RETAILOBSERVER.COM MAY 2014
6
Moe's Musings Views
Moe Lastfogel
moe@retailobserver.com
Until next time,
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A
s I was going through some of the back issues of The Retail
Observer, I found an article written by Lee Boucher that touched on
employee theft and the subject Lee brought up in the following
excerpt of his article still amazes me:
"This is not a pleasant subject, but customer and employee stealing is
rampant throughout big and little retail stores in the U. S. 'But,' you say, 'We
treat our employees just like family.' That may be true, but families steal from
each other too.
Theft costs the retail industry tens of billions of dollars each year. Maritz
Research, one of the world's largest research firms, recently surveyed retail
employees and discovered that:
• Nearly half (48 percent) of retail employees surveyed have noticed
customers stealing from their employers store.
• Nearly one in three (29 percent) say they have witnessed other
employees stealing from their employer.
I'm sure most of you are thinking 'Well, we have safeguards against
employee theft. It isn't happening in our company, we treat our employees
fairly so there's no reason for them to steal.' I hope you are right, but I don't
think so. Some of you might ask yourselves why there is "shrinkage"
sometimes when you take inventory. Most people that steal justify it in their
minds, but I'm sure they know that stealing is wrong whatever their excuse."
—Lee Boucher, RO June 2007
As I look back over the years and the many companies I worked for, theft
was never talked about. In our industry how often do appliances just walk
out the door? Well, they do, and it's unfortunate. The bottom line is protect
yourself and your profit margins, get protocols in place and constantly
review them to help detour this hit to your bottom line.
IT TAKES
A THIEF
TO MAKE
YOU THINK
