employee stealing

[susansaddiction]

Just found out that an employee (fired last week) was apparently stealing a great deal everyday. She was obviously not ringing up a number of cash sales and pocketing the cash.
Other than being there all day every day - since we have only 1 person on at a time - what ideas do you all have to prevent this in the future?
Steaming Mad!!!

 

[CCafe]

You know how Wal-mart deals with that? The employee leaves the building with their hands behind their back in a pair of handcuffs. They do it for 2 reasons. 1st it shows the customer they aren't kidding about keeping prices low so if your stealing and get caught you will be prosecuted to the fullest of the law. 2nd it shows the employees the same thing.

Having a video camera right over the cash drawer and another pointing at a different angle towards the cash register helps in deterring it.

 

[Kaitlyn C]

video cameras are a great option as ccafe pointed out. it is also necessary that you make it known to your employees that you take inventory of your merchandise (such as making a list of it and counting how much you have in front of them time to time) so they will know that you are serious about keeping track of your turn over time and your stock.

it sucks to hear that it happened with an employee i wish you better luck in the future! :grin:

 

[CCafe]

You gotta give credit to China for being harsh with offenders. Not quite stealing but its a pretty darn harsh sentence none the less.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08 ... index.html

 

[tlowing]

Way back in the day I used to work as a Mgr at Wendy's and we would track daily cash drawer over/unders. Works especially week if you don't tell them what you are doing. If you see nonrandom overs vs unders it can be a clue. another is to track sales/hour by employee in the same time slots.

 

[cindy]

employee theft is a big problem everybody may face some time or other...and as you can imagine it is not very pleasant.
ive had a few realy big incidents over the last few years.

and a thief will stand in front of the cash drawer and not see money...they see a drawer filled with oppertunities..."how will i take it, what will i do with it...will they ever catch me"

weve had a problem here in south africa called load shedding...POWER CUTS at fixed times over the entire country...and while i was still waiting for my generator to be installed, i had the cash drawers stay open (afterall...i was stupid enough to trust my staff) and they would just ring up the stuff manually (calculator) and then give the correct change.
other than the till, we were able to operate fully with gas on most of our appliances.
this particular thief i had, always made sure she was on shift when the power was out, and even tried to impress me by "writing down" her stock sold so i can adjust on the computer when the power is back on.
but regardless of my stock takes i found out a week later that she had helped herself a fair bit....we are talking cash and stock stolen.

i did the obvious thing, phoned my friends at the local cop shop and had civil charges laid.

i always thought i had a thief proof system...cctv, combonation safe etc....didnt work!

 

[559624]

web cam

Get a video camera with a web cam option. Make sure it can record to a hard drive too. The web cam gives you the opportunity to show the employees that you are watching. You can just "check in" from home. You don't want to get Nazi about it but it certainly can make an impact. But if you really suspect someone you'll want the recorded video to review because it will be a better quality and you can't sit infront of your laptop at home all day.

I work in IT now and I've noticed that the appearance of sercurity is a very big deterrent for most people. Keeping honest people honest. Those who are going to steal will steal anyway, but at least you'll know about it.

 

[thesicilianhideaway]

I agree, get a video camera. My hubby is in law enforcement and said that many of the stores in his town dont even have the camera set up. They just have it out pointed at the register and that's enough to deter the employees. just the thought that they're being video taped (even if they're not) will deter a good majority of it. Personally, I'd hook it up and actually record, but that's just me. Good luck with whatever you choose. As a business owner myself, the whole idea of someone stealing from you just stinks.

 

[PinkRose]

With the video camera recording all day long, it's difficult to review the hours and hours of video tape to see if an employee is stealing. You'd have to suspect someone first and then sit (probably for hours) reviewing the tapes.

I guess if the employees know that the manager or owner just doesn't have the time to look at the tapes, they'll take the risk when they think they can get away with it.

In addition to having the video camera, random cash counts throughout the day would probably be best. If the employees know that at any time throughtout the day the manager or owner will come over and count the cash drawer (which is probably where the extra cash is being kept until the employee can pocket it) then there is a better chance of detering any theft of cash. If the cash count is a lot over what it should be, and something looks suspicious, then the video tapes can be looked at.

Another thing to watch out for is how many times the cash drawer has been opened. This is usually listed on the printout when the day's totals are closed out at the end of the day. If it looks like there have been a lot of "no sales," it may indicate that something isn't right.

Some cash registers have a "subtotal void" area on the printout, which is another thing to keep an eye on. If a sale is rung up and subtotaled, and the customer pays with exact cash, the employee can accept the money and just "subtotal void" the sale (without finalizing it and opening the cash drawer) and then pocket the cash. Of course mistakes happen and it's sometimes necessary to void out a sale, but an unusual amount of subtotal voids is definitely an indicator that something isn't right.

It's a shame when a business owner has to spend so much time and energy trying to keep employees from pocketing some extra cash.


Rose

 

[cindy]

with my previous post i explained the whole load shedding problem...and touch wood, for the last few weeks weve had no power cuts whatsoever.
however, the 30th sept (just a few days ago) the manager on duty that night locked up, closed everything as she was supposed to and activated the alarm system and checked that the CCTV was up and running (as per routine).
the security company confirmed that she locked up just before 9pm, and when we opened shop again the next morning, we found the safe was ripped out of the wall.
the alarm had not gone off...there are sensors on all of the doors, there are movement sensitive "eyes" all over the place...etc.
i then went through the recording and saw nothing but the black dressed body crawl in (not seeing a face), heading towards the safe (this was just after 10pm) and its got to be an inside job because he/she knew that if you stay on the floor the CCTV would not record becuase it wont pic up enough movement. just over 6 minutes later i could see the black body crawl out of the back door, with nothing but big white sneakers to see clearly...needless to say, the cops discarded the footage almost immediately (it is understandable) and it is now more than a week later and nothing has been found.
in the meantime, the safe that was broken out of the wall is now replaced with an even stronger safe, wedged between slabs of cement.
the backdoor which served as entrance (and where the sensors didnt go off) is now replaced with even stronger doors, with bigger and more complex locks, and ive added another few sensors all over the place.
it was bad enough that i lost the days takings along with the damages of the stolen safe, but i had to spend another R2000 odd just to secure the place more than what it was.

 

[PinkRose]

Cindy,

I'm very sorry you had to go through all that. It's a shame that, even though you had a great secuity plan, someone on the inside was able to find a way to "out fox" it (and probably share the information with the actual thief). I bet the first person suspected was the one who was stealing from you during the power outages. Whoever the thief was, I hope they catch him (or her) real soon.

It's also terrible that you had to go through so much extra time and expense to make your business more secure. It sounds like you definitely eliminated every possibility for someone to steal from you again. I imagine that you probably felt much better when it was all finished.

I hope you'll never have to go through anything like that again.

Rose

 

[starside8]

My recent issues have been related to my staff having thier friends come in and giving them free drinks or 50% discounts. It's unbelieveable the nerve people have to dilberately break the rules and then act ignorant.

 

[John P]

My recent issues have been related to my staff having thier friends come in and giving them free drinks or 50% discounts.

And you didn't fire them on the spot? :shock:
Nip it in the bud or you will have more of the same.

 

[Yar]

If it's just a kid, scold them, fire them and stop hiring kids. Same if they're an illegal immigrant.

If it's an adult American who should know better, call the police and let them be taken away.

FYI, employee theft is more common than non-employee theft.