was paying her off outside of work. I then went through the evidence which up to this point is never shown to a subject. She confirmed what we had. She then incorporated her admissions into a written statement.

After reviewing the facts with the Senior Management of the company, I was instructed to contact the Police. Officers responded and took her into custody. She was charged with felonies both theft and embezzlement. Needless to say, she was terminated at that time. The company will decide at a later point whether to file a civil suit against her or not. You may be asking yourself right now “why would the company waste time/money filing a civil suit against someone that has no assets?” There are actually very good reasons to do this. In most cases, it is about ensuring that everyone else understands what will happen if someone steals from YOUR business.

You should ask these questions about your operation:

  • Does your POS system allow a Cashier to reassign customer credits without Manager approval and signature?
  • Do all customer returns require a Manager to review and sign off at the time of the return (customer & merchandise present)?
  • Are all credits, returns, voids, and no-sales reviewed at end of the day by a Manager?
  • Are any discrepancies reviewed with the Cashier that day or the next day to gain an explanation? Is corrective action taken right away if the Cashier is not following policy/procedure?
  • Is someone else then reviewing what the store turned in? Managers can be involved in theft also.
  • How much video can your DVR hold? Hard drive space is cheap. You should have at least the last sixty to ninety days of activity. You do record Cashier activity….Right?
  • Do you REALLY know your employees? Does their lifestyle fit their circumstances? Do they live above their means? Are they struggling to survive? I teach this in my live Employee Theft Seminar (in-person or webinar).

Employee theft occurs every day. It happens at your business also, whether or not you see it is up to you. Don’t bury your head in the sand. Be proactive to PREVENT losses. If you need help, contact us. Loss Prevention is what we specialize in!

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Employee Theft Cases: Should You Prosecute Or Not?”

March 30, 2018 by 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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