Retail Theft

After an audit, store A, was said to have $50,000.00 is merchandise unaccounted for.

That’s $50,000.00! That’s approximately $1,000.00 per week that’s; either stolen, damaged and not scanned out, or just lost.

Here are the reprecussions of that:

*If that much stealing is going on in your store, that means the average customer is a criminal. If your average shopper is a criminal, good people who are educated and honest are not going to want to shop at your store because of the low-life low-element trash that shops there. Good people don’t want to be in the company of that type of trash. So, the customer that’s actually going to spend a lot of money in your store, will go to another store in a safer neighborhood.

*So, not only is your store losing money from theft, but the thieves are actually pushing the people with money away to other stores. You lose on both ends.

*You tell your employees that aren’t enough hours to spread around, so some people are working 10 hours per week, while others are working 45. The problem isn’t a lack of hours, it’s no money in the budget to pay for labor because you’re losing $1,000.00 per week.

You see, you think you’re a good manager, but like every other manager I’ve met in this state, you’re shit.

I’ve been working in retail for a very long time, and this is how you deal with theft.

1. Acknowledge and greet the customer. If a customer realizes you’re actually paying attention to them, they’re less likely to steal.
2. If you see a customer in the store or in an isle for a very long time, turn up the heat. Ask them if there’s anything they need help finding, basically you want to pester them to get them moving along.
3. Doing those two things right there will cut the theft in half.
4. To get continue reducing theft, a small loss prevention team might be necessary.
5. Place cameras in the store, and in highly visible places, post consequences for customers who are caught stealing.
6. Don’t allow them back in the store.
7. Have designated areas for damaged and empty packages, so you can keep track of what’s actually missing and what’s damaged.

What you’ll begin to notice is the atmosphere in your store will change. Eventually, the good customers will come back, and they’ll spend money.

In a store where everything is cheap, you don’t want the nasty customer who gives you a hard time and spends $3.00. You want to the quiet customer, who appreciates the shopping experience and spends $50.00.

This is just another battle of good versus bad.